Introduction

We would like to thank Synology for supplying the review sample.



We reviewed the DS215+ a while ago, and the time has come to take a look at its big brother, the DS715 with a stronger, quad-core CPU and 2 GB of RAM, which is twice as much. The DS715 is also fully compatible with Synology's expansion unit, the DX513, which makes adding another five HDDs for a total of seven HDDs possible. Use 8 TB HDDs and you'd have a total of 56 TB with the DX513, in a JBOD configuration and before formatting those drives. Without a doubt a lot, the DX513 isn't cheap, and nor are those drives.

The DS715's main feature is its SoC's hardware encryption engine, which according to Synology allows the NAS to encrypt files and folders on the fly without any perceived performance loss. Well, that is something we will check on in our tests, and we will report back on whether Synology's claims are true. Other interesting features include the dual-LAN ports with failover and Link Aggregation support, and the Synology High Availability (SHA) technology that combines active and passive servers into a cluster, which allows for increased availability through a heartbeat signal. The DS715 also supports up to 30 IP cameras, and users have a centralized IP camera-management environment in Surveillance Station. The surveillance capabilities of NAS servers have improved dramatically, and a strong NAS can now easily take on the role of a fully featured NVR (Network Video Recorder) system.