Synology DS220+ review

GlibReaper

GlibReaper

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With terabytes of data, including hundreds of gigabytes of photos, I have always been interested in getting a NAS. But somehow I always wondered if it would be worth it. So imagine my happiness when I got the opportunity to try one of these babies myself. For free:

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Drive installation was completely tool-less and very easy. Each drive bay has a push button above it, which ejects the tray. Each tray then has a plastic tab on each side, which you just pop off. You put in the drive, pop the tabs back on, insert the drive into the unit and you're ready to switch on.

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Setup is just as easy with a web-based guided tool and after formatting your drives, you're ready to go. I had some hiccups with my network setup, but the wizard guided me to install the assistant and we were ready to go.

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Synology makes great hardware, but the thing I've always most looked forward to is the software. The device comes pre-loaded with all the software you need to get going, with the option for an insane number of other packages.

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One of the best packages is Photos. This is Google Photos on steroids and without the... concern of giving a giant company access to all your info: locally stored and controlled by you, with features like automatic albums based on folders, time, location, tags, people, etc.

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And I still have so much to explore. I can't wait to play with the mobile apps, quota management, security groups, different packages, notifications, remote access and so much more to explore!
 

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So I'm helping a friend, actually looking at buying 2 of these this week, one at his office, 2nd at home, configured to replicate to each other.
One will also run docker container for Unifi.

I see you went seagate drive, which drive is that... planning on buy 2 x 4TB Ironwolf drives. bit nervous as I remember Synology is prescriptive about drive serial/model numbers and it's difficult to guarantee with local online stores.

Anyone else configure these in a replication pair using the DSM software, how difficult is it ?

G
 
georgelza said:
So I'm helping a friend, actually looking at buying 2 of these this week, one at his office, 2nd at home, configured to replicate to each other.
One will also run docker container for Unifi.

I see you went seagate drive, which drive is that... planning on buy 2 x 4TB Ironwolf drives. bit nervous as I remember Synology is prescriptive about drive serial/model numbers and it's difficult to guarantee with local online stores.

Anyone else configure these in a replication pair using the DSM software, how difficult is it ?

G
Click to expand...
Replication is very easy, just install the Snapshot Replication app on both units and setup source and destination, if its offsite you can use Zerotier and setup a link between the two using the IP's zerotier provides.

I have yet to find anything that can replicate as efficiently as the app above, assuming it p2p.
Tried rsync and numerous other iterations and nothing comes close.

Zerotier on both units

Synology | ZeroTier Documentation

How to install ZeroTier on your Synology NAS
docs.zerotier.com docs.zerotier.com
 
Remember to also setup firewall , run Security Advisor, it'll inform you what's at risk.
 
georgelza said:
So I'm helping a friend, actually looking at buying 2 of these this week, one at his office, 2nd at home, configured to replicate to each other.
One will also run docker container for Unifi.

I see you went seagate drive, which drive is that... planning on buy 2 x 4TB Ironwolf drives. bit nervous as I remember Synology is prescriptive about drive serial/model numbers and it's difficult to guarantee with local online stores.

Anyone else configure these in a replication pair using the DSM software, how difficult is it ?

G
Click to expand...
For my test I just grabbed two random old drives I had lying around. The Seagate 300GB and a Hitachi 500GB. The NAS complained about one of them, but let me override its complaint and created the volume fine, so doesn't seem to be a problem with drives not officially supported.

:-D Cool. Thanks for the question: it just taught me a new feature. I installed the Snapshot Replication app and looks like there is a little wizard to set it up, either local or remote:

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Been using Snapshot Replication going on 3yrs on our "cough" Xpenology builds.

Hopefully in the future Synology makes a presence in SA, I'd recommend it over Qnap which I find too fiddly/finicky to use.
DSM is easy as pie to use.
 
I also ran Xpenology for about 4 yrs, moved over to TrueNAS year before last.
This is for a friend, between his office and home, I'm rather going nice and packaged with Synology for him, reduces my hand hold required.
and agree on DSM... why I'm doing it like this.
G
 
Rocket-Boy said:
It can indeed and its pretty easy to do. There are instructions on a few appliances like HomeAssistant etc to get them running directly from the NAS.
Click to expand...
is HA actually officially avail on a Docker image.

I'm currently running the HAOS drop on a RPi 4, I need to also deploy HA for my friend...
G
 
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