Synology Introduces DiskStation DS216

[btarunr]

Synology Inc. today launched DiskStation DS216, a feature-rich 2-bay NAS server conceived to be a perfect match for workgroups and office environment, and specially designed for sharing and protecting data. "DS216 will quickly become your best work partner, providing multiple handy office applications and improving productivity at work." said Jason Fan, product manager at Synology Inc.

DS216 is built to deliver optimal multi-tasking experience at the best price/performance ratio. Powered by a dual-core 1.3 GHz CPU and 512 MB DDR3 memory, DS216 outperforms its predecessor and delivers an exceeding read and write speed at over 111 MB/s under RAID 1 configuration in a Windows environment.



With the built-in Floating-Point Unit (FPU) which further enhances the overall capability of the main CPU, the DS216 is particularly advantageous in speeding up thumbnail processing, and enhancing photo viewing at different resolutions. With an encryption engine, it also offloads encryption calculation tasks away from the main CPU, helping to improve file transfer speeds. DS216 is equipped with a USB port and a USB copy button on the front panel for easy data transfer.

Designed with the mindset of non-stopping up-time service, DS216 is equipped with hot-swappable and tool-less drive trays for easy installation, simplifying drive replacement and maintenance.

DS216 runs on DiskStation Manager (DSM), the most advanced and intuitive operating system for NAS devices. Featuring a wide range of applications from backup to network management, DS216 provides all essential business services and increased productivity at work. Synology was named "PC Mag Business Choice Award winner" for the second consecutive year, and received the highest rating in every element of the survey, including reliability, value, and likelihood to recommend.

For more information on DS216, please visit this page.

View at TechPowerUp Main Site

 

[Disparia]

A lot of turnkey NAS products don't appeal to me but I kinda like this one. I've worked at or consulted for a handful of places with very simple needs. There's a dozen or less computers, no domain, and they just need a small file share and be able to regularly make a backup to take offsite. Anyone (except Janice from accounting) could be tasked with that when the process is only: plug in backup drive, hit copy, remove backup drive when done.

 

[TheLostSwede]

A lot of turnkey NAS products don't appeal to me but I kinda like this one. I've worked at or consulted for a handful of places with very simple needs. There's a dozen or less computers, no domain, and they just need a small file share and be able to regularly make a backup to take offsite. Anyone (except Janice from accounting) could be tasked with that when the process is only: plug in backup drive, hit copy, remove backup drive when done.

Word of advice, get an x86/x64 powered NAS for your customers, as if they want to run other things on it in the future, the ARM based ones tend to have far less options and due to having a weak processor, they tend to have problems running databases etc.

I have nothing against ARM, but for these types of devices, we're not there yet when it comes to some crucial things like software support. An ARM based NAS is great as long as you know that you're only ever going to use it for storing data and nothing else.

 

[rtwjunkie]

Anyone (except Janice from accounting)

That was a nice one you slipped in there!
On topic: I'm going to keep an eye out for reviews on this. WeGotServed will probably do one.

 

[Disparia]

Word of advice, get an x86/x64 powered NAS for your customers, as if they want to run other things on it in the future, the ARM based ones tend to have far less options and due to having a weak processor, they tend to have problems running databases etc.

I have nothing against ARM, but for these types of devices, we're not there yet when it comes to some crucial things like software support. An ARM based NAS is great as long as you know that you're only ever going to use it for storing data and nothing else.

I don't disagree with that, I just seem to end up at places that are too small or are too large for a powerful feature-rich NAS. The last small business I did some work for could double or triple their workload but their technology needs would change very little.

 

[Dr_b_]

I don't disagree with that, I just seem to end up at places that are too small or are too large for a powerful feature-rich NAS. The last small business I did some work for could double or triple their workload but their technology needs would change very little.

Oh and forget about encryption. You won't see anywhere near those performance numbers if its even an option.

 

[Octopuss]

I own DS213 and it's absolute garbage. Obviously single core CPU is horrible, but even with dual core variant of pretty much the same crap the 216 is most probably not going to cut it anyway. Mine doesn't even achieve 70MB/s (right now hardly 60).

 

[Dr_b_]

I own DS213 and it's absolute garbage. Obviously single core CPU is horrible, but even with dual core variant of pretty much the same crap the 216 is most probably not going to cut it anyway. Mine doesn't even achieve 70MB/s (right now hardly 60).

Same here, DS1512+, its the 5 bay atom based version, and i dont get anywhere near the throughput they are stating in the specs. Using ISCSI to host, getting 60-80MB/sec with encryption done on the host due to poor performance with on-NAS encryption (which i assume is just dmcrupt/luks), but it can't hack it. This new unit here allegedly has some hardware crypto acceleration, but it still can't be that great.

So...after much frustration with aftermarket NAS products, built my own: http://m34t.net/NAS/

and on that system im saturating the gig ethernet link.

 

[Octopuss]

If I ever decide to buy a better NAS, it will probably be something like Synology DS716+. It seems to have decent specs and unlike this useless brick I have could last for quite a while.