Synology DS212j NAS Review – the new budget class leader

1. Introduction2. Synology DiskStation DS212j3. Synology DS212j NAS (Super High Res Gallery)4. The DiskManager Operating System5. Testing Methodology & Performance6. Acoustics, Power Consumption and Temperatures7. Closing Thoughts8. View All Pages

Today Synology launch their latest NAS system, the DS212j. This NAS is the budget friendly ‘entry level' consumer model and over the years has proven to be one of the biggest selling NAS systems in the United Kingdom.

The DS212j can support up to 6TB of storage from two hard drives and offers low power consumption, console support and even full accessibility for Android and iOS devices.

Those who are confused with the Synology product naming conventions can use this as a guide:

“+” series = performance range.
standard series (no digit) = mixture of performance and storage.
“j” series = entry level consumer, concerned about capacity but not performance.

DS = Diskstation
First Digit = number of bays
Second numbers = year for the release

We can work out that this model is a member of the entry level consumer series, has 2 drive bays and was created for year 2012.

Highlights:

• 24/7 Power-Saving Download Server
• DLNA Certified Media Server
• Effortless Backup
• Anywhere Access
• Power-saving with only 17.6 Watts in Operation
• Running on Synology DiskStation Manager (DSM)

The Synology DS212j arrives in a stylish white box with the name of the product detailed on the top.

Inside, they supply literature on the product, a power cable and adapter, gigabit lan cable and mounting screws for the hard drives.

The DS212j is crafted from durable plastic and has the company name engraved into the side. It is an attractive, unobtrusive little NAS system designed to blend into any environment. It weighs 0.94kg and measures 165mm x 100 mm x 225.5 mm.

Along the front are LED indicators for hard drive and network activity as well as a power button and indicator.

Along the bottom of the NAS are four tough rubber feet, to ensure it won't slip on a variety of surfaces.

There is a cooling fan at the rear to ensure both hard drives receive adequate airflow. Along the bottom are two USB 2.0 ports, a GB Lan Port. There is also a reset and power connector nearby.

The DS212j is a external tool-less design and can be opened by simply pulling hard on the side panel as shown above. The unit then ‘splits' in half giving direct access to the internal components and tray mount system.

The upper part of the DS212j is a metal construction and this is bolted into the outer chassis with four long screws. The metal drive bay is separated into two by a drive holding section. There is a small daughtercard at this section which holds both data and power ports for direct connection to the two hard drives. Synology are using a quality 92mm fan for the cooling.

Wireless transmission is possible, although an external dongle would need to be purchased separately.

The DS212j is an entry level Synology product, however Synology have upgraded the hardware for 2012. It is powered by a 1.2ghz processor and they have included 256MB of Hynix system memory, which is double the previous model. It can accept two 3TB drives, which aren't included.

Installing the hard drives is a painless experience as the engineering construction is millimeter perfect. Both hard drives slide into the rack and subsequently into the connectors on the daughtercard. They are then screwed and held in place. The unit can then be resealed.

On this page we present some super high resolution images of the product taken with the 24.5MP Nikon D3X camera and 24-70mm ED lens. These will take much longer to open due to the dimensions, especially on slower connections. If you use these pictures on another site or publication, please credit Kitguru.net as the owner/source.

A very important aspect of a NAS system purchase is the operating system. We have covered the Synology DiskManager Operating system many times before and it is a pleasure to use. It is a multi threaded, multi tasking configuration which is continually improving.

Today we are looking at Version 3.2, released only a few weeks ago, which offers the following improvements:

• Business convergence and management efficiency – Synology’s comprehensive LDAP service incorporates the abilities to create an LDAP directory server and to integrate a DiskStation into users’ existing Mac® or Linux environments for easy account & privilege control. Syslog Server gathers all logs aggregated from multiple devices and facilitates troubleshooting with different types of search criteria. CIFS files in different servers can be shared via the same access portal using Remote Folder. Virtual Drive makes it convenient to mount distributed ISO images onto a DiskStation.
• Business’ mobility – DSM mobile realises server management mobility. IT administrators can slide fingers left or right to enable or disable services as well as manage accounts and privileges of DiskStations on their iOS or Android™ devices. DSM 3.2 supports Google Cloud Print™, with which users can print documents from their mobile devices to distantly located printers over the Internet, without installing any drivers.
• Rich multimedia experience – The brand new Photo Station 5 features a theme designer for album customisation and accelerates thumbnail generation. Users can strike a balance between their privacy and social life by protecting selected albums with passwords and importing photos to Facebook with support expanded to major file hosting sites, Download Station accelerates file hunting.
• Mac-friendly solutions – Synology is among the first in the NAS industry to support Mac® OS X Lion and provides a reliable backup destination for Time Machine®. Surveillance Station has taken the lead by operating on the latest Safari® browser, delivering an easy to deploy and cost effective NVR solution on Mac. Moreover, camera grouping and batch editing as well as common privilege profile grants rapid large scale deployment.
• Enhanced user experience – The revamped Package Centre allows users to discover and install latest applications in a snap. Package Centre also makes it easy to update users’ selected applications after they receive desktop or e-mail notifications. DSM 3.2 incorporates advanced HTML5 capabilities and CSS3 style, engaging users through drag-n-drop support in File Browser and Download Station, and allowing them to upload files from their PC desktop. Synology Hybrid RAID makes volume ready for use 95% faster than before.

Synology Assistant is a free network client which detects all Synology devices installed, returning a status report. The DS211j needs set up initially, requiring the firmware (.PAT) file to be installed.

Synology have an up to date website with new versions of .pat files available for download. We would advise people to use this, rather than a potentially outdated file which will be available on the supplied optical disc. We received this product before it was released on the website, so we used the .pat file on the disc.

The inital install procedure only takes a couple of minutes and Synology Assistant should update with a ‘ready' status. You can now double click the NAS device and it will load the admin interface direct to your primary browser. We are using Firefox V8 for all screenshots today.

The first course of action is to set up a partition on the hard drive (s). We are using two Samsung 500GB hard drives for the review today. The Synology software is very user friendly offering a step by step guide for setting up the hard drives.

Various options are allowed, including Raid 0 and Raid 1. We are using Raid 0, so we maintain full 1TB capacity with maximum performance. If any of the drives fail however we lose all data, so pay attention to these modes when setting up the device for yourself.

The format procedure can take a few minutes to complete, although if you select the ‘check disk option' it will take significantly longer. It is worth doing this however if you are unsure of the age of the drives you are using, or their health status.

There are panels for system overviews, and many of the functions are accessed directly from the control panel window as shown above. It is all exceptionally well laid out and is still our operating system of choice for a NAS system.

If you have more than one Diskstation installed on a network, be aware that they will both be configured with the name ‘DISKSTATION' name by default. This can cause an ID confliction with Windows which means that only one NAS system will be accessible. We recommend renaming the NAS systems to the specific model numbers – in this case DS212j.

The next stage is to set up a shared folder, so data can be stored to the DS212j across the network. This only takes a few minutes for the NAS to configure.

The NAS system has full support for Jumbo frames which can aid performance if copying large files is your primary concern. The machine can handle 512 user accounts, 128 groups and 256 shared folders with up to 64 concurrent connections via SAMBA, FTP, AFP.

The device has full hibernation and power saving options, which can be configured to suit individual demands.

The DiskManager software offers many applications for media and networking support. Photo station supports BMP, JPG (jpe, jpeg), GIF, RAW (arw, srf, sr2, dcr, k25, kdc, cr2, crw, nef, mrw, ptx, pef, raf,
3fr, erf, mef, mos, orf, rw2, dng, x3f image formats and 3G2, 3GP, ASF, AVI, DAT, DivX, FLV, M4V, MOV, MP4, MPEG, MPG, QT, WMV, XviD, RM, RMVB, VOB, RV30, RV40, AC3, AMR, WMA3 video formats.

The DNLA/UPnP Media Server can support both Xbox 360 and Playstation 3 with AAC, FLAC, M4A, MP3, Ogg, Vorbis, PCM, WAV, WMA, WMA VBR, WMA PRO, WMA Lossless audio formats. 3GP, 3G2, ASF, AVI, DAT, DivX, DVR-MS, ISO, M2T, M2TS, M4V, MKV, MP4, MPEG1, MPEG2, MPEG4, MTS, MOV, QT, SWF, TP, TRP, TS, VOB, WMV, XviD, RV30, RV40, AC3, AMR and WMA3 video formats. It also can handle BMP, JPG (jpe, jpeg), GIF, ICO, PNG, PSD, TIF (tiff), UFO, RAW (arw, srf, sr2, dcr, k25, kdc, cr2, crw, nef, mrw, ptx, pef, raf, 3fr, erf, mef, mos, orf, rw2, dng, x3f ) image formats.

iTunes Server is also supported with MP3, M4A, M4P, WAV, AIF audio formats, M4V, MOV and MP4 video formats and M3U, WPL Playlist Format. Two printers can be hooked into the system supporting LPR, CIFS, AppleTalk and Multi Functional Print Server.

If all this isn’t enough it also offers the following iPhone and Android applications.: DS Photo+, DS Audio, DS Cam, DS File (iPhone only) and DS finder (iPhone only).

Survelliance station is a useful feature, especially for a business. Users can hook an IP camera into the unit. We have looked at this in detail before and if you missed it before you can read it here.

We are testing the Synology DS212j 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.

All tests are performed ten times to ensure that no abnormalities can creep into the final results.

Performance has improved when compared directly to last years (this years?) model, the DS211j. We recorded a 5 MB/s speed boost when reading data, and a 6 MB/s speed boost when writing data.

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 recorded significant performance increases with the mixed file performance tests as shown above.

Above, a ‘real world' test of writing a video file across the network with the drives in a Raid 1 configuration. Very responsive indeed.

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.

The system registered the lowest DbA reading we have encountered with a Synology NAS system (identical to the DS211j) and is right at the limit of our testing equipment. This is an extremely quiet NAS system and ideal for a bedroom environment as it would be basically inaudible.

We measured power from the socket with 2 x 500gb Samsung hard drives installed.

When the drives are idle, the system consumes around 6 watts of power. When loaded, this moves between 14 watts and 17.3 watts. We never recorded anything higher than 17.3 watts although this would depend a little on the hard drives used. This product is slightly more efficient than the DS211j which is worth noting.

Much the same as before, although there are various fan settings that can be selected from the admin user interface.

Without doubt, the DS211j was the sub £200 NAS system to beat. Other manufacturers have been unable to oust this product from the budget market throne, so it is up to Synology to move the goalposts. The DS212j has rewritten the performance rules in this sector as it is able to push almost 90MB/s of bandwidth across our network in a Raid 0 configuration.

The DS212j improves on the previous model by doubling the memory count to 256MB which translates to real world benefits, such as faster response times when working in the administration panels. Additionally, the winning combination of multitasking DiskManager software and nippy 1.2ghz processor ensures the user is able to perform multiple tasks without waiting for more than a few seconds.

Power consumption is a miserly 17 watts under load, and the fan cooling system remains inaudible, even in a quiet environment. Due to the tiny physical footprint it can be easily placed in the corner of a room or hidden under a table, going unnoticed.

The DS212j will go on sale very soon for only £162 inc VAT. If you have never owned a NAS system before then this should be your first choice. It is inexpensive and quiet, offering up to 6TB of storage capacity… ideal for the demands of a growing family.

Pros:

• low power consumption.
• almost silent.
• more responsive than last years model, due to memory increase.
• Diskmanager software is market leader.
• class leading performance for the price.
• very cost effective.

Cons:

• None.

Kitguru says: Synology have a NAS system for all markets, this is clearly one of the best sub £200 models on the market today.

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