Review – Synology DiskStation DS220+ NAS

Cloud storage and file sharing services are the things that I use the most nowadays to store and share files with my friends and family members, but we don’t really have full control of what we have uploaded to these services. This is where NAS comes into play – especially for users like me.

In this article, I’ll be talking about the Synology DiskStation DS220+ NAS that I have been using for some time and the experience I have had with it. NAS nowadays is easy to set up and the Synology DiskStation DS220+ NAS we have here is probably one of the easiest to manage. And the best part is, you’ll get to have a lot of the features that can be found on renowned service providers while having full control of the files you store and shared with others.

Included Accessories

The accessories that come with the DS220+ are pretty much all you need to power up the NAS; the power brick, power cord, and two ethernet cables. Do note that the NAS doesn’t come with any hard drives, so you’ll have to purchase them separately.

If this is your first time configuring a NAS, the user manual is what you shouldn’t skip because everything you need to know is written inside.

The Synology DiskStation DS220+

Like any 2-bay NAS you’ll find on the market, the DS220+ can support up to two hard drives. You may check for the DS220+ hard drives compatibility list here: https://sy.to/bxdqf

The drive can be removed and installed by removing the front cover. Aside from the obvious way to install the hard drives, you can also see a RAM slot located near the side of the right drive bay that allows you to upgrade the memory from 2GB to 6GB in total. It’s a rather weird configuration there but it’ll still help to improve the performance and I won’t really complain about that.

The DS220+ also features two USB 3.0 ports, one at the front and another one at the back for USB device sharing, and two 1GbE LAN ports for network connectivity and Link Aggregation. You can find a series of indicator lights at the front for quick status checking, and a Kensington lock at the back for securing the NAS unit.

Setting up DSM 7.1 and user experience

The main operating system that is powering the DS220+ and every Synology NAS is the DiskStation Manager, which is a very intuitive web-based operating system. Installation is easy and it can be done under 15 minutes if you have the DSM downloaded and a ready-to-use Synology account.

Starting off with the user interface, it can be accessed using your web browser and it feels as if you’re using another system on a remote desktop. The majority of the essentials are readily available on the desktop as soon as you’re logged in and you can install the packages you need in the Package Center. Custom packages can be installed using the Manual Install option, but I don’t recommend doing so unless you’re 100% sure that it’s safe.

There are plenty of packages you can install using the Package Center but since I will not be using every package available, I’ll just focus on what I think is useful for my personal preference.

Since I work on different systems most of the time, the Synology Office and Synology Drive Server are totally indispensable. Although it works almost identically to Google Drive and Google Docs, the sad unstable connection offered by my internet service provider makes work difficult when I’m working from home. So instead of installing an office app on all the systems, I’m using for work, both Synology Office and Synology Drive Server work great as the local alternative that is almost free from all the network connection issues.

Work aside, Synology Drive also works great as a personal file sharing that I am in full control of. Sharing files with friends and families can be done with ease without any privacy concerns if you only allow authorized users to access the files. Packages like Plex Media Server and Audio Station also make things easy if the file you’re sharing is in video or audio format.

You can also find a handful of Synology apps on Google Play or the Apple App Store if you only want to access some files on your phone. Synology Drive and DS Audio are the apps that I use most of the time when I’m on my phone, mainly to upload photos and footage captured when I attend events or some friendly gatherings, or for streaming music from my own library because I don’t use any public music streaming services.

Performance Test

It’s always recommended to have your NAS connected to a gigabit network to properly utilize it, so you’ll have to make sure that you are using a gigabit router with at least a CAT5e ethernet cable.

With the right setup ready, we’re able to get a consistent 120-150MB/s transfer from our main test system to the NAS without any hiccups. I did notice a false reading on the NAS, which is showing something that is more than what we have observed. Though that doesn’t really affect any of the performance and I’m able to retrieve the files that I need without any issue.

One thing I did notice during one of the tests is that streaming videos from the NAS while uploading files to it will affect the upload performance depending on the size of the file being uploaded.

Conclusion

NAS works great as always-ready personal storage for users who need a lot of storage space that can be accessed anytime, anywhere without the usual privacy and security concerns when you have your files stored on publicly available cloud storage or file sharing services.

Currently retailed at RM 1,599, I’d say that’s a pretty justifiable price for the Synology DiskStation DS220+. It works great as a personal usage oriented NAS that offers both value and performance, which makes a great choice if you have the budget to get started with a NAS but not going too big into this.

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