Synology DiskStation 4-Bay 12TB (4 x 3TB) Network Attached Storage (NAS) with iSCSI (DS412+ 4300)

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Price: $1,499.99    

Product Feature

• CPU Frequency: 2.13 GHz
• Memory: 1 GB DDR3, Maximum Internal Capacity: 16TB
• System Fan: 92 mm X 92 mm X 1
• Interface: 2 x USB 3.0 Port, 1x USB 2.0 port, 1 x eSATA Port, 1 x RJ-45 10/100/1000 Gigabit Ethernet Port , 1x Gigabit LAN
• Noise Level: 19.4 dBA

Product Description

Synology DiskStation DS412+ 4 Bay All In one NAS Server For SMB Users.

Synology DiskStation 4-Bay 12TB (4 x 3TB) Network Attached Storage (NAS) with iSCSI (DS412+ 4300) Review

Ok, so I have an ever aging and ailing Windows Home Server. An original which while still going strong has begun to exhibit signs of time and age. My original WHS served as a storage center for all of the family's photos, docs, music, and movies that I used to stream to another HTPC running XBMC, 3 windows PC's, a few xbox 360s, and of course a smattering of phones and other smart devices. To say the least, the original WHS had its fair share of problems with networking, software integrations, router configurations and general head banging and teeth grinding. None of these were ever really intuitive or straightforward, and all had their fair share of frustration. And all of that was done at a time without kids. Which we all know, suck the living life out of us and vaporize time like an expanding black hole. So my next server would not, repeat NOT, mandate as much time.

Time for a replacement. So where did I start? First I decided that I would value my data over the speed of the machine, as much of it would be used on my home Gigabit network. So speed was not the first priority. Second, I wanted to attempt to ensure some semblance of data protection. After reviewing and reading about all of the RAID types out there I have come to a single understanding. Nothing is guaranteed, and everyone has a different subjective opinion about the actual security of your data across the different RAID types. So in the end, make a backup, of your backup. Third, it had to be accessible by all of my devices in my network and for me especially, be able to be viewed and accessible by my media devices (i.e. Xbox 360, Android phones, tablets, and other Windows computers.) Seems so easy right, three simple requests.

Now on to building. I started by building and testing all of the mainstream free, or low priced alternatives. I built and rebuilt, and rebuilt... a FreeNAS box, an NAS4Free box, an UnRaid box, an Ubuntu server box, a Windows 7 media server box with Raid, a dedicated XBMC with Raid storage, Open Media Vault, Server Elements, and a few others that were quickly burned to disk and then made into my ever expanding coaster set. All not easy to accomplish in the garage late at night. Either way I learned a lot.

1) None of these were any easier than my current server
2) All of them take a tremendous amount of time to install, diagnose, and set up
3) None are really designed as media servers. They can accomplish this, but only when using large amounts of Tylenol.
4) Did I mention Tylenol? Oh and use small disks when creating all of these RAID types.
5) Parity checks are another word for 24 hour breaks

I tested all of these mainly because I don't like to spend money I don't have to, and initially it sounded fun. It wasn't.
Then I spent days if not weeks comparing some of the mainstream commercial choices. These included QNAP, Synology, Buffalo, Iomega, ReadyNAS, Drobo, and others. I scoured the internet in search of reviews, comments, anything I could use to compare and determine which Server I should choose. In the end I finally based my choice on about 30 solid reviews of each device. And in the end I chose the Synology DS412+.

Wow, is all I have to say. After throwing in four 2TB hard drives, setting up the drives in Synology Hybrid Raid, (waiting 24 hours for parity checks, and extended SMART tests) I was finally ready to go. Let me say, night and day from anything else I tested and used. Most everything is intuitive, easy to access, and quick to implement. Windows, and Mac sharing is automatically setup and turned on, Linux would have to be enabled. User creation is fast, descriptive, and access is managed with nice easy to understand check boxes. My windows home computers instantly saw the new shares, and having created a user with the same name and password as my computer, could access the appropriate shares right away. All of the software packages were quickly installed and usable. Overall I love the administrative interface.

Installed and tested the music, file, photo, cloud, Plex media server, download center, synology media server, and surveillance station software. All installed, configured and worked correctly. I then downloaded and used the Android apps for each of these software packages, and confirmed those all work too. Not saying that all of the software packages are robust and great featured, but they do work.

After setting up the Plex media, and synology media server software, I can confirm that these work great!!! Not only does my Xbox see these no problem, but the Plex media server allows my users to connect and stream across the internet. Tested it out and had no problem streaming any of my music, or movies across other wifi, or 4G connections.

Some quirks included accessing the server from outside of the home network. By default the file sharing system is turned on, and users are given access to the appropriate shares, but unless you use the "Application Portal" from the control panel, and enable the ports to which you want to give access, you will not be able to access it from a WAN. This is true for all applications on the server. It only took me about 2 hours to figure that one out. I hope that helps someone.

Overall, I am having a wonderful and fun experience with my new Synology DS412+. I opted for the 412+ instead of the DS413 simply because of the reviews regarding the Plex media server, and so far I am not disappointed. I would absolutely recommend this product to a friend. I would say though. that if you don't need the media capabilites, I would feel confident in getting the less expensive DS413 as it is normally about $150 less. Hope this helps someone in their decision about a new NAS. Feel free to comment or ask questions and I will do my best to answer!!

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