1. This site uses cookies. By continuing to use this site, you are agreeing to our use of cookies. Learn More.

Hardware Synology DS212+ Review

Discussion in 'Article Discussion' started by brumgrunt, 27 Feb 2012.

  1. brumgrunt

    brumgrunt What's a Dremel?

    Joined:
    16 Dec 2011
    Posts:
    1,009
    Likes Received:
    27
  2. MrJay

    MrJay You are always where you want to be

    Joined:
    20 Sep 2008
    Posts:
    1,290
    Likes Received:
    36
    I have an old Synology DS107+
    Had its since about 2008, its only a single bay but works well, unfortunately Ive since had to replace it with a custom built NAS running Freenas.

    These things show their age quickly as file sizes grow larger and larger.

    Always worth stumping for a model that you can later update the ram.
     
  3. TheLegendJoe

    TheLegendJoe Syntax error

    Joined:
    28 Oct 2010
    Posts:
    204
    Likes Received:
    5
    I've got a DS411J and have to say its bloody brilliant, the DSM OS is constantly update, and feels like a full linux environment, but allot more user friendly. I get read speeds at typically 80MB/s and writes of around 60MB/s. The entire house uses it almost continuasly aswell, after I've put every DVD we own on there, and CD, they're just so convenient! All your content everywhere for about 30Watts of power and a hit on the wallet too obviously ;)
     
  4. hexx

    hexx What's a Dremel?

    Joined:
    9 Dec 2008
    Posts:
    202
    Likes Received:
    0
    i'll probably buy into these when they will feature thunderbolt
     
  5. bigc90210

    bigc90210 Teh C

    Joined:
    7 Oct 2003
    Posts:
    1,262
    Likes Received:
    71
    should the marking be on speed/features/value? seems to be speed/features/features? nice review though :)
     
  6. Floyd

    Floyd Wire Twister

    Joined:
    4 Dec 2008
    Posts:
    288
    Likes Received:
    1
    My DS211j is still cranking since day one with no issues. Very fast and I have no issues with a few users streaming at the same time.
     
  7. bOO9000

    bOO9000 What's a Dremel?

    Joined:
    7 Sep 2011
    Posts:
    12
    Likes Received:
    0
    Is there any chance you might review the Zyxel NSA325 it's cheap and looks very capable, PC Advisor and Trusted Reviews have both given very positive reviews, but would see something a bit more in depth.

    Thanks
     
  8. tonyd223

    tonyd223 king of nothing

    Joined:
    12 Nov 2009
    Posts:
    389
    Likes Received:
    2
    How about a feature in the magazine where you build a freenas box from something ancient, and compare to one of these shop bought NAS boxes - that would be good... power, noise, flexibility...
     
  9. Paradigm Shifter

    Paradigm Shifter de nihilo nihil fit

    Joined:
    10 May 2006
    Posts:
    2,306
    Likes Received:
    86
    I've had pretty much the same experience as you; slightly higher read speeds for me, slightly lower writes. I'm very impressed with it - although the true test will be how it handles a drive dying and its subsequent replacement.
     
  10. MSHunter

    MSHunter Minimodder

    Joined:
    24 Apr 2009
    Posts:
    2,467
    Likes Received:
    55
    What do you use to rip your DVDs? I have a HP micro server and am looking for a way to rip and compress my DVD collection to it. (running full win7 pro)
     
  11. wyx087

    wyx087 Multimodder

    Joined:
    15 Aug 2007
    Posts:
    12,118
    Likes Received:
    762
    been there, done that on my Ds410j. (well, drive DoA with clicks, so replaced after volume has been set up) basically, remove the drive, and plug in the new one, it rebuilds the array. i turned it off while replacing the drive, but all data are still accessible when array is rebuilding.



    value of these NAS is subjective. compared to custom build and FreeNAS, i find it to be fantastic value. at similar price, yet with much much better interface, and without hassle of building it.

    buying a NAS is same as buying a router or smart phone: feature isn't the important part, it is the user interface and whether the user can intuitively use that feature. Synology captured this brilliantly, so many people would be willing to pay a little extra. (for routers would be Cisco/Linksys or Netgear, smart phones would be Apple)
     
  12. Technobod

    Technobod Minimodder

    Joined:
    28 Oct 2010
    Posts:
    262
    Likes Received:
    8
    I don't see why people don't get HP Microservers? It works out more than £100 cheaper than one of these and you get 5 bays comes with dual core 1.5GHz processor, 2GB of RAM and a 250GB drive. I recently got myself one and its freakin fantastic, its booting off the internal USB port to allow me the full size of my disks to RAID. Come on Bit-tech wheres the review and whats wrong with it community?
     
  13. Atomic

    Atomic Gerwaff

    Joined:
    6 May 2002
    Posts:
    9,646
    Likes Received:
    94
    Completely different target markets.

    The Synology boxes are simple and need very little technical knowledge to get up and running. Freenas isn't as easy to setup and cannot do half the things a synology unit can do out of the box.
     
  14. fluxtatic

    fluxtatic What's a Dremel?

    Joined:
    25 Aug 2010
    Posts:
    507
    Likes Received:
    5
    Personally, I've always used DVD Decrypter (http://www.dvddecrypter.org.uk/) for ripping and DVDShrink (dvdshrink.org) for compressing, if I'm just looking for a straight rip. For more control, I use AutoGK - ridiculous amount of options, but GordianKnot itself, and the half-dozen programs it needs along with it was pissing me off. Once I got AutoGK configured and running, it's awesome. DVD Decrypter is no longer developed, but I've never found a DVD it couldn't rip. YMMV, though - it's been a while since I've ripped anything (ripped all I owned way back, been strictly d/l since then.)
     
  15. ed_sweden

    ed_sweden What's a Dremel?

    Joined:
    29 Feb 2012
    Posts:
    1
    Likes Received:
    0
    Microservers are great but are limited to RAID 0 or 1 - no RAID 5 or 6, which (at least for me) is important.
     
  16. Sunsawe

    Sunsawe What's a Dremel?

    Joined:
    12 Mar 2012
    Posts:
    1
    Likes Received:
    0
    Hi,
    In this test, you describe the hardware that you are using to measure the read/write speed of the DiskStation but... What is the software setup? are you using FTP, Samba, NFS?
     
  17. srmans

    srmans What's a Dremel?

    Joined:
    8 Oct 2009
    Posts:
    10
    Likes Received:
    0
    Perhaps not to everyone's liking but I built a MS HomeServer over Xmas with a budget similar to the cost of this NAS (based on a Pentium G620). I already had the hard drives and the case so costs were kept down and I'm able to run up to 6 drives, some in RAID 10.
    It perhaps does not have all the features of a turn key NAS like this one but I find myself only needing a file server to be honest.
    When the server is idle and the drives have spun down I've seen the power consumption drop to 40W. OK, not as good as a dedicated NAS but not bad. When active it is about 65W on average.
     
  18. dombera

    dombera What's a Dremel?

    Joined:
    18 Apr 2012
    Posts:
    1
    Likes Received:
    0
    Hi! I run Linux and currently looking into this nas.. Does anyone has a problems with this nas on Linux? It is a main factor for me and would appreciate any comment.
     
Tags: Add Tags

Share This Page