Pros: I've built many file servers, but this is my first "storage appliance." The web-based interface is absolutely fantastic (and I'm a professional web developer). This thing is so easy to set up, you don't even need to be a technical person. I thought the system locked up when I connected four USB hard drives directly to the Synology unit. Turns out I had just unplugged the network cable.

Cons: You are paying for the software and support. The price point is a little high for the hardware that you get.

Overall Review: Set up with three 3TB WD RED hard drives. It is important to use drives designed for a NAS system, regardless of any stories you hear about other drives working "just fine." The reason is that hard drive manufacturers like Western Digital intentionally disable features that allow proper error recovery in a RAID array. The unit itself is a headless PC with a Linux-based operating system that uses software RAID. No, software RAID is not necessarily slower than hardware RAID.

Pros: Let's face it. If you are buying this, it's for the form factor/low power and synology's awesome software. This unit is replacing a linux home server I've been geeking out on for years, when I saw synology's DSM software, I was convinced it was tme to move on. DSM provides a single point to configure almost everything and it's exactly what an older nerd dad with no more time to admin/develop a white box needs. IMHO. low power Synology hybrid raid will save me money in the coming years since I don't have to buy multiple drives of each passing generation for raid use. The ios and web services this unit provides are rather unique and generally good and usefull. Remember that when you are trying to mentally justify the cost of the unit. Basically, this unit offers more than you think, and things a linux white box server just can't do. -Less geeking out -It's still linux under the hood, so all the linux skills you do have are not lost. There's still geeking to be had :o)

Cons: Maybe too popular, always out of stock. The unit isn't loud, but if you're senstive or have spcr in your bookmarks consider some better fans for desk use. The synology forum needs a full time Synology emplyee assigned, seriously.

Overall Review: The price is a tough pill to swallow, but if you're a techy in need of a more power efficient, stable, and comprehensive solution, close your eyes, and add to cart.

Pros: This thing is fast and easy to use. Highly moddable. Runs Linux which is good if you know Linux, but you can do everything via the very modern GUI if you want even if you don't care to use the linux side of things. A ton of 3rd party software packaged for free including Sickbeard, Headphones, Couch Potato, sabnzb+. Compared to the readyNAS where you have to pay some dude for the preconfigured packages. Plex media server is a big one, you can stream/transcode your media to anything in your house via DLNA or to your mobile device. All handles by this little unit. Do you want to run a DNS server, DHCP, Mail, etc? All very easy to do with this. This thing is pretty much dead silent, though that depends on your drives. I have 4TB Seagate drives in it. When they come out of standby, there is a subtle click which I only notice because this is on my desk. The magic of NAS though is you can put this anywhere.

Cons: It's not perfect, but being continually improved. There is plenty of "enthusiast" discussion on the forums. Also you can't upgrade the processor as far as I know, but maybe you can desolder and resolder a new one in the same series. Bottom line though, with all the stuff mentioned above, I have not seen a need for a bigger processor.

Overall Review: We regluarly buy 30k+ plus iSCSI SAN units from HP, I like this much better. Better value by far, more moddability, more capability to be honest.

Pros: Hybrid raid makes scaling very easy. This is reading and writing faster than my 1 gigabyte lan can carry. Easy to setup and seems well built. I read and write over 100 gig a day with two work stations doing video editing. This is a dream to use.

Cons: Expensive for a home unit, but worth it if you want reliablity, and speed.

Overall Review: I have used the smaller 210J for two years and it works flawlessly. I was very excited for the 1812+ for the faster read and write speeds. This has been much more reliable than my WHS2003

Pros: Good tools. Fast (continuous +600mbps transfers via cifs on 1gig connection). 8 Slots AND extendible via DX510. I have done RAID expansion (adding disks to an existing array) and it worked very well - it took two days to finish the expansion but the device and existing partition were available throughout the whole process). Lots of nice applications and ability to run unix services. I am able to remove a full Linux server with this device.

Cons: FUD around BBoD. These are just now back on the market after a Stop-Ship over the BBoD.

Overall Review: I have two of these. One purchased just before they stopped shipping and wend 'heads down' to resolve the Blue Blink of Death issue. The first system has not been affected (and should not be based on the summary of that I have seen from them) and supposedly the issue should not affect current/future systems. So my second system should also be okay. If that is true then I have no reservations with this device.

Pros: Reliable, quiet, reasonable performance, easy to use UI, useful add-on utilities, easy to install software upgrades, low power consumption.

Cons: none so far

Overall Review: I've been running mine 24/7 for 3 months so far. Running five WD Red 2TB drives in RAID 6 configuration as I'd heard of some issues with Synology's hybrid RAID. Started out with WD Black drives, but switched to Red for power efficiency, the NAS handled the drive swaps without a hiccup. I mostly use Widows clients, but also do some Linux, both have worked fine. The web-based UI is very impressive, feels like remote desktop and very slick. I use the Download Station and the Surveillance Station, both are somewhat light in feature set but cover the basics and work well. I use the backup/restore facility to backup to a FreeNAS server via RSYNC on the second Gigabit port, and to a USB 3.0 drive for off-site security, again no problems. I also bought a CyberPower CP825AVRLCD UPS, hooked it up to a USB port on the DiskStation, and it executed a clean shutdown when I pulled the plug and came back up again with power restored. Network throughput is fine for streaming video and for most routine file storage over my 100Mb home network. But while the speeds over the dedicated backup link is good, it's not 100% of capability, you might need more performance for enterprise level file serving. So, bottom line is that it did everything I expected it to do, plus a few I didn't, and has yet to cause any problems. Can't ask for much more than that.

Pros: Wow.. just wow. Very fast, nice interface, granular controls, GPL

Cons: I haven't had it long so I will have to get back to you, nothing i've found so far

Overall Review: Amazing really. the only other NAS I've owned was a DROBO, but it was slow, they encrypt diagnostic data, so without opening a ticket with Data Robotics you can't determine what is wrong. The DS1812 blows it out of the water in every way.

Pros: Amazing Unit. Easy setup and really smart GUI. After having Linux Servers, a Mac Server (oh the horror) and networking PCs and MACs, this box was beautifully simple to get up and running. I am not using it for anything but as NAS, but it makes me want to get more for all the other uses. Worth every penny. The html interface is well done and the log in is even customizable.

Cons: I didn't buy two.