Question 1

is this a diskless or not?  it doesn't say

Accepted Answer

Are you asking whether there are any disk drives that come with it? If so, the answer is no. FYI - I went with two WD Red 4TB drives and couldn't be happier.

Question 2

Does it includes the HDD?

Accepted Answer

No it does not; I purchased two WD Red (NAS) 3TB drives for it. It has been up and running with no problems since the purchase and is used for remote access for file by people I work with. Good unit. I do back it up to a USB (directly attached) 1TB for the files mentioned above which are about 500 GB in total.
Hope this helps.

PS I have the 212j version of this drive also with about 2.75 TB of movie son it and it is accessed almost daily for movies in my household. It has been running with 3 WD Black (the Red NAS were not available at the time) drives for over two years with no problem. It is not accessed remotely.

Both NAS are great units for the money and very versatile. I think you can buy this with drives of various size included as a package, but I just bought the bare unit.

Question 3

I purchased this and it did not come with any hard drive is this normal? Also I am using this with a security system will this work by using the hdmi cable from the router to th DS213j?

Accepted Answer

It's normal as it's diskless from the manufacturer. You need to buy a compatible NAS HD and install it in. Usually there's no HDMI connector in a router. Please see instructions in the synology website of how setting your camera for your security system.

Question 4

What's the maximum storage?

Accepted Answer

The maximum is 4TB drives per HDD bay. Since this is a 2 drive bay unit, the maximum capacity will be 8TB. Depending on how the RAID configuration is setup, the usable storage may be less than the total capacity of all the drives. Furthermore, the actual usable capacity of each drive is slightly less than what the manufacture states, so a usable of 8TB in any RAID configuration will be impossible. Approximately 500GB will be lost. Moreover, keep in mind this unit is bare with no drives included. On the Synology website, there is a list of compatible drives with this unit, from all different manufacturers and specific model numbers.

Question 5

how does it work with MACs?

Accepted Answer

Synology supports several file sharing protocols including Apple File Sharing. Volumes mount to your Desktop like regular shares. With 2 caveats, 1) the main volume will mount on restart, but individual folders on the volume need to be mounted by clicking on them to be able to read from or write to them. 2.) when moving files from one folder to another via drag-n-drop, it seems that the files are moved from from the Synology to your Mac, then back to the Synology which is slow over Ethernet. So I use the web interface to move files around once they are on the Synology. If you are comfortable with the command-line you can Telnet to the box and move files that way. But the web interface provides a rich graphical interface to create accounts, set permissions, activate and configure services, etc. And also configure your router to port forward the various protocols offered, such as cloud services, WebDAV, music & video server and many more.

Question 6

I am looking for a network storage device to share media files with multiple users using multiple computers, and the ability to share with smart TV and other network ready devices. I would also like to use it as system backups for each computer. I have been looking at the Synology DS213j, can you tell me if this product is right for my needs and how it compares to similar models?

Accepted Answer

I opted for this device over others for many of those reasons. It can set up and host network share and is also a DLNA Media server. Your TV should be able to see that. Additionally, you can install the iOS or Android apps and access the media on there.  It does require some setup on your router/firewall to get it working outside of your network but it's a pretty impressive device that I have been very happy with.  There is also a software that will allow you to back up your computer to folders on the NAS if you like. I personally opted for backing up to a mapped network share using a third party software.  But that just shows the many options you get with the device.

Question 7

John
Will a Seagate Barracuda 7200.11 drives work in this enclosure?

Accepted Answer

I have a ST31000524AS and a HD103SJ in my enclosure (yeah, mixed models but both 7200RPM) and it's working fine. I believe the first one is a 7200.12 but there shouldn't be a difference between the .11 and the .12 so I say yes.

I highly recommend this enclosure.

Question 8

Does this have usb 3.0 ports or 2.0?

Accepted Answer

The 213j does not support USB 3.0. It has two USB 2 ports. 
It's not a problem for me as all my USB drives are 2.0. Also, the speed of a NAS device are mainly determined by the NAS server it's led and the network speed.

Question 9

Is there a way to use this like a personal dropbox where you sync a folder from the NAS to one or more Mac's or PC's?

Accepted Answer

Hi, Yes, I believe so, although I happen to be using it as a music server right now. This is a second Synology box I use at home. The first is a 211j.  There are a large variety of ways to use these things and much to learn.  The first of mine is just a simple backup for network, And this more recent model, 213, holds a couple thousand lossless music files for me, is connected to a DAC and then a stereo receiver.  My iPad holds Synology software that acts as a remote control to the music on the 213 server, so I don't need the 213 run of a small computer to run the music.

I suggest that you go to the Synology website, find the information and downloads for the 213, where there are operating manuals and some 25 different 'packages' one can download and install on the 213.  Each package has doc information there, such as for an ITunes server that I use. Perhaps getting that extra information will help you. There (website) you will also find a few different file programs that may do what you are looking for, but probably labeled something different than that. 
It's not easy to translate company manual text into concepts that make sense to us, without actually holding the boxes and cables in our hands.  Good luck.

Question 10

is this NAS compatible with Linux-based DVR for cctv?
i would like to store the cctv recording directly onto the NAS, and not the directly attached storage.
please advise.

Accepted Answer

Even though the DS213J is based on Lunix OS, I'm not sure it can be used as a "recorder" for a security system. Perhaps a simple external drive would be a better and cheaper choice than a NAS.

The USB port on the DJ213j and the other NAS drives I own allow you to input data to the NAS via memory sticks or external drives

After reading your question, I took a very quick look at three security systems availible through Newegg. None of the three would addressable by a computer network. This was not a very wide search, just a look at three random systems. Your system very well may be different.

I can tell you that there are a wide selection of apps availible for the DS213j and it is a fairly simple thing to develop your own app if you have the programming skills to do so.

Questions & Answers