Excellent product. Easy to use and setup, everything is included or downloadable for free.

Note that with a 2-disk setup, you can only have either RAID-0 (No data protection) or RAID-1 (Mirrored disk). You need 3 disks for a RAID-5 setup for proper data protection. As this appliance is for my personal backup, which doesn't clear 4TB, I opted for this 2-disk system with RAID-1 and (2) 4TB...

The budget-minded enthusiast will find that the Synology DiskStation DS216play is a great choice if you are on the lookout for a 2-bay NAS unit. The dual-core CPU comes with floating point unit that helps the overall performance, but especially the creation of thumbnails for the media functions.

Good performance up to and above 110MB/s; Powerful dual-core CPU with H.265 codec support for 4K video transcoding; Complete entertainment hub functionality; Everything you'll want to backup from and to

No front USB 3.0 port; No drive bays for easy hot-swap

One option for those looking for network-attached storage (NAS) to store and stream up to 16 terabytes of video is the DiskStation DS216play from Synology. This 2-bay NAS can handle playing 4K video across a local network as well transcoding it so it can be streamed to a range of devices, including...

4K Video Support; Low cost; 16TB Capacity

No PLEX support currently; No SD card slot

The Synology DS216play is a great NAS device to have if you happen to be a media junkie who owns and records a lot of videos in 1080p and 4K. The software that the DS216play comes with is also very intuitive and easy to use, which is perfect for both home and small office users alike.

4K video transcribing; Transfer speeds

Price

CDRLabs kicks off the week with a review of Synology's latest 2-bay Plus-series NAS, the DS218+. Designed with home users and small businesses in mind, this all-around storage solution is equipped with an Intel Celeron J3355 dual-core 2.0 GHz processor, 2GB of DDR3L RAM, three USB 3.0 ports, an...

Dual-core Intel Celeron processor with AES-NI encryption engine; Two hot-swap drive bays; Supports SHR; RAID 0; 1 and JBOD disk configurations; File sharing and backups for Windows; Mac and Linux clients; Integrated video surveillance system; Gigabit Ethernet; USB 3.0 and eSATA ports; Easy to use...

Surveillance Station includes only two device licenses

Over the last few years, we've reviewed a couple of network-attached storage (NAS) devices from Synology. We first got our hands on the entry-level DS215j, one of the predecessors of the modern-day DS218j , and then we tested the enterprise-focused DS716+II , which has since been succeeded by the...