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Synology unveils compact DS409Slim four-bay NAS
Following the introduction of its Disk Station DS-409+ NAS, which earned an “Outstanding Product” mark in our review last month, Synology has introduced a slimmed-down version based on 2.5-inch laptop hard drives. Measuring only 4.7 inches by 4.1 inches by 5.6 inches, the DS409slim occupies roughly half the desk space of its bigger brother, while still offering four drive bays for up to 2TB of storage capacity.
Despite the compact size, its hardware specifications are nothing to scoff at. These include a 1.2GHz Marvell processor, 128MB of DDR2 RAM, one Gigabit Ethernet port, two USB 2.0 ports, and one eSATA port. The snap-in disk tray requires minimal effort to install and replace disks, which are hot-swappable and can be set up in a variety of configurations including JBOD, RAID 0, RAID 1, RAID 5, and RAID 6. It also features DLNA certification and support for UPnP to let users stream multimedia files to compliant set-top boxes and consoles.
Synology has added even more features with its Disk Station Manager 2.1 software, which supports cross-platform data sharing, scheduled power settings, several backup alternatives, and even lets you turn the DS409slim into a 24/7 BitTorrent, FTP, or HTTP download center. Unfortunately its price will probably deter a good number of home users from adopting this neat storage solution, which should be available immediately for about $400 without hard drives.
Despite the compact size, its hardware specifications are nothing to scoff at. These include a 1.2GHz Marvell processor, 128MB of DDR2 RAM, one Gigabit Ethernet port, two USB 2.0 ports, and one eSATA port. The snap-in disk tray requires minimal effort to install and replace disks, which are hot-swappable and can be set up in a variety of configurations including JBOD, RAID 0, RAID 1, RAID 5, and RAID 6. It also features DLNA certification and support for UPnP to let users stream multimedia files to compliant set-top boxes and consoles.
Synology has added even more features with its Disk Station Manager 2.1 software, which supports cross-platform data sharing, scheduled power settings, several backup alternatives, and even lets you turn the DS409slim into a 24/7 BitTorrent, FTP, or HTTP download center. Unfortunately its price will probably deter a good number of home users from adopting this neat storage solution, which should be available immediately for about $400 without hard drives.
User Comments (3)
Post a comment| Guest on July 7, 2009 12:25 AM | That thing costs $400 dollars without the hard drives? That thing is nearly twice the size of the Mac mini, and the Mac mini has better options for the same price. The only thing this Synology product has that's better is 2TB storage capacity. The Mac mini has a 2.0GHz Intel Core 2 Duo, 1GB memory, 120GB hard drive, 8x double-layer SuperDrive, and an NVIDIA GeForce 9400M graphics for only $600. You could attach a large external drive, and it would amount to the same thing but much better, and you could even use it for some gaming if you wanted. Something like this just doesn't seem worth $400 dollars when there is a lot of much better stuff out there for about the same armount of cash. |
| JudaZ on July 7, 2009 2:32 AM | ...i think i prefer the Drobo, connected to the network ... then a real computer |
| [-Steve-] on July 7, 2009 2:51 AM | Guest said: Forget the fact that you are totally and utterly missing the point of NAS!
That thing costs $400 dollars without the hard drives? That thing is nearly twice the size of the Mac mini, and the Mac mini has better options for the same price. The only thing this Synology product has that's better is 2TB storage capacity. The Mac mini has a 2.0GHz Intel Core 2 Duo, 1GB memory, 120GB hard drive, 8x double-layer SuperDrive, and an NVIDIA GeForce 9400M graphics for only $600. You could attach a large external drive, and it would amount to the same thing but much better, and you could even use it for some gaming if you wanted. Something like this just doesn't seem worth $400 dollars when there is a lot of much better stuff out there for about the same armount of cash. |
