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Designed for homes with power users or small-to-midsized business (SMB) users, the Synology DiskStation DS920+ ($549.99) is a four-bay network attached storage (NAS) device that is easy to expand and comes with a wealth of Synology and third-party apps, including Synology’s powerful Collaboration Suite. The DS920+ performed well in our file transfer tests and was very easy to install, but it lacks the multi-gig LAN and HDMI ports that you get with our less expensive Editors’ Choice, the Asustor AS5304T.
Design and Features
The DS920+ looks nearly identical to its Editors’ Choice-winning sibling, the DS1019+ that we reviewed last year. However, the DS920+ has four front-loading, tool-free drive bays rather than five. The black enclosure measures 6.5 by 7.8 by 8.7 inches (HWD) and weighs 4.9 pounds. In addition to the drive bays the front panel sports a USB 3.0 port, a backlit power switch, and five LED indicators for system status and drive activity (one for each drive). Around back are two LAN ports, a secondary USB 3.0 port, and an eSATA port. Surprisingly, the LAN ports are capable of just standard 1 gigabit per second (Gbps) throughput as compared to the high-speed 2.5Gbps ports that you get with the Asustor AS5304T, but they do support link aggregation and failover.
The DS920+ is powered by a quad-core 2GHz Intel Celeron J4125 processor and has 4 gigabytes (GB) of DDR4 RAM that can be expanded to 8GB. It uses two whisper-quiet, multi-speed system fans to keep internal components cool and can be populated with 2.5-inch and 3.5-inch SATA or SSD drives (hot swappable) for a total of 64 terabytes (TB) of internal storage. It also has two built-in M.2 SSD slots for cache acceleration (accessible from the bottom of the enclosure) and can be expanded to 144TB using a Synology DX517 Expansion Unit. The DS920+ supports the Btrfs and ext4 file systems and offers several RAID types, including Synology Hybrid RAID (SHR), Basic, JBOD, RAID 0, RAID 1, RAID 5, RAID 6, and RAID 10.
As with other Synology NAS devices we’ve reviewed, including the DS220j, the DS419slim, and the above-mentioned DS1019+, the DS920+ uses Synology’s DiskStation Manager (DSM) as a general management and configuration app. This is a Windows-like operating system that makes it easy to configure drives, handle security, monitor NAS health, and create shared folders, as well as download even more apps from Synology and third-party partners to perform different or more specialized tasks. When you first launch DSM, it’s populated with icons labeled Control Panel, File Station, Package Center, and Help. Off to the right is a System Health window that displays CPU and RAM usage. You can populate the desktop with more icons as you download apps.
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To download apps, tap the Package Center icon where you’ll find a catalog of more than 100 apps that allow you to use the DS920+ in different ways; a few examples include file management and migration utilities, surveillance apps, backup and restore apps, development tools, multimedia server apps, security apps, VPN server apps, and even email server apps. Here you’ll also find Synology’s Collaboration Suite, which includes a chat server, office productivity software, an email server, a file management server, and a group calendar utility.
Use the Control Panel to assign user rights, create shared folders, configure network settings, and block IP addresses. You can also adjust fan speed settings, enable email and push message alerts, and configure desktop themes. Go to the File Station to access and move files, modify file structures, share file links, and edit file attributes and privileges. To view tutorials and search for help topics, tap the Help icon.
There’s a Main Menu button in the upper left corner that gives you access to the Storage Manager utility which allows you to create and delete volumes, monitor individual drive health, create storage pools, configure the M.2 SSD Cache, and pre-configure hot spare drives. You’ll also find icons for Resource Manager (detailed system usage statistics), Log Center (admin logs), Universal Search (search all drives, folders, and files), and Security Advisor (scan for malware, password strength, and updates).
Installation and Performance
As with all the Synology NAS drives we’ve reviewed over the last several years, the DS920+ is easy to install. I started by installing four Seagate Iron Wolf 10TB drives in each sled and then connected the NAS to my router using the included LAN cable. I powered up the NAS, opened a browser on a desktop PC that was connected to the same router, and typed http://find.synology.com(Opens in a new window) in the address bar. This launched a utility that immediately found the DS920+ and installed the latest version of DSM. I then set up an administrator account, created a storage pool and volume, and set up the four drives to work in a RAID 5 configuration with the Btrfs as the file system. I let the verification process run overnight (it takes several hours depending on drive capacity) and the installation was complete.
To test NAS file transfer performance, the PC Labs benchmark transfers a 4.9GB folder containing a mix of video, photo, music, and office document files between the NAS and a host PC. The test then times both the read and write speeds. The DS920+ turned in a respectable score of 85 megabits per second (MBps) on the write test, beating the TerraMaster F5-422 (80MBps) and the QNAP TVS-463 (79MBps). The Asustor AS5304T led with a score of 98MBps. Similarly, the DS920+’s read score of 90MBps was slightly faster than the TerraMaster F5-422 (89MBps) and the QNAP TVS-463 (85MBps) but not quite as speedy as the Asustor AS5304T (96MBps).
Decent But Slightly Pricey
The Synology DiskStation DS920+ is solid choice for home power users and SMBs that need a well performing NAS device on-premises, particularly one they can expand as their storage needs grow. It’s easy to install and manage and comes with scores of apps that allow it to automatically back up data and perform a multitude of other tasks.
On the physical side, it’s quiet and performed well on our file transfer tests. However, the Editors’ Choice-winning Asustor AS5304T was not only a little faster, it also costs around $70 less and comes with more connectivity options, including two 2.5Gbps LAN ports, an HDMI output, and three USB ports. The DiskStation 920+ comes close, but the Asustor AS5304T remains our Editors’ Choice for multi-bay NAS devices.
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The Synology DiskStation DS920+ is a 4-bay network attached storage device that delivers speedy performance and offers an great selection of optional server, backup, and productivity apps.
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Source link : https://www.pcmag.com/reviews/synology-diskstation-ds920-plus