A Closer Look
The DS212j doesn’t come with any hard drives installed, so the first job before plugging it in is to put a drive, or two drives in. This is very simple as the side literally slides off revealing the inside, so all you have to do is slot the drive in and screw it in place, and then pop the side back on.
Then next job is to install the software, which is very simple as well. Pop the CD in a drive and click the Start button. If you buy it now you might get a disk with Diskstation Manager 4 on it, otherwise you will need to upgrade.
Final Thoughts
The DS212j was very easy to setup and configure and then use. As usual with Synology, the thing that makes everything so easy, and provides all the functionality is the DiskStation Manager software.
Noise wise the device was fairly quiet – and you could make it quieter still depending on what hard drives you decide to use inside.
The retail price for the DS212j is around £300, however as it has been out a little while now you can find it online for around £170, which is very reasonable (although you do have to add your own hard drives).
If you are looking for a small, fairly cheap NAS box with some great features, then this could be the box for you! Remember, the major selling point for any Synology box is the Diskstation manager software, so keep that in mind when comparing the DS212j against other NAS boxes on the market today.
Sorry, but this is hardly a review. Sure the box is sort of white and you plug disks into it and it’s quiet but what about performance, what sort of jobs is it good for etc..
Simon
Thanks Simon – I see where you are coming from. The thing with most of the low priced Synology boxes are that they all pretty much perform the same, and the jobs they can do are based on the Diskstation Manager 4 software. We have covered DSM previously which is why I didn’t want to cover “old ground” again, so apologies for not making the review complete.