Synology6-bay DS1618+

The best NAS brand in the world... 5 bay equiped with 5x 4th NAS WD Reds

I’ve tried FreeNas, Unraid and then trueNas. Finally decided that I only want something that “just works” without constant tweaking and monitoring.Synology isn’t know to have the best hardware, but the DSM system is a real gem. It’s easy to setup the pool, volume and ssd cache. Setting up the remote access is a bliss compared to other solutions.If you just need a redundant storage, go for it. If you need something has more computing power, the newer version 1821+ has an embedded Ryzen cpu. Expanding the ram could be an issue with after market brands, be sure to research which ram are compatible before you buy.

I bought the DS1019+ to replace my positively ancient HP Mediasmart 285 (yes, a Windows Home Server from 2008. It refuses to die but I'm finally out of space and it can't take more than 2TB hard drives easily; so it's time to upgrade at last.)Setup was a dream. The DS1019+ sits in my network between my router and the rest of the devices, acting as a reverse proxy for my web server (which I have on a dedicated VM on another machine, but will eventually move into the Synology for ease of use and backups). I also set up OpenVPN on it, a Synology Drive server to sync some files, set up my PC's to back up to it with another program, and configured Hyper Backup to back up the NAS to Backblaze B2. I also encrypted the shares that have personal stuff in them (as opposed to a share with movies, or videos of the dog in the park, etc.)All of that took an hour and a half to set up after I powered the thing on for the first time. Data copying (8.1 TB) was done the following morning. I was expecting it to take a couple of days of tinkering and fiddling.I've had it for 2 months now and it's been rock solid through Oklahoma storm season (with a UPS connected to it.)I just added another drive to bring up the storage capacity, and that process couldn't be easier. Put in the new drive, then 3 clicks later you're expanding the pool and you get more room.If you're not very computer savvy, get help when you set these up. Anyone can do it, but it's easy to accidentally leave yourself or your network exposed if you misconfigure it.The closest thing I have to a caveat is that this unit was a bit loud with 3x12TB Seagate Ironwolves in it. Those are relatively noisy drives, but once I added some velcro (the fluffy part, not the hooked part) to the bays, added rubber feet, and put it on a foam pad, it's a lot more quiet now. The fans are nice and quiet; I've never heard them at all.Best of all? Room to grow! I still have 2 more bays, and can theoretically add another 5 bay unit to it. The RAM runs around 9% utilized right now. The CPU sits around 2% on average and spikes as high as 60% during heavy write operations. It has legs for me to add SO much more to it if I want. My VM's will almost certainly move into it later this year, when their host goes offline for good.I'd feel very comfortable running a small business off this thing.

This nice little unit was very easy to set up. Within a few minutes I had a RAID set up and ready for file transfer. Synology excels at their software and there are dozens of free applications that help manage backups, photos, video, etc on your volume. There is even support for a two camera surveillance system which is expandable with the purchase of additional licences.I only have two 8 TB drives configured thus far, with three open bays ready for expansion.Very satisfied!

I bought this to replace a 10-year-old super loud, power-hungry server in my basement. Absolutely brilliant product, works as advertised and I'm very happy. Shucked some cheap WD 10TB EasyStore drives for storage. I also replaced the fans with quieter Noctua units. I have 3 RAID 1 arrays using BTRFS: 2x SSDs for the Synology OS & VMs, 2x WD 10TB for media, and 2x WD 4TB for surveillance cold storage. Be warned; the Atom CPU in this model is not a great choice for running any serious Virtual Machines. I am running 2 Windows Server VMs: a domain controller and a Ubiquiti Controller. They're quite sluggish, but get the job done. I installed 32GB ECC Corsair RAM for 3 reasons: 1) dual-channel RAM runs faster 2) spare RAM for VMs 3) BTRFS requires ECC RAM to provide full data protection. BTRFS is about as close as you can get to 100% data protection right now but only if you use ECC RAM, and this is the cheapest Synology NAS with support for ECC. I tried Surveillance Station and found it to be under-powered and unreliable. The Atom CPU just isn't up to the task. However, as a NAS and very basic VM host it works wonderfully. I back up weekly to a WD 10TB EasyStore, and swap it out once a month with an identical off-site unit. Absolutely first class for keeping your data safe. Great job Synology!

He tenido varias NAS Synology y esta es de las mejores. No es de rack, es de desktop, pero funciona excelente para el hogar y la empresa. Tiene 8 slots para 8 discos y soporta raid 0, 1, 5, 6 y 10. Tiene un CPU muy bueno por lo que la uso para PLEX y NVR sin mayor problema (6 cámaras). EL video no se pone lento, carga rápido y tiene 4 conexiones de red. Es silenciosa pues los ventiladores son enormes. El software de Synology es el mejor, fácil de usar y libre de problemas. Este modelo tiene mucho software para instalarle y ejecutarlo sin mayor problema. Synology siempre recomendado y este modelo es de verdad calidad premium por sus funciones.