Synology DiskStation DS118 1-bay NAS Review

1. Introduction2. Synology DiskStation DS1183. DSM OS4. Usability5. ATTO / CrystalDiskMark6. Backup / Restore7. Intel NASPT8. Real Life File Transfers9. Closing Thoughts10. View All Pages

Synology's DiskStation DS118 is a real step up from the previous generation DiskStation DS116 using more modern CPU and memory technology than the older unit. In place of the 32-bit dual core processor and DDR3 memory of the DS116, the DS118 uses a 64-bit CPU along with DDR4 memory.

At first glance the idea of a single bay NAS might seem to be just to a glorified external hard drive using a network port to connect to a PC rather than USB etc. After all with just a single disk, it offers as much data protection as an external hard drive.

But with the choice of CPU in the DS118 (bringing hardware encryption and a transcoding engine that can do 10-bit 4K H.265 video transcoding on the fly) and support for its own outstanding DSM (DiskStation Manager) software, Synology have brought a single bay unit to market that offers a wealth of possibilities. With support for just a single drive, you'll need to keep a firm hand on backing up any data on the drive, just in case anything goes wrong and as the unit supports drives up to 12TB capacity that could be an awful lot of data to lose.

We found the DiskStation DS118 for £170.36 (inc VAT) on Span.com HERE

Pros

• DMS software.
• Quad core processor.
• Hardware encryption.
• Transcoding engine.

Cons

• Single disk offers no data protection.
• Not cheap.

Kitguru says: The idea of a one bay NAS unit may seem a bit odd but the combination of hardware features and the DMS OS make it an idea tool to use for dedicated jobs on an office or even home network.

 

 

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