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Tinuva
The Magician
- Joined
- Feb 10, 2005
- Messages
- 12,478
Ok I know, another review of this device!
Short overview of device
The DS218+ is a high performance feature rich network attached storage device that offers more than just storage. Setup is easy, yet the default approach have security in mind. It is well suited towards both new users and expert users. Important, this device is more than just a network attached storage device, more than just a fileserver, its an actual server that offers additonal applications ranging from email server, to media server which includes streaming music and videos.
Unboxing
I like the box.
First opening:
Side box contents:
Chinese power supply:
The device itself neatly wrapped:
But the wrapping had to go:
Inside, you can see to the right where the memory upgrade module goes:
What is this?
Not perfect for the South African market, but ok.
What you liked about the device
I enjoyed the ease of setup, including the part where finding the device on the network was easy. Having built servers the old fashioned way, I really appreciate how the setup process took care of everything, from installing the operating system up to installing the additional applications.
The web interface is easy to use and users who know nothing about Linux should find this as easy as any other device configuration, if not easier. I really like the web interface that comes with DSM (Disk Station Manager) 6.2
The android app is a nice touch, I do like being able to remotely view the most important information of the device, and I can see how the push notifications will come in handy when there are issues with the drives. Admittedly, I haven't yet tested the notifications from the Logging Center, that can also be very useful.
Its really quiet, for a server device, you can barely hear it, which is great for home users. Only time will tell if the fan will eventually make a noise when old.
I really enjoyed how easy the setup was, but what I like more is that it also allow expert users to access the terminal (ssh) and use advanced features like docker.
What it does well
Initial setup of the Operating System.
The web interface.
The online knowledge base have many good how-to documents.
Logging Center for logs.
Able to max out the 1Gbps port with single threaded transfer speeds at 116MBps.
Tested the hardware transcoding of a 51Mbps 2160p video file, to see the performance. Selected 20Mbps 1080p stream on a desktop pc in the browser for Plex, and it used about 50% CPU on the DS218+ and played smooth. On an android player, I could only make 4Mbps 720p play smooth, where 8-20Mbps 1080p worked mostly smooth, except for very busy scenes. I put this down to the andorid player not able to handle the stream seeing it worked on the desktop pc. Both tested over wired lan.
Where it falls short (if anything)
Power cable wasn't usable for me, and I assume not everyone have spare kettle cables lying around.
It has a wizard for first time users, but it wasn't obvious how to get started with the shares. That said, once I figured out where to start, everything else became a simple procedure.
Not a shortfall, but would be nice if the android app could do more or at least show a little bit more information than just the system info, drive status (temperature) and space usage.
Short overview of device
The DS218+ is a high performance feature rich network attached storage device that offers more than just storage. Setup is easy, yet the default approach have security in mind. It is well suited towards both new users and expert users. Important, this device is more than just a network attached storage device, more than just a fileserver, its an actual server that offers additonal applications ranging from email server, to media server which includes streaming music and videos.
Unboxing
I like the box.
First opening:
Side box contents:
Chinese power supply:
The device itself neatly wrapped:
But the wrapping had to go:
Inside, you can see to the right where the memory upgrade module goes:
What is this?
Not perfect for the South African market, but ok.
What you liked about the device
I enjoyed the ease of setup, including the part where finding the device on the network was easy. Having built servers the old fashioned way, I really appreciate how the setup process took care of everything, from installing the operating system up to installing the additional applications.
The web interface is easy to use and users who know nothing about Linux should find this as easy as any other device configuration, if not easier. I really like the web interface that comes with DSM (Disk Station Manager) 6.2
The android app is a nice touch, I do like being able to remotely view the most important information of the device, and I can see how the push notifications will come in handy when there are issues with the drives. Admittedly, I haven't yet tested the notifications from the Logging Center, that can also be very useful.
Its really quiet, for a server device, you can barely hear it, which is great for home users. Only time will tell if the fan will eventually make a noise when old.
I really enjoyed how easy the setup was, but what I like more is that it also allow expert users to access the terminal (ssh) and use advanced features like docker.
What it does well
Initial setup of the Operating System.
The web interface.
The online knowledge base have many good how-to documents.
Logging Center for logs.
Able to max out the 1Gbps port with single threaded transfer speeds at 116MBps.
Tested the hardware transcoding of a 51Mbps 2160p video file, to see the performance. Selected 20Mbps 1080p stream on a desktop pc in the browser for Plex, and it used about 50% CPU on the DS218+ and played smooth. On an android player, I could only make 4Mbps 720p play smooth, where 8-20Mbps 1080p worked mostly smooth, except for very busy scenes. I put this down to the andorid player not able to handle the stream seeing it worked on the desktop pc. Both tested over wired lan.
Where it falls short (if anything)
Power cable wasn't usable for me, and I assume not everyone have spare kettle cables lying around.
It has a wizard for first time users, but it wasn't obvious how to get started with the shares. That said, once I figured out where to start, everything else became a simple procedure.
Not a shortfall, but would be nice if the android app could do more or at least show a little bit more information than just the system info, drive status (temperature) and space usage.
