Synology cloud station drive review install#

This is very disappointing, since all the NAS servers that I reviewed last year already support USB 3.0 and have more peripheral ports. On the back, the server has just two USB 2.0 ports to host more storage or printers. The 'se' designation stands for 'single-role,' meaning the server is not designed to run multiple roles (tasks) at the same time. On the inside, it's powered by a minimal Marvell Armada 370 processor running at 800MHz, and 256MB of DDR3 memory that's not upgradable. The DS214se has nothing to impress when it comes to its hardware components. You can buy it preloaded with only 2TB hard drives, however, so if you want to use 3TB or larger hard drives, you're better off getting the diskless version and buying the hard drives separately. The server supports standard SATA internal drives of both 3.5-inch (desktop) and 2.5-inch (laptop) designs, of any capacities. Considering the logistics, you can't expect to swap out the hard drive while the server is still running, as in the case of servers with front-facing drive bays. But when you do, note that you'll need to turn off the server before you start the job. Otherwise, chances are you won't need to service the internal hard drive for a long time. You only need to do this if you buy the diskless version of the server. While this is quite easy to do (you just have to undo two little screws on the back and slide out the left side of the server to open it), I much prefer the front-facing drive-bay design found in new newer DiskStations, such as the DS712+, or the DS1513+.

Synology cloud station drive review install#

This means you have to open the chassis before you can install or replace the internal hard drives.

The DS214se uses the chassis design of a much older generation, such as the DS410 that came out four years ago.

Dong Ngo/CNET Robust operating system, budget hardware Head over the page to read about the new features and our performance numbers where we've compared the DS212j and DS212+ using older versions of the DSM operating system and DSM 4.0.The DS214se requires you to open its chassis to service the internal drives. Synology has also upped the hard disk capacity support from 3TB per drive to 4TB, although the latter have yet to make an appearance on shop shelves at the time of writing. It occupies the entire rear width of the enclosure, is whisper quiet (Synology claims 2dBA have been knocked off the noise level compared to the DS211j) and should mean your hard disks are kept nice and cool too. There is at least one thing to get excited about, though, and that's the fact Synology has decided to include the same 92mm fan that was such a boon with the DS212+. The DS212j is cheaper and some people probably do just store it away in a cupboard, rather than have it easily accessible for quickly dumping photos or data of USB storage devices, but personally we've found these features to be quite useful, so it's a shame they're missing. Both it's more premium dual-bay models include these, and previous models have at least had a front USB port to make copying files off a USB stick or camera memory card a little easier. Something that seems a little odd is that Synology has decided to omit both USB 3 and anything in the way of front USB ports or an SD card reader from the DS212j. This is far less of a specs boost compared to the jump we saw with the DS211j over its predecessor, so it remains to be seen whether the DS212j might be worth an upgrade. They have the same Marvell Kirkwood mv6281 1.2GHz CPU, both only offer USB 2 and nothing in the way of USB 3, with the main difference being the DS212j has double the memory, sporting 256MB over the DS211j's 128MB.

In fact in some cases it's lacking compared to its predecessor. If you already own a Synology NAS box, you can skip the review and go straight to the DSM 4.0 overview here.Īt face value, the DS212j doesn't seem to be a vast improvement over the DS211j. We last looked at one of Synology's budget dual-bay NAS enclosures over a year ago and not only has the company launched a new generation since then (see our review of the DS212+ here), but it's released a revamped version of its operating system too, which sports several interesting features.Īs such, we'll be taking a look at another model in the DS212 range, the DS212j - Synology's cheapest dual-bay enclosure - as well as giving you an overview of the new DSM 4.0 operating system. UK Price (as reviewed): £162.99 (inc VAT)