Storage specialist Synology earlier this week unveiled two new 2-bay models of its network-attached storage (NAS) for home and small office use. The DiskStation DS213 and DS213+ offer performance improvements over their predecessors, and come with support for USB 3.0 for enhanced backup and restoration times when used with DAS (direct-attached storage).
Both models sport similar specifications, including 512MB of DDR RAM, multiple USB ports, SD Card, support for 4TB hard disk drives and a Gigabit Ethernet port. The DS213+ comes with a dual-core processor and hardware assist to greatly improve its performance when used with 256-bit AES encryption, as well as an eSATA port.
“We are very proud to announce our latest additions to the DiskStation family,” said Marivel Espinoza, product marketing manager at Synology in a prepared statement. “The new DiskStations offer improved performance, in addition to the same great reliability and software set our customers has come to expect.”
Like previous NAS devices from Synology, both the DS213 and DS213+ run on the DiskStation Manager (DSM) operating system. To my knowledge, the company has been offering core upgrades to DSM for free, and the software itself has gained substantial new capabilities over the last couple of years. Note that selected advanced features such as additional camera licenses for IP camera are sold separately.
I previously reviewed the Synology DS1511+, a beefier 5-bay NAS for SMBs. At that time, I found it to be a versatile NAS that offers a compelling range of capabilities. Moreover, its support for DSM packages also leaves the door open to additional features designed for the DSM platform by third-party developers.
The press release, which we obtained a copy of, drew attention to one particular feature, the Cloud Station, which is used to keep files in sync. Synology says this is done without the need for port forwarding thanks to the use of a Dynamic DNS service hosted by Synology. While still relatively basic, the service mirrors replication capabilities of enterprise-level storage solutions that most SMBs are unable to afford. For now, DSM 4.1, which is currently in beta, will add new functionality such as SSL data encryption when transmitting the files over the Internet.
The DS213 and DS213+ are expected to cost under $300 and $370, respectively.