Synology DS409+ Speedy 4-bay SATA NAS Server for Small-and-Medium Business Users

Pros: Setup is easy and straightforward. We had ours running 1 hour after getting it out of the box. System status allows easy monitoring (even temperature). Creating users and shares is easy. Remote web login capabilities are great -especially for smaller businesses (like us) who can't afford the big stuff. We even have a shared music library that, when shared, shows up in all iTunes applications in the office.

Cons: FTP account/sharing and controls are a little confusing - especially if you're the one monitoring and maintaining them. The FTP sharing has limitations, but still quite useful. Backup options aren't bad, and you can back-up to a local USB drive. I just wish it allowed backing up to a remote web host like livedrive.com, or other on-line backup services.

Overall Review: Not really a gripe, but I think they could make the chassis a little sexier. This beast looks a little more like a flight recorder than a server! :) That said, it currently has 2x the data storage of our old server, and takes up 1/5 of the space. Who could complain about that?!

Pros: Easy setup and very good user interface. Very quiet fans, the most audible noise are the hard drives. I had set it up for home use as RAID 1 with two Western Digital 2 TB RE4-GP drives over a Gigabit Ethernet switch and the performance is great. Uploading speeds around 300 Mbps (vary with file type/sizes as expected), while both CPU and memory utilizations runs low (5-10% at idle, increasing to about 20% during sustained activity). A lot of system customization options are available through the well laid out web interface. Replacing one of the 2 TB hard drives and re-syncing the RAID 1 Volume (just tried it for testing) takes about 7hours and 45min with the volume 45% full with data - the process is very simple. Nice surprise was the fact that the product has recently been upgraded to include hard drive enclosures that slide into place without need for SATA wires any more! (the pictures shown in the product page are apparently outdated).

Cons: Nothing really significant. Probably the fact that hard drive replacements involve powering down the disk station, although the process is really simple and the interface is very well done (email notifications when the volume degrades and when the consistency check is complete, etc). Hot swapping is only available in the more expensive products.

Overall Review: Synology has included a very nice set of capabilities and further modifications by adding 3rd party software are possible although not recommended by Synology; it would be nice if future software upgrades included a more complete set of functionality on drives connected to the external eSATA port on the back, such as completely erasing the drive rather than simply reformatting them. Although my experience with Linux is limited and there may be easier ways to achieve that. When initially connecting to a Gigabit switch or router, the disk station auto negotiates the speed down to 100 Mbps if there are other 100 Mbps devices connected; so to get the Gigabit connection speed the disk station has to be connected before other 100 Mbps devices (adding the other 100 Mbps devices later is fine).

Pros: Solid construction and really good customer service from Synology. I had a power supply failure which was quickly diagnosed and resolved. Relatively easy to install. A full complement of four drives makes for high packing density. The software configuration is straightforward.

Cons: None.

Overall Review: I have not explored the full software feature set, as my primary motive for purchase was reliable backup for my home network of two PCs and two MacBook Pro machines. I spent considerable time agonizing over the choice of products out there, and it was with some trepidation that I shelled out 1.5 grand for a backup solution with four WD RE3 1TB drives for RAID 6 system. But once the system was up and running my peace of mind was worth the money. My previous backup solution failed spectacularly and took with it several years' worth of irrecoverable photographs, backed up software and music CD images. Lesson learned: Have a rock-solid backup system.

Pros: I have been using this DS409+ over 6 months now. First 6 months went by smoothly without any issues but last January, one of the hard disk crashed. All of them are 1TB WD Green Disks. I reinstalled a new one from WD when restart still said the disk failed. Software looks fancy with Ajax like gui. Media server is ok but not good. I still use twonky but couldn't install on this box. I hardly use this 10 hours per week. AutoBlock works fine and email notifications tell me that volume is degraded. Users/Groups creation gives warnings when it didn't agree the way I was setting up the users/groups. I wanted groups access to set of shared folders and users belonging to groups. I had to set access rights to each and every user.

Cons: Every 2-3 weeks, the volume especially the last 4th disk dies. Now it goes into degraded mode until I restart and repair it. Another 2-3 hours of service down. I no longer plan to keep this device if volume degradation occurs again and again. I plan to back up and move on another hw based raid5 and sell this unit in e bay. After having spent a grant, I am not totally happy with it. I should have had Windows machine with Raid5.

Overall Review: These products should be 99.999% reliable. We don't need those fancy gui's and lots of marketing fancy features. So far I haven't lost the data but If I do....this is going out.

Pros: Actual transfer rates over 10/100 of 30+ MBps. Easy web-based administration. User management is straightforward.

Cons: Price, if you're on a budget; however, you get what you pay for.

Pros: Looks good. Small form factor which I wanted.

Cons: Setting up from mac was not easy. First it took a while to detect the server. Synology assistant would ask me for input file and I have no clue which input file it was referring. Borrowed XP from wife and ran the installation, it automatically picked the input file. Later it got an error while setting up the network settings. Tried both DHCP and static ip settings. Same error. I went back to mac and chose the input file. It seems to be installing the system but keeps saying unknown system found. After struggling for a while, now I can access from the web.

Pros: Very easy to setup!

Cons: None

Pros: Speed of the device is good. I haven't noticed any hiccups trying to stream HD video from it. The included BitTorrent client is able to max out my Internet speed if I wanted it to. The BitTorrent client by itself is the main reason I got this; I intended this to be an always-on BT client and it works well in this regard. DDNS support allows me to access the device from anywhere with Internet. Synology released two iPhone apps which let you view your pictures or listen to your music remotely. Also, I can FTP into the device remotely to access any of my files. Software RAID, and is a snap to set up. I use RAID 5 on my device with four 1TB WD1001FALS drives; gives 2.7TB of usable space with redundancy in case one fails. SqueezeCenter add-on was a surprise. I've had a SqueezeBox for a while, and now I can connect it to my NAS rather than leave my desktop on when I use it. I connected my non-networkable printer and now print to it from any computer in the house.

Cons: Expensive. $600 for the system, plus the cost of the hard drives which puts it around the $1k mark assuming you get 1TB drives. It's worth every penny, though, I think. The built-in BitTorrent client is relatively weak feature-wise compared to uTorrent and others. The system emits a somewhat loud beep when it starts up, and it can't be disabled through the system's settings. I haven't gathered the courage to go into the device itself to disable or silence the speaker. If you leave it on all the time, you won't notice this anyways. My device rattled a little bit from vibrations from time to time originally. I put in little fabric "dots" where the case hooks together that solved the problem wonderfully. Otherwise, construction of the device is solid, and I tend to like the appearance. LEDs are bright and will be distracting if you leave it in a room where you sleep.

Overall Review: Vastly exceeded my expectations. Despite being labeled for small business use, I use this in my home. I would recommend this to others looking for a NAS. I did a good amount of research before I got this. Synology has a relatively active forum on their website, and it seems they take suggestions from users. The current BitTorrent client is light-years ahead of where it used to be from the sounds of it. The forum also offers advice as far as which hard drives work better than others, and can offer other assistance. The device has other features I haven't used it, including the web server add-on. I may go down this path someday, but currently use it mostly as a backup system and as a good central location for my music and movies.