Synology DS213+ Diskless System DiskStation - Where Robust Performance and Energy Efficiency Come as One

Pros: Compact and very quiet.
Easy to hook up and set up to start using right away.
I have also expansion eSATA enclosure with 2x2TB Hitachi HDD
which was recognized right away.(NTFS format in Raid 1)
No difficulty encountered during install. I am using
WD 2x2TB red HDD. I am happy with this purchase.

Cons: Case is not made of metal

Pros: Extremely easy to setup, lots and lots and lots and lots of configuration options beyond just being a NAS. There are tons of plugins that do everything from being a webserver to an authentication server. All of it is quick and easy to use, and if you really want, you can log in to the shell and manually install whatever you want.

Cons: One of the drives I bought did not line up with one of the sata connectors in the back. I switched which drive was which slot, and that fixed it.

Pros: Easy to setup, VERY versatile, FAST (LanSpeedTest had me at 449.21Mb write and 329.19Mb read), great sturdy build, truly one of the BEST NAS servers I have every tried for the money!

Cons: Support is kinda slow at responding. Take usually a day to get back to you via email only. But hey, this thing is robust and you shouldn't really need to be calling them at all...

Pros: Ease of setup.
Works great as a music server for my Sonos system.
Fast network file transfer.

Cons: Currently does not support AMZ Glacier storage.

Pros: Easy setup, DSM software has great features, great performance, light and small

Cons: None.

Other Thoughts: This is the second model of NAS I've purchased from Synology and like the DS111, this model is a breeeze to set up. The DiskStation Manager (DSM) software takes the unit from a simple NAS to a capable small office server. I am using two WD WD20EFRX hard drives with this NAS and get nearly silent operation. Installing the drives is as easy as it gets. I chose to configure my drives with the Hybrid RAID option. Setting up the RAID is effortless as the DSM does all of the work. I use the NAS with both Windows and MACs and have no issues to report. Just a great product.

Pros: Where to begin?
Fantastic, well-designed, highly usable management software; excellent build quality; extremely simple out-of-the-box setup; quiet.

The management software really sets this unit apart. Calling this only a "NAS" is like calling a Swiss Army Knife a "blade". What Synology is really offering here is a server+personal computer pre-bundled with everything you could possibly want to use in a networking, internet, and mainstream computing experience.

It's a fantastic product, and I'm glad I bought it.

Cons: None. Zero.

Other Thoughts: I came off of wrestling with two different Seagate products and wasting many hours. Let me tell you simply: this is a fantastic product built by a company who put time and energy into what it offers to consumers. It is *well* worth the modest increased price of adding two drives as compared to the bundled Seagate's drives.

I've become a Synology fan.