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Synology's DiskStation j series of NAS are designed as entry level systems for home use but most of today's entry level NAS offer far more than just a place to dump files on, which is about all you could do with them in the past. The DiskStation DS218j has a slighter faster 1.3GHz dual core processor than the 1.0GHz one powering the previous DS216j although the amount and type of memory, 512MB DDR3 stays the same.
Any NAS is only as good as its software and to this end Synology's DSM (DiskStation Manger) OS is one of the best around, being updated at regular intervals with more feature support being added together with more additions to an already impressive list of apps available in the Package Center.
Although it may be an entry level NAS, thanks to DSM the DS218j has some impressive capabilities especially when it comes to file sharing and syncing across different platforms even when away from home. QuickConnect enables access to files on any Window, Mac or Linux device. The DS photo, DS audio, DS video and DS file apps enable Android, iOS and Windows Phone devices to access the appropriate Stations (Photo Station, Audio Station, Video Station and File Station) on the DS218j while DS get allows for remote managing and monitoring of files being download on the Download Station.
The Cloud Station Suite allows for file syncing across multiple devices and platforms; Windows PC, Mac, Linux, iOS or Android tablets & phones and file shares are protected by HTTPS, built-in firewall and multiple IP and account intrusion auto-blocking mechanisms. With the Cloud Sync app support for Google Drive, Dropbox, Microsoft OneDrive, Baidu and Box you can keep everything in sync with home DiskStation.
Synology quote Sequential Read/Write performance figures for the DS218j at 113MB/s and 112MB/s respectively, speeds we could confirm with the ATTO benchmark. The tested unit produced a read score of 118MB/s for both RAID 0 and RAID 1arrays with writes at 117MB/s for both arrays. Although the DS218j has a hardware encryption engine, it did struggle somewhat during our tests dropping some 50MB/s for writes and 41MB/s for reads when transferring a 16GB folder of mixed file types.
We found the DiskStation DS218j on Overclockers UK for £174.95 HERE
Pros.
- Good overall performance.
- DSM OS.
- Whisper quiet when working.
Cons.
- Performance drops off when dealing with encrypted files.
Kitguru says: Although marketed as an entry-level NAS, the combination of support for very large capacity drives and Synology's DSM operating system make it a powerful 2-bay storage solution.
