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Over the last month we have looked at the full range of Synology products from the entry level USB Station 2, to the range topping DS 1010+ with partnering DX510 expansion bay. No matter your demands Synology say they have a solution for you … without breaking the bank.
Today we are looking at one of their new models, the budget Diskstation DS411j which offers a cost effective file storage and backup solution with Raid Protection for multi user home environments.
The DS411j is fully compatible with the fantastic new multi tasking Diskstation Manager 3. So what do you get for your money? A four drive NAS system for under £300 with a total of 8TB storage support? Yes please.
Key Features
- Large Storage Capacity
- Secure RAID Data Protection
- 24/7 PC-Less Download Server
- DLNA Certified Media Server
- Cool and Quiet
The Synology Diskstation DS411j arrives in a plain, yet stylishly designed white box with the key features on the front.
The unit is protected between strong styrofoam pieces and is wrapped inside a felt protective cover.
The bundle contains a lan cable, mounting screws, installation software disc, literature and power adapter.
The DS411j is finished in a cream and grey colour scheme which is very retro looking. The front panel shows power and LAN status, as well as hard drive activity.
On the rear is a gigabit Lan connection, dual USB 2.0 ports and power connector.
The sides have an engraved ‘synology' logo on the chassis which helps raise the visual appearance of the product.
The rear of the chassis can be opened by removing four thumbscrews. The fans are attached to this panel and it drops to reveal the four drive trays. These drive trays are plastic and reasonably strong – while we would like them to be metal, at this competitive price point it is understandable that some costs need to be cut.
Inside, the motherboard is attached to a daughtercard with the four sata power and data connectors. The 1.2ghz processor is paired with 128MB of DDR800. The NAS weighs 2.23kg and is 169mm x 184mm x 230mm in size.
The trays can accept 2.5 inch and 3.5 inch drives and they are mounted by four screws, which are supplied. The trays then slide between the runner lines and they slot into the sata headers. It is a simple procedure and works well. Once all the drives are installed, the chassis can be sealed again.
Those of you who have been following our recent NAS reviews will have noticed that Synology recently released the latest version of their operating system which is fully multitasking, allowing the user to switch between applications and tasks. We think its a fantastic operating system and is worth another look in this review.
When the system is first powered up the Synology Assistant shows any compatible devices on the network. Most Synology devices require the firmware to be installed before they can be used.
The newest firmware files can be downloaded from the Synology website, but in this case as the product was not released at time of review we used the file on the software disc supplied. The procedure takes about 10 minutes in total.
Diskmanager 3.0 is a small overhead, multitasking operating system which is based around an extremely responsive, easy to use user interface.
There is fully support for Jumbo frames up to 9k, which obviously needs support from the rest of the network, including any switches incorporated.
The first course of action will be to set up the hard drives installed. We use two 1TB drives for our testing, although the DS411j can support up to 8TB of data across 4 x 2TB drives, more than enough for general home and small office demands.
Setting up volumes and Raid configurations is a straightforward process, guided with step by step panels on screen. The DS411j supports a proprietary Synology Hybrid Raid configuration as well as JBOD, Raid 0, Raid 1, Raid 5, Raid 5+ Spare, Raid 6 and Raid 10. The operating system can offer migration such as Basic to RAID 1, Basic to RAID 5, Basic to RAID 5+Spare, RAID 1 to RAID 5, RAID 1 to RAID 5+Spare, RAID 5 to RAID 5+Spare, RAID 5 to RAID 6. Additionally pre configured Raid volumes can be expanded with larger hard drives.
Folders can be shared across the network with up to 1024 user accounts via 256 user groups with 256 shared folders per install.
As would be expected there is full Macintosh support and we experienced no issues with cross platform compatibility, between PC and Macintosh machines in our network.
The operating system has a monitoring system similar to the Windows panels, showing CPU overhead as well as memory demands and network activity.
Any partitions can be analysed and hard drive temperatures can be monitored. The interface is fully featured and covers most bases. While we noticed that this system wasn't as fast as some of the higher end models we have reviewed before, it is still capable of multitasking through various panels, even when mid way through a Raid configuration. It is impressive especially when you consider there is only 128MB of ram onboard.
Diskstation 3.0 includes many media and automated options, such as
Download Station functions as a 24×7 BitTorrent, FTP, HTTP, eMule, and NZB download center without a PC. The eMule download engine allows search-n-download capability with a web-browser without installing additional desktop applications.
Audio Station supports music, Internet radio stations, and iPod playback with the optional speakers. An optional direction-free Synology Remote allows you to freely enjoy your music. Streaming mode allows your music to be shared with multiple users over the Intranet or Internet.
DLNA/UPnP Compliant Media Server allows you to stream multimedia files with an UPnP Digital Media Adapter (DMA) to a stereo system or a TV-set. Sony PS3 and Microsoft Xbox360 are also supported.
iTunes Server is an easy way to share music with other iTunes clients over the network. Password protection prevents unauthorized sharing.
Photo Station simplifies photo, video, and blog sharing over the Internet. The flexibility of photo theme customization, blog layout arrangement, visitor’s privilege setting, RSS feed, and the dazzling 3-dimentional photo browsing with Cooliris make Photo Station your state-of-the-art lifestyle sharing center on the Internet.
Web Station with built-in PHP+MySQL allows you to publish your own websites or install numerous popular open source programs.
Frequently used programs can be pinned to the taskbar for easy access later. There are many nice touches throughout which we are sure will be enhanced further as time progresses.
We are testing the Synology DS411j within our gigabit network which is pretty much as good as you will get for a home or small office environment. It is a mixed network with several 1GBit switches for ultimate performance.
Reference Test PC:
Processor: Intel Core i7 920 @ 4ghz
Storage: Kingston 128GB SSD V+ Series
Motherboard: Asus Rampage II Gene
Graphics: Geforce GTX285 2GB
Memory: Corsair Dominator 1600mhz @2000mhz
Network: 2x Belkin 16 Port Gigabit Switches
Operating System: Windows 7 64 Bit Ultimate
Firstly we perform a native network test to ascertain pure data throughput. Jumbo Frames have been set to 9k.
Pure data throughput is impressive considering the budget market, we wouldn't expect this unit to be in the same region as the higher models such as the DS710.
We averaged 18 megabytes per second when writing to the DS411j, its certainly no record breaker, but it holds steady at these speeds.
Memory use hovers at around 35 percent when writing to the Raid 0 configuration, consuming around 45 mb of ram. Processor time is between 30% and 40% with this load.
We averaged around 36 mb/s which is a great result and easily capable of streaming 1080p content across a network.
Network flow virtually doubles, which also drives up CPU time from under 40% to around 60-65% utilisation. Memory demands stay the same as with the write test. We like the way Diskmanager colour codes read and write graphs with green and red respectively.
Next we created a folder of files, 500mb/s in size with a variety of data , from small database documents to larger jpgs and bmps. We expect to pay a slight penalty as we are using Jumbo frames set to 9k, however performance should still be good.
Mixed file transfer rates take a slight hit as expected although performance is still quite good, averaging around 28 mb/s when reading from the drives.
We take the issue of noise very seriously at KitGuru and this is why we have built a special home brew system as a reference point when we test noise levels of various components.
Why do this? Well this means we can eliminate secondary noise pollution in the test room and concentrate on components we are testing. It also brings us slightly closer to industry standards, such as DIN 45635.
As this can be a little confusing for people, here are various dBa ratings in with real world situations to help describe the various levels.
KitGuru noise guide
10dBA – Normal Breathing/Rustling Leaves
20-25dBA – Whisper
30dBA – High Quality Computer fan
40dBA – A Bubbling Brook, or a Refridgerator
50dBA – Normal Conversation
60dBA – Laughter
70dBA – Vacuum Cleaner or Hairdryer
80dBA – City Traffic or a Garbage Disposal
90dBA – Motorcycle or Lawnmower
100dBA – MP3 player at maximum output
110dBA – Orchestra
120dBA – Front row rock concert/Jet Engine
130dBA – Threshold of Pain
140dBA – Military Jet takeoff/Gunshot (close range)
160dBA – Instant Perforation of eardrum
Noise was measured from half a meter away.
Synology rate this unit at 21.7dBa however we recorded 28.8 dBa from the dual 80mm fan configuration. This is still a very impressive result however and it would not be audible under the majority of ‘real world' situations.
We measured power from the socket with 2 x 1TB Samsung HD103SI hard drives installed.
When idle the system uses only 16 watts of power and when active, around 32 watts. Bear in mind with 4 drives this would be higher, probably closer to 45watts.
The two 80mm fans keep the drives well in check, with four installed we would expect the temperatures to rise by 1-2 degrees celcius.
Many budget NAS systems are limited to a dual drive configuration and we were pleasantly surprised when Synology informed us that the new DS411j was going to be quad capable.
Performance is not groundbreaking but realistically it falls in line with what we would expect for the budget marketplace. In regards to aesthetics, we weren't initially that impressed with the cream and grey colour scheme, but it has grown on us in the last week. Everyone will have a different view on this but we think this product will evoke ‘love' or ‘hate' feelings immediately.
On a software level, the Synology products always impress – the DiskManager 3.0 OS is clean, well constructed and responsive. You don't often get a multitasking operating system running quickly with 128mb of system memory, but this manages to deliver the goods.
The killer selling point however is the price – Synology informed us that it will cost £264.95 (including vat) which is incredible considering it can handle four hard drives and up to 8TB of storage capacity.
KitGuru says: For the price this unit is clearly a must have, the performance is comparable with other products in this price sector, but Synology are offering double the drive bays and the best operating system on the market. Its a clear winner.
That is one hell of a price. very good indeed.
Well this is quite spectacular. quad drive capacity for under 300 quid? never thought id see this. normally reserved for the high end market. speeds aren’t incredible, but I wouldn’t expect that for this cost.
Unusual design idea with the rear dropping, but the thumbscrews is quite inventive. not really very secure mind you, but for home or small office, its ideal.
I will be picking this up shortly, loads of future proofing with this unit.
They seem to be bringing out some new products for the mainstream which is good to see. their high end stuff is lustful, but its way over the odds for most people, so this makes sense to me. very good pricing.
“We averaged around 36 mb/s”
No you didn’t, mb = millibit, so 36mb/s would be a million times slower than the actual result obtained.
You averaged 36 MB/s. I expect Mb/MB/mb mixups in the general press but not in-depth tech reviews.
Apply your inner capslock. Makes you look less of an idiot.
Good review, very glad to see the system board photo confirming that the ram is un-upgradeable.
It is an OK unit, but not much room to grow by the limited and un-upgradeable ram