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A real surprise on the DS918+ is the addition of two M.2 SSD slots in the base of the unit for high speed caching purposes and perhaps an even bigger surprise is what architecture they use as they are NVMe SSD supporting slots.
Synology's NAS OS is DiskStation Manager (DSM), one of the better NAS operating systems out there. Fast to install and feature rich it uses clearly labelled icons to display the large range options you can choose from. There are two ways of tackling what the software has to offer. The Basic main and control panel pages offer quick and easy access to the basic features making it easier for the first time user to find what they need and feel comfortable with. However should you want to delve in deeper to the OS to find out all it offers then the Advanced main and control panel pages have many more options to choose from.
With both LAN ports connected in Link Aggregation mode, Synology quote throughput figures for the DS918+ at 226MB/s for reads and 222MB/s for writes. We tested it with a single Gigabit connection and got an average of 118.8MB/s for reads and 115MB/s for writes for the five array types (RAID 0,1,5,6 & 10) that we built the hard drives in for testing.
If the current 48TB of storage space supported by the DS918+ suddenly becomes a bit thin for you needs, fear not as it can be expanded. Using the eSATA port on the rear panel, one of Synology's DX517 Expansion Units can be plugged in which brings another 5 drive bays (60TB capacity at the time of writing) worth of storage to the DS918+.
Also supported by the DS918+ are Synology's VS360HD (36 Channel, single HDMI port) & VS960HD (96 channel, dual HDMI ports) VisualStation PC-less surveillance management solutions. By plugging one of these into the network and a TV or LCD monitor and by logging in to Synology's Surveillance Station app you can set up a comprehensive personal monitoring station,
We found the Synology DiskStation DS918+ on Overclockers UK for £579.95 (inc VAT) HERE
Pros.
- DSM OS.
- Overall performance.
- NVMe M.2 SSD slots.
- Expandability options for both storage and memory.
Cons.
- Lack of HDMI port.
- Plastic drive trays.
Kitguru says: Synology's DiskStation DS918+ is a powerful 4-bay NAS for the home or office and the addition of the two dedicated M.2 NVMe slots means that should the need arise for faster caching performance, SSDs can be installed for the purpose without sacrificing any of the basic storage capacity.
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