Synology DiskStation DS916+ 4-Bay SMB NAS Review

Bohs Hansen / 8 years ago

Final Thoughts

Pricing

Synology’s DS916+ isn’t the cheapest NAS on the market, but I think it is a fair price for the item that you’re getting. At the time of writing, the 2GB and 8GB models can be found at NewEgg for $609.99 and $649.99 respectively. UK readers can find both models at Scan Computers for £457.68 and £491.98.

Overview

Synology outdid themselves with this NAS. The DS916+ it is an awesome and powerful NAS for growing SMBs with the option to expand. The quad-core processor coupled with 8GB dual-channel RAM provide a great base for heavy workloads and serving a lot of users simultaneously.

The DS916+ focuses on the basics and it is a true NAS that is built with one purpose in mind, connecting storage to the network. The expandability with Synology’s expansion units makes it future proof as owners have the option to turn it into a 9-bay unit when the need arises. SMBs also need a strong security these days as criminals have adapted to the digital world as well. Encryption is a great way to battle spying eyes and data thieves and that’s one of the places where the DS916+ really shines. It delivers the best performance with encryption that I’ve seen here in the office and what makes this even more impressive is that it’s folder specific encryption and not the entire volume.

Synology’s DiskStation Manager (DSM) operating system is better than ever. The basic and built-in features go beyond what you’d expect and it can be expanded with hundreds of apps which mostly are free. Whether you want to create a surveillance station, serve media files, or create a personal cloud setup with collaboration featured office tools, you can.

The DS916+ doesn’t feature the one-touch copy button on the front, which might be a bonus to some in an SMB environment, but it does come with great connectivity. Three USB 3.0 ports and one eSATA port ensure that you can connect plenty of extra storage. The dual Gigabit Ethernet ports allow for trunking to serve multi-usage even better. As I mentioned earlier, the DS916+ is a true NAS and it doesn’t come with media connections such as HDMI and optical audio.

A thing worth noting is that it is difficult to take the NAS apart in order to upgrade the memory. But it is possible, if you can get it opened up. With that in mind, I’d recommend you get it with the amount of RAM you need. After all, there isn’t much difference in the price anyway.

Pros:

Great Encryption performance
Expandable with expansion units
USB 3.0 and eSATA connections
Dual-LAN
Quad-core CPU
DSM operating system

Cons:

Difficult to open for DIY RAM upgrades

“The DS946+ is a NAS true to the name and built with one purpose in mind: Connecting storage to the network. A great encryption performance and expandability makes it a perfect SMB NAS.”