Synology DS211+ Review Prep and Unboxing

I spoke with Synology at CES 2011 and immediately wanted to get my hands on one of their boxes for testing.  The hardware was solid and software looked very robust.  The DS211+ has arrived and it’s time to get it out of the box and let it breathe a little.

I shot a quick video of the DS211+ to show you the ports and drives.  I also powered it up for the first time in the video.

Also, if your interested, here is the video from CES 2011 where I looked at several Synology Diskstations and got a run through with them from the guys at the booth.

Here are all the specs on the DS211+ and if you want even more here is the link to the datasheet.  Stay tuned for the full review.

Hardware

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• CPU Frequency: 1.6GHz
• Hardware Encryption Engine
• Memory: 512MB
• Internal HDD²: 3.5″ SATA(II) X2 or 2.5″ SATA/SSD X2
• Max Internal Capacity: 6TB (2x 3TB hard drives)³ (See All Supported HDD)
• Hot Swappable HDD
• External HDD Interface: USB 2.0 port X3, eSATA port X1, SD card slot X1
• Size (HxWxD): 165mm X 108mm X 233.2mm
• Weight: 1.25kg
• LAN: Gigabit X1
• Wireless Support⁴

• Fan：X1(92mmX92mm)
• Noise Level：19.4dB(A)
• Power Recovery
• AC Input Power Voltage: 100V to 240V
• Power Frequency: 50Hz to 60Hz, Single Phase
• Power Consumption⁵: 24W(Access); 13W(HDD Hibernation)
• Operating Temperature: 5°C to 35°C (40°F to 95°F)
• Storage Temperature: -10°C to 70°C (15°F to 155°F)
• Relative Humidity: 5% to 95%RH
• Maximum Operating Altitude: 10,000 feet
• Certification: FCC Class B, CE Class B, BSMI Class B

Applications

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File Browser

File Station

FTP Server

• Bandwidth Control
• Custom FTP Passive Port Range
• Anonymous FTP
• Transfer Log

Web Station

• Virtual Host (up to 30 websites)
• PHP/MySQL
• Alternative HTTP Error Page
• 3rd-Party Applications Support

Surveillance Station

• Default IP cam #: 1
• MAX IP cam # (licenses required): 12⁶
  (See All Supported IP Cameras)
• Total Frames per Second (FPS): 120 FPS @ D1¹⁰
• 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 Format⁷: 3G2, 3GP, ASF, AVI, DAT, DivX, FLV, M4V, MOV, MP4, MPEG, MPG, QT, WMV, XviD, RM, RMVB, VOB, RV30, RV40, AC3, AMR, WMA3

Download Station

• Supported Download Protocols: BT/HTTP/FTP/NZB/eMule
• Custom BitTorrent Port Range
• BitTorrent / eMule Bandwidth Control

Audio Station

• Supported Audio Format: (USB Mode) AAC, FLAC, M4A, MP3, Ogg Vorbis, WMA, WMA VBR; (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 Lossless
• 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, RV30, RV40, AC3, AMR, WMA3
• Supported Image Format: BMP, JPG (jpe, jpeg), GIF, ICO, PNG, PSD, TIF (tiff), UFO, RAW (arw, srf, sr2, dcr, k25, kdc, cr2, crw, nef, mrw, ptx, pef, raf, 3fr, erf, mef, mos, orf, rw2, dng, x3f)
• Supported Subtitles Format: srt, psb, smi, ass, ssa, sub, idx, ifo

iTunes Server

• Supported Audio Format⁸: MP3, M4A, M4P, WAV, AIF
• Supported Video Format: M4V, MOV, MP4
• Supported Playlist Format: M3U, WPL

Printer Server⁹

• Max Printer #: 2
• Printing Protocols: LPR, CIFS, AppleTalk

Synology Packages

• Squeezebox Server
• Mail Station
• Webalizer
• phpMyAdmin
• Time Backup

iPhone/Android Applications

• DS photo+
• DS audio
• DS cam

General Specifications

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Networking Protocols

• CIFS
• AFP
• FTP
• WebDAV
• iSCSI
• Telnet
• SSH
• NFS
• SNMP

File System

• EXT4
• EXT3
• FAT32 (External Disk Only)
• NTFS (External Disk Only)

Volume Management

• Synology Hybrid RAID
• Max iSCSI Target：10
• Max iSCSI LUN：10
• Volume Type: Basic, JBOD, RAID 0, RAID 1
• RAID Migration: from Basic to RAID 1
• Expand RAID 1 volume with Larger Hard Drives

File Sharing Capability

• Max User Accounts: 2,048
• Max Groups: 256
• Max Shared Folder: 256
• Max Concurrent Connections(SAMBA, FTP, AFP): 256

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)
• Time Backup – Max task number：8
• SDCopy
• 3rd-Party Backup Support

Security

• FTP over SSL/TLS
• IP Auto-Block
• Firewall
• Encrypted Network Backup over Rsync
• HTTPS Connection

Management

• DSM Upgrade
• Email Notification
• SMS Notification
• 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 Download Redirector
• Synology Data Replicator

Supported Clients

• Windows 2000 onward
• Mac OSX 10.3 onward
• Ubuntu 9.04 onward

Supported Browsers

• Internet Explorer 7
• Internet Explorer 8
• Firefox 3.5
• Firefox 3.6
• Safari 4 (Mac)
• Safari 5 (Mac)
• Chrome 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

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Environment

• RoHS Compliant

Package Content

• DS211+ Main Unit
• Installation CD/DVD
• Welcome Note
• Assembling Kit
• AC Power Adapter
• AC Power Cord
• 2M RJ-45 LAN Cable

Optional Accessories

• Remote
• Camera License Pack

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1. The performance figures could vary on different environments.
2. Hard drive not included.
3. The actual capacity will differ according to volume types.
4. Wireless dongles not included. Please check http://www.synology. com/ for supported wireless dongloes.
5. Measured with 2 Seagate 750GB ST3750640NS hard drive. The figures could vary on different environments.
6. 1 free license to install 1 IP camera. Additional licenses can bepurchased to expand the license quota.
7. 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.
8. The music in WAV and AIF format can be streamed, but the metadata (ex: title, album) may not be indexed on the iTunes.
9. For Mac users, DS211+ supports PostScript USB printers only.

Tags: DS211+, Hard Drive, Hardware Review, NAS, RAID, Review, Storage, Synology, unboxing

Category: Review, Windows Home Server