Synology DS415play Review

1. Introduction2. Packaging3. The Hardware4. Installing Drives and Performance Testing5. Software6. Closing Thoughts7. View All Pages

With the DS415play up and running you open a browser, connect to the NAS and install Synology DSM5.0 (DiskStation Manager) software which takes about ten minutes.

This is a simple process that requires the bare minimum of user input. We have discussed Synology DSM on a number of occasions and continue to be impressed by the extensive list of features and appealing GUI.

I like the configuration screen but am keen to see Synology use a status LCD display to show how the NAS is using its capacity and to give details about the drives and current workload.

Uploading files to the new NAS is a straightforward matter of marking a load of files in a digital library and clicking ‘upload'. The process is simple however the performance caused me a few headaches.

I was timing the upload of 10GB of files which was an arbitrary number that I picked to make the maths easy. The two files I was using were 6.5GB and 3.5GB in size and the upload took 411 seconds which worked out to 24.3MBps. That is absurdly slow and it was clear the larger file was taking much, much longer than the smaller file.

I wondered whether Firefox 30 might be to blame and re-ran the test using Internet Explorer 11 which did indeed work faster at 359 seconds however it was still very slow.

I couldn't let this go so I uploaded three 3.5GB movies (which works out to 10.5GB so slightly larger) using Firefox 30 and that took 2 mins 17 secs which is the equivalent of 137.2MBps. Uploading those three files with Internet Explorer 11 took slightly longer at 2 mins 21.3 secs however that difference is negligible. It is clear to me that transferring huge files (6.5GB in this case) really slows the process compared a number of large files (3.5GB).

Downloading a batch of files from the DS415play delivers a single zipped file. My 500MB test batch of MP3 files whistled through in 4.3 seconds which works out to 112.MBps. That seems outrageously fast to me and I was amazed to see that Synology claims a write speed ‘in excess of 112.45MBps' which is the first time I have ever achieved a manufacturer's claimed speed for anything, ever.

The second run of this test took 5.1 seconds which is 95.1MBps and still impressively fast.

Uploading small files was the most painful task I performed with the DS415play as the speed dropped to 9.1MBps. It is worth pointing out this is considerably faster than the DS414j which had limped along at 4.4MBps and I see from my notes that the DS214se (single core Marvell processor) could only manage 2.9MBps uploading small files.

In terms of usability the DS415play opened files just as smoothly and rapidly as you could wish. I didn't get to use the DS214play myself as that was bagged by the Editor however I am confident the DS415play is pretty much the same NAS with the addition of two more drive bays.

The key feature that makes the ‘play' different is the Intel Atom processor. If you wish to stream HD movies to all manner of devices including iPhones and iPod Touch you will find a non ‘play' Synology models can transcode 720p whereas the ‘play' can handle 1080p.

It is a fine distinction that Synology covers in detail in an FAQ about playing HD media.

http://www.synology.com/en-uk/support/faq/577

The message here is that a ‘play' model will play any file on any device.

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