Synology DS109 and DS109+ Reviewed

[fullroast]

It looks like the Synology DS109+ snuck onto the NAS charts unannounced, unless I missed something. I did not see the usual pre-review, "new to the charts" news item. Is there a review on the way?

 

[thiggins]

Have patience, please.

 

[fullroast]

No rush - I was happy to see that the DS109+ made the charts. I have been keeping an eye out a review or more information.

I will wait patiently.

 

[claykin]

Tim

In the 109/109+ review you wrote the following:

I also was able to unmount and remount the Iomega drive using USB and eSATA connections without having to reboot the 109s—something that I appreciated since I tested both formats via USB and eSATA connections (results are in the Performance section)

Did previous Synology NAS boxes require a reboot when switching interfaces? I cannot imagine changing format type would require a NAS reboot?

Also, I note, and very much appreciate, the fact that you tested the share backup capabilities. Backup is one of the issues I have with many NAS boxes, Readynas somewhat excluded (there I go again. Silly me). Has Synology finally upgraded their share backup app?

Please let me know if the following are supported in the new firmware:

1) Can the front panel backup button be used to safely eject the USB/eSata drive? (i.e. A Readynas backup button can be held for 5 seconds to eject the USB drive). This is extremely useful for people who want to rotate external drives and not need to login to the GUI.

2) Share backup. Can the NAS backup its share(s) to an external USB/eSata drive on a schedule? (I mean no PC client software required)

3) Can the incremental backup jobs be setup to run a full backup on the 1st of each week/month and incremental for other days?

4) Can multiple backup jobs be scheduled? (different schedule for different shares)

5) Can you attached multiple shares to one backup job? (one schedule, multiple shares)

6) Can backup job success/failure email/sms message be sent? If so, to a different email address than the status/error messages?

P.S. I've been communicating with QNAP about their share backup app and I think they just don't get it. Why is Netgear the only one with a clue how to do share backup? Dumb question, I know!

 

[thiggins]

You sure ask a lot of questions! You know that you can access a full demo of the Synology GUI, right?

Did previous Synology NAS boxes require a reboot when switching interfaces? I cannot imagine changing format type would require a NAS reboot?

The comment was based on my experience with other NASes, not Synology.

1) Can the front panel backup button be used to safely eject the USB/eSata drive? (i.e. A Readynas backup button can be held for 5 seconds to eject the USB drive). This is extremely useful for people who want to rotate external drives and not need to login to the GUI.

Don't know. Did not try it.

2) Share backup. Can the NAS backup its share(s) to an external USB/eSata drive on a schedule? (I mean no PC client software required)

Yes. Covered in the review.

3) Can the incremental backup jobs be setup to run a full backup on the 1st of each week/month and incremental for other days?

I don't think so. Check the demo GUI.

4) Can multiple backup jobs be scheduled? (different schedule for different shares)

Yes.

5) Can you attached multiple shares to one backup job? (one schedule, multiple shares)

Don't think so.

6) Can backup job success/failure email/sms message be sent? If so, to a different email address than the status/error messages?

I didn't try this. But the notification setup says errors only.

 

[claykin]

Tim

Thx for the reply. I am aware of the online emulator, but without a unit to test its tough to confirm if things work as expected.

Syno and QNAP need to add that front panel button unmount feature. I've discussed with both of them on several occasions, but all I ever get is "oh, great idea". Nothing changes!

 

[syno.franklin]

@claykin


1) Can the front panel backup button be used to safely eject the USB/eSata drive? (i.e. A Readynas backup button can be held for 5 seconds to eject the USB drive). This is extremely useful for people who want to rotate external drives and not need to login to the GUI.
Unfortunately, this is not a function within the Synology Disk Station, the USB Copy button was designed to copy data (ie, a flash drive) and copy it onto a folder on the Synology Disk Station. An example of this is a photographer has finished conducting a site survey, returns to the office to off-load the pictures to the Disk Station for further analysis by his engineers, and he's off to another location to conduct another survey.


3) Can the incremental backup jobs be setup to run a full backup on the 1st of each week/month and incremental for other days?
The ability of conducting full/incremental backups on a different days/schedules is currently under discussion/development - this ability may be available in the future via a firmware update. Please note that as this is development information, this is subject to no guarantee, and is subject to change without notice.
Currently, when executing a Local Backup (USB/eSATA destination) or Network Backup (another Synology Disk Station, or rsync-Compatible server), the first backup will be a full backup. All subsequent backups after the first full backup will be incremental backups.


5) Can you attached multiple shares to one backup job? (one schedule, multiple shares)
Yes, you can attached multiple shares to one backup job


6) Can backup job success/failure email/sms message be sent? If so, to a different email address than the status/error messages?
Yes, system notification is available via email, which can notify the admin when...

Local Volume nearing capacity
USB/eSATA drive nearing capacity
Backup successful/failure
Disk Error
RAID Error
Lost UPS communication

...to name a few



If you have further questions regards Synology products, please contact us via the product inquiry form and your question will be fielded by one of our sales specialists.


Have a good day.

 

[thiggins]

6) Can backup job success/failure email/sms message be sent? If so, to a different email address than the status/error messages?
Yes, system notification is available via email, which can notify the admin when...

Local Volume nearing capacity
USB/eSATA drive nearing capacity
Backup successful/failure
Disk Error
RAID Error
Lost UPS communication

...to name a few

That is good to hear. But I didn't see this documented anywhere. Did I miss it? The Notification section in the GUI makes it look like just errors are sent.

 

[claykin]

Franklin, comments below in BOLD. Thanks for taking the time to reply here.

@claykin


1) Can the front panel backup button be used to safely eject the USB/eSata drive? (i.e. A Readynas backup button can be held for 5 seconds to eject the USB drive). This is extremely useful for people who want to rotate external drives and not need to login to the GUI.
Unfortunately, this is not a function within the Synology Disk Station, the USB Copy button was designed to copy data (ie, a flash drive) and copy it onto a folder on the Synology Disk Station. An example of this is a photographer has finished conducting a site survey, returns to the office to off-load the pictures to the Disk Station for further analysis by his engineers, and he's off to another location to conduct another survey.

I bet the photographer would appreciate the ability to easily eject that drive without needing to access the Syno GUI. Franklin, I've had this discussion with Syno presales support and they liked the idea of a 5 second hold to eject. I think that was a year+ ago. Scan your forums and you'll find plenty of users requesting "auto eject after backup".


3) Can the incremental backup jobs be setup to run a full backup on the 1st of each week/month and incremental for other days?
The ability of conducting full/incremental backups on a different days/schedules is currently under discussion/development - this ability may be available in the future via a firmware update. Please note that as this is development information, this is subject to no guarantee, and is subject to change without notice.
Currently, when executing a Local Backup (USB/eSATA destination) or Network Backup (another Synology Disk Station, or rsync-Compatible server), the first backup will be a full backup. All subsequent backups after the first full backup will be incremental backups.

Look forward to Syno adding this capability....but I won't hold my breath until its confirmed. Thx.

 

[syno.franklin]

Evening claykin

Thanks for your feedback, however I left something out about USB Copy - After USB Copy has finished copying the contents of the flash drive, the drive will be automatically ejected. Afterwards, it is safe to remove the flash drive. The representation of of when it is safe to remove the flash drive is that the green USB Copy LED will be dimmed.

Hope this helps, and have a good night.


Evening thiggins
I'll send your feedback to our engineers to updating the notification string to state more of a maintenance action, versus an error report.

Thanks for your feedback and have a good night.

 

[thiggins]

I'll send your feedback to our engineers to updating the notification string to state more of a maintenance action, versus an error report.

Thanks, Franklin. It would also be helpful to be able to select the category of notifications sent. Perhaps using the same groupings / filters as the log has.

 

[danthecan]

Hello thiggnes very nice review however something got me wondering, under the features on page 2 you list;

Media servers: UPnP AV / DLNA (TwonkyMedia), iTunes, Audio Station (proprietary), SqueezeCenter (optional module)

Have Synology replaced their own native UPnP server with a licensed one from Twonky in the 09 series or this a typo ?

The native synology UPnP server does not support DLNA so if there is anything that uses it you have access to that may be a good way to find out.

 

[thiggins]

Thanks for pointing out the error. That was a cut-and-paste error from a QNAP review. Fixed.

 

[pilatus350]

Memory upgrade

Can anyone tell me if upgrading the 128mb ram of the DS109 to 1 or 2 Gb will give me a significant speed increase. It is fairly cheep and simple and yes you loose your warranty. Also will the software be able to recognize the increase in ram?

 

[thiggins]

Increasing RAM increases cached performance, assuming that the OS recognizes the increase.

So if you move a lot of files < 1 or 2 GB, you may see a performance increase for write and nothing for read. But don't expect miracles.

Don't know if the DS109 will, though I suspect it will.

 

[chuichon]

Synology DS109 Visual Size Comparison with QNAP TS-119

Hello,

The size factor is really important for me,,

So I wanted to know if you could provide side by side pictures showing the Synology DS109 compared to Qnap TS-119 from different angles?

Can you tell me if there is any small 1 Drive Nas similar to these ones in terms of features but without external power adapter?

Thank you,

 

[fullroast]

The specs say:

DS109 size: 160mm (H) X 218mm (D) X 63mm (W)
TS-119 size: 182mm (H) x 210mm (D) x 60mm (W)

I am not sure about your situation, but to me, they look close enough in size that some other criteria could be used to decide which one to get.

 

[chuichon]

Actually my other important distinctive criteria doesn't help me to decide because each one has it's valuable advantage:

- Synology seems faster in writing transferts
- Qnap is fanless

Then i'm checking further comparable details that could make me forget about the advantage i'd loose buying one or the other ; 7

A picture would confirm size because you never know if they include the stand in the size, or the power brick in the weight,,

I'd be curious to know which are your top criteria for each one though in case I'd be missing something ;-)

Thanks!

 

[thiggins]

The really are similar in size. The QNAP is a bit taller.

I don't know of any single-drive NASes with internal power supplies.

If you want really small, check the Buffalo LinkStation mini.

 

[gilsurf]

Mount drive from net via ssh?

I see that this NAS has SSH. Is it possible to mount a drive via the net (user not on NAS LAN) using SSH or another process? Mac and PC?

Thanks!