Arstechnica has a post about the Synology DS-412+. This post is in the nature of a long-term review about using the Synology device for a few months. It is a follow up to a popular post with a similar theme about the DroboFS:
Last year, when Ars published our two-part DroboFS review (Part 1, Part 2), one of the requests we kept hearing was for a similar in-depth review of other home-oriented network attached storage (NAS) products, particularly those from Synology. A few months ago, I purchased a Synology DS-412+ to replace my DroboFS (which I have since passed on to my parents) and I've been living with it since.
The reviewer suggests that you could build a more powerful NAS using parts for less money but:
What you're potentially giving up when going with a home-built device is support, a warranty, ease of use, and—at least in the case of Synology—a healthy software ecosystem.
The review is six pages long and packed with information and test results. An example of the thoroughness is a discussion of multiple HD video streaming from the device:
I have three desktops and one laptop sitting around my house, and though it's by no means the normal order of things for my wife and me to watch four HD video streams at the same time, it certainly might be for other folks. How well does the Synology stand up to streaming four different 1080p Matroksa video files to four different guests?
The answer is that it does outstandingly well. I started up high-bitrate HD rips of four movies, three playing with VLC and the fourth playing with the Plex Media Player. All four started rolling without any dropped frames or hiccoughing. To add additional stress, I then kicked off rsnapshot backups of three additional Linux servers and also executed Time Machine backups from all four Macs in the house (the rsnapshots and Time Machine backups all use the NAS as well).
The four movies didn't flicker with even a single dropped frame, and the Synology's resource monitoring graphs show a low CPU and low network utilization load.
Highly recommended to head on over and check it out.
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