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As the Synology RackStation RS812 is a rackmount product, the box is large and quite heavy, as we would expect. Almost all rackmount products have a metal shell for the professional sector.
The bundle contains the software disc, user manual, rackmount support panels and a regional specific power cable. We do recommend you grab the software from the Synology website to ensure you are running the latest revision.
The RS812 is built like a tank, which is reassuring. The naked metal shell covers the whole body, with a black plastic front panel section. The RS812 measures 44mm x 430.5mm x 457.5mm (HxWxD) and weighs 6.9kg.
Along the front of the unit are the four drive bays and a power button and LED indicators which highlight drive and network activity. Rackmount bolts are in place for mounting the RS812 inside a tower rack.
Along the rear of the RS812 are several fan ports, alongside the power connector. There are also two LAN ports for failback and aggregation support and several USB ports and a single eSATA port. The eSATA port is specifically in place for the Synology RX410 bay which doubles the hard drive support from four to eight.
The RS812 has great airflow inside, with 3 small fans (40mm) mounted at the rear to ensure cool air flows across all the components and to eliminate any ‘dead zones'.
The front panel is connected to the main board via a ribbon cable which runs along the top of the front drive bay.
The RS812 is using a 1.6GHZ ARM processor with a total of 512MB of Hynix DDR3 on the motherboard. The board is passively cooled, although there will be some air flow from the surrounding fans. If you want to analyse the board in closer detail, then check out the High Resolution Image Gallery later in the review.
It is always reassuring to see a company using a quality power supply in their products. Synology are using a high grade Seasonic 80 Plus Bronze certified 250W power supply in the RS812. Bonus points for this.
The four drive bays are constructed from metal and each bay has a felt covering to protect the sensitive components underneath the drive.
Excellent unit, very good price for what you get. its not the fastest, but I see some of their business NAS systems are up to £3k. good budget model.