Synology DS413j Diskless System DiskStation

Pros: This NAS 4-bay is quiet and very easy to configure. I have a Windows Domain set up in house and it had no problems joining it. Great buy, running 4 1TB WD Red drives in it. RAID 5 (with Synology's in-house RAID) Array built quickly and file transfer speeds are as expected.

Cons: Smaller than expected, was worried about possible heat issues although the WD Red drives run cool.

Pros: Fast enough for home use, works great and reliable. The worst part of buying this product is finding the right drives, but that is true for all NAS devices from any vendor. Plenty of add on features that don't require being pre-installed or additional purchasing. Makes it a light weight NAS.

Cons: Manufacturer selection of approved drives is too small.

Pros: Easy to install. Stable software. Easy to use.
Good bang for the buck compared to the competition.
I have been a happy owner of the previous model (DS410j) and decided to give this newer model (DS413j) a try. So far so good.

Cons: Wish it were less expensive.

Other Thoughts: When I started installation, I had problems connecting to the NAS and the blue LED on the power switch blinked nonstop for >10 minutes. It turns out that 2 of my 4 new hard drives were dead on arrival. All problems went away after I replaced the 2 broken drives. Note that it is normal for the blue LED on the power switch to blink for about 3 minutes during boot-up.

Pros: None

Cons: -No way to recover your data if the raid fails without buying a new disk. So if one disk fails you are unable to make a quick backup.
-When you replace the failed disk it re-formats the entire RAID volume.
-Therefore if one disk fails and you do not have a backup you are not getting it back. I had years worth of data on a RAID 1 volume which is now gone.
-Customer service just beats around the bush and won't help me fix my issue or recover my data.
-I'v had it for over a month now and have not even been able to use it because I'm afraid of losing all of my work.
-The user interface looks cool but don't be fooled!! It's functionality is very poor.
-The only thing it is good for is a fresh setup. After that if you have data on it you better hope nothing happens.
-DO NOT BUY!!!

Manufacturer Response:

We apologize for the experience you have received.

As you may already know, RAID technology is not a substitute for backup, however RAID has the ability to provide redundancy options when a disk fails. We encourage our users to always keep a separate backup of the RAID. Feel free to read our wiki article called “What is backup?” http://forum.synology.com/wiki/index.php/What_is_a_Backup%3F

For further assistance on how our our storage management works, please get in touch with our support team here as they will be able to further assist you on how RAID works as well as other storage management options our products have to offer - https://myds.synology.com/support/support_form.php?lang=us

Pros: Love it! Very easy to setup (after I replaced a bad WD Green drive, that is!) I have 3 500 GB drives in a RAID 5 configuration for 1TB storage. Also have a 500 GB set aside for my girls to back up to, and for a spare for the RAID, if needed.

Cons: None

Other Thoughts: I use the great Allway Sync to backup my data. The combination can't be beat!

Pros: Simple to install - 3 pictures to install my disks, turn on, open the UI screens. Using it in 20 minutes.
Powerful - Windows sharing, web site, RAID, ssh interface, runs apps like joomla and gallery
Quiet - even in a quiet room, it's hard to tell it's on except from the lights on the front

Cons: The price is double what the 2-bay DS212j model, it's not easy to compare & justify

Other Thoughts: I considered the DS212j model from several friends' recommendations. But I decided the extra RAM and extra bays would make this NAS a powerful replacement for my old Linux server. I need to run a few apps which need PHP and MySQL - and Synology has both built in. This 4-bay system is a good price compared to other NAS systems. Good for a small office as well.

I plugged in a pair of 3TB drives from Seagate - RAID makes 3TB usable. Later I can add another 3TB drive and get 6TB usable, still RAID tolerant of 1 drive failure.

The Synology UI makes everything easy, all from a GUI that just works - like Windows file sharing. But if you want to use the Linux command-line you can install and configure even more - I changed the sshd_config.

Shipping was freaky-fast, at my house 2 days after I ordered.

Pros: Software feels very robust and like it was built recently and precisely for the needs of today's computer folk. Other software feels like it was built along the timeframe of WinXP. The hardware feels very solid and well put together. It doesn't feel flimsy like other ones (e.g., Zyxel).

Cons: Lots of unscrewing to get the HDD in (back plate has 4 screws, pull lid off, 4 screws for HDD, and 2 screws for HDD attachment. Not a real con, just takes time to physically install the device.

Pros: The "seemingly reliable" part is because I've only had it for a month and it has given me zero problems; current uptime is 37 days. The DS413j is quiet and fast.

I store various data including all of my media on the DS413j and I've had no issues streaming high bitrate HD movies over the network. Copying large files is typically 300-400Mbps which, to me, seems about right for my equipment. Copying batches of smaller files will be slower but that is just typical of copying small files.

Many features are available such as a DHCP server and firewall as well as security camera software, just to name a few. The built-in interface has an application package area where you can download these programs. They're free and I guess they're maintained by Synology.

As I said, it's quiet. The fans run but the unit is not hot so they don't need to be ramped up.

Synology Hybrid RAID is a feature that lets the NAS dynamically manage your RAID configuration. If you only have two drives, you can later add more drives to the array and SHR will automatically reconfigure the redundancy without you needing to backup your data and completely rebuild the logical array.

Power features include the ability to setup a schedule to power off and on the unit and how long before it sleeps. When it wakes up, there will be a shot delay before you can access data on it but that should be expected unless maybe you have SSDs in it.

Cons: It's not black. Why is this not black? Doesn't vend food.

Other Thoughts: Wish I could say more about how much load the DS413j can handle but my needs are very basic so I haven't run simultaneous applications or services on it yet.

As I said in the Pros, if you start out with less than four drives then you'll likely want to use Synology Hybrid RAID. SHR will let you start with one drive and as you add more later SHR will let you add those drives to the array, expanding your usable space and/or redundancy without the need to backup your data and completely rebuild the array from scratch.

Don't forget to enable its media server if you want to stream media to DNLA devices!

Pros: The network speed is FAST for being a consumer unit. I have been averaging 50-70 MBps when tied with an Airport Extreme and my iMac. The linux based software is insanely easy to use, and very powerful.

Extremely easy setup, and it makes RAID easy even if you have absolutely no tech knowledge whatsoever. The software also supports third party apps, although not a whole lot of them have been made yet.

The fans are EXTREMELY quiet! The hard drives are louder than the fans themselves, but they keep the enclosure nice and cool, well within the Hard Drive temperature limits (50C average, limit is roughly 90C).

The DLNA works great with my Samsung TV and PS3, and the remote access is easy to use.

The iPhone apps are great as well, and allow very easy to use functionality, and also includes a mobile version of your NAS remote access.

Cons: The initialization for the drives takes FOREVER. Literally took about 6-8 hours for the drives to initialize the first time, then another 6 hours to initialize the 2 new 2 TB drives I put in. Once it is done, however, everything flies.

Also, it is still using the outdated iTunes Server and doesn't work with the Apple TV Gen2/3, but that is the same with all NAS drives and will be until Apple updates from their homesharing or someone makes a Linux based app to support it.

iPhone apps dont support the iPhone 5's screen yet, so they look kinda weird... I'm sure that will be fixed in short order.

Other Thoughts: I have it set up with a 1TB, 1.5TB, and 2x2TB drives currently. I decided to make use of the Synology Hybrid RAID and it seems to work great! Fast I/O speeds, excellent Network speeds, and I can use 4.5TB for data, while only using 2TB for full parity incase a drive fails.

Pros: After debating whether to build a FreeNAS or getting Synology - I'm glad I went with Synology. If I went with FreeNAS, I'm not too certain whether I would have been able to set it up correctly. Synology setup guide was well documented & easy to follow. Well, I'm not much of tech person at all - especially when it comes down to networking as well. If it's easy enough for me to get it work, it should do for anyone who's willing to spend just little bit of time to learn about networking.

Cons: Synology products are little bit more expensive than other NAS products - but the robust web based OS definitely makes the whole thing so worth it.

Other Thoughts: Quite possibly, best purchase I've done for over few years. I've been worried about my child's digital footages/photos being lost due to HDD failure & all - and while this isn't 100% disaster proof, I can definitely relax a little bit due to the 1 disk redundancy.