WWW.T3INDIA.COM APRIL 2019 T3 Tomorrow ’s Technology Today 71Tested
heeaseofuseandaccessibilityiswhymanyconsumers
prefera cloudbackupsolutionovera physicalone.
However,thingshavechangedwithsomesolutions
offeringtheprivacyofa physicalbackup,butwiththe
easeofaccessingit overtheinternetaswell.Take
Synology’s D S2 18+fo ri n s t a n c e.
It’s a compactnetworked-attachedstoragesolutionbySynology
thathasitsownoperatingsystemandisenhancedbytheservicesit
supports.NASdevicesaremeanttobetuckedawayinonecornerofa
homeoroffice,whichiswhyyoudon’t seea strongfocusonthe
design.While DS218+’sdesignisnotitsstrongestsuit,it isstillwell
thought out.ThefrontfeaturesstatusLEDs,powerandcopybuttons,
USB3.0portand2-bayslotsfor3.5-inchand2.5-inchdrivesthatare
concealedneatlybehindtheremovableplasticcover.Thebackhasa
fantokeepthe internaltemperatureincheck, alongwithtwoUSB
3.0ports,aneSATAportanda Gigabit Ethernetport.
Settingupa NASseemslikea dauntingtaskbutit’srefreshingto
seehoweasyit istosetupthisSynologydevice.Thewebinterface
doesagoodjob offindingtheNASonthenetworkandinstall
DiskStationManager(DSM)togettheNASupandrunning. DSMis
Synology’s op erat i n gsystemfortheNASthatworkswithinthe
browser.AnotherpointtonoteislikemanyotherdedicatedNAS
solutions,DS218+requiresyoutoaddyourdrives,whichsupports a
maximuminternalrawcapacityofupto28TBandRAID
configuration.
Poweringthe NASisIntel’sdual-coreCeleronchipalongwith2GB
ofRAM.There’s anadditionalRAMslotthatcanbe usedtobumpthe
RAMtoupto6GB.Duringouruse,the NASperformedwithno
hiccups,butfewuserssimultaneously accessingthe storageslowsit
down.
Homeuserscantake advantage ofsettingitupasa Plexserverand
enjoyallthe contentontheirsupportedviewingdeviceorstream
stored4Kcontenton-the-fly withonlinetranscodingviaVideo
Stationthatwillplayina compatibleformatandresolutiononthe
viewingdevice.
There’s adedicatedappstoreforthe SynologyNASthathelpsto
enhancethe usabilityofthedevice.Forinstance,CloudSyncwill
allowuserstokeeptheirlocalandpublicclouddatasynced, use
anotherapptotake controlofcompleteOffice 365 data,oruse
QuickConnecttoaccessNASdatafromanywhere.Thepossibilities
areendless.
TheSynologyDS218+isa power-packedNASsolutionataround
Rs.30,000(onamazon.in)thatbringsa lotofflexibilitywitha whole
ecosystemofapps and services tomake the NAS morethan just a
storage solution.Compact NAS solution for home users
SYNC ON
T
PRICE` 30 , 000 URLwww.synology.comDIMENSIONS
16 5x 10 8x 23 2.2mmWEIGHT1.30kgCPUDual-core
IntelCeleronJ3355MEMORY 2 GBDRIVEBAYSTwo
COMPATIBLEDRIVE3.5”SATAHDD,2.5”SATAHDD,
2.5”SATASSDSUPPORTEDRAIDTYPESynology Hybrid
RAID,Basic JBOD,RAID 0 ,RAID 1 CONNECTIVITY
GigabitEthernet,3xUSB3.0port,1xeSATA
TRANSCODINGSUPPORTYe s ,H. 26 4(AVC), H.265
(HEVC),MPEG-2andVC- 1VERDICT
WE’REIMPRESSED4Ktranscoding, Plexsupport
WE’DIMPROVEShouldofferwithadisk combo
tohomeusers
THELASTWORDTheDS 218 +isadecentNASforhome
users,thatoffersgoodnessofPlexsupportand
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