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It's been a while since we last evaluated a NAS device, so to help kick things back off, we're taking a look at Synology's 2-bay DS212 NAS server. Synology has long offered not only robust hardware, but exceptionally good software, so let's see if that still stands today, as our last look at a Synology product was a full three years ago.
Today Synology launch their latest NAS system, the DS212j. This NAS is the budget friendly ‘entry level’ consumer model and over the years has proven to be one of the biggest selling NAS systems in the United Kingdom.
Synology is one of the most innovative NAS manufacturers. Moreover, the firmware is not so much firmware as it is a fully fledged operating system, which is especially true for the latest version (DSM 4.0). We take a look at three Synology NAS devices - the DS212j, the DS212, and the RS212.
You can't tell by their identical exterior, but the Synology DS213 and DS 213+ are two very different NAS devices. The DS213 has a 2.0 GHz Marvell ARM processor, while the DS213+ is equipped with a 1,067 GHz FreeScale P1022 processor with integrated hardware encryption. On the front there is an SD-card slot and a USB port you can use to copy files to and from the NAS, but it's too bad that it's USB 2.0 and not USB 3.0. Synology included a handy synch button on the front to speed up this process. The user-friendly nature of Synology products remains the same.
The new DS213+ 2-bay NAS from Synology is sporting a dual core processor at 1.067GHz with Floating Point, 512MB of DDR3 and a very low power consumption in both IDLE and Full Load. The chassis has a solid design like the more expensive 4-bay designs and operates with the latest DSM 4.2 version.
This week I’m taking a look at a NAS from a company that I’ve been wanting to get hands on with for quite a while now. In the UK NAS markets, QNAP and Thecus are two of the top players, however there is another company that have just as much of a presence as those that I’ve just mentioned – this is of course Synology.
Formed in 2000 by two ex-Microsoft employees – Cheen Liao and Philip Wong – Synology’s goal was to bring enterprise level NAS technologies down to an affordable price point for the small-to-medium business market and later on the small office / home office user as well. Whilst it took four years for Synology’s first NAS the DiskStation DS-101 to reach market, over the last nine years we have seen many solutions come to market under two main categories, DiskStation (DS for short) and RackStation (RS for Short) and in disk capacities varying from one bay solutions, right up to their biggest rack-mount unit which holds up to 12 hard drives for the biggest storage capacity that Synology can offer.
Before we delve into the in and outs of the DS213j that I’ve got to play with today, its worth noting the company’s very clever numbering system that to me is one of the easiest to understand out of those that I’ve seen in the past. using this NAS as an example, the model number is broken down into four parts. DS-2-13-j
The first part of the name is with DS or RS referring to either a DiskStation or a RackStation model with the first number that follows indicating how many bays the system holds – in this case 2. The second set of digits give us the year that the system was released, so 13 here refers to a release year of 2013. After that there is one of three options to be had. These are as follows:
‘+’ – this is the performance series of units offing the best features that Synology have to offer
the standard series is next and this has no digit after the year indicator – for example DS213 – these units offer a balance between price and performance
‘j’ – Units with a j in their model name are geared for the entry level user who’s focus is more on getting the largest capacity they can, whilst not worrying too much about the performance side of things.
With this all explained, its now easy to see, just from the model name ‘DS213j’ that we have an entry level 2-bay system that was built this year and comes as a desktop design – nice and easy to understand if I have to say so.
Synology has NASes available for all price ranges. In this review we will look upon one of their offering aimed at budget conscious people, with two internal bays for 3.5’’ drives (for 2.5’’ we need to purchase an optional adapter), which also features a single-core 1.2Ghz processor along with 512MB of RAM and runs the latest version of DSM.
Synology's product line-up is pretty broad. At the top you have products like the DS713+, a powerful NAS with space for two disks. It's also very expensive. The DS213j is a much more affordable option, and you still get all of the features of the impressive Disk Station Manager firmware and room for two hard drives. It's a great way of getting introduced to a Synology NAS.
When the imminent arrival of the DS214 was brought to people’s attention earlier in the year, hardware transcoding was a hot topic and the news that a NAS with improved on-the-fly video transcoding for mobile devices was also on the horizon only stirred more interest towards Synology. So without any more delay, it’s time to delve into the world of the DS214Play.
We’ve recently seen a few of Synology’s 2-bay systems and prior to this review we had a look at the DS214Se – a special edition NAS that has budget users in mind – giving them a simplified NAS feature list. On the outside, the DS214Play looks nothing like the DS214Se and there is a good reason for this; whilst the DS214Se wants to make its stand in the budget end of the market, the DS214Play is aiming for a more premium look, whilst not hitting the same high prices that we see some 2-bay systems reaching. With the design and build blue-print derived from the DS414 and the little brother to this system the DS214 looking almost identical, the difference as always is what lies inside the system.
The crucial difference with this system over everything else is the Intel Eversport CPU that Synology have chosen. Many NAS options are not capable of transcoding media files – such as video – into another format for mobile devices such as phones and tablets to playback, however hardware transcoding is where the DS214Play pulls its weight. Thanks to the floating-point unit ability of the Evansport CPU, transcoding is a key part of the systems design, giving users the flexibility to watch whatever format of content they like without the worry of file compatibility.
When we look at the performance figures later on in this review we will be looking at the systems performance figures for video playback and processing photo albums as these are the two main area where this system should [in theory] top the charts. This is why we are here, so does it make a difference or is it all a load of pointless sales talk?
The DS214Play brings us a new lease of life to Synology’s packaging with a bright white and green design to the packaging, whilst inside the box there is the usual array of accessories for a system of this size.
Synology have been hot on the market recently with the release of the DS414 4-bay NAS – the latest revision to their popular 4-bay desktop range as it replaces the top-selling DS413. One of the main focus points of the DS414 is the price point for a pretty good level of performance. As we saw it may not be the fastest 4-bay system available, but when it’s priced considerably lower (>£100) than some of its rival units, it’s a bit of a no-brainer for anyone who is focussing more on raw capacity over performance.
Keeping on the same line, every NAS vendor has a few budget units in their product catalogue, however Synology have a more equal distribution across their range in the terms of performance and cost. As a brand Synology are not afraid to advertise that they build cheaper systems that offer lower performance figures and there is a good reason for this. When you take into account the overall cost of a typical 2 or 4-bay system with the cost of hard drives on top can easily tip over the £500 mark (or more if you go far a higher performance system); that price tag for some people does equate to a substantial chunk of money. For a number of users, the cost is simply too much to churn out. Typically those fighting the battle of cost is the home user, especially with today’s credit crunch here in the UK – where the cost of living when marked against your income is a bit out of proportion. As a result the goal is to get as much raw capacity as possible and for as little as possible.
As we’ve seen before, Synology use a simple naming system for their products, and those ending with a ‘j’ are built with capacity over performance in mind. To take things a step further, Synology have now re-written the rule book as they create a 2-bay system that is more budget conscious than ever. Bring forth the DS214Se. In the same way that the DS414 is the successor the DS413, the DS214 is the new model to the DS213 and the Se (Special Edition) marking puts this model in a position where it is even more budget friendly than before.
With the aim of the game keeping the overall purchase cost down, Synology have removed a number of features from the DS214 specification and have been more ruthless than ever. As a result, the DS214Se is going to be ideal for anyone who is a) on a very tight and b) not needing to run multiple features at the same time.
Whilst the systems specification has been cut down, the bundled extras include everything that you’ll ever need. Alongside the NAS, there is an AC power adaptor, Ethernet cable, a quick installation guide, warranty leaflet, and finally two sets of screws for fitting the drives and for holding the enclosure together.
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