Synology DiskStation DS712+ NAS Review

 

Mobility always comes at a price, normally that price is speed or storage. Smaller devices just don’t have the storage capacity of the larger counterparts. The reason I make this statement is to point out a problem with today’s devices going smaller and lighter. The market has been driven to these smaller devices which tends to allow users to move from single workstations to multiple machines scattered throughout the house. The best way to protect and store your data with so many devices is to store it either on the cloud or on a network attached storage (NAS) device, unfortunately not all network storage is created equal. I bring you the Synology DS712+ NAS designed around protecting and backup your data in either a large home environment or a small/medium office. The Synology DS712+ features 2 drive bays either for redundancy or speed several USB ports and to connect to all of that the DS712+ is sporting dual network interfaces for taking advantage of fail over or link aggregation support.

Synology DS712+ with Citrix and VMware ready Certifications.

Synology’s caption on the DS712+

Synology^® DiskStation DS712+ offers a high-performance, scalable, and full-featured network attached storage solution that meets the needs of small and medium-sized businesses that require an efficient way to centralize data protection, simplify data management, and rapidly scale storage capacity with minimal time spent on setup and management. The Synology DS712+ is backed with Synology’s 3-year limited warranty.

This is not the first NAS from Synol0gy we have reviewed. If you are looking for something that is larger and more expensive you might want to look at the DS411 +II we reviewed recently.

One of the great features of this Synology NAS is the power of expandability, not everyone needs a 5 bay NAS right away so you can start small with the DS712+ and later add the DX510 for a number of additional drive slots without sacrificing speed by utilizing the E-Sata port to link the two devices at a high throughput.

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A closer look:

Box facing with info on some of the advance features contained within.

Side view with specs.

The Synology DS712+ comes in a large box that is easily twice the size of the actual NAS. This is obviously to accommodate all the padding but it could be off putting to someone at first glance looking for a small NAS. That being said I like the clean look of the packaging.

The rear of the packaging shows how the DS712+ can be a total solution.

The final side of the package shows additional features as well as additional advanced features.

As I stated above the actual unit is about half the size of the packaging. The build of the DS712 is much like that of a mini computer case with plastic front bezel and metal side panels that come off much like a small for factor PC. The overall feel of the unit is solid and surprisingly heavy when drives are installed.

The Side of the unit features an air intake in the form of the company name.

The front of the unit has a black plastic bezel that is home to LED’s for both drive activity and LAN activity. Unlike some products we have reviewed these lights are unobtrusive. Each of the drive bays are lockable – while not super secure locks they will keep idle hands from messing up your array.

As you can see I am testing with 2x 2TB WD black drives.

Back side of the DS712+ showing dual LAN ports 2x USB ports and the E-Sata port. The fan that dominates the back of the unit is a 92x92mm fan that is surprisingly quiet and provides cooling for internal components and the drives.

Hardware Specs
CPU Frequency : 1.8GHz Floating Point Memory : DDR3 1GB Internal HDD/SSD : 3.5″ or 2.5″ SATA(II) X 2 (Hard drive not included) Max Internal Capacity : 6TB (2X 3TB HDD) (Capacity may vary by RAID types) (See All Supported HDD) Hot Swappable HDD External HDD Interface : USB 2.0 Port X 3, eSATA Port X 1 Size (HxWxD) : 157 X 103.5 X 232 mm Weight : 1.69Kg LAN : Gigabit X2 Link Aggregation Wake on LAN/WAN System Fan : 92x92mm x1 Wireless Support	Noise Level : 19.2 dB(A) Power Recovery AC Input Power Voltage : 100V to 240V AC Power Frequency : 50 / 60Hz, Single Phase Power Consumption : 27.5W (Access) ; 17.6W (HDD Hibernation) Operating Temperature : 40 to 95°F (5 to 35°C) Storage Temperature : 15 to 155°F (-10 to 70°C) Relative Humidity : 5% to 95% RH Maximum Operating Altitude : 10,000 feet Certification : FCC Class B, CE Class B, BSMI Class B Warranty : 3 Years
Applications
File Browser File Station FTP Server Bandwidth Control, Custom FTP Passive Port Range, Anonymous FTP, Transfer Log Mail Server Supported Mail Server Protocol : POP3, SMTP, IMAP Web Station Virtual Host (up to 30 websites) PHP/MySQL Alternative HTTP Error Page 3rd-Party Applications Support Surveillance Station MAX IP cam # (Licenses required) : 16 (1 Free License) (See All Supported IP Cameras) Total Frames per Second (FPS) : 160 FPS @ D1 (NTSC：720×480, PAL：720×576), 60 FPS @ WXGA (1280×800) Recording Modes : Manual, Continuous, Motion Detection, Alarm, Motion Detection and Alarm Event Playback : Sync Mode (4 Channels), Time Slicing Mode Centralized Management Compression Formats : MJPEG, MPEG-4, H.264 Photo Station Supported Image Format : BMP, JPG (jpe, jpeg), GIF, RAW (arw, srf, sr2, dcr, k25, kdc, cr2, crw, nef, mrw, ptx, pef, raf, 3fr, erf, mef, mos, orf, rw2, dng, x3f) Supported Video Format : 3G2, 3GP, ASF, AVI, DAT, DivX, FLV, M4V, MOV, MP4, MPEG, MPG, QT, WMV, XviD, RM, RMVB, VOB, RV30, RV40, AC3, AMR, WMA3 User can click and download the following video formats: RM, RMVB, VOB, RV30, RV40, AC3, AMR, WMA3, but not able to play it in Photo Station as compressed Flash video. Audio Station Supported Audio Format (USB Mode) : AAC, FLAC, M4A, MP3, Ogg Vorbis, WMA, WMA VBR Supported Audio Format (Streaming Mode) : MP3, M4A, M4B Supported Playlist Format : M3U, WPL Internet Radio : SHOUTcast, Radioio	DLNA/UPnP Media Server PS3/Xbox 360 Support Supported Audio Format : AAC, FLAC, M4A, MP3, Ogg Vorbis, PCM, WAV, WMA, WMA VBR, WMA PRO, WMA Supported Video Format : 3GP, 3G2, ASF, AVI, DAT, DivX, DVR-MS, ISO, M2T, M2TS, M4V, MKV, MP4, MPEG1, MPEG2, MPEG4, MTS, MOV, QT, SWF, TP, TRP, TS, VOB, WMV, XviD, RMVB (The actual playback capabilities may vary depending on the DLNA/UPnP client) Supported Image Format : BMP, JPG (jpe, jpeg), GIF, ICO, PNG, PSD, TIF (tiff), UFO Download Station Supported Download Protocols : BT/HTTP/FTP/NZB/eMule Custom BT Port Range BT / eMule Bandwidth Control iTunes Server Supported Audio Format : MP3, M4A, M4P, WAV, AIF, The music in WAV and AIF format can be streamed, but the metadata (ex: title, album) may not be indexed on the iTunes Supported Video Format : M4V, MOV, MP4 Supported Playlist Format : M3U, WPL Printer Server Max Printer # : 2 Printing Protocols : LPR, CIFS, AppleTalk, AirPrint, Multi Functional Print Server (Only PostScript USB printers are supported in MAC environment) Synology Packages HASP Mail Station2 phpMyAdmin VPN Server Webalizer Squeezebox Server Time Backup iPhone/Android Applications DS photo+ DS audio DS cam DS file  DS finder HASP Mail Station2 phpMyAdmin VPN Server Webalizer Squeezebox Server Time Backup iPhone/Android Applications DS photo+ DS audio DS cam DS file  DS finder
General
Networking Protocols CIFS AFP NFS FTP WebDAV iSCSI Telnet SSH SNMP File System EXT4 EXT3(External Disk Only) FAT (External Disk Only) NTFS (External Disk Only) Storage Management Max Volume # : 512 Max File System Size : 108TB Max iSCSI Target # : 32 Max iSCSI LUN # : 256 Supported RAID Type : Synology Hybrid RAID, Basic, JBOD, RAID 0, RAID 1 RAID Migration : Basic to RAID 1 Volume Expansion with Larger HDDs : RAID 1 Synology Expansion Unit Support : DX510 File Sharing Capability Max User Accounts : 2048 Max Groups : 256 Max Shared Folder : 256 Max Concurrent Connections : 512 Windows Access Control List (ACL) Windows ADS Domain Integration Domain Users login via Samba/AFP/FTP/File Station Backup Solutions Network Backup Local Backup Desktop Backup (using Synology Data Replicator 3 or Apple Time Machine backup application) Shared Folder Sync – Max task number : 8 Time Backup – Max task number : 8 Time Machine Backup (Mac)	Security FTP over SSL/TLS IP Auto-Block Firewall Encrypted Network Backup over Rsync HTTPS Connection Management Auto DSM Upgrade Administrator Group Email Notification SMS Notificatio Customized User Quota DDNS Support IPv6 Support PPPoE Resource Monitor UPS Management Scheduled Power On/Off Custom Management UI HTTP/HTTPS Ports HDD Management HDD Hibernation S.M.A.R.T. Dynamic Bad Sector Mapping Utilities Synology Assistant Synology Data Replicator Supported Clients Windows XP onward Mac OS X 10.5 onward Ubuntu 9.04 onward Supported Browsers Chrome Firefox Internet Explorer : 7, 8, 9 Safari (MAC) : 4, 5 Supported Mobile Devices (Photo Station, File Station) iPhone OS 2.2.1 onward Android OS 1.5 onward Windows Mobile (IE Mobile or Opera 9.0 onward) Symbian OS 9.1, S60 3rd Edition onward Language : Czech, Danish, Dutch, English, French, German, Hungarian, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese Brazil, Portuguese European, Russian, Simplified Chinese, Spanish, Swedish, Traditional Chinese, Turkish
Environment and Packaging
Environment RoHS Compliant Package Content Main Unit X 1 Installation CD/DVD x1 Welcome Note X 1 Assembling Kit X 1 AC Power Adapter X 1 AC Power Cord X 1 2M RJ-45 LAN Cable X1	Optional Accessories Remote Camera License Pack Expansion Unit : DX510 VS80

Specification highlights

 Hardware

• 1.8Ghz Processor
•  this is a Intel Atom D425 ‘Pineview’ (45nm) single core processor designed to operate around 1.83GHz, although this processor is a single core chip it does operate using hyper threading which gives the ability operate in a similar fashion to a dual core. The processor is passively cooled with an aluminum heatsink. Overall the heat isn’t an issue – even stressing the system the processor rarely gets over 95 degrees Fahrenheit

 

• Dual Gigabit Ethernet
• Two Intel 82574L network controllers handle the dual gigabit Ethernet using the PCI Express 1.1 x1 (2.5GT/s) interface.
• Wireless support
• full listing of supported wireless dongles can be found here.
• Support drive sizes UP TO 3TB
• 3TB drives are still new to the market, this cap will probably increase as larger size drives become available.
• Very low noise level.
• 19.2 dB from 1 meter away – this is between leaves rustling and a whisper, more examples can be found here.
• External USB/eSATA expandable
• Expandable by USB2.0 drives or an external device such as the DX510
• 1 GB of DDR3 Ram – this ram is upgradeable as well which would help if you were dealing with running multiple applications all the time under a high stress setup. DDR3 ram is cheap and you can easily pick up a 4gb stick for ~50 bucks.

Applications

• I will cover the applications in the next section.

General Specifications:

• Supported Os:
  • Windows 2000 onward
  • Mac OSX 10.3 onward
  • Ubuntu 9.04 onward
• Supported Browsers:
  • Internet Explorer 7
  • Internet Explorer 8
  • Internet Explorer 9
  • Firefox 3.5
  • Firefox 3.6
  • Safari 4 (Mac)
  • Safari 5 (Mac)
  • Chrome
• Included Security:
  • FTP over SSL/TLS
  • IP Auto-Block
  • Firewall
  • Encrypted Network Backup over Rsync
  • HTTPS Connection
  • VPN application

   

Just having these features alone gives this device remarkable capabilities, and I haven’t even touched the extensive applications list yet. Covering virtually every operating system in wide spread use, every modern browser, and a plethora of security capabilities. Synology has ensured that no user will be left behind. Synology also regularly updates their DSM OS the DS712+ at the time of this writing has the latest version 3.2, most OS releases touch back several hardware versions so future releases are bound to add additional functionality to this already impressive device.

Application breakdown.

Storage station

Even though the DS712+ has a ton of additional features at its heart its still a NAS and regardless of how many websites you can host or recording feeds you can record you still need to act as a fast network storage point.

Like most of the applications in the DSM operating system storage station uses a java GUI for interacting with your files on the NAS. The storage station GUI works almost exactly like that of explorer

When you log into the web based console you are presented with a desktop experience that is fairly intuitive and should be easy to figure out for anyone who has used a recent operating system from any of the major distributions ( windows/mac/linux)with Java installed you can copy and paste directly into this window the same as if it was a local window.

During my time with the DS712+ I could not get LACP to work on my router so I tested using fail over. As you can see by the side image testing with a 100 MB file we got just under gigabit speeds. This test was run under the default configuration of RAID 1 which offers mirroring between the 2x 2TB drives. Theoretically under raid 0 and with LACP you could achieve a faster speed on an idle system.

 

 

Web Station:

This device will handle up to thirty separate websites, all hosted from the convenience of your own internet connection. This feature in conjunction with the rest of the features truly make this device a small business power house. Setting up the Synology DS712+ is a breeze and it quickly integrates with your existing network set up – even going so far as to set up dyndns and port forwarding automatically.

Surveillance Station:

One of the key features of Synology’s DSM 3.2 is the included one camera license of surveillance station. The Surveillance Station application is one of the easiest to use for monitoring network aware cameras, with the widest range of accepted camera’s It makes it surprisingly simple and affordable to integrate the DS712+ into existing infrastructure. the fact that Synology includes this application at NO EXTRA COST is simply astounding as other companies charge a bundle for this type of functionality.

 

Photo Station:

Some of the most important files most Home users back-up are photos, this fact has not escaped the people at Synology. Rather than simply uploading your photos to a simple folder structure, Photo station and the up-loader included in Synology assistant make it incredibly simple for users to store, organize, and access their photos using an intuitive gallery Interface.

Download Station:

This application offers the ability to download multiple protocols (BT/HTTP/FTP/NZB/eMule) and also upload your projects and copyright free files without having to leave your computer on. This console also has a built in Bit torrent search feature that polls a number of pre-set sites or you can and your own. In practice using this interface is much faster than doing it locally as you have included the search download and port forwarding all in a quick click to set up interface.

 

Once everything is set up with port forwarding the download station provides a nice one stop search of a premade set of bittorrent sites. You can add more sites to the list of you choose but overall the options available are limited as far as features of the torrent client. It does the job it just cant do things like SSL or white lists.

 

External Devices:

In addition to the standard features of a NAS and full featured software suite, The Synology has the ability to interface with external devices via USB or eSATA. This allows you to utilize external storage devices for additional space, or as a transfer method. Also, you can use it as a print server. With this ability you can take a simple USB printer and print from your Windows/Mac/Linux Based PC. The DS712+ has a front facing USB port and a one button copy of the device to a folder you set up so you can make a duplicate of your drive without having to turn on your computer. This would allow you easily back up your camera or flash drives without the need for a computer.
beyond these applications there are many more available to directly download to the Synology  DS712+ such as a VPN server that will set up either openvpn or PPTP providing a secure way to interact with your network, all in all while the device is pretty amazing its the software that really shines on the Synology devices. Synology has spent a great deal of time and effort on making the interface as easy to use as possible while still being secure.

 

 

Summary and Conclusion:

Synology has done a great job with the DS712+ the hardware is solid and the OS is awesome and continues to improve with each release of DSM. I really like the quiet operating and automation built into the DS712+ it makes this an ideal candidate for a business that may not have a dedicated server room full of noisy servers. I have no complaints about the DS712+ other than the price tag could be lower, but on the same scale you are buying what amount to a full server. If you want expandability you can always add the DX510 at a hefty $500 price tag but it expands your storage by a significant amount. I am giving this product the Awesome hardware award for its amazing ability to cram all the features of a full server into a small and quiet box that will easily handle a medium office the same as it would handle a power home user. In my humble opinion the DS712+ is worth the $500 price tag and worthy of the Techwarelabs Awesome Hardware award.