Synology DS213j NAS Review

Allan 'Zardon' Campbell June 26, 2013 Featured Announcement, NAS

The Synology DS213j ships in a white and green box, this has changed over last years model, which was in a plain white box.

Inside, is literature on the product, a software disc, mounting screws, regional specific power cable and power adapter.

The unit is identically styled to the DS212j – shipping inside a white plastic chassis with the ‘Synology' name engraved into the side panels. It is a nicely designed product, especially considering the modest price point.

It remains stable on a variety of surfaces due to the four black feet on either corner.

The front panel has four LED's which highlight activity of the power, connection and hard drive(s). Underneath is the power switch to turn the unit on and off.

The rear of the DS213J is home to a large 92mm fan. Underneath are two USB ports, and a Gigabit lan connector. The power connector is close by. It is worth pointing out that this unit is wireless capable if you spend a little extra for the dongle.

The DS213j is easy to open, being a screwless chassis design you simply pull back on one side. It then ‘splits' into two sections. The side of the chassis is held in place with three plastic prongs.

The removable side of the chassis is hollow plastic, but it is thick enough to withstand the rigours of daily use. The two drives are mounted horizontally inside. This part of the install isn't screwless however, so you will need access to a Philips head screwdriver.

While the outer shell is plastic, the insides are all metal. The rear mounted 92mm fan is attached directly to the motherboard via a three pin header.

Synology are using a nippy 1.2ghz processor in the DS213j, with 512mb of DDR3. The DS212j from last year had 256mb of system memory so the DS213j should be a better performer, especially when dealing with additional connections and more complex requests.