Synology DS1512+ Diskless System High Performance NAS Server Scales up to 15 Drives for SMB Users

Pros: None yet, can't login to the darn thing! Stuck on downloading DSM 4.2 update for over 24 hours.

Cons: First DS1512+ shipped out the us was DOA. Had a giant gap in the front panel. Looks like someone dropped it. Newegg quickly sent out replacement. Got the second unit in couple days (thanks NewEgg!). Put in 5x WD Red 3TB, installed Synology Assistant, launch the web interface. It asked to upgrade to DSM4.2 so OK I clicked. And it has been stuck on that screen for over 24 hours now. Can't login. Can't do anything with this piece of junk.

Other Thoughts: Submit support Ticket to Synology. Took them forever to reply to my email. I get a response back once every hour or so. Now it's 4PM, they're out of office. My problem is still not solved. So I guess I'm dead in the water until Monday. Synology you suck! Our Business runs 24/7 you only work 9AM-4PM M-F!!! Should have gotten a QNAP.

Pros: Software, software, software! That's what makes this NAS as great as it is. So yeah, the software is top notch which is a pleasant surprise when dealing with a product like this. Usually you get stuck with clunky, non intuitive software when you start dealing with network devices like this one but such is not the case here. The UI is well thought out and there are plenty of features available for the power users while not being overly complicated to the average user. This creates a different atmosphere then what many network admins may be used to when dealing with this device, but that is not to say it is bad. Honestly it is refreshing for a change and I suspect even the home user will appreciate the thought that went into the software design.

Moving on from the software, I feel the need to praise the hardware itself. Before I even start, let me say that the average component quality of most consumer electronics are just that...average. Average is something that I have come to live with when it comes to the components typically used in your low to mid level electronics. Heck, even some upper end devices (im looking at you DVR's) have some of the lowest quality components that you could possibly use and this is always reflected in stability and longevity. The surprise that I got when I took the cover off of the DS1512+ was almost pure shock. In place of the usual capacitors that pop after a couple thousand hours I was greeted with solid state caps. In place of 5 pounds of plastic I got metal. Where you normally see some Chinese knockoff power supply you see a SeaSonic 80+ Bronze certified unit. Overall, the entire unit in and out is built like an 800+ dollar unit as opposed to the all too common looks good on the outside but is pure junk on the inside.

The Synology DS1512+ has a very ample amount of processing power and shows no hesitation no matter what I request it to do. It runs very quiet and is almost inaudible to my ears. Granted I don't mind noise as much as many others might but this unit does not disturb my sleep at all.

The unit comes packaged well and is a piece of cake to set up. Simply download the latest DSM from Synology's website and use the Synology Assistant to install it on the unit. In 10 minutes or less your unit is ready to set up the array of your choosing.

Cons: As with every device there will always be pet peeves. I have installed seven or so Synology NAS products for various customers and one of the biggest annoyances is the start up time. Depending on the unit, start up can take seven minutes or more. This is not enough to get too upset over since I understand it is a computer and will take some time to become ready to use. Another con is the power led. In a data closet its not an issue but in a bedroom that blue led will shine like the brightest star in the night sky. Its a minor issue that can be solved with a very small piece of electrical tape but it would be great if that light could be disabled. The locks for the drive trays are going to stop no one determined to take the drives. This holds true for most things though and it should be locked in a data closet if you need that kind of security. Don't rely on the plastic locking thing to keep anything but the honest people honest.

Other Thoughts: After installing a few Synology products for some of my customers I decided to get one for the house and I do not regret it at all. As far as money spent, sure it was a lot but it was worth it for what I got. I am the person who would usually build a freenas box for myself but after using this unit I am completely fine with having not taken that path.

This unit comes with 1GB of ram and can be upgraded to 3GB without voiding the warranty of the unit. The specifications for the ram are sort of specific so I figured I would include what ram I used so that others can be sure they are getting something that will work with this unit. I used Kingston KVR1066D3S8S7/2G with successful results.

I also went ahead and upgraded the two 80mm fans that come with the unit. The fans that are included are not bad fans its just that I wanted something a tad more silent and what I thought to be a much more reliable fan. I ended up swapping two 80mm Noctua fans in the unit and they work beautifully.

If you are looking for a powerful NAS that is built well, has a great feature set and will serve you well for many years then look no further. This is the company to get it from.

*I used 5 3TB Western Digital RED drives. They perform great in my raid 6 array.*

Pros: * Relatively compact for 5 drives
* Synology Hybrid Raid
* Light weight (without disks)
* Quick setup
* Very quiet
* Fast/responsive UI

Cons: * The drive bays are very light-weight/fragile plastic, although I hope that I hardly ever have to touch them.

Other Thoughts: Upgrading from a QNAP TS-409 Pro. I'm very impressed with the DSM firmware so far--very easy to use. I scanned the manual but really didn't need any instructions to do the setup and start building the SHR array. One factor in the choice of this unit was expandability with the optional external drive chassis, though there aren't a lot of reviews on how well that works...so here's hoping. The other reviews pretty well cover the pros, so I'll stop here and update if I have any other findings that would detract from the 5 egg review.

Installed 5 x ST4000DM000 4TB drives using SHR with 2 disk fault tolerance for a total capacity of 10.4 actual TB.

Pros: Cheap , easy to install and very versatile. Linux inside so you're not locked out by bad support.

Well documented (help, compatible hardware, 3rd party dev)

Cons: graphical interface of most packages kind of limit what you can do with this box because they only tweak a few options.

Other Thoughts: bought 2, running in HA cluster configuration. Very easy to setup. Switching from primary to secondary not very fast.

Pros: Super awesome web interface that ive got setup to access anywhere I have internet.

Cons: Remote security cameras need a license that you can only buy through mail and not online? Who does this anymore!@?

Other Thoughts: All in all its really great NAS

I have been using the following as my hard drive.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822148844

Pros: Fast
Flexible
Web UI is fairly easy to understand
Robust

Cons: In certain specific situations it could be a nuisance to integrate it into existing workgroups
Some limitations on smartphone app compatibility

Other Thoughts: On the whole this product performs well and is easy to set up and use, two things which are sometimes hard to find in one product. I configured using the hybrid raid feature and have gradually phased out my initial smaller drives by replacing them with 3 TB WD Reds. The automatic expansion feature works well. I have not experienced any dropped connections or other reliability issues.

I could not find an easy way to manually specify UIDs for integrating into an existing small workgroup NFS environment... most people won't care about this but it's restrained me from buying one for use at work (the one I bought is used on a network of Macs at home).

It would be nice to have some additional conversion options between RAID levels. For example, I didn't realize until too late that you can't convert from SHR with 1-disk redundancy to SHR with 2-disk redundancy just by adding another disk; you have to reformat from scratch.

Pros: I had always made my own media servers, using either linux or windows. But after the seamless and feature packed awesomeness of a Synology NAS... I can safely say im never going back to either. Little research and work and I got my NAS recognized on the net as a domain name accessable from anywhere in the world, far easier and faster then I ever could before. Throw in the fact its all managed through the browser and Its everything I ever wanted.

Cons: You have to buy additional IP camera licenses to use the secuirty feature, and they can only be purchased through the mail from what I can find, no digital download. Which is so very, very wierd. Its more annoying then anything really.

Other Thoughts: Im using Seagate Barracuda 7200.14 ST3000DM001 3TB 7200 RPM 64MB Cache SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drives for my configuration.

Pros: Bullet Points:
* High Uptime
* Amazing DSM interface
* Great Community Support
* Dual Bridged Ethernet for high throughput
* 15 Drive limit
* Low Power Consumption
* High Redundancy
* Everything is Hot-Swapable (even the fans)
* Plex Media Server
* Runs a linux distro
* Price point
* Support from Synology

Synopsis: This NAS is highly reliable and comes in at only $829 when compared to it's Drobo counterpart this is an amazing price point. If you are serious about Network Attached Storage, with Backup ability for all devices (including Timemachine for Mac OS X) this is the device for you. Some might argue that this price point is high since you have to also buy the hard drives, but that price to what you have to pay for any good NAS, anyone telling you different is either showing you an ARM based NAS or building you a ghetto ridged NAS that is really nothing more than a micro computer in a micro case. Don't be fulled this is a Dual Core Intel Processor that can handle Plex streaming in HD to multiple devices. It is a dream to manage and after initial configuration that takes a Average Computing level you likely won't ever need to touch it again (other than to update packages whenever you want).

Cons: * Plex official packages take a little more time that the 3rd party releases, however since you can install any update that isn't on the official list this isn't really a huge negative.
* Doesn't cook you toast

Other Thoughts: As a computer engineer, I am highly experienced in both the software and hardware aspects of integrated systems.

Pros: Highly configurable, easy to add storage (in SHR), easy to configure for internet usage, great transfer rates. Relatively quiet (compared to a full tower w/ high cfm fans).

Large repository of helpful guides on Synology's website for most of the common questions.

Cons: None so far. No Blue Blink of Death.

Other Thoughts: If you don't already have a gigabit intranet setup, plan on getting one. The transfer rates across wifi (N) or 10/100 LAN are atrocious for large files.

Pros: Awesome user interface! Awesome speed (I upgraded the RAM on mine to 3Gb)! Awesome apps to be able to control your server. I set mines up to be able to just log in from anywhere online. Its awesome, the server let you make a domain like "DiskStationRocks.myDS.me"... you type that into the address bar of a web browser and presto you're connected your server remotely with all of the user functionality of being right there in your own home!! WOW! I have hundred of 1080p mp4 movies rips and over 150k songs, plus thousands of pictures. I use the PS3, Xbox, WD Live TV, iPhone, laptop, PC, and iPad to connect to the server and get my media. Works FLAWLESSLY!! I only wanted this thing as a giant media server (setup with 5 3tb WD Red Nas HDD's in a RAID 5 array). It is AWESOME! Up until now I was using the old WD Sharespace. But this thing is WAYYY better. LANSpeedtest had me at an avg write speed of 186.97Mb and and avg Read speed of 454.98Mb!! Look no further. This is the NAS for you! Plus its future proof as you can simply add upto two expansion modules for a total of 15 drives!!! AWESOME! AWESOME!! AWESOME!!!

Cons: NONE