Synology RackStation RS212 Review

1. Introduction2. Synology RackStation RS2123. Synology RackStation RS212 (Super High Res Gallery)4. The DiskManager Operating System5. Testing Methodology and Performance6. Acoustics, Power Consumption & Temperatures7. Closing Thoughts8. View All Pages

The RS212 arrives in a long, flat box with only the ‘Synology' branding on the front. They include a product sticker on the top of the box with the main specifications.

Inside, the RS212 is protected between thick foam, and is encased underneath a soft padded cover.

They include drive mounting screws, a power cable and literature on the product, with the software required. We tend to visit the Synology Download Center for updated versions of the software. Synology also include a rack mount assembly kit.

The RS212 is crafted from a metal chassis, as would be expected for a business oriented device. It is quite heavy, weighing 3.12kg. It measures 44 x 430.5 x 287.5 mm.

The right side includes three small fans which intake air from this side of the chassis, forcing air across the left, then out. The left side of the chassis features several holes to allow for improved air flow around the hard drive area.

All of the connectors are at the front of the unit, apart from the power socket which is at the rear.

The left of the RS212 features two drive bays, with support for 3TB hard drives. It has support for 2 LAN connectors, with Failover and Link Aggregation Support. There is also a USB, eSATA and COM port at the front for additional backup capability.

At the right, are various status indicators for power, hard drive and network activity. The power switch is underneath.

Synology are using 256MB of Hynix DDR3 memory, and a 1.6ghz processor which are connected to the Marvell 88SX7042-BDU1 chipset, offering PCI-e 4 Port SATA II support. This motherboard can be removed for complete replacement by Synology in case of failure at a later date.

At the side, are three 40mm fans, which we hope are well under control by the Synology firmware, otherwise noise emissions could get painful.

At the back, protected underneath a little layer of thick cardboard is the custom built power supply, which feeds all the components inside, including the motherboard and fans.

A small daughtercard at the left holds both power and data headers for the dual hard drives, which simply slide in from the front of the chassis.

Synology are using metal drive trays for this product which is a welcome addition. Both trays have a fine padded layer on top to protect the sensitive drive electronics.

Installing both drives only takes a few minutes. The engineering standards are what we would expect from Synology, a very smooth movement as both drives are slotted into the internal power and data headers.

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