Question 1

does it come with any storage space already?

Accepted Answer

No.  This is just the enclosure.  You will need to purchase the HDD separately.   You can find package deals with this enclosure and HDDs included.  The price will vary depending on the size of the HDDs.  I have two WD Red 4TB NAS HDD mounted for a total of 4TB RAID 0 - they were like a $160 per drive but I think the prices have dropped some.

Question 2

Hi.
Does this product require any hard drives, or no hard drives are requierd?

Accepted Answer

You must supply your own hard drives. 
I've had good luck with the two Western Digital Red hard drives WD Red WD40EFRX 4TB 64MB Cache SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" NAS Internal Hard Drive.
My DS214play works great as an iTunes server for the three Macs and Apple TV in my house.

Question 3

Can you connect to this drive over Network and also direct? Same time?

Accepted Answer

You can connect this drive to a network and it acts nicely as a server.  It can obviously also be used as a backup for another server or for an individual work station.  It can only be attached to network router or a switch or it can be connected directly to a single computer; however, only one at a time.

Question 4

what's the usable capacity?

Accepted Answer

12 TB max with a small amount used by the software that runs it. That would be two 6 TB drives. However, with the RAID configuration where you never lose data in case a drive fails, it would be 6 TB. I only have two 3 TB drives set up where I am only using 3 TB and I have every picture we have ever taken since digital cameras were invented (about 15,000 pics) and about 150 dvds, along with 100's of hours of home video and I have used only about 25%. You could also connect external usb drives. But those aren't protected by the RAID config. I love this thing and being able to access any file I store on it anywhere in the world. Not to mention the numerous apps for other things.

Question 5

What hard drive (4TB) do you recommend I combine this with?  Use: Hi Res music storage, will be connected to a MOON Mind streamer, then to Audio Research pream/DAC.
Also, could this store Hi Res movies (1080 or 4k) and be connected to my Sony 4k TV.  My speakers will be connected to Sony TV as well. thanks!

Accepted Answer

It takes 2 so if ur looking for 4tb total dependa if your going to mirror  them or not. I have the western digital reds in mine, havent had a problem  with them for the almost  year i have had them.
unfortunately  i dont know about the 4k res as i dont have any of those and have never tried. Though 1080 blurays work great though sometimes  a tad lagging if playing them remotely but thats more dependent on your internet upload speed. I imagine  the 4k would lag even more but you can tone down the quality so if ur playing it on your phone over data or just a place with horrible DL speed. Everything in house, i dont think there would be any problems, but again i have not tried and dont have a 4k tv.

Hope this helps, i definitely  think its a great unit.

Question 6

Does this include HDD and if so what capacity?

Accepted Answer

This does not include Hard Drives... this is a "Diskless System" and you can choose what brand and capacity of hard drive you want.

I chose the Western Digital Red drives that are made for use in a NAS.

Question 7

What recommended disk would you use?

Accepted Answer

Hi JG,

Just make sure you use hard drives specifically designed for NAS usage, as they are designed for 24x7 use and have features integrated specifically for this type of application.

I am using Western Digital Red (3 TB) drives and they work great.

Here are model numbers for various manufacturer's 4TB drives...

WD = WD40EFRX
Seagate = ST4000VN000
HGST = H3IKNAS40003272SN

Good luck!

Question 8

i would like to use this for a networked hard drive for my small business and i have a 500g solid state drive i would like to put in this. do i need to format the hard drive , if so, what should i format it too? NTFS?

Accepted Answer

When you install and setup, the program will format, you don't need to format first.  Make sure you have a backup of all the data on the SSD if any, before initiating installation.  Follow the installation instructions enclosed in the package or go to Synology's website to download the installations instructions before you buy.

You can also checkout the if your SSD is compatible by gong to the synology website.

Last, 500gb isn't very large, especially for a small business.  If you are concerned about backups, you should really get a second drive (or two larger capacity drives).  If you are only looking at using this one drive on your network, you are probably better off just getting an external hard drive enclosure and plugging it into your router's usb port (if your router has usb ports) or sharing on your main computer at work.  I wouldn't bother buying this NAS if you just want to use your 500GB SSD as an external storage.

Question 9

I would like to know how well this NAS streams 1080p video?  I'm planning on using it to stream blu ray videos that I have ripped on a gigabit wired network

Accepted Answer

It works great. I also made 720p versions to stream over a cell network to my iPhone and it works great. They have free apps for both apple and android devices.   I don't think you will be disappointed.

Question 10

How many computers I can store and what internet connection I need?

Accepted Answer

Sorry your question is not clear.... You can store any amount of data on this unit up to the storage capacity and RAID level you choose for the hard drives you purchase. Of example is you use RAID 0 and 2 4 TB hdd's you can store 8 TB though you will sacrifice redundancy, or if you put the same drives in RAID 1 you will have 4 TB of storage but if one drive fails your data will be safe until you replace that drive. As for your network question, you can use this unit on your local network for file access and what ever speed your internet is will be fine. If you want high speed external access, you will need a faster data line.

I don't think you fully understand what this unit is though from your question, so before purchasing I think you should read about NAS devices and RAID setups to become more educated. And then decide if this unit is what you are looking for.

Questions & Answers