Synology DiskStation DS925+ evaluation: versatile, expandable NAS drive

Synology makes a variety of high-end NAS programs for company and enterprise customers, nevertheless it’s additionally one of many few producers that also caters to smaller companies and individuals who work from home. Its newest launch is the DiskStation DS925+, which supplies an expandable storage system with loads of scope to develop sooner or later.

At first look, the DS925+ appears nearly an identical to its predecessor – referred to as the DS923+ – with a sombre black design that gives 4 drive bays for arduous drive or SSD storage. There are additionally two M.2 slots on the bottom of the drive that can be utilized to put in SSD modules for a high-speed cache to spice up efficiency. Nevertheless, the older DS923+ continues to be offered on-line by a lot of sellers, so be sure to purchase the brand new DS925+ mannequin when ordering on-line.

The upgraded DS925+ features a quicker quad-core AMD Ryzen V1500B processor working at 2.2GHz, together with two 2.5Gb Ethernet ports for a high-speed community connection. Synology claims that this makes it considerably quicker than its predecessor, providing a most write pace of as much as 565MB/s and browse pace of 522MB/s – though, in fact, this may very a lot depend upon how your community is configured and the kind of drives that you simply set up.

Like a lot of Synology’s NAS drives, the DS925+ is offered ‘unpopulated’ – as simply an empty chassis, with no drives included. The unpopulated drive prices £575.00/$640.00, so that you’ll must funds for added arduous drives or SSDs on high of that primary worth. You additionally want to make sure that you choose 2.5-inch SSD or 3.5-inch arduous drives which were permitted as ‘suitable’ by Synology. These might be purchased direct from Synology itself, or by means of a few of its on-line sellers. Nevertheless, you’ll be able to’t purchase the DS925+ itself from Synology, so that you’ll want to buy round on-line for the very best deal.

The utmost dimension of arduous drive suitable with the DS925+ is 20TB, so its 4 bays present a most of 80TB of storage (with a lot of RAID choices additionally supported). Nevertheless, there’s an enlargement module additionally out there, referred to as the DX525, which might be related to the DS925+ if you wish to additional improve your storage. This prices £467.00/$449.00, and supplies 5 extra drive bays, supplying you with a most of 180TB of storage, so the DS925+ will be capable of sustain as what you are promoting grows sooner or later. There are additionally USB-A (3.2) ports on the back and front panels, which let you join particular person exterior drives if required.

However whereas the {hardware} design is neat and environment friendly, Synology’s software program doesn’t make it straightforward for brand spanking new customers to get began. There’s a label with a QR code included within the field, however this merely takes you to some very lengthy, difficult Assist recordsdata on Synology’s web site, which might simply confuse anybody that’s utilizing a NAS drive for the primary time.

There may be an app, referred to as DS Finder, that’s out there for iOS and Android, and this app was capable of see the DS925+ when it was related to our workplace community. Sadly, the app merely instructed us to make use of an online browser to obtain and set up the primary working system software program, referred to as DiskStation Supervisor (DSM), that’s wanted to regulate the drive.

Sadly, the online browser possibility didn’t work both, and easily displayed a message telling us to obtain a separate desktop app for Macs or PCs, referred to as Synology Assistant. That didn’t work at first both, though it did at the least present some suggestions for adjusting the encryption settings on the drive. That labored in the long run, and as soon as we’d put in the DSM software program we have been capable of swap again to the DS Finder app on our iPad to finish the set-up course of for the drive. And, in addition to an area community connection, the app additionally consists of an possibility referred to as QuickConnect that gives a distant connection to the DS925+, with the intention to use it as a form of ‘personal cloud’ for accessing your recordsdata whenever you’re away from the workplace.

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Sadly, the DS Finder app additionally tells you to put in a lot of extra apps with a view to handle your recordsdata, pictures and different options, so Synology actually must rethink its documentation and its complicated choice of apps and utilities to make them a bit extra user-friendly for small companies and residential employees who might not have a educated crew of IT employees out there to set every part up for them.

Ought to You Purchase The DiskStation DS925+

The compact design of the DS925+ makes it possibility for any small enterprise or workplace, and its enlargement choices be certain that it will possibly present extra storage sooner or later. Nevertheless, the software program aspect of issues is fairly untidy, so the DS925+ will probably be greatest suited to individuals who have already got a little bit expertise of networking and organising a NAS drive.

Take a look at the opposite NAS drives we have now reviewed in our spherical up of the Greatest NAS drives for Mac.