Exterior

The NAS is very small since it only has two bays and, contrary to older Synology servers, doesn't feature a plastic casing but, rather, one out of metal. The metal enclosure protects what is inside better and helps with temperatures because metal dissipates heat faster than plastic. At the front are three LED indicators and the power switch. Synology unfortunately didn't install a USB port on this side, which is a big disadvantage.


The Synology logo punched into both sides, these also act as an exhaust grill.


Most of the real estate on the back is occupied by the fan grill that protects the 92 mm diameter fan. Below the fan are an eSATA and two USB 3.0 ports. There are also two Ethernet ports that can be teamed for significantly higher transfer speeds if you have a compatible LACP (Link Aggregation Control Protocol) switch.


We removed both trays to shoot a photo of the bay area. As you can see, the SATA card doesn't block internal airflow significantly, so we expect the fan to do a very good job.


Seagate was kind enough to equip the NAS with a pair of ST4000VN000 HDDs, which are designed for NAS usage, offering enhanced compatibility and increased reliability. The installation of these HDDs onto the trays is tool-less, the whole procedure very fast and easy.


We would highly prefer metallic trays instead of plastic ones. We should also note that Synology didn't use any vibration-dampening material on these trays.