Synology DiskStation DS1520+

Product Information

Source: Harish Jonnalagadda / Android Central (Image credit: Source: Harish Jonnalagadda / Android Central) The trays themselves are plastic in design and allow installation of hard drive media without a screwdriver. The system also allows the installation of SSD with screws included, but with the exception of reasons of noise, this is a system that is tailor-made for a large hard drive RAID array with optional SSD caching when required. With a reasonably powerful CPU, 8GB of RAM and NVMe cache the DS1520+ should be capable of supporting an even greater number of simultaneous users than it can, and this is entirely down to it not having a 10GbE network adapter, like its predecessor could have. The 5-Bay Diskstation releases from Synology have always been one of the most interesting tiers of the brand’s desktop solutions. The reason for this is that all too often this scale of system serves as a bridging point between Prosumer & SOHO systems and the small/medium business hardware in their portfolio. This is demonstrated first in the scale of the available RAID 5/6 storage, but then more so in the scalability and upgradability of the 5-Bay system, allowing two expansions, greater network connectivity and better internal hardware than the more domestic targetted solutions – often with the internal hardware differing considerably between each periodic 2-3yr refresh by the brand. Let’s first look at the internal hardware of these two NAS’ to see how much they differ. The DS1520+ NAS first arrived on the scene with some great hardware advantages over the (then 2 months sooner released) DS920+, arriving with a 4 Core Intel Celeron Processor that featured integrated graphics, 8GB of DDR4 2666Mhz memory and NVMe SSD upgrade slots. In the two years since its release though, Synology clearly decided to make some big changes in the DS1522+ to make it considerably more scalable and general business/file-ops focused. The newer DS1522+ features a dual-core AMD Ryzen embedded R1600 that, although arriving with half the cores of the Celeron in the DS1520+, has a higher CPU frequency and total achievable frequency in turbo/burst when needed. That said, users will be surprised to learn that this CPU also does not feature embedded graphics, so therefore the DS1522+ will be less CPU efficient at handling multimedia or VM deployment than the DS1520+.

Taking a look at the rear of the Synology DS1520+, we can see a couple of areas that highlight the distinction between in the DS1520+ and other comparable Diskstation NAS released in the last year or so.

Business NAS solution with expansion in mind

Installing a Synology NAS is easier than you can imagine. This article is a Synology DS1520+ overview. I will show you how to set up and install your NAS for the first time. Also, how to use its dedicated operating system DiskStation Manager (DSM) and perform basic configurations. The rest of the accessories in the DS1520+ retail kit are fairly standard. The first-time setup guide is a little thin on the ground, pointing you towards online resources which admittedly are more regularly updated, warranty information on the 3 years of cover (hardware support) that Synology provides and allows just enough to keep you moving forward during installation.

The external performance when comparing the brand new Synology DS1520+ vs that of the fractionally older Synology DS920+ is probably one of the largest areas of disparity between both NAS systems. Although the additional 4GB of memory will play its part, the fact that the DS1520+ arrives with 4x 1GbE LAN ports by default, compared with the 2x 1GbE featured on the DS920+ largely makes this an open shut case. Now in terms of the external connectivity and how it can be upgraded, this is another big area of difference between the DS920+ and DS1522+ NAS. Both systems arrive with 1GbE RJ45 LAN ports, which can be combined via link aggregation/Port Trunking to allow up a larger degree of network connectivity. But the DS920+ arrives with 2x 1GbE and the DS1522+ arrives with 4x 1GbE. This is only really a big deal if you are looking at smart switch supported environments or have larger shared bandwidth concerns though. However, the big difference in bandwidth potential between these two NAS centres around the DS1522+ features the option to upgrade it’s network connectivity to 10GbE by installing an E10G22-T1-mini 10G network upgrade in the available proprietary slot. Now, this is not a connection that is available in the default DS1522+ and is an optional upgrade, but still, it is good to know that the option of adding 1,000MB/s bandwidth is available down the road. The DS920+ does not include an option to increase the network connectivity in this way (though unofficial and not officially supported USB-to2.5GbE and 5GbE connectivity via 3rd party adapters are possible (but I wouldn’t trust their long term stability really) and for many, this will be a deal-breaker between these systems in the same way the CPU differences between these two NAS’ does. Both systems see a very similarly sized chassis and the 10GbE upgradable slot on the DS1522+ using a smaller M.2 sized connector rather than the PCIe 3×8 slot of other Synology NAS, so it does not impact the size of the chassis either. Model

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A full software review of the DSM 6.2 platform on the DS1520+ NAS is currently in process and I hope to have this to you here on the blog very soon or on the YouTube channel in due course. Stay tuned. This system is straightforward, which is great for non-tech users. The first time logging into the GUI, the system will provide you three essential tips for its usage.

The DS1520+ certainly represents the familiar hardware design that we have seen from Synology in previous units, as well as been comparable in many ways to both the DS920+ and DS1019+. However, once we take a look at the ports and connections, you are able to see some distinctions that set the DS1520+ apart from these devices. Synology DS1520+ NAS Rev iew – Ports and connections You can also access the shared folder and its data from the File Station app. 7.4. Access the Shared Folder Within the Local Network The hardware on offer with the DS1520+ makes it an outstanding choice as a Plex media server. It can transcode several 4K files at once, and eSATA extensibility means you won't have to worry about running out of storage. Even when using link aggregation the best throughput that four 1GbE adapters are capable is about 450Mb/s, where a single 10GbE port can do double that performance easily. First, you need to make sure the relative file sharing protocols have been enabled for your Synology NAS. Go to Control Panel > File Services, and enable all services you need based on your device's OS. At the moment, I just need SMB for Windows.What the NVMe cache can do is allow user data sidelined briefly to avoid saturating the write buffers of the hard drives, but this is only a deferral that allows the system to have more optimised throughput. Release information on the new Synology DS1520+NAS is still pretty early, though it is starting to appear on price lists in different platforms online (google for yourself) and that generally means we are going to see release pretty soon. Additionally, the fact the DS1520+ NAS has the 20+ in t’s title also suggests that it will see release quite soon. I would consider towards the end of August. Tough to confirm, but watch this space. Synology DS1520+ vs DS1019+ NAS Drive – Buy or Wait? Storage: 5 x 3.5" or 2.5" SATA HDD/SSD (drives not included), 2 x M.2 2280 NVMe SSD (drives not included) Digging deeper will only further increase your interest. Not only is this a 5-bay model that uses the rather peppy, and yet power sipping, Intel Celeron “Gemini Lake” J4125 processor. Not only does it come standard with 8GB of Samsung DDR4-2666 (and not 2400 as usually used) RAM, it also comes with nice to have features. Features such as dual NVME M.2 slots and dual eSATA ports for easy future expansion abilities. Much like getting a four core CPU, these are features that not that long ago were reserved for pricier models. Yet here we are. A ‘Plus’ line model that offers all that and still comes with an MSRP of under 7-bills. A volume is the essential storage space on your Synology NAS and is constructed on a storage pool. It is also the storage space where you install a file system to rule your data.