Question 1

What does diskless mean in this context? Does it mean you have to buy the drives to put in it, or does it mean that the drive is diskless (solid state?)

Accepted Answer

The Synology box is "diskless" because it lacks any hard drives (solid state or otherwise). You will need at least one, or preferably two, disks to get up and running with this product. If you have two drives, preferably of the same size, you will be able to quickly set up a RAID, and start using the DS214SE as an inexpensive NAS. These drives can be 500 gb or larger, up to a limit of 4 TB each. Keep in mind that If you want to use smaller (laptop size) hard drives, an optional (sold separately) adapter will be needed. For a complete list of "certified" hard drives that are compatible with the Synology, you should visit their web site. I used a couple of Toshiba drives not on their list but they are working perfectly.

Question 2

Does this come with a hard drive, or do I have to provide one?

Accepted Answer

You need to purchase drive(s) separately. I recommend you look at the approved/preferred list published by Synology to be sure you get drives that are compatible & appropriate for the Diskstation.

Question 3

Is it wireless and does it work with Linksys Routers?

Accepted Answer

This unit is not wireless out of the box. But it will support a wireless USB dongle (is that what they call them? Roughly thumb drive size). The issue I found, when I tried to use a wireless USB adapter, was that the two USB slots are very close to one another and I could not physically plug the adapter while also using an external USB drive.

It should work with a Linksys router. I have a NETGEAR WNDR4300 V3 and the pre V5 OS had issues connecting to it with the wizard but I was able to manually configure it. The new V5 beta OS recognized it easily enough. I would check comparability with your router at the Synology site.

I highly recommend this system but keep in mind that it will not support the Plex service. It has a relatively low powered CPU and only 256 mb of RAM. That said it still works great as a media server though, even over 4G networks.

Question 4

Does this device support RAID and also how big of a drive will it support?

Accepted Answer

I am running it with 2 x 3tb drives in a default Raid config that duplicates my data and allows drive replacement without data loss. That gives me 3tb to use out of 6.

Not sure if higher capacity drives or other Raid modes are supported - you may want to check Synology website for that.

Question 5

What is meant by diskless system?

Accepted Answer

The "computer", frame, case, power supply, etc. are all supplied in the box.  There are NO hard drives - you supply your own, in whatever size you wish (that the unit supports).  This allows you to customize as you need or want rather than buying their fixed config.

Question 6

Does this unit handle 3.5" disk drive? Or just 2.5" disk?

Accepted Answer

Only handles 3.5" directly. If you want to use  2.5" disk you need an adaptor from Synology.

Question 7

What is the size of the hard drive?

Accepted Answer

It is diskless-means, sold with no hard drives in it. 
You would buy hard drives separately and based on your needs (up to 4 GB each). 
You can start with a small size drives at the beginning - if you have no need for large ones - and easily upgrade them  later. 
I hope this helps. 
Thank you, 
Eugene

Question 8

Does this unit wake on LAN so that you can access the drives wirelessly to get a file?

Accepted Answer

Yes, kind'a, and I can only speak to PC/Mac connecting to the system via SMB (Windows File sharing, although now the default method for Mac as of 10.9 - Mavericks).

The unit itself is Ethernet, so wireless really doesn't come into play.  Regardless of how you client (PC/MAC) is connected to your home network, when it makes an SMB request to the Synology (via IP or NBTName), the unit will spin up the drive to allow access.

I have this unit doing both Direct file share for my music and then also have it acting as a slave for replicating (NetBackup) from another Synology system and have not had a problem with it failing to respond to a file request from a share, HTTP logon for the console interface or have the backup fail due to the unit being sleep (nor from my other Synology unit either).

I do have to point out I put in WD Black 7200 drives in the unit vs. the cheaper 'Green' rated drives out there which are specifically tweaked to sleep, usually slower, etc (ever vendor has a model).  I would assume, from my experience that, even if you used these drives they would still perform as I experienced.

There is a power saving/performance setting in the Synology console; so you do have some options within the NAS software itself.

Question 9

Can this system be configured to power back on automatically after a power outage?

Accepted Answer

Yes. In the control panel under Hardware & Power—the first check box is, "Restart automatically after a power failure."

Question 10

Will this work as an iTunes server? I currently leave my computer with iTunes running and am looking for an NAS I can use to stream movies/music to my Apple TV.

Accepted Answer

Yes it has an iTunes server built in.  You can access the iTunes server from any PC or Mac client on your network.... BUT NOT a mobile device or Apple TV.  iOS devices and Apple TV use Home Sharing to share media but the iTunes server does not support Home Sharing.

So no you can't stream from the NAS to an Apple TV.

Questions & Answers