Synology ds918 + review in Spanish (full analysis)

We have acquired this new Synology DS918 + with the aim of mounting a second private cloud in our workspace. In addition, it is worth analyzing this product for its excellent versatility, being suitable for offices, mass storage or even a multimedia center for its 4K video transcoding capacity thanks to its 4-core Intel Celeron.

We have 4 beans for mechanical drives and two more M.2 NVMe for system data cache, which gives you extra speed compared to tiered storage configurations, for example. All this managed with Synology DSM one of the most complete and easy to use NAS operating systems.

Synology DS918 + technical features

Unboxing

This Synology DS918 + has come to us in a rigid, professional cardboard box, with a handle so that we can transport it. To identify the model in question, the manufacturer has placed two stickers, where we see its brand and model, photographs and some of its basic characteristics.

We open the box, and first of all we have a small cardboard box where all the accessories will be stored except the power cable, which comes in another department next door. Below we have the NAS in a polythene bag and caught using two cardboard molds.

Inside the bundle we find the following elements:

Synology DS918 NAS + Cable and Power Supply2x RJ-45 cables2-key set to lock HDD bays2-inch set of screws to secure 2.5-inch drives Installation Guide

It is a nice touch to have two Ethernet cables that are cat. 5e to make the relevant connections without investing in independent accessories. It is true that the cables are rather short, but they do their job.

Design

We now continue with the design of this Synology DS918 +, which consists of the typical tower model, which has relatively extensive measurements, with 166 mm high, 199 mm wide and 223 mm deep, being not too tight to be of 4 bays. The weight itself is quite tight with 2.28 Kg when empty, which could translate to about 5 Kg with the 4 HDDs installed.

For the NAS outer shell we have good thickness and completely rigid ABS plastic that makes a good combination of finishes and strength. It is dominated by black color and access to the bays from the front by means of removable trays. However, the internal chassis is metal, so we will see it later in photos.

Focusing a little more on the front, we have already said that the Synology DS918 + have a total of 4 bays compatible with 3.5 and 2.5 inch SATA HDD or SSD hard drives. Of course the system offers the possibility of expansion with a Synology DX517 expansion unit with 5 extra bays which is basically a DAS. These bays have a system of removable trays built in plastic and with a fixing front that includes a lock padlock to prevent unwanted extractions.

The trays offer a quick fixing system for the 3.5 ”hard drives, which consists of two plastic side plates that will press into the bay and the HDD. They also have small rubber bands on the sides to cope with the vibrations produced by the units. And if we prefer to use them with 2.5 ”units, then we will use the screws included in the bundle to fix these units to one side of the bay.

We still have the right side of the front in which, of course, we have the button to turn on the equipment and a USB 3.2 gen1 (USB 3.0) that we will use for removable drives, for example. At the top we will have a total of 5 status LEDs, 4 charge indicators in the HDD bays and the power LED. Nothing out of the ordinary in this regard.

The sides do not have anything in particular, only that it takes advantage of the screen printed logo as a ventilation grille and so that we can hear the notification speaker integrated inside the base of the equipment.

We got to the back of the NAS Synology DS918 +, which basically contains the remaining ports and the hot air outlet. For this case, two forceful 90 mm fans configured for extraction have been used. This generates an excellent air flow, since it enters from both sides and will help HDDs to cool.

As for ports we have the following:

2x RJ-45 1 Gbps ethernet network (support Link Aggregation) 1x eSATA to connect expansion units or compatible external hard drives. 4-pole DC-In connector for power supply 1x USB 3.2 gen1 Kensington slot for universal padlocks

We have only lacked an HDMI port to output a dedicated video signal, for example, for system management or playing multimedia content through direct means.

Last and not least we are located at the bottom of the NAS, because here the two openings have been placed to be able to install the two NVMe SSDs for data cache. It seems to us a very good way to provide us with perfect accessibility to the two M.2 slots without having to open the NAS as it happens in most models.

Technical characteristics and hardware

We now go inside the Synology DS918 + to see what it offers us in terms of hardware benefits.

But before we must remove most of the casing that is responsible for covering the NAS chassis. To do this, we only have to remove two screws on the back and push the larger case forward. With a simple click it will disengage and they will leave without major problems. With this we do not lose the guarantee, since that is necessary for example to expand the RAM memory.

We have opted for this model mainly for its balanced interior hardware. Starting with the processor, we have an Intel Celeron J355, a star option for teams of this type that are located just at the gates of the high-end with more virtualization-focused NAS. This 64 bit CPU when with 4 cores at 1.5 GHz base frequency and 2.3 GHz turbo frequency. A CPU with a 14nm Apollo Lake architecture, 2MB of L2 cache and a TDP of just 10W. Next to it we have 4 GB of DDR3L RAM in a SO-DIMM slot with the possibility of expanding to 8 GB thanks to a second slot.

In this way we combine excellent system performance with high background process load with its video transcoding capabilities. Which is compatible with H.264, H.265, MPEG-2 and VC-1 at a maximum 4K resolution (4096x2160p @ 30 FPS) thanks to integrated Intel HD 500 graphics at 750 MHz. We do not have the ability to extend connectivity with PCIe expansion slots, as PCI Lanes have already been used in M.2 slots.

Extending a bit more about its storage capacity and configurations, we have a total of 4 SATA III bays at 6 Gbps which of course allow hot swapping, something basic for a NAS. To this we add the two M.2 slots that take advantage of the CPU capacity by operating under the PCIe 3.0 x2 interface each of them. This is one of the differential aspects of the Synology DS918 +, since competitors like QNAP's TS-453b do not have the factory installed slots, or others that mostly work under the SATA interface.

Storage management capabilities consist of RAID 0, 1, 5, 6, 10, JBOD, and Synologya Hybrid RAID. The maximum storage capacity will be about 108 TB if we expand up to 8 bays. For this we will use the HDD bays, since the M.2 slots will only be functional for storage system cache configuration and SSD TRIM. The system is capable of managing up to 64 internal volumes, 128 iSCSI Target and 256 iSCSI LUN.

As compatible internal file systems we have EXT4 as it is a system with Linux kernel and Btrfs. The latter is one of the most versatile for NAS, as it supports user quota control on shared folders, high snapshot capacity with up to 65, 000 and 1024 backups and restoration of damaged files and data. As for external drives we will have support for most systems, including HFS +, NTFS or FAT.

OS

We have seen the hardware, so now it's time to see the software section, at least its main points and first installation. The Synology DS918 + is a NAS that will receive the operating system via network in its first installation, being the Synology DSM in its latest available version.

Initial setup

The process that we must carry out as a first installation is extremely simple and compatible with all types of Linux, Windows or MacOS desktop operating systems. We recommend installing Synology Assistant, as this feature allows you to automatically scan the internal network to detect the NAS. Otherwise we should know if IP address and access it directly in the browser.

In any case , the configuration wizard for Synology DS918 + will start in our default browser . The first thing it will ask us is to install the DSM operating system on the NAS and then the administrator account to access it.

Optionally, but highly recommended is the possibility of creating a QuickConnect account on the go to remotely access the NAS through the Synology cloud, a much more secure method that is opening ports on our router or firewall. This is free, and will give us an easy-to-use URL with the ID anywhere.

Most outstanding functions

The DSM system as we say is based on Linux, and offers us a desktop environment and windows that is very easy to manage and use even by inexperienced users. We even have a taskbar with a start icon where the main functions and programs come together when we install them. All programs have complete help and support and step-by-step configuration perfectly explained. We now highlight the home user-oriented functions that we see on the NAS

Expandability by applications

And the first thing we can highlight is the large number of programs that we have available in Synology's package center. From running programs like calendars or antivirus to powerful web servers like Apache, chat servers, platforms like WordPress or free databases like MariaDB. We will have everything at our disposal to get the most out of the purchase. We are not going to install Professional Review on the NAS, but for low demand sites and fans it would be great.

Video transcoding

This gives us the possibility of mounting a multimedia server on demand such as Plex, one of the most powerful and recommended for this type of shared network systems. In any case, it is compatible with DLNA and has its own applications such as Video Station or DS Video.

Snapshots, backups and synchronization of files on the network

Its main function and the main reason to buy a NAS is to configure a system with shared files with replication to avoid data loss. Synology DS918 + supports 256-bit AES hardware encryption, SSD acceleration cache storage, SMB, NFS protocols, etc. and a complete management of user accounts with LDAP up to 1, 500 users.

We also have enough applications compatible with the main operating systems to interact with the NAS via network, an example is Synology Drive Client. We will use this application to synchronize folders and files with the NAS and also to perform backup tasks on our PC.

Surveillance station

Another of the always remarkable functions in a NAS of this type is the possibility of mounting a surveillance station with Surveillance Station. It supports up to 40 IP cameras, although for this we will need to acquire the corresponding licenses.

Virtualization of light systems

For example, Linux-based firewalls, servers, and systems useful for creating network resources. The CPU offers us a capacity of 4 virtualization instances, one for each core. Obviously it will be a lighter virtualization than typical desktop systems, but the possibility is always there.

All that we can think of and that are available through applications within the system. Also, being a proprietary software, it is always continually updated and creating new applications.

Final words and conclusion about Synology DS918 +

At this point no one doubts that Synology is among the best NAS manufacturers on the market alongside QNAP. Solutions for the home environment, offices or even SMEs like this Synology DS918 + are the best we can find for their enormous versatility.

Its storage capacity is of a high level, since we have 4 bays for 3.5 / 2.5 inches with the possibility of creating RAID 0, 1, 5, 6 and 10 among the most useful for backups and data. To this we add the double M.2 NVMe PCIe slot for SSD cache included, a very different aspect compared to the competition.

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The internal hardware also offers a perfect balance between performance and price, with a 4-core Celeron processor and 4 GB DDR3L expandable to 8 GB. We have real-time 4K video transcoding to mount our own Plex server, good performance for high process load, for example for web servers, and even small-scale virtualization capabilities.

The DSM operating system is easy to use and with a large number of applications available to extend functions. Very stable and fluid, based on the Linux kernel is a guarantee for security. The possibility of remotely accessing the system is as simple as creating an account in QuickConnect, something that we will surely use and that we have loved.

Finally, this Synology DS918 + is found for a base price of 560 euros, to which we will have to add the own of the hard drives. A mid / high-end NAS with a price similar to the QNAP TS-453B and extra features that make it worthy of a recommended by us.

ADVANTAGE	DISADVANTAGES
+ 4 BAYS + 2 NVME SSD FOR CACHE	- CANNOT RAID WITH NVME SSDs
+ GOOD HARDWARE POWER
+ DSM OPERATING SYSTEM
+ MAXIMUM VERSATILITY
+ QUICKCONNECT FUNCTION AND VIDEO TRANSCODIFICATION

The Professional Review team awards you the gold medal and recommended product

Synology DS918 + NAS Desktop Ethernet Black Storage Server - RAID Drive (Hard Drive, SSD, M.2, SATA, 2.5 / 3.5 ", 40TB, 0, 1, 5, 6, 10, JBOD, BTRFS, FAT, HFS +, NTFS, ext3, ext4)

Quad-core processor, with aes-ni support Provides optimal encryption performance of over 1, 179 mb / s read and 542 mb / s write performance 2 gb and 8 gb memory configurations Has four 1 gbe (rj-45) ports and has an input frequency of 50/60 hz