Synology has a variety of networking solutions for NAS or Network Attached Storage. Those who are looking into possible NAS solutions for their home or small office can look into the single bay or 2-bay NAS just like the one we have here. To further test the device, we used two (2) 12-terabyte Ironwolf HDDs.
The Synology DiskStation DS218 is an entry-level, 2-bay NAS that should work well with a small team or home office. It has a small footprint and compact body that can handle up to 2 full-sized hard drives.
As part of the test, we used the newest 12TB Ironwolf hard disk drive from Seagate. These are the highest-capacity hard drives from them and the IronWolf are best used with NAS devices (check our review of the 10TB Ironwolf ).
IronWolf – These class of drives is optimized for round-the-clock operations. However, the IronWolf class comes with special features that make it more appealing to run in a NAS environment or with RAID systems in mind, thanks to its AgileArray technology for optimal performance and system agility. They come in 3.5-inch form factors and storage capacities form 1TB all the way up to 12TB.
The NAS supports 3.5″ SATA HDD and 2.5″ SATA HDD/SSD (with Disk Holder), has one (1) gigabit ethernet port, and two (2) USB 3.0 ports.
The DS218+ is powered by an Intel Celeron J3355 2.0GHz (2.5GHz burst) dual-core chip with 2GB RAM (expandable to 6GB) in order to run its on-board system to control and manage the NAS. Maximum capacity of the NAS is 24TB (2x12TB) so this is a perfect fit with the 12TB Ironwolf. However, maximum single volume size is just 16TB so you’ll need to split the volumes into two if you have more than 16TB total capacity.
The external interface of the NAS looks simple and straightforward. The LED indicators are all up front while all the ports are at the back.
Once connected to the router (needs to have gigabit support for faster transfers), you can install the Disk Station Manager (DSM) that will assist you in managing the NAS and all the drives in it.
Powering the Synology NAS is the DSM or the Synology DiskStation Manager OS, a browser-based operating system that helps control the NAS from anywhere in your network. It has a simple interface, easy to use and control although the UI does seem to need a little bit of polishing.
With the DSM, you get a plethora of features to maximize the use of your NAS for personal or work — office, surveillance, file/server management, backup and multimedia needs (it supports up to 4K video streaming with H.264 AVC, H.265 HEVC, MPEG-2, and VC-1). You can also back up various devices from desktop, laptop and even your smartphone.
The 92mm fan for a cool and quiet operation of the NAS.
For security, there’s support for the ff:
Security Advisor
Analyzes system settings, password strength, network preferences, and removes any possible malware.
AppArmor
A kernel-level enhancement that blocks malicious programs from accessing unauthorized system resources.
AES 256-Bit Encryption
Encrypt shared folders and network data transmissions to help keep data from unauthorized access
2-Step Verification
Helps prevent others from logging into your DSM by generating a one-time password (OTP) on your mobile device.
Using the two 12TB Ironwolf drives in the Synology NAS was quick and easy. Installation was fast and you only have to secure the drives to the slots using a couple of screws.
Once booted up, setup the DSM and configure the drives to whatever arrangement you want. The NAS supports a maximum 16TB on each drive bay so the 12TB will do just fine.
Benchmark results show the drives perform very well.
PCMark 7 Score: 3,011
AIDA64 Test: 223MB/s (average)
CrystalDiskMark 3.0: 238MB/s (Read), 219MB/s (Write)
Synology promises encrypted read and writes scripts of up to 113MB/s and 112MB/s, respectively. Supported RAID types include Synology Hybrid Raid, Basic, JBOD, RAID 0, and RAID 1.
The combo between Synology and Seagate Ironwolf drives is an ideal one that could be a starting setup for those looking to get a more solid and robust network storage solution at home or in the office. It’s got all the basic features you can think of, an easy to use and control user interface and support for large drives such as the 12TB Seagate Ironwolf.
You can check out more about the Synology NAS here or check out the official Seagate store in Lazada here.
