Synology Diskstation DS1010+ and DX510 Expansion unit review

1. Introduction2. Synology Disk Station DS1010+ NAS3. Synology DX510 Expansion Unit4. The Diskstation Manager 3.0 Operating System5. Testing Methodology and Performance6. Acoustics, Temperatures and Power Drain7. Closing Thoughts8. View All Pages

The Synology DX510 box is the same dimensions as the main DS1010+ product and the only difference is really the sticker on the top with the model name.

Again an identical protection method as the DS1010+, two heavy duty pieces of foam and a cloth based protective cover to protect against scuffing and marks during transportation.

The bundle is similar, except that Synology include a special eSATA cable which allows for the DX510 to be connected directly to the DS1010+ for enhanced storage capabilities.

The chassis is basically identical to the DS1010+ as well, with the dual 80mm Sunon fans at the rear, although obviously the LAN and USB 2.0 ports have been removed. The light readout strip on the front has also changed, replaced with eSATA, RAID, Status and Alert.

The chassis is removed in the same manner, 5 screws at the rear. The 5 drive bays have the same plastic button/lever based mechanism, sadly again without a lockable key based system.

There is no need for a fully fledged motherboard with the DX510, so we have a slave based controller system which handles the data stream between the hard drives and the main DS1010+ unit. It is an elegant system and we love the fact that people can basically double their storage without having to bin the drives, the Raid configuration or even the DS1010+.

Internally, the same 5 slot SATA 3GBps daughter card – although we have no need for a cooling system to the left as there is no dual core CPU and dedicated motherboard configuration.

Synology haven't cut any corners, they are using the same high quality Seasonic power supply to handle power to the front control panel and storage drives.

Our 1TB drives are easily added with a simple screw based system – 3 on each side of the drive for complete rigidity. I would have liked to see Synology using heavy duty drive racks however. They are probably strong enough, but I feel for the business market that they should be using metal rather than plastic.

Both units are connected by the special eSATA cable which Synology supply with the DX510.

We are happy to report that Synology have supplied a cable which is long enough for both units to be connected either vertically or horizontally. Sometimes it can be these small details which can cause a problem, so it is good to see that they have really thought this through. It is an excellent system and one which appeals to me considerably. Let us hope that the software and performance levels are as impressive as the design.

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