I am not an IT or Systems engineer so I am still trying to figure out all of the capabilities this thing supports. It has a lot of business class support but also media, surveillance, backup capabilities that can benefit home owners.

I've read several complaints about the DS918+. A lot of folks on forums mentioned a replacement due to a motherboard failure. I wrote that off as a bad batch that went out (it happens). But my unit, at just over a year old, just had the same thing happen a couple of days ago.

Arrived and nothing set up had to format drives, still learning how to use and what apps & programs to load, Used WD NAS drives before and is simple to use. Some of the apps are really good and are fast connecting, using DS Audio on mobile to listen to music on drive, Plex for tv library is very...

I bought this just looking to store files, but before I knew it I had decomissioned 2 x Raspberry Pi's running on my network as I was running Deluge, Plex, PlexPy and Pi-hole all through the container service "Docker" running on the DS918+. The expandability options are fantastic.

Not the fastest around, but this feature-packed NAS makes a brilliant addition to any home or office

Powerful specs; Great expansion potential; Robust business features

Transfer speeds for multiple files aren't the best; Lacking some media server features

Our homes are turning into small offices, whether or not they actually have home offices inside. Multiple devices, increased use, and complicated setups now require more than the average box ISPs provide.

Built-in M.2 NVMe SSD slots; Accessible SODIMM memory slots; Easy to access; key-locked drive trays; 2 channel 4K transcoding; hardware encryption engine; DiskStation Manager apps that extend functionality

RAM capped at 8 GB (due to Celeron J3455

A few weeks back, launched an array of 12TB hard drives targeted a variety of market segments, from desktops to workstations and high-performance Network-Attached Servers. The Seagate o are fundamentally similar, but each drive is tuned for specific applications.

Massive Capacity; Strong Performance (For HDDs; Low Cost Per GB; Great Features; Easy To Setup And Use; Tons Of Plug Ins; Expandable

Pricey Overall; Slow Compared To SSDs; Limited by Gigabit Ethernet (Like Most Other SMB NAS Devices; Pricey

Synology has a range of network-attached storage (NAS) enclosures that cater to different segments, and while the two-bay DS218+ is a great way to get started if you're looking for an affordable home media server, the DS918+ has plenty more to offer.

Excellent performance; Dual 4K transcode; DSM is in a league of its own; 24/7 reliability

Pricey; No 10 GbE ports

In the market for a powerful turnkey NAS The general consensus is that a Synology ought to be near the top of your shopping list. The Taiwanese manufacturer has built an award-winning portfolio of network-attached storage devices, all of which are enhanced by a web-based DiskStation Manager (DSM)...

Excellent DSM operating system; Dual M.2 slots for easy SSD caching; Media transcoding with third-party apps; Simple expansion via optional DX517; Comprehensive app store; Three-year warranty

No option to upgrade to 10GbE; Plastic drive trays; Not the quietest

The major differences between the DS918+ and DS916+ are a newer CPU, more RAM, the two M.2 slots, and trays that feature locks on the newer model. Performance-wise, the DS918+ looks to be slower than its predecessor with real-life file transfers, which I can't explain since since both CPUs are of a...

Fairly good performance; Power consumption; DSM OS; Btrfs filesystem support; Two Gigabit Ethernet ports; Two M.2 NVMe 2280 slots; AES-NI hardware encryption engine; Quiet operation; Low HDD temperatures; Tool-less installation of HDDs; Support for up to forty camera licenses (comes with two free...

Vampire power (power consumption in standby mode) exceeds 0.5 W; Lacks an HDMI port; Plastic HDD trays are without anti-vibration materials and locks; Cannot skip disk checking during RAID 5 and RAID 6 setup; You cannot format an external disk into NTFS (and in our case; we couldn't access a disk we...