Synology DiskStation DS1512+ Review

1. Introduction2. Synology DiskStation DS1512+3. Synology DiskStation DS1512+ (Super High Res Gallery)4. The DiskManager Operating System5. Testing Methodology and Raid 0 Performance (single link)6. ieee 802.3ad dynamic link aggregation performance7. Acoustics, Power Consumption and Temperatures8. Closing Thoughts9. View All Pages

Over the years we have reviewed many NAS systems and today we are looking at the high performance, scalable Synology DiskStation DS1512+ which is designed to accommodate the needs of a small or medium sized business. The DS1512+ is a dual LAN device with Link Aggregation support and it can be upgraded to accept 3GB of memory and several 5 drive bays. Is this the new, mid level cost NAS server ideal for your growing business?

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
RS = RackStation
First Digit = number of bays
Second numbers = year for the release

Therefore we now know that the DS1512+ is a member of the DiskStation series, has 5 drive bays and was created for year 2012.

Highlights:

• Scaling up to 15 Drives with Synology DX510
• Featuring SuperSpeed USB 3.0
• Expandable RAM Module (Up to 3GB)
• 2 LAN with Link Aggregation Support
• CPU Passive cooling Technology & System Fan Redundancy
• VMware®, Citrix®, Microsoft® Hyper-V® Compliance
• Running on Synology DiskStation Manager (DSM)

The Synology DiskStation DS1512+ ships in a heavy brown box with the name of the product listed on the side.

Inside, the NAS is protected inside a protective cover and sandwiched between heavy duty foam surrounds.

Synology include a user manual, software disc, locking keys, mounting screws and power cable. They also bundle two RJ45 cables to avail of the Link Aggregation support.

We do recommend you ignore the software on the disc and get the latest downloads direct from the support website. Synology update their software on a regular basis, so it does make sense to snag the latest revisions.

The Synology DiskStation DS1512+ is a chunky cube shaped NAS which looks almost identical to the older DS1511+ which we reviewed in January 2011. The company name is embossed into the metal side panel.

The build quality is exceptionally good. It weighs 4.25kg and measures 157 x 248 x 233 mm.

The rear of the DS1512+ is home to a wealth of connectivity. There are four USB 2.0 and two USB 3.0 ports for external devices, as well as two eSATA ports. There are two GB LAN ports to offer support for link aggregation. A security lock is also positioned underneath the power connector port.

This latest version is a much more ‘intelligent' design, as both 80mm fans can be removed from outside the chassis. Ideal for general fan maintenance, and for potentially replacing them without being forced to dissemble the unit completely.

Underneath are four large, rubber covered feet which ensure stability on a variety of surfaces.

Each of the five drive bays are easily removed, by pressing in on the clips.

These drive bays are sadly constructed from a durable plastic, not metal. You need to aim higher up the food chain for the metal bays.

The eSATA ports can be used to connect two DX510 units, which house another 5 drives each. A total of 15 hard drives with a maximum size of 4TB each , offering a total of 60TB of storage capacity. KitGuru has already reviewed the DX510 expansion bay, you can read about it over here.

With the five drive bays removed, we can get a quick glimpse inside the unit. The daughter card contains 5 SATA connectors and 5 power connectors. This is connected to the main motherboard at the side.

The power supply is strapped into place at the side of the DS1512+ and connected across the top of the unit to the motherboard.

Synology are using a new dual core Intel 2.13ghz processor in the DS1512+. This has been upgraded from the 1.8ghz D525 Atom Processor which featured in the DS1511. There is 1GB of DDR3 memory installed, and this is expandable up to 3GB if you find that your database intensive demands can benefit from more memory.

Synology are using a high quality 250w Seasonic power supply, which is 80 Plus Bronze Certified.

As we mentioned earlier in the review,  the DS1512+ features plastic drive bays, although they feel strong enough to last the test of time. That said, we would prefer to see metal bays adopted in this model for total peace of mind. At least the new model uses a key locking system, which works on a drive per drive basis.

Each of the drives are mounted by 3 screws on either side of each drive bay. It is a painless system and only takes a few minutes. Although we are using 3.5 inch drives in these images, the trays also accommodate 2.5 inch units. Drives can be configured in Synology Hybrid RAID, Basic, JBOD, RAID 0, RAID 1, RAID 5, RAID 5+Spare, RAID 6, RAID 10 configurations.

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. You can right click and ‘save as’ to your computer to view later.

We have looked at the Synology DiskManager Operating System many times in the past, but today we are looking at the latest V4 revision which was released recently. It is one of the finest operating systems on the market for a NAS system/server, and doesn’t need a high specification list of hardware to run well either. The multitasking support means that multiple tasks can be handled simultaneously.

It is important to ensure that the newest software package is downloaded directly from the Synology website over here.

We are using the latest DSM_DS1512+_2228.pat.

The Synology Assistant is a networking tool which can find all the Synology drives installed on a network. The DS1512+ needs to be configured once.

If you have read our previous Synology reviews, you will be aware that this stage has changed. You are immediately asked to change the password and server name. We recommend that you change the name to avoid possible networking confliction. Network configuration can be adjusted here also.

The DSM is next installed to the DS1512+ which takes around 5-10 minutes.

When this process is finished you are then presented with the login panel via your browser. Simply use the login password which was previously configured.

We reused some disk drives from a previous Synology NAS installation and we had a report that the volume had crashed. We included some screenshots as the new operating system revision will highlight any status reports along the right side of the screen. Very easy to find and fantastic for troubleshooting.

There is also a new ‘pop up' guide which shows a step by step guide on configuring the NAS system. This is an improvement on the older version of the software and can be quickly dismissed by an experienced user.

The control panel interface can be accessed by the top leftmost icon. This is easy to follow and all the icons are clearly labelled to ensure that inexperienced users don't feel too intimidated.

The system overview, highlighting the product name, system uptime, operating system revision and memory installed (in this case the default 1GB of DDR3).

The storage manager allows the user to configure and change the drive configuration. There are also parity consistency checks to ensure that the drives have no issues.

There are various panels available to allow the user to configure new accounts with access to specific folders and locations on the device. The Resource monitor is a useful tool to judge CPU load and memory usage.

The web services panels can be used to adjust various options, including the set up of a personal website into the ‘www' folder in the user home directory.

Even though the new Synology setup procedure can negate this problem immediately, it is worth checking the ‘server name' of the NAS. Synology products default to the ‘DiskStation' naming convention, so if you have more than one of these NAS systems on the network with the same name, it can lead to a series of potential problems. We recommend you name the devices according to product name, and if you have more than one – then number them sequentially.

If you don't like the default colour scheme via your browser software, then you can configure your own scheme.

The control panel allows the Synology server to directly access an NTP server for accurate time reporting. You can override this and use manual settings, along with specific time zones.

External devices can be connected and accessed via this panel. USB printers can also be connected to the DS1512+ NAS.

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 Diskstation DS1512+ 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. We copy across several files at the same time.

Excellent, class leading results, limited only by the single RJ45 connector.

Performance is excellent, averaging 94 MB/s read and 83 MB/s write. The fast 2.13ghz dual core processor is able to process smaller data files quicker than previous high end models.

On the last page we tested the DS1512+ with a single cable attached. The product however supports 802.3ad dynamic link aggregation which enables multiple connections to be linked in parallel to increase the link speed beyond the limits of any one single cable or port and to increase the redundancy for higher availability.

Most implementations now conform to what used to be clause 43 of IEEE 802.3-2005 Ethernet standard, usually still referred to by its working group name of “IEEE 802.3ad”. The definition of link aggregation has since moved to a standalone IEEE 802.1AX standard.

For this page we have removed all mechanical drives and are using a Solid State Drive, kindly donated by ADATA. The XPG SX910 256GB which we reviewed over here. We copy across several large files to maximise the bandwidth.

Interesting results. The DS1512+ delivers almost 200 MB/s in our 10GB sequential read test, which is identical to the previous DS1512+. The write test however is significantly improved, up from 166 MB/s to 187 MB/s. The new revisions to the hardware are positively impacting performance.

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 a meter away.

Under general use the Synology DS1512+ is almost inaudible, averaging between 30 dBa and 31 dBa. When loaded, the fans spin up slightly, generating a little more noise.

Even under extensive activity from 5 hard drives, the fans never have to spin too high. This is because the DS1512+ air flow system is close to perfect. Both fans cover the full width of the five bays, exhausting warm air out the rear of the chassis without restriction.

With five drives installed, the DS1512+ can consume just over 50 watts of power at the socket. This drops to around 23 watts when in hibernation. Its a relatively efficient design from Synology. This may vary a little depending on the number and model of hard drives you incorporate.

These results do highlight the impressive capabilities of the cooling system, with all drives recording temperatures between 28c and 30c.

The Synology DiskStation DS1512+ is undoubtedly a formidable NAS server, ideal for a growing business or demanding home office environment. The build quality is exemplary and there are many revisions to the DS1511+ which improve the platform further.

The chassis has received a handful of upgrades in the last year, and we particularly appreciate the new dual rear fan mounted system. The new externally locked fans can be easily removed for quick and easy maintenance or replacement. This may sound like a minor improvement, but in a data critical environment it is crucial to ensure that the internal hard drives are receiving an adequate level of cooling.

The new drive bay system has finally adopted a key locking system, although I was slightly disappointed to note that these are still plastic, rather than metal. Synology are setting aside the metal trays for their high end business NAS server systems. Therefore, while this latest revision is a noted step up, there is still room for further improvement.

We have no issues with the level of performance from the Synology DS1512+. It is blisteringly fast in all situations and can scale equally well within a variety of networked environments. We recorded between 165MB/s to 200MB/s write/read with link aggregation enabled – more than enough for all but the most demanding, enterprise business operations. There are no shortage of configurations supported, such as Synology Hybrid RAID, Basic, JBOD, RAID 0, RAID 1, RAID 5, RAID 5+Spare, RAID 6 and RAID 10.

The DS1511+ was a fast NAS server although there were a handful of situations when the ATOM D525 could run out of steam. Synology have upgraded the processor to a dual core 2.13ghz model which does help improve overall system performance. Such a modest upgrade in the PC desktop world would hardly reap a noticeable benefit, but in this specific sector, every megahertz can count.

Power consumption has been finely tuned and the acoustic performance is first class, even under stressful situations. The internal construction is also commendable with Synology opting for high grade components- the inclusion of a quality 250W 80 Plus Bronze Seasonic power supply for instance is reassuring.

If you need a new NAS server for your office, or even a demanding home environment then the DS1512+ is an educated choice.

You can pick up the Synology DS1512+ online for around the £600 mark. Just pick up a couple of hard drives and you are ready to rock.

Pros:

• fantastic build quality.
• hardware is upgraded from DS1511+
• lightning speeds.
• Diskmanager software is the market leader.
• quiet.
• efficient power consumption.
• Scalable with optional DX510 bay(s) for a total of 15 HDD's (60TB).

Cons:

• plastic drive bays.
• quite expensive.

Kitguru says: Another quality NAS system from Synology.

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