Customer Reviews

Synology DiskStation 5-Bay (Diskless) Scalable Network Attached Storage DS1511+ (Black)

5 star:		(53)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

After owning NETGEAR, WD and QNAP; Synology is the only brand I operate.

Pros
- very well built
- *packed* with features
- gorgeous, PC and web-based management software (there's a great demo on their website)

Cons
- although on par with other NASes, it's pretty expensive

Synology builds a solid piece of hardware with useful things like 4 USB, 2 eSATA, and 2 Gigabit Ethernet ports. And since it's a "Disk Station" the dives are hot-swappable. Although, that's standard stuff for this kind of device. What makes their products truly great is their fantastic software. The feature set is too long to list here, but it's basically a file/backup/web/email server, media streamer, and download manager jammed into a cubic foot box. Which, thanks to their software developers, can be almost completely configured in about 10 minutes.

The software is the same on all their models, so if you only need 1 or 2 drives, save a little money and get a smaller one. But really, who doesn't want to RAID 15 hard-drives together?

I've been running 2 DS509+ (with DX5 expansions), a DS710+, and now 2 DS1511+ since they were released. All the units have never given me a bit of grief since I first set them up. They are by far the best NAS devices out there.

I highly recommend any Synology model, but this one is awesome!

Moving from an Infrant/Netgear ReadyNas to the Synology Diskstation has been a real treat. The hardware supports some of the fastest read & write times you can achieve with a gigabit NAS device. Synology has obviously spent a lot of time and effort developing a browser-based DiskStation Management (DSM) operating system that is fast, intuitive, and beautifully designed. The DSM includes a number of applications which take the capability of the DSM far beyond mere network storage, and allow it to host blogs and wiki sites, share photos, and stream music to your mobile device (together with their free mobile applications, like DS Audio and DS Photo).

While I have run into a few technical difficulties with my DiskStation, most have been resolved quickly, or if not, are not problems that can truly be laid at the feet of Synology.

One problem I encountered was with the DiskStation's interaction with my UPS, the APC Back-UPS RS (BR1000G). When the UPS would cycle between power and battery too often (e.g., when a laser printer on the same household circuit would warm up, print, and then go into power-saving), the DiskStation system log would indicate that the UPS had been disconnected from the DiskStation (i.e., it would claim that the USB cable had been "plugged out"), and would no longer allow access to the UPS settings without rebooting the DiskStation. After opening a support ticket with Synology, they indicated the problem was a known one on their end, and would be fixed in a future DSM firmware release.

One disturbing thing about my interaction with the Synology support staff was how quickly they requested I provide them with remote ROOT-LEVEL access to my device, to help them diagnose the problem. As do many other people, I use my network-attached backup devices to secure my most important digital content, including financial documents, medical records, and other personal information I don't want disseminated. While I appreciate the willingness of their support technicians to provide such a personal level of support, I am not at all comfortable with giving them ROOT-level access to all my files just to sort out a quirk in their UPS software.

None of the forgoing would cause me to deduct any stars from what should have been a five-star review, however.

------------THE REAL ISSUE------------

The real concern I have with this product, and any product released by Synology, is whether the functionality I enjoy now will be functionality that remains free into the future.

One of the software titles that comes bundled with the Synology is "Surveillance Station", a program that allows the DiskStation to record video from an attached network camera. While the ad copy for the DiskStations may discuss the maximum number of cameras each of the different models can accommodate, it may not make clear that, out-of-the-box, each Diskstation has a license to use only one camera. You simply can not connect more than one camera to the DiskStation without buying a license code for each additional camera. Why Synology would choose to intentionally cripple one of their software titles, and charge such an exorbitant ransom to enable it, escapes me.

The DS1511+ is capable of supporting up to 20 IP cameras. (The word "support" here is used generously, as many camera models are not fully "supported" -- with many you won't be able to record audio, or stream a live view to anything other than Internet Explorer with ActiveX plugins). As with every DiskStation, the DS1511+ only includes a license for 1 camera. To fully enable the 20 "supported" cameras, you would have to purchase 19 of the Synology IP Camera License packs. Do the math (Amazon doesn't like people mentioning prices in their reviews), and you will discover:

THE LICENSING COST FOR THE CAMERA SOFTWARE WILL EXCEED THE COST OF THE (EXPENSIVE) DS1511+ HARDWARE!

According to the Synology moderators who locked (!) a discussion thread on this topic in their support forums:

"The ability to use 1 IP camera per DiskStation out of the box is for evaluation purposes and is not provided as a license key."

Therefore, the Surveillance Station software that they promote in their advertising copy is properly understood as an EVALUATION TRIAL COPY.

This came as a surprise to early adopters of Synology products, who previously enjoyed a copy of Surveillance Station that was unburdened by additional camera licensing requirements. Much to their surprise, a firmware update pushed out by Synology crippled the functionality of their software, and disabled any attached cameras that had previously functioned, except for one. Imagine how you would feel if you updated your Windows operating system, only to be told that now you owed Microsoft an additional $50 printer "license" fee for a device that previously functioned, and was now disabled.

Will Synology push out additional firmware updates in the future that disable additional components of their operating system? Will they begin charging a per-hard-drive "license" fee for their multi-bay units? Will the OS allow you to create up to 5 user accounts for free, but demand additional licensing fees for every user beyond these? If history is any indication, they might.

Not only have they done something similar in the past, but their admins will not guarantee that the software that works today will continue to work in the future without additional cost. Again quoting the same admin from the locked (!) thread in the Synology support forums:

"Majority of all features on the DiskStation Manager such as client access, or updates, at this time are free without any additional charges."

Make a careful note of his choice of language: AT THIS TIME.

The majority of the software features provided by Synology are free AT THIS TIME.

Be careful with those firmware updates - they're not downgradeable, and they may incur further licensing costs. Read the release notes very, very carefully.

I purchased the Synology DS1511+ after a decade of building my own NAS boxes running Linux for my home NAS system. I looked at all the options, Synolgy, QNap, Drobo, etc. I know that if I wanted to, I could buy a 5-disk chassis, an Atom-based Mini ITX motherboard and PSU for about half the price, but it's not about just hardware. It's about functionality.

Buying parts would gives me a computer. Fundementally any NAS box is a computer - and in any NAS box, the software is the key. The Synology DS1511+ is an appliance - it just works. DSM is outstanding. The simplicity of the system yet the sheer power of the functionility is fantastic.

Things I like about the DS1511+ and DSM are:

1) Simple updates - I updated to DSM 3.2 without a hitch. From inside of DSM. Updating your own Linux build is a learning experience. I've learned. Now I have a life.

2) Extremely quite. The saying is "out of sight, out of mind". Well, "out of earshot, out of mind" too.

3) Powerful functions with an easy interface. DSM makes all the difference.
Examples are the entire system - File system creationg with full permissions control, volume creation, iSCSI target , Mac TimeMachine target, Bonded Network ports, power settings including automatic integration with my UPS, firmware updates, adding new packages (add on functions), the list is long.

4) Consistency of the interface across Synology functions. Nothing is more frustrating than having one tool with a nice functionaly GUI, another with a nice editable config file, and another with GUI that is only partially there. Oh, and don't forget to SIGHUP those processes to get the config file changes running. None of that in DSM.

5) Add on functions in DSM - LDAP server, Syslog server, squeezebox server, and many more.

6) The DSM interface seems to run on everything - Windows, Mac, iPad, iPHone etc. Haven't tried Android.

7) 5 disks, easilty accessed and hot-pluggable from the front. I run a RAID 6 system. You would too, if you'd ever lost 2 disks in a RAID 5 system (and I have...)

8) So far (knock on wood), it's been extremely reliable. When I was testing the system I even had a disk failure and had to swap a disk and rebuild the system. 4 year old disks ...)

9) the Synology Forum, Wiki, etc. A wealth of information.

10) Finally, and admittedly contradicting myself, but I like that you can also log in and go to the linux command line (as root even) and change things if you need to. I think of it as an insurance policy.

What don't I like or what would I change?

1) Some of the more advanced features aren't 100% documented - you have to rely on the forums for that. An example is setting up the LDAP server. But it just got added, and it's pretty common that functionaliy comes out ahead of deployement examples, etc. We'll see.

2) I can't run my AppleTV off of the Synology. Somewhat of a nit. Maybe that will change in the future.

I was going to put that it needs USB 3.0, but frankly many implementations of USB 3.0 right now are bug city so actually I'm glad it's not there. For a storage box, I want tried and true technology.

Finally, when looking for a product, I don't just buy the product. I look at the track record of the team delivering that product - have they been adding new features, have bugs been getting fixed, are they innovating or just trying to catch up.

Synology for the past couple of years has been hitting on all cylinders. They're not perfect, but no company is. There's no guarantee they will continue to do well, but the best indicator of future success is past success. And Synology has a winner here.

jl

Why did I choose the Synology DS1511+? This review provides the answer for this question and may be helpful to others in a similar situation. If you create a lot of high quality photos and high definition video, you quickly run out of hard drive space. This is especially true for those that have children as you want to capture every moment of their childhood.

Our home computer has 1TB of internal storage, and I added other drives as my storage needs dictated. I had 1TB of external storage using FireWire 800 (for HD movie storage and editing) and 2TB of external storage using USB 2.0 for Time Machine backup. I had another external drive that had recently died, but wasn't critical for my storage requirements. The internal and external drives were basically full, leaving me to either add another 2TB+ external drive, or seek another solution. If I added another external drive, I would of course have to address my 2TB Time Machine backup, and you can therefore see my dilemma. Further, USB 2.0 is not fast enough to do HD movie editing, so I was looking at something like another costly Firewire 800 external hard drive (and another piece of hardware on my desk). Keep in mind that storing HD movies from a camcorder creates a problem in growth of storage needs that is difficult to keep up with. Further, I had tried other *inexpensive* NAS solutions in the past, and was never satisfied. They are usually too slow and too limited in expansion. I didn't want a large, complicated, or custom-made server box at my home.

Enter the Synology DS1511+. I populated my DS1511+ with (5) Seagate 2TB green hard drives. 3TB drives are available, but 2TB drives are quite affordable right now. Using the Synology Hybrid RAID with (1) disk redundancy (basically an expandable RAID 5), I created (1) large volume (I don't recall exactly, but it is a bit less than 8TB in total). One of the neat things about this particular Synology unit, is it has (2) network interfaces, and they are both Gigabit. This allowed me to connect (1) directly to my iMac, and the other directly to a wireless bridge. I know this isn't necessarily ideal, but fit the constraints of my home. Our wireless router/switch is not near the computer, and we have other devices on the network that could make use of connectivity to the Synology through the bridge. I use the direct connection to the iMac for accessing a couple of iSCSI targets on the Synology unit. One for Time Machine backup, and another for movie/general storage. HD movie editing works perfectly on the iSCSI target that I created, and the performance has been around 85+MB/sec. I also created a general use file share on the Synology that any device in my home may connect to, and I have successfully tested streaming music to my Xbox 360 without difficulty. I have not tried to tweak or optimize performance on the unit in any way - this is basically out of the box.

Additional notes: I know it isn't a great choice to have backup on the same hardware as the files you are backing up! I also have an offsite cloud backup plan that I use. That is one of the great things about using an iSCSI target - it appears as a local disk on the computer, allowing you to back the files up to the offsite provider. The Synology did report that one of my new hard drives had some problems with bad clusters, so I RMA'd that drive and replaced it with a new one. The RAID worked perfectly through this process and was successfully rebuilt once the new drive arrived. I also bought a new UPS backup power system, so make sure you factor those costs in with your decision. Also note, I keep the Synology on the same desk as the iMac, and the unit is VERY quiet. Noise and heat are not a problem at all.

To sum up, the Synology DS1511+ is very fast, versatile (e.g., multiple network interfaces, 5 drive bays), and reliable. I would read every review you can before buying (I certainly did), and then make the best choice for your needs. I originally thought this 5-bay unit might be overkill for home use, but I feel like I made the right choice and am comfortable knowing that my data is safe. Good luck with your decision!!!

After feening the Drobo for quite some time but never pulling the trigger due to various horror stories about failures and their support, I decided to check out some other options including the Synology DS1511+

Although Drobo is now in its third revision and is pretty stable, the thing that ultimately made me choose this Synology device over the Drobo is its transfer speed. I'm a cable cord cutter as of 2008 and over the last two years have racked up various external USB drives to assist my Mac Mini HTPC. The clutter of managing multiple folders and hardware is now getting to me, not to mention USB 2.0 speeds are sadly starting to be too slow for streaming large 1080p movies. From researching online, it seems like Drobo still has some issues with file streaming, but of course, YMMV.

Setting up the DS1511+ is amazingly easy and its web interface not only allows you to share files, it also allows you to setup a server for FTP, web w/ database, streaming music, photos and more. As someone that travels on occasion, having the ability to access files from the home network on the go is extremely handy.

Right now I'm transferring files from my various USB drives, older NAS devices and from the HTPC to the DiskStation and I'm getting about 75 to 85MB/s transfer speeds through Time Capsule's gigabit ports. If you set this up in a business environment where multiple people need to access it, you can link up both ports to enable link aggregation to reach 2 gigabit speeds!

The 1511+ is also future proof in that you can hook up 2 additional 5 drive bays (DX510) through the eSATA connections to reach a combined storage of 45TB's in one volume. That's a lot of movies, family photos and music!

This built quality is very solid and I can see all of its features being very useful in making my life easier for media management. From reading their forums, it seems like their warranty and support is business class - meaning fast and comprehensive. I hope I won't ever have to use it but I'm glad it's there.

While the device is on the expensive side for NAS, the combination of features, looks and warranty makes this a good purchase. I'm definitely glad I picked this up over some of the other devices in the market.

Similar to other reviews here, we've tried NAS units from HP, Netgear, IOMega, and now Synology. Without a doubt, the Synology 1511+ with 3.0 DSM software is best-in-class. We currently have 70 concurrent users, 4 iScsi LUN's, and a ton of files. All are hosted on our 1511+ with five Hitachi enterprise 2TB drives in Raid5.

Setup was simple. Integration with Windows Active Directory is complete, and it successfully handles ACL security. It also supports local users and groups so we're able to have non-AD user access (i.e. MacOS and guests).

Haven't explored the other functions of DSM 3.0 but it appears there's a full suite of possible applications that go beyond NAS - including photos, ftp, web services, email, etc.. We do know that iTunes 10 works with it ;).

I can't say enough good things about the quality of the unit itself, and it's performance, stability, and ease of use. The 1511+ far exceeds any NAS we've used in the past. Highly recommended!

My first closet storage server was a homebrew Linux box with loud fans, 10 drives, and an endless nightmare of bootloader (Grub) issues. Finally I decided to forsake the hassle of managing my own server and buy into a proper NAS. After much research, I settled on the Synology brand. Its combination of NAS with its easy to use software and plethora of services made it a no-brainer. And I bought in prior to Synology Disk Station Manager (DSM) 3.x, so I was using a much different interface than to which recent Synology customers are accustomed. I bought a DS210j and loaded it with 2 Western Digital 1 TB Green drives. In combination with the SABnzbd package for DSM I quickly filled up my 1 TB RAID-1. So I bought 2 Wester Digital 2 TB AV Green Drives. Synology's upgrade process couldn't have been smoother. I simply replaced the drives one at a time and let the RAID rebuild. About 6 months later I once again ran out of space. In the interim it became clear that the DS210j could not handle the strain of streaming to my Boxee Box while at the same time handling the task of SABnzbd or torrent downloads. I wasn't sure if I was going to stick with Synology or wait until the MacMini shipped with Thunderbolt and get an external disk array.

Then I saw the DS1511+. Wow.

I called Synology's support line in Washington and spoke with Roger in pre-sales for about 30 minutes about the capabilities of the 1511+. I wanted to know if I could upgrade the RAM. The 1511+ ships with 1GB (much more than the DS210j's 128MB), but I'm used to a lot more memory than that, and he confirmed that the 1511+ has an easy-to-access slot for a 200 pin SODIMM 6400 800 MHz 2 GB module. The 1511+ also supports the Western Digital 3 TB drives, AND it can be expanded twice via the DX510 devices, meaning that I can have a total of 15 3 TB drives operating in a Synology Hybrid Raid (SHR) configuration if I ever accumulate that much data (and with shooting a dozen 18MP raw pictures of my 9 week old daughter once a day, I'm well on my way).

Since Amazon makes returns so easy, I decided to purchase the 1511+ and try it out. After all, if its 1.8 GHz dual-core Atom processor wasn't enough to handle my needs, I could always return it and wait on the new MacMinis. The unit arrived on May 19th, and I had it up and running in an hour. I bought 2 Western Digital 3 TB drives to go with the unit, but I didn't make those my primary drives. First I moved the drives from my DS210j into the 1511+ and after initializing the 1511+'s system, it was like my 210j had grown up. And I am happy to say that using SABnzbd with 20 connections my performance is NEVER degraded. I can download a ton of data while at the same time stream movies to my Boxee Box (1080p MKVs) and still rsync over pictures.

I noticed that the Python process for SABnzbd takes up 48 MB of RAM, which is nothing on my new 1511+, but was what was killing the 128MB on the 210j. The CPU never spikes over 5% usage, even when decompressing the usenet chunks from SABnzbd.

One cool feature that *doesn't* seem to work on the 1511+ is NIC teaming. The unit has two 1Gbit ethernet ports that you are supposed to be able to team using 802.3ad. I have two cables running directly to my Netgear WNR3500v2/U/L which is running DD-WRT v24 with link aggregation enabled on ports 3 and 4, but DSM still says that link aggregation is in error. There is a thread on the Synology forums ([...]) about this issue, but Synology has not responded. Hopefully they will soon.

The 210j had no fans and that was fine because I was using Green drives that never warmed up. The 1511+ has two, large fans in the rear of the unit. But they may as well not even be there because although I sit right by my closet, I never hear them. Maybe it is because I'm using 4 Green drives that don't speed up too much. I don't know. The drives themselves stay at around 39-45 degrees celsius.

The last thing that annoys me about the 1511+ is how long it takes to expand a SHR volume. I had to do some disk shuffling since my original volume was a classic RAID. I had to:

- Create a second volume using the 3 TB drives
- Copy all data to second volume
- Nuke the original 2 TB drives
- Recreate the first volume as a SHR volume (you can't expand a SHR volume onto drives smaller than the smallest drive in a SHR volume, so I couldn't start with the 3 TB drives)
- Copy all the data BACK to the first volume (now a SHR volume)
- Nuke the second volume
- Expand the first volume onto the 3 TB drives

I started the last step (bringing the 3 TB drives into the SHR) over 16 hours ago and it is only 54.52% complete. The system does seem to be noticeably slower while this process is taking place, so I will be happy when it is completed.

I am in love with the 1511+. It is quiet, fast, expandable, and it has all the right ACLs for when my daughter is old enough to start wondering what her daddy keeps on his storage server. It is a great unit, and definitely worth the money. The only thing I would add is:

- More documentation on getting NIC bonding to work
- More detailed technical specifications about the unit's internal hardware on the Synology site
- The capability to hook up an external DVD or Blu-Ray drive for ripping content. This last feature would be the bee's knee's. Even if the external ripper had it's own CPU but was a part of the Synology DSM-managed system, I'd still buy it.

Thank you Synology for such a great device! I almost can't wait to run out of storage so I can buy the add-on!

*Update #3*
The replacement arrived within a couple days, and after I installed DSM and inserted the drives from the dead machine, everything appeared perfectly. Nothing lost. This process has not been for the feint of heart.
_____________________________________________________________

*Update #2*
The NAS completely died last night, taking all of my data with it. I can't completely rule out a power surge, as there was a click when I turned it on after rebooting, but it looks like I might have just lost months worth of data, if not years.
_____________________________________________________________

*Update*
I'm revising my 1-star review. After hours of investigation, it looks like the problem exists with OSX, and it's not fair to blame the product entirely. However, it should be known that without significant network troubleshooting and configuration, the diskstation will run prohibitively slow for Mac users.

After three days, and trying everything listed below and much more, and after hours and hours in the forums, and with the help of outside software, I can finally, with very large files, achieve file transfers of up to 35 MBs. With small files (my Aperture library), it remains an unusable 1 MBs.

Port trunking/link aggregation remains a mystery, despite the two switches I've tried that support IEEE 802.3ad. I'm working on a third, but it's going to take some time.

In short, there's a lot of promise here, but average Mac users should be prepared for a long fight.
_____________________________________________________________

File transfer speeds on OSX are anywhere from 0 up to 11MBs (with SHR, if you're lucky. Right now I'm getting 3.8 MBs) It's painful.

In the Synology forums, Mac users have been begging for an answer to this problem, and there is simply no response. Here's just one example: [linked removed by Amazon]

For now, it looks like I have 3 choices:

1. Accept file transfers that are much slower than USB, network shared drives, or even downloading from the Internet
2. Go back to a jumble of external USB2 disks and wires across multiple machines
3. Go back to Windows

I've tried all the recommendations:
- disabling .ds creation
- enabling/disabling NFS
- trying different disks
- checking the cables
- connecting through smb/afp
- testing the throughput of other devices
- removing the switch from the equation
- checking the router speed
- increasing MTU

I'm going to give it another day or so of troubleshooting and then I'll send it back. Otherwise, I've just thrown away $900.

First off, thanks a lot to previous positive reviews. They helped me make decision to try and like this Synology model. Second, thank you AMAZON.com for your excellent service, reasonable pricing and nice return policy. Last but not least, thanks Synology for offering a no-nonsense NAS. I am a late NAS adopter, partially because of its affordability, partially because of the need. Synology is the very 1st NAS brand that I've ever tried and have had no regrets or no need to look else where.

Here goes the story: I first tried the DS411J, thinking it would be good enough for the on-line storage task at home office. It was, until I started running the Squeezebox Server which seems to require more RAM than the DS411j's 128MB of memory could handle. Then I decided to try the DS1511+, and bingo I found my love. Even though it's more than double priced than the DS411j, it's superior to the 4-bay little sister in several counts: thermal control (translates to HD longer life), expandability (in storage and memory capavity), richer "real estate" (more LAN, USBs, and eSATA ports in the back), accessibility (HD can be installed and removed at front w/o opening the case), and ergonomics or convenience (built-in power supply). Take thermal control, for example. While the DS411j can run HDs in temperatures ranging from 39 to 45 degrees (still in normal area), somehow the DS1511+ manages to always keep the HD temperatures from 32 to 39 degrees. Also, memory upgrade is a breeze. Days after the DS1511+ arrived I ordered and got 2GB RAM module costing $26 also from AMAZON.com, unscrewed the 5 screws in the back, snapped in the memory module, closed the lid again, turned the unit on, and minutes later: voila, System Info indicated RAM = 3,072 MB now.

I highly recommend this model for those who can afford it. If it appears out of our budget, I still wholeheartedly suggest some stretching out to get it. Mind you, the DS411j is a very good affordable 4 bay NAS, but the bigger brother DS1511+ is a few notches higher in performance, upgradability, robustness and thermal control. I'd say it's worth the extra $$ over the DS411j, and more.

One wrinkle: Could someone please explain and show me why and how to fully utilize the two LANs on the back of the DS1511+.

Updated Dec 2011:
So, I just discovered that Synology is EXTREMELY misleading (personally, I feel it falls in the "fraudulent" category), regarding the support for Video Surveillance on this NAS. All of the marketing pages and specs talk about the amazing Surveillance Station software and the NAS support for up to 20 IP cameras. What they don't talk about ... is when you actually go try to enable this functionality ... you only get support for 1 camera for free (that's right, 1) ... and every additional camera you want to add to the software costs you sixty dollars! You literally have to purchase a new "license" for each camera. Totally unacceptable that this information was so buried (I only found it inside the software itself.). And in general, an incredibly negative experience with Synology. Who would ever expect to have to pay a fee for every extra camera you added? It's like Microsoft charging you sixty dollars every time you want to add a printer to your computer!

****************

October, 2011:
I've had this server up and running for about 4 months now, and while many of the features I still LOVE (as covered by other reviewers) ... I wanted to call out one area that has is noticeably weaker than expected, which might affect your purchase decision.

I previously had a Windows Home Server NAS ... great in many ways ... but one of the major shortcomings was the inability to adequately back up the server itself. (This is really important if you are using it as a primary file server for your home, not just as a backup for other Desktop or Laptop computers.)

The Synology servers claim significant capabilities in this area of server backup ... but I wanted to call out a few deficiencies that are not clear until you start using it:

1) Backup Status/History - The information provided about a given backup is VERY weak. The system basically tells you if the most recent attempt succeeded or failed. But a single file issue (such as 1 file not readable) will result in a "failed" status for the whole backup ... and it is then impossible to tell if the whole backup needs to be repeated, or if it's just the issue with the one file. I have a 3TB server, so having to repeat the backup can be a 2day+ affair.

2) Data Replicator and Server Backup Collision ... Synology provides desktop/laptop software called Data Replicator that backups up the files from your desktop/laptop onto the server itself. However, it appears that if you include these desktop/laptop backups in the server backup job itself, there will be a file access collision, which means you are never able to run both a local and a server backup job at the same time. MAJOR issue, since I generally need to run all the backup jobs overnight, since they take so much time and resources.

3) Backups are VERY slow ... I do a nightly backup of about 1TB of my most critical server data each night. This backup is over a gigabit network to another Synology server located locally. This takes almost 16 hours! My full server capacity is about 3 TB, which means I would never be able to do a nightly backup of the full server, as it would not finish even within 24 hours.

4) Backup to eSATA is VERY messy ... backing up to an external eSATA drive is a major requirement for me, so that I can have offsite backups as well as on site backups. The Synology software, however does not recognize individual eSATA drives, and instead uses the same volume name for ALL eSATA drives, no matter what actual drive is plugged in. Since any server backup is almost certainly going to require more than 1 eSATA drive (since the server holds 5 drives), this is a MAJOR issue. It means, for example, that Synology server cannot tell what actual drive is attached at any given time, and therefore cannot tell which backup job is appropriate for that drive. Without being extremely careful yourself ... it is very easy to start a backup job with the wrong drive attached, and thus the job will fail (because it fills up the disk with another job's data ... requiring you to come back and reformat the whole disk and start over.)

5) External Drive format of EXT3 & EXT4 meaningfully supported ... the specs claim that Synology will backup to drives formatted in FAT32 and NTFS ... however, once you delve into the performance specs for these formats, you see that backing up to these formats takes SIGNIFICANTLY longer than to EXT3 and EXT4 (like 2-3 times as long). The times I mentioned earlier in this review are for backing up to EXT4. So, unless you have very little data (less than 1TB) ... or you are ok taking multiple days to backup your data ... you will need to use EXT3 or EXT4 formats. This means that your backups will NOT be readable natively by a PC if you need to access your data. If you are familiar with these linux fomats or are just planning to restore your Synology server using the backups, this won't be a problem for you. But if you were expecting to be able to access your files directly from the backup without fully restoring your server, this may pose a problem.

6) Backup to Amazon takes WAAAAAAY too long ... I'm not sure of the problem here ... I decided to just stop trying to use the Amazon backup solution. Even after I did my initial backup of critical data to Amazon (too 3 days for about 100GBs), all of the incremental backups seems to take just as long. This should not be the case, as each incremental backup should only require uploading the changed files since the last backup. I may try again, but for now, it looks virtually useless given the speeds.

Still an amazing server on many other dimensions, and very glad I got it. But I'm definitely not thrilled with the less than stellar support for an easy server backup solution.