We’ve got a lot of content on our computers these days, from the digital music files we collect to all those treasured digital photos and videos. The last thing you would want to happen is to lose all of those precious files, so you need a reliable backup solution that is separate from your home computer.
I’ve had the wonderful opportunity to toy with the Synology DiskStation DS207+ these past few days and I have to tell you that it is world’s better than any external hard drive I have ever used. From serving as a multimedia hub to backing up all your vital data, this is probably one of the best backup solutions you can get. It’s so good, in fact, that it is a device designed more for small business and corporate applications rather than homes and small workgroups.
If you’re a big business, Synology also covers those bases with their DS-106j and DS107e products. But for now, let’s check out our DS207+ and see how it works out.
Synology DiskStation DS207+ at a Glance
The Synology DiskStation DS207+ is marketed as an ultra-high performance 2-bay SATA NAS server with advanced data protection and Windows ADS authentication for small business and corporate users. It’s powered by a 500 Mhz processor and 128 MB of onboard RAM. The unit supports up to two 1 Terabyte drives, though larger drives may work, but don’t seem to be readily available as of yet.
Because it’s a network storage solution, you access its contents much like how you would access a server. The folders found within can also be accessed as a shared folder on your network. It’s also quite small and could find it’s way nestled quite comfortably besides your broadband modem and router. Connectivity is provided via a Gigabit Ethernet connection for plenty of upstream and downstream speed.
Inside the Box…
In terms of features found in this glossy white wonder, you get:
- RAID 0/1 support
- Super power savin (11W-52W)
- Encrypted network backup
- Encrypted FTP with hack prevention
- Remote file management with a web browser
- Website hosting with PHP+MySQL
- USB printer sharing
- Dual 3.5-inch hard drive bay for data redundancy
This last point is particularly noteworthy, because it means that if one of the drives fails for whatever reason, you’ve got yourself another backup. This also means that you are, in a sense, paying double the price for your hard drives. A small price to pay for added piece of mind.
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Installation and Setup
Although this network storage and server solution is priced at about $300 on its own, it actually doesn’t come with any storage of its own. It’s up to you to supply it with a couple of 3.5-inch hard drives. For the purposes of this review, I used a pair of 250GB Seagate Barracudas with the SATA interface.
The installation of the spinning platters is very straight-forward. One of the plastic panels slides right off of the Synology DS-207+ NAS, revealing a pair of hard drive bays. From there, all I had to do was slide in the two drives, screw them in place, and connect the appropriate data and power cables. The panel is then put back in place, secured by a pair of screws.
After this, I had to install the suite of software provided on the CD. The initial server software needs to be installed on the NAS hard drives themselves and this is done through your network-connected computer. This takes a few minutes, after which you will want to install some software on your computer. These allow you to access the server, stream music, and send BitTorrent downloads to the NAS.
Core Functions and Usability
At its core, the most important function that the Synology Disk Station DS207+ serves is as a data backup solution. There are several ways that you can go about doing this, but most are accessed through the main Synology Assistant program. From there, you can launch into the Disk Station management interface shown below. This is done through a web browser.
The File Station function allows you to access all the file stored on your NAS through a web browser. Simply point Firefox or Internet Explorer to http://servername:5000. The limitation here is that you can only upload one file at a time. I prefer using “My Network Places” in Windows XP for this purpose.
Along with this external hard drive-like functionality, the Synology DS207+ also boasts several total backup solutions. There is Secure Network Backup, Local Backup (USB device connected directly to the server), and Desktop Backup (Synology Data Replicator II).
Other features that you may enjoy include using the DS207+ as an Audio Station, UPnP Multimedia Server, Photo Station, and a Web Server with PHP and MySQL support. The media server functions of this device support almost everything you can dream of including…
- Audio Format: aac, ac3, FLAC, LPCM, m4a, mp1, mp2, mp3, mpa, ogg, raw, wav, wma
- Video Format: asf, DivX, avi, dat, mov, MPEG1, MPEG2, MPEG4, vob, wmv
- Image Format: bmp, gif, icon, jpg(jpeg, jpe), png, psd, tif(tiff), ufo
- Playlist Format: WPL, M3U
Because of it’s server functions, you can host your own website if you’d like. One of the coolest applications is the Synology Download Redirector. Using this, you can direct BitTorrent, FTP, and HTTP downloads to the server rather than to your computer. I had some trouble with secure FTP connections, however, because I couldn’t find where I could input my FTP credentials.
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Conclusion
All in all, I am very happy with everything that the Synology DiskStation DS207+ offers in terms of network storage, total backup solutions, and other applications that add to its functionality. I particularly like the Download Redirector. The Audio Station is also quite interesting, because it allows you to stream music from the on-board storage, as well as access Internet radio stations. Most impressive is its media server file support making that seperated “Media Center PC” pretty much obsolete.
The build quality is very good and Apple fans will surely appreciate the contemporary glossy white finish. Installing the hard drives in their respective bays was a piece of cake, but the severe lack of documentation made the software more difficult to understand and use than it needed to be. That said, the hardware is very well designed and I highly recommend the DS207+ to anyone looking for a reliable and secure network storage and total data backup solution.
Pros
- Fantastic total backup solution
- Dual hard drives (up to 1TB each)
- Multiple applications
- Very easy to setup
- Non-RAID, RAID 0/1 Support
- Plenty of security
- Convenient web browser access
Cons
- Lack of instructions and documentation
- Considerably pricier than external HDD enclosures
- Initial startup time is quite lengthy
Overall Rating: 9.5/10.0
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