Micro_Mart_-_January_7_2016_

iAn exceptionalNAS drive from Synology

iAlthoughgood,it is quiteexpensive

S

ynologyhas, in the

past,offered a wide

and variedselection

of NASunitsfor both

businessand homeusers

alike.The qualityis generally

very highand,of course,the

addedbenefitof the built-in

SynologyDiskStationManager

software has lured in many

customers.

This is a two-bayNAS

box,costingin the regionof

around£300but witha pretty

impressivelist of features

and specifications.Whatyou

get for yourmoneyis a unit

witha quad-core 1.4GHz

Annapurna LabsAlpine

AL-314CPU,completewith

hardware encryption,2GBof

DDR3memory, two USB 3.0

ports,an eSATA portand the

latestcopyof DSM5.2 all

ready to go.

The two hot-swapdrive

bayscan take3.5"or 2.5"

SATA-3 or SATA-2 disksup to

a maximumof 16TB(a pair of

8TB drives),formattedwith

EXT4and in an assortmentof

RAIDlevels.And you'llalso

find a pair gigabitEthernet

portsand a decentsized

92mmquietfan to helpkeep

the fitteddrivescool.

There are a numberof great

features that comewiththe

DS715.The first is the ability

to expandthe storagecapacity

by usingthe eSATA port and

the SynologyDX513expansion

unit – whichincidentally

DETAILS

• Price:£300


• Manufacturer:
  Synology


• Website:
  goo.gl/1SXkSC


• Requirements:
  Wirednetworkin place,
  anymodernbrowserfor
  accessandadmin

SynologyDiskStationDS715

Two-bayNASDrives

can housefive drivesto a

maximumraw capacityof

40TB.Addedto the 16TBfrom

the DS715,that bringsthe

totalstoragecapacityto an

impressive56TB.

This,however, doesn’t

meanthat the DS715is a

business-onlydevice.Within

the DSM,you’llfind the

usualmediaserver, photo

station,audiostationand

backupadd-onpackages.

But you’llalso haveaccess

to a customcloudstation,

mailstation,webserverand

a surveillancestation.There’s

evena VPN stationfor up to

15 simultaneousconnections.

Needlessto say, you’lllikely

find a DSMapp (or, rather,

add-onpackage)to suit your

needs,whileaddingfurther

use to the NASunit.

The designof the DS715is

muchin the samevein as the

8

6

Quality

Value

88

Overall

otherSynologyproducts.A

compactunit,measuring 157

x 103 x 232mm,housedin a

matte-blackmetalcasewith

toughenedplasticfront and

rear faces.The drivebaysare

easilyaccessedvia the push

and releaseclipsat the front,

allowingyou to slidethe drive

bay out and fit or replacethe

hard disks.It’s fairlystandard

stuff but in a designthat

workswell and has proved

itselfto be low-keyenough

to standin a livingroom or

office withoutdrawingtoo

muchattentionto itself.

Fittinga coupleof drives

and gettingthemset up in a

RAIDarrayis extraordinarily

simple.Onceyou attachto

the DS715,the DSMwalks

you throughthe processin a

quickbut intelligentfashion,

offeringyou more advanced

options,shouldyou already

knowwhatyou want.Within

a matterof 15 minutesor so,

our pair of 2TB test drives

were set up in RAID0 and

ready for content,as was the

DSMdesktop.

The SynologyDSM

may seemextraordinarily

expensive,but considering

whatyou get, it’s a rather

extraordinarybit of kit.

However, the equivalent

QNAPbox is a £100cheaper,

so you’llneedto lookinto it a

littlemore first.