Synology DS212j NAS Review – the new budget class leader

1. Introduction2. Synology DiskStation DS212j3. Synology DS212j NAS (Super High Res Gallery)4. The DiskManager Operating System5. Testing Methodology & Performance6. Acoustics, Power Consumption and Temperatures7. Closing Thoughts8. View All Pages

A very important aspect of a NAS system purchase is the operating system. We have covered the Synology DiskManager Operating system many times before and it is a pleasure to use. It is a multi threaded, multi tasking configuration which is continually improving.

Today we are looking at Version 3.2, released only a few weeks ago, which offers the following improvements:

• Business convergence and management efficiency – Synology’s comprehensive LDAP service incorporates the abilities to create an LDAP directory server and to integrate a DiskStation into users’ existing Mac® or Linux environments for easy account & privilege control. Syslog Server gathers all logs aggregated from multiple devices and facilitates troubleshooting with different types of search criteria. CIFS files in different servers can be shared via the same access portal using Remote Folder. Virtual Drive makes it convenient to mount distributed ISO images onto a DiskStation.
• Business’ mobility – DSM mobile realises server management mobility. IT administrators can slide fingers left or right to enable or disable services as well as manage accounts and privileges of DiskStations on their iOS or Android™ devices. DSM 3.2 supports Google Cloud Print™, with which users can print documents from their mobile devices to distantly located printers over the Internet, without installing any drivers.
• Rich multimedia experience – The brand new Photo Station 5 features a theme designer for album customisation and accelerates thumbnail generation. Users can strike a balance between their privacy and social life by protecting selected albums with passwords and importing photos to Facebook with support expanded to major file hosting sites, Download Station accelerates file hunting.
• Mac-friendly solutions – Synology is among the first in the NAS industry to support Mac® OS X Lion and provides a reliable backup destination for Time Machine®. Surveillance Station has taken the lead by operating on the latest Safari® browser, delivering an easy to deploy and cost effective NVR solution on Mac. Moreover, camera grouping and batch editing as well as common privilege profile grants rapid large scale deployment.
• Enhanced user experience – The revamped Package Centre allows users to discover and install latest applications in a snap. Package Centre also makes it easy to update users’ selected applications after they receive desktop or e-mail notifications. DSM 3.2 incorporates advanced HTML5 capabilities and CSS3 style, engaging users through drag-n-drop support in File Browser and Download Station, and allowing them to upload files from their PC desktop. Synology Hybrid RAID makes volume ready for use 95% faster than before.

Synology Assistant is a free network client which detects all Synology devices installed, returning a status report. The DS211j needs set up initially, requiring the firmware (.PAT) file to be installed.

Synology have an up to date website with new versions of .pat files available for download. We would advise people to use this, rather than a potentially outdated file which will be available on the supplied optical disc. We received this product before it was released on the website, so we used the .pat file on the disc.

The inital install procedure only takes a couple of minutes and Synology Assistant should update with a ‘ready' status. You can now double click the NAS device and it will load the admin interface direct to your primary browser. We are using Firefox V8 for all screenshots today.

The first course of action is to set up a partition on the hard drive (s). We are using two Samsung 500GB hard drives for the review today. The Synology software is very user friendly offering a step by step guide for setting up the hard drives.

Various options are allowed, including Raid 0 and Raid 1. We are using Raid 0, so we maintain full 1TB capacity with maximum performance. If any of the drives fail however we lose all data, so pay attention to these modes when setting up the device for yourself.

The format procedure can take a few minutes to complete, although if you select the ‘check disk option' it will take significantly longer. It is worth doing this however if you are unsure of the age of the drives you are using, or their health status.

There are panels for system overviews, and many of the functions are accessed directly from the control panel window as shown above. It is all exceptionally well laid out and is still our operating system of choice for a NAS system.

If you have more than one Diskstation installed on a network, be aware that they will both be configured with the name ‘DISKSTATION' name by default. This can cause an ID confliction with Windows which means that only one NAS system will be accessible. We recommend renaming the NAS systems to the specific model numbers – in this case DS212j.

The next stage is to set up a shared folder, so data can be stored to the DS212j across the network. This only takes a few minutes for the NAS to configure.

The NAS system has full support for Jumbo frames which can aid performance if copying large files is your primary concern. The machine can handle 512 user accounts, 128 groups and 256 shared folders with up to 64 concurrent connections via SAMBA, FTP, AFP.

The device has full hibernation and power saving options, which can be configured to suit individual demands.

The DiskManager software offers many applications for media and networking support. Photo station supports BMP, JPG (jpe, jpeg), GIF, RAW (arw, srf, sr2, dcr, k25, kdc, cr2, crw, nef, mrw, ptx, pef, raf,
3fr, erf, mef, mos, orf, rw2, dng, x3f image formats and 3G2, 3GP, ASF, AVI, DAT, DivX, FLV, M4V, MOV, MP4, MPEG, MPG, QT, WMV, XviD, RM, RMVB, VOB, RV30, RV40, AC3, AMR, WMA3 video formats.

The DNLA/UPnP Media Server can support both Xbox 360 and Playstation 3 with AAC, FLAC, M4A, MP3, Ogg, Vorbis, PCM, WAV, WMA, WMA VBR, WMA PRO, WMA Lossless audio formats. 3GP, 3G2, ASF, AVI, DAT, DivX, DVR-MS, ISO, M2T, M2TS, M4V, MKV, MP4, MPEG1, MPEG2, MPEG4, MTS, MOV, QT, SWF, TP, TRP, TS, VOB, WMV, XviD, RV30, RV40, AC3, AMR and WMA3 video formats. It also can handle BMP, JPG (jpe, jpeg), GIF, ICO, PNG, PSD, TIF (tiff), UFO, RAW (arw, srf, sr2, dcr, k25, kdc, cr2, crw, nef, mrw, ptx, pef, raf, 3fr, erf, mef, mos, orf, rw2, dng, x3f ) image formats.

iTunes Server is also supported with MP3, M4A, M4P, WAV, AIF audio formats, M4V, MOV and MP4 video formats and M3U, WPL Playlist Format. Two printers can be hooked into the system supporting LPR, CIFS, AppleTalk and Multi Functional Print Server.

If all this isn’t enough it also offers the following iPhone and Android applications.: DS Photo+, DS Audio, DS Cam, DS File (iPhone only) and DS finder (iPhone only).

Survelliance station is a useful feature, especially for a business. Users can hook an IP camera into the unit. We have looked at this in detail before and if you missed it before you can read it here.

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