Small- and medium-sized business owners are now starting to realize the importance of having network-attached storage (NAS) in their day-to-day operations. A great start for those who are new to this kind of device is to invest in Synology DiskStation DS920+. It brings a user-friendly experience, is easy to install, and comes with a plethora of productivity apps.
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| Synology DiskStation DS920+ Review with Seagate IronWolf HDD: A Must-Have |
Before we dig deeper into what the Synology DiskStation DS920+ brings to the table, some might be wondering, why do I need a NAS for my business? The simplest answer to this is operations efficiency. With a NAS device, you can access your business assets like documents, spreadsheets, photos, videos, etc., remotely while keeping them safely stored in the cloud at the same time. It’s time to ditch that wrongdoing of storing important business files in flash drives and portable hard drives. Let’s take a look at what the Synology DiskStation DS920+ has to offer.
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DESIGN:
The Synology DiskStation DS920+ looks just like a standard NAS device. Clad in all-black with a plastic build, it comes with four drawers for four drives that support 16TB each, adding up to 64TB. This capacity should be enough to hold all the important files of your businesses. If not, there's always an option to expand up to 144TB through a separate module connected to the eSATA port. The drives are easy to remove and to replace, at least for the 3.5-inch variants. Remember to use the screws included in the package to ensure that the drives are properly stacked if you’re going to use 2.5-inch drives.
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| Synology DiskStation DS920+ |
Speaking of ports, this device has a lone USB 3.0 port up front, alongside the power buttons and its LED status indicators. There's another USB 3.0 port at the back, two 1GbE network ports that support Link Aggregation (which, dare we must say, are outdated choices), and the eSATA port we mentioned earlier for storage expansion.
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| M.2 NVMe Dual Slots |
At the bottom is where you'll find the two M.2 NVMe slots for reading/write cache. Obviously, these slots aren't where your SSDs should go, as there's already provisioned for them on the front bays. This means that these slots aren’t intended for storage expansion but more for speeding up file transfers.
Also Read: Top 5 Reasons Why the Synology DS920+ Is A Good Investment for Small Businesses
INSTALLATION AND SOFTWARE:
We appreciate the Synology DiskStation DS920+ as its no-fuss installation for its hardware and system. This is among those NAS devices that work with a tool-less system, meaning you won't be needing any special paraphernalia to put everything in place.
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| Retail Package |
Installing the drives is a no-brainer task as you just have to pull them out and the plastic clips at the side, put them in the bays, push back the side clips, then close the front drawers.
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| Seagate IronWolf NAS Hard Drive |
Upon powering the system on, the first thing you should do is to go to find.synology.com on your browser. This will then connect your NAS to your computer and will initialize the setup. Also, among the first steps you should do as part of the setup process is to create an admin account protected by a password. This account will have access and full permission controls over the system, accounts, shared folders, and applications onboard the Synology DiskStation DS920+.
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| Web Assistant |
Another proof that the Synology DiskStation DS920+ is as user-friendly as it can be is its DiskStation Manager. It's intuitive and familiar-looking, so users won't have a hard time scouring through the settings and features of the Synology DiskStation DS920+, especially with its UI similar to a Windows desktop.
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| DiskStation Manager (DSM) Installation |
The DiskStation Manager can also access the Package Center, which is like the Google Play Store or the Apple App Store of the Synology DiskStation DS920+. You can choose which applications to install depending on the functions that you would need from your NAS. For SMBs, it's advisable to install backup and file sharing apps as these are the ones who will let you access your files remotely and ensure that they're stored safely.
Synology DiskStation DS918+ Review; Powerful for Home and Office Use
FEATURES:
Before we discuss the performance of the Synology DiskStation DS920+, let us first highlight its beneficial features, especially for SMB owners.
First, we have the QuickConnect feature. As the name suggests, this allows users to quickly connect to the Synology DiskStation DS920+ to remotely access the stored files through the internet anytime and anywhere. To access this, users should first register for a QuickConnect ID that they can also use on Synology mobile applications. Then, accessing the files in the Synology DiskStation DS920+ through QuickConnect is as easy as typing “quickconnect.to/your ID” in your browser.
The Synology DiskStation DS920+ also comes with the Synology Drive Suite feature. This allows syncing and sharing files among users of the NAS device from different devices like laptops, desktops, and mobile phones. This is a good addition, especially for SMB users, since it also promises data protection via a private cloud.
Speaking of remote access, this can be done in five convenient ways on the Synology DiskStation DS920+, the most common ones through a web browser and an app on desktop and mobile. Another option is through network drive mapping via a Local Area Network (LAN). Finally, users can also access files in the Synology DiskStation DS920+ via another Synology NAS device using the Synology Drive ShareSync feature. This works by creating a shared folder for users on each NAS and keeping them in sync with each other.
We tried these methods -- except the last one -- and found no issues accessing the files. What we liked the most is the mobile app access because apart from its intuitiveness, it's like you are figuratively bringing your Synology DiskStation DS920+ with you everywhere you go.
The multimedia features of the DiskStation Manager of the Synology DiskStation DS920+ are something we feel that home and personal users will appreciate. Its Video Station allows easy sorting of videos and movies stored in your NAS and provides streaming functions to smartphones, laptops, and even TVs.
Another of these kinds of features is Synology Moments. It works like Google Photos -- storing your images and videos in the cloud and automatically categorizing them through image recognition. So if you want to look back at a particular photo, all you have to do is search through keywords. There's also a Shared Photo Library feature where multiple users can edit photos and albums simultaneously.
PERFORMANCE:
In addition to all the selling points of the Synology DiskStation DS920+ that we have already mentioned, this device also impressed us as it works quietly and is energy-efficient, consuming less than 40W of power.
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| Storage Manager |
For the Synology DiskStation DS920+ unit we used for testing, we had it with two units of 4TB Seagate IronWolf NAS HDD. Crafted for unique data storage challenges, Seagate IronWolf NAS drives are always-on, always accessible anywhere, anytime. IronWolf drives deliver tough, ready, and scalable performance that can handle multi-drive environments across a wide range of capacities. RAID-optimized with the most advanced power management possible, IronWolf drives can handle extreme workload rates of a high-data network within a multi-bay NAS environment. Great performance and no downtime, while keeping you on schedule with 24×7 remote access, backup, and file sharing, IronWolf HDDs improve the total cost of ownership over desktop drives with reduced maintenance costs, thanks to 1M hours MTBF and a 3-year limited warranty. Its complimentary Rescue Data Recovery services even help defend against data loss and retrieval costs, while the IronWolf Health Management actively protects your NAS through prevention, intervention, and recovery. Get yours at Shopee and Lazada. Of course, this is supported by the technical specs of the NAS device, including an Intel Celeron J4125 CPU and 4GB of RAM that's expandable up to 8GB.
FINAL WORDS:
The Synology DiskStation DS920+ is a sound investment for SMB owners and a good buy for personal users. With this, you can be at peace knowing that your important files are safely stored and backed up. Its intuitive UI and other well-thought-out features serve as icing on the cake. This device retails for Php31,998 and can be bought at Lazada.