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1 out of 1 people found this review helpful
1.5 stars
"one flaw makes it less useful"
Pros: works, mostly, and fairly quiet
Cons: no network recycle being, no file recovery possibility
Summary: This review is for Synology DS-207, which is different from DS-107 primarily in that DS-207 takes two hard drives and provides RAID 0 and 1 configurations. Otherwise, the following comments apply to both.
Except the one serious flaw I will discuss below, this network storage system is very likable. Relatively quiet. Not silent, but definitely will not bother most people, and I am fairly picky when it comes to computer equipment noise. I had a Buffalo Technology LinkStation (an earlier model) that is so noisy that I simply cannot use it in my office (I heard the newer Buffalos are better, but I never tried). Overall, the system works very well. The web-based management is intuitive and effective, mostly. The speed is about average compared to other systems having similar specs. It transferred a disc content of about 150 GB in approximately five hours (that is roughly 8 MB/second). For regular use, you won't notice the difference between the system and an internal hard drive.
Now the problems. It does not have a network recycle bin. To be fair, not every storage system (especially Linux-based systems) has this feature. But some do have this feature. Buffalo Technology, for example, has it. Q-NAP also has it. This seemingly trivial feature is actually extremely important in particle terms. Not having the feature is a fatal flaw to me. I simply cannot use system. This makes Synology usable as a passive backup device only and nothing more. If you would like to have it run actively as a network storage, forget about it. You'll soon run into such serious troubles that you'd want to pull your hair for not being smarter.
Aggregating the problem is the EXT3 file system used by Synology. Popular file recovery programs such as GetDataBack and Undelete do not work with EXT3. So once you delete a file, you really have lost it in all practical sense. There may be some geeks out there secretly sharing some obscure file recovery programs for EXT3, but that is not for most mainstream users.
What really makes me wonder is that to my understanding, it is not difficult to create a recycle bin by the manufacturer at all. Just program a folder for automatic collection of all deleted files. I think it is reckless not to do that.
Other Thoughts: I think I'd get a true server running a file system such as NTFS that allows complete management of the files, including file recovery. Also, there are excellent defragmentation programs such as Diskeeper for NTFS, but not for EXT3. On a positive note, however, the EXT3 file system suffers relatively less disc fragmentation as compared to NTFS. So defragmentation is probably not a serious concern. File recovery is certainly a dominant problem with Synology.Updated
The Synology has average or slightly better than average noise level of this kind of network storage systems currently on the market. But the noise started to bother me after a few days of use in my office. It's the fan. The hard drives I put in are very quiet Seagate hard drives and do not contribute audible noise as compared to the 60mmx60mm fan. The noise of the fan is about 30-35 db (non-scientific estimate), noticeably louder than my custom-made quiet PC, but likely not too audible over a regular consumer PC.
To be fair, I doubt you can find a really quiet NAS these days. NAS manufacturers don't seem to pay much attention to the noise, just like the PC market where people who really care about the quietness usually end up having to have their PCs custom-built. Synology is by no means the worst. If you are not too picky on noise, the chances are that you will find the Synology to be satisfactory.
I'm considering to modify the system by replacing the fan using a quieter fan.Updated
The Disk Station has average or slightly better than average noise level of this kind of network storage systems currently on the market. But the noise started to increasingly bother me after couple of days of use in my office. It is the fan. The hard drives I putting our very quiet Seagate hard drives and don't contribute audible noise over the 60mm×60mm fan. The noise of the fan is about 30-35 db (non-scientific estimate), noticeably louder than my custom-made quiet PC, but likely not too audible over a regular consumer PC.
I doubt you can find a really quiet NAS these days. NAS manufacturers don't seem to pay much attention to the noise, just like the PC market where people who really care about the quietness usually end up having to have their PCs custom-built. Synology is by no means the worst. If you are not too picky on noise, the chances are that you will find the Synology to be satisfactory.
I'm considering to modify the system by replacing the fan using a quieter fan.Updated
Replaced the original fan with a quiet Papst 60x60x15mm Quiet Fan (#P60F2/FL), and now completely satisfied with the low noise level. The Papst is nearly inaudible in my office that is fairly quiet. Had doubts before actually went ahead with the project, but I'm so glad that I did. The difference is very significant, greater than I even hoped for. Makes me wonder why the manufacturer doesn't use a quieter fan. I believe using a quieter fan at manufacture would not increase the cost by more than $1. Custom replacing the fan, however, will cost over $20 (including shipping) and several hours (most time spent on searching for the right fan that has a proper size and desirable noise level, and agonizing with the unknowns). Personally I am absolutely willing to pay $50 more for a quiet solution.
A caveat for the modifiers: the Synology uses a very unusual socket for connecting the fan. As a result, the fans one could buy on the market don't come with the right connector for it, nor could I find an accessory connector that fits. Some modification needs to be done. You need to cut off the connector on the original fan and use it to replace the connector on the new fan you bought. You will need to have some basic skills of wire splicing (I simply used solder).
- 3 replies to this review
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Hi paesano99:
The CIFS recycled bin featutre was added in the current stable firmware. After activating this feature in the management UI, the deleted data from Windows client will be recycled.
The behavior is described by cvgpit. -
Hi Techlaw:
Can you confirm the clarification provided by cvgpit (below) that the Recycle Bin just needs to be activated? I am leaning towards the DS207+ for small business use, but will not if there is no recycle bin. Thanks. -
it actually does have the feature this users says that it doesn't
When users delete files in the shared folders via the SMB/CIFS protocol (ex: on Windows), the deleted files will be moved into the automatically-created folder "#recycle" in the same shared folder to avoid files being unintentionally deleted.
To enable the recycle bins, going to the page ?Network Services > Win/Mac OS?, and check the ?Enable CIFS Recycle Bin? option.
To permanently deleted files in a shared folder, just delete the ?#recycle? folder; to permanently delete files in all shared folder, click the ?Empty CIFS Recycle Bin? button.
Synology Disk Station DS-207+:
