The perfect NAS

I bought the DS213 + because I was not satisfied with the overall performance of my self-built home server based on Windows Home Server 2011. In particular, the need to have to purchase an add-in for Wake-on-Lan functionality of the server has made the bottom line solution unattractive. WoL is natively integrated into the DS213 + and works very well.

Apart from this function detail I like the pleasing, uncluttered management interface DSM (currently version 4.1) very good. Also know the Synology approach to please to be able to install and uninstall add-on software via the integrated packet-center. This makes it possible features step-by-step to try and learn, without having to keep possibly. Unused software as installed on the body system.

In direct comparison with my home server, the read performance is (using the same disks as the home server, each configured as RAID1) of the Synology DS213 + is significantly higher. Streamed movies start in about a quarter of the time to search the Media Bibliotehek is liquid. That was on the Home Sever unfortunately not at all the case.

In our home network all important data is backed up to the NAS. In order to always be able to transparently access this data on the NAS (these correspond to shared network folders under Windows) as "places" in the Windows 7 libraries of our PCs are the appropriate "shared folder" involved. Is the DS213 + in idle mode, it wakes up when you call a shared folder from a client immediately and is within a few seconds. Again, compared to my home server that is a very positive criterion, because the access to data on the home server did not work satisfactorily with this method. Typically, this meant that the Windows Explorer of the client stopped (Not Responding). Not so with the Synology DS213 +. Here the delays are minimal and correspond almost an always-on behavior.

Also mentioned was the positive secured remote access to the DiskStation from the Internet via HTTPS (I have an SSL certificate from StartSSL involved). While this works in Windows Home Server also, you get a free certificate in the form .homeserver.com. If you want to use an SSL certificate with a private domain on the home server, but can only be used certificates of two providers. My provider is not listed, so I could transfer my DNS domain to one of the providers and have to pay for the certificate. With Synology that's not the case here, a certificate of any certificate provider can be used. Very good!

Conclusion: For me it was the purchase of the DS213 + the absolutely right choice. The primary objectives of data storage and backup, media server and secure remote access to sovereign covered, the operation is completely reliable and the system performance is absolutely convincing. This justifies a clear 5-star rating from me!