New Synology FS3410 Flashstation NAS Revealed

Synology has really been on a roll recently with revealing their 2022/2023 solutions, with 7-8 different solutions being unveiled and (for the most part) released in the last 3 months or so. The Synology RS3410 NAS that today’s article covers is the latest addition to the brand’s quiet but steadily growing Flashstation server series. Started more than four years ago, Synology has gradually added several desktop and rackmount solutions to this area of their portfolio and the FS3410 is the SECOND entry into this product family this year (the other being the FS2500 affordable 1U rackmount released much earlier in 2022). Although very similar to the rest of the enterprise solutions from Synology in terms of software (all arriving with DSM 7.1 and supporting the full range of features and services), the flashstation series is specifically aimed at SSD populate, flash storage practical applications and has a few NAND durability considerations thrown in for this more high performing but endurance aware media. This new flashstation server is designed to sit in the middle of the existing pack of FS systems (so, FS2500 > FS3410 > FS3600 > FS6400 Flashstation, scaling upwards) and arrives with support of SATA SSD media in the Synology SAT5200 and SAT5210 media range. Let’s discuss the hardware, compatibility, availability and pricing we will expect from the new Synology FS3410 Flash Rackmount server.

What are the Hardware Specifications of the Synology FS3410 Rackmount NAS

The specifications of the Synology FS3410 Flashstation NAS are (somewhat unsurprisingly) quite beefy, arriving with an EIGHT CORE Xeon processor, 16-128GB of DDR4 ECC RDIMM memory, dual 10GbE onboard and the option to add two high-performance PCIe cards (that can be scaled up to dual-port 25GbE fiber cards). Flash media servers NEED to have high-end surrounding components as the media inside (particularly when you factor RAID) can reach some truly astonishing performance levels – so it is imperative that you remove any potential bottlenecks that may impede that tremendous throughout. The CPU inside IS rated at over 10K on CPUBenchmark, can hit 2.7Ghz per core when needed in burst and is a 16-thread processor – meaning plenty of vCPUs in virtualization when needed. It is highlighting however that this processor isn’t the newest and was first launched back in 2016. This is not too unusual, as server processors do tend to be revealed and released to distribution a long time before they are fully utilized in mainstream server systems. Still, that is still quite an older CPU than some of the embedded Ryzen or Intel Xeon Silvers that Synology has been using lately. Nevertheless, this CPU will be highly proficient at pushing those 24 bays of SATA SSD storage to their high-performance potential.

In terms of the connectivity and scalability of the Synology FS3410 NAS, the rest of the specifications are quite solid. Those PCIe upgrade options (both PCIe Gen 3 x8), the two copper 10GbE ports (10GBASE-T) and four ethernet ports provide a great range of connectivity available on this device and mean that, when fully populated, it allows you to hit a reported 356,500/129,400 iSCSI 4K random read/write IOPS and 6,970/3,536 Sequential Read/Write (RAID F1, Synology SAT5200-960G SATA SSD installed in all bays).

Click to view slideshow.

Here is how the rest of the specifications of the Synology FS3410 pan out. It’s quite a solid build, 2U in height, Redundant PSU equipped and full depth.

processor	Processor model	Intel Xeon D-1541
	Number of CPUs	1
	processor architecture	64-bit
	processor clock	8-core 2.1 (base frequency) / 2.7 (max overclock) GHz
	Hardware Encryption Engine (AES-NI)	YES
Memory	system memory	16 GB DDR4 ECC RDIMMs
	Pre-installed memory modules	16 GB (16 GB x 1)
	Total number of memory slots	4
	Maximum memory capacity	128GB (32GB x 4)
storage device	number of disk slots	twenty four
	Compatible Disk Types* (See All Supported Disks)	2.5″ SATA SSD
	Disk hot-plug support	YES
	Remark	Synology only guarantees the full functionality, reliability, and performance of Synology hard drives listed in the compatibility list . The use of unauthenticated components may limit certain functions and result in data loss and system instability. Compatible disk type refers to the type of hard disk that is confirmed to be compatible with the product after actual measurement, not the maximum speed limit of the hard disk slot.
External port	RJ-45 1GbE port*	4 (Support Link Aggregation / Failover)
	RJ-45 10GbE port	2 (Support Link Aggregation / Failover)
	management port	1
	Maximum number of LAN ports	15
	USB 3.2 Gen 1 port*	2
PCIe	PCIe expansion	2 x Gen3 x8 slots (x8 link)
file system	internal disk	btrfs EXT4
	external disk	btrfs EXT4 EXT3 FAT NTFS HFS+ exFAT
	Remark	You can install the exFAT Access package for free from DSM 7.0’s Package Center. If you use DSM 6.2 or earlier, you need to purchase exFAT Access in Package Center.
Exterior	Dimensions (rack unit)	2U
	Size (HXWXD)	88mm x 482mm x 724mm
	weight	15.0 kg
	Rack Mount Support*	Four Post 19″ (Synology Rack Kit – RKS-02 )
	Remark	Rack kit sold separately
other projects	system fan	80mm x 80mm x 4pcs
	fan mode	full speed mode low temperature mode silent mode
	Replaceable system fan	YES
	Power auto-recovery	YES
	Noise value*	46.1 dB(A)
	Timer switch	YES
	wake on lan	YES
	Power Supply / Transformer	550W
	Dual power supply	YES

One last thing to note about the FS3410 Flashstation is that, much like many of the recent Synology enterprise and hyper-scale solutions released/planned by the brand in 2022/2023, the compatibility of drive SSD media is listed on the official pages as Synology SAT5200/SAT5210 SSDs only. That means that using non-Synology branded media in this system will place you in a position where the brand might not be able/willing to assist you with support. The Synology SAT5200/5210 series of SSDs ARE high in durability, though their performance is a little under alternatives from WD, Western Digital Ultrastar and Seagate – so some users might be less keen on this.

HOWEVER! It is also worth noting that solutions like the Synology FS3410 are intended for a very high-end class of business user and typically those users prefer a single provider/all-in-one solution and THOSE users are going to be more than happy with Synology providing a range of their own storage media in conjunction with this device, as well as prefer it all to be an in-house solution (warranty, support, replacement, on-site tech help, etc). Therefore the stricter compatibility on this server is less of a barrier than normal. Let’s discuss where this system sits in the Synology Flashstation portfolio.

How Does the Synology FS3410 NAS Compare with the FS2500, FS3600 and FS6400 Flashstation?

As mentioned, the Synology FS3410 Rackmount is the latest addition to the Flashstation portfolio. Over the years, we have seen some hugely impressive servers join this product family and having a much more fleshed-out range of solutions so that businesses can cater their budgets towards the area that they need it most, is always going to be appreciated. The FS3410 sits between the FS2500 and FS3600 solution in terms of power, features, hardware and pricing (and quite far behind the FS6400 MONSTER Flashstation server).

Here is how the four Flashstation servers compare in terms of their hardware. The hardware scales i na numebr of different directions (capacity, CPU power, eternal connecctivity, scalabilty and more) and therefore allows the end user to pour their budget towards the areas of flash storage that their business solution is needed for.

	FS2500	FS3410	FS3600	FS6400
Hardware
processor
Processor model	AMD Ryzen V1780B	Intel Xeon D-1541	Intel Xeon D-1567	Intel Xeon Silver 4110
Number of CPUs	1	1	1	2
processor architecture	64-bit	64-bit	64-bit	64-bit
processor clock	4-core 3.35 (base frequency) / 3.6 (max overclock) GHz	8-core 2.1 (base frequency) / 2.7 (max overclock) GHz	12-core 2.1 (base frequency) / 2.7 (max overclock) GHz	8-core 2.1 (base frequency) / 3.0 (max overclock) GHz
Hardware Encryption Engine (AES-NI)
Memory
system memory	8 GB DDR4 ECC UDIMMs	16 GB DDR4 ECC RDIMMs	16 GB DDR4 ECC RDIMMs	32GB DDR4 ECC RDIMMs
Pre-installed memory modules	8 GB (8 GB x 1)	16 GB (16 GB x 1)	16 GB (16 GB x 1)	32GB (16GB x 2)
Total number of memory slots	2	4	4	16
Maximum memory capacity	32GB (16GB x 2)	128GB (32GB x 4)	128GB (32GB x 4)	512GB (32GB x 16)
number of disk slots	12	twenty four	twenty four	twenty four
Maximum number of disk slots to install expansion units			48 (RX1217sas x 2) / 72 (FX2421* x 2)	48 (RX1217sas x 2) / 72 (FX2421* x 2)
Compatible Disk Types* (See All Supported Disks)	2.5″ SATA SSD	2.5″ SATA SSD	2.5″ SAS HDD* 2.5″ SAS SSD* 2.5″ SATA SSD	2.5″ SAS HDDs 2.5″ SAS SSD 2.5″ SATA SSD
RJ-45 1GbE port			4 (Support Link Aggregation / Failover)	2 (Support Link Aggregation / Failover)
RJ-45 1GbE port*	2 (Support Link Aggregation / Failover)	4 (Support Link Aggregation / Failover)
RJ-45 10GbE port	2 (Support Link Aggregation / Failover)	2 (Support Link Aggregation / Failover)	2 (Support Link Aggregation / Failover)	2 (Support Link Aggregation / Failover)
management port		1
Maximum number of LAN ports		15
USB 3.2 Gen 1 port*	2	2	2	2
expansion port			1	1
Remark	This product’s 1GbE port MTU value is limited to 1500. In 2019, USB-IF rebranded the standard formerly known as USB 3.0 to USB 3.2 Gen 1.	This product’s 1GbE port MTU value is limited to 1500. In 2019, USB-IF rebranded the standard formerly known as USB 3.0 to USB 3.2 Gen 1.	In 2019, USB-IF rebranded the standard formerly known as USB 3.0 to USB 3.2 Gen 1.	In 2019, USB-IF rebranded the standard formerly known as USB 3.0 to USB 3.2 Gen 1.
PCIe
PCIe expansion	1 x Gen3 x8 slot (x4 link)	2 x Gen3 x8 slots (x8 link)	1 x Gen3 x8 slot (x8 link)	2 x Gen3 x8 slots (x8 link)
Dimensions (rack unit)	1U	2U	2U	2U
Size (HXWXD)	44mm x 481.9mm x 555.9mm	88mm x 482mm x 724mm	88mm x 482mm x 724mm	88mm x 482mm x 724mm
weight	8.3 kg	15.0 kg	14.9 kg	17.26 kg
Rack Mount Support*	Four Post 19″ (Synology Rack Kit – RKS-01 )	Four Post 19″ (Synology Rack Kit – RKS-02 )	Four Post 19″ (Synology Rack Kit – RKS-02 )	Four Post 19″ (Synology Rack Kit – RKS-02 )
Remark	Rack kit sold separately	Rack kit sold separately	Rack kit sold separately	Rack kit sold separately
Power Supply / Transformer	350W	550W	500W	800W
Recommended number of virtual machines	8 (see more)	16 (see more)	24 (see more)	32 (see more)
Recommended number of Virtual DSMs (license required)	8 (including 1 set of free licenses)	16 (including 1 free license)	24 (including 1 free license)	32 (with 1 set of free licenses)

When will the Synology FS3410 Flashstation NAS Be Released and How much will it cost?

The Synology FS3410 Flashstation NAS is already appearing on the official Synology Taiwan pages and will likely appear on the global (i.e U.S, Europe, etc) within the next few weeks. Regarding pricing, this IS an enterprise product and will be priced as such. The flashstation series has always had a price tag that is considerably HIGHER than the rest of the Synology portfolio, but considerably LOWER than most other flash server solutions in the enterprise sector (HP, EMC, Netapp, blah, blah). Given the Synology FS2500 has a $3500 price tag, the FS3600 has a $6500 price tag and the top dog FS6400 has a $12000 price tag, I think we can see the Synology FS3410 Flashstation arriving around the $4500-5000 mark (tax and your local region making all the difference). I look forward to sharing more on the FS3410 Flashstation and other units in this product series later in 2022/2023.

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What You Need to do to Mesh Your RT6600ax, MR2200ac and/or RT2600ac Routers Together

As you may have already heard, Synology has rolled out the Release Candidate of SRM 1.3 for all their router devices, now available on the official download pages (HERE for the MR2200ac and HERE for the RT2600ac), as well as a slightly tweaked update for the RT6600ax (which already arrives with SRM 1.3). The result of this (which is great news to many) is that alongside the benefits of SRM 1.3 in vLANs, tagging, SSID creation, improved GUI and layout, you can now MESH YOUR SYNOLOGY ROUTERS! This was one of the few software limitations that the new Synology RT6600ax WiFi 6 Router had at launch, especially when many buyers were considering the RT6600ax as a replacement for the RT2600ac router that was in the middle of their existing mesh system. So, today I want to guide you through a few of the ways that you can update your older Synology RT2600ac and MR2200ac routers in order to allow you to mesh them with your brand new RT6600ax device.

Important Note About Using MR2200ac as a Mesh Node for the Synology RT6600ax Mesh Router

IMPORTANT #1 – The SRM 1.3 Firmware update for RT2600ac and MR2200ac Router is still a ‘release candidate’, which means that although it is pretty much was the final version of what the software update will be when it is eventually released (likely in August or so), it is still not a ‘final’ release, so be sure to backup your router configuration in the control panel if you choose to proceed with this update. Additionally, SRM 1.3 will not be available to the RT1900ac router series.

IMPORTANT #2!!! If you are running an RT6600ax WiFi 6 Router and want to add a batch of new/factory restored MR2200ac Mesh Points, you will need to go through the process of updating each node from SRM 1.2 to SRM 1.3. However, unlike Synology NAS systems during initialization, there is no point in the first-time setup of the MR2200ac/RT2600ac to upload a firmware file or the system search for the latest firmware online. This is only possible AFTER the router is initialized and from there, you will need to download the latest firmware (SRM 1.3), allow the system to reboot, THEN reinitialise the MR2200ac/RT2600ac so it can enter a ‘find’ status (when the LED on the system is a single, flashing blue light). From THAT point, you can find the MR2200ac/RT2600ac in the WiFi Access Point Search of your RT6600ax Router and add these nodes successfully. So:

• ALL Synology MR2200ac Mesh Routers will need to be updated individually to SRM 1.3 before attempting to connect with an RT6600ax Router Network
• SRM 1.3 Update can be downloaded from the Synology site OR from the MR2200ac initialization (coming soon, after Release Candidate and final release are made public online)
• First-time initialization and setup in 1.3 has been updated, so the initialization of a Router with SRM 1.3 on board is much simpler and more user-friendly
• If you try to connect your RT6600ax to an MR2200ac mesh node without updating that mesh node to SRM 1.3, it will SEE the MR200ac, but it will not be able to connect it due to firmware incompatibility between SRM 1.2 and SRM 1.3

It is worth highlighting that from then onwards, your primary router will be able to push updates to the nodes individually (much as the RT2600ac pushes updates to the MR2200ac mesh router points). No doubt as time goes on, this method of updating with be considerably easier and as newer routers go through manufacture, they will have SRM 1.3 onboard by default.

IMPORTANT #3! – If you are migrating from an RT2600ac to an RT6600ax Router, make sure to update the RT2600ac to SRM 1.3 first, then backup your router configuration in the control panel by heading to Control Panel > System > Update & Restore > Backup Configuration. From here you can create a config file that you can store locally on your computer, which can then be used to reinstate your configuration on the new RT6600ax. SRM 1.2 configurations cannot be used on an SRM 1.3 Router

Installation of SRM 1.3 on the Synology MR2200ac Router

First of all, upgrading to SRM 1.3 is much the same as typical firmware updates in Synology products IF you already have the device setup and can log in to the GUI.

Updating an MR2200ac or RT2600ac via the GUI

Log into your Synology MR2200ac or RT2600ac and head into the control panel, then select System, then Update & Restore, then select Manual SRM Update.

From here browse your local machine and find the .PAT file that you downloaded from Synology.com in the download area of the RT2600ac or MR2200ac, then select it and choose to install this update

You will be greeted by a pop-up that states that this update may change or remove some features of SRM 1.2 in line with SRM 1.3. Additionally, it will stop backup configurations you have made of SRM 1.2 from working in this new revision of the software. From here you can click confirm to proceed

The system will start uploading the SRM 1.3 pat update file to the MR2200ac or RT2600ac router

You will then be informed that in order for the update to take effect, then you will need to restart

During this installation and completion of the SRM 1.3 update, the router and its services will not be accessible.

When the installation of the first part of the SRM 1.3 update is completed, the system will reboot and a clock will count down. If the router GUI does not reappear in the browser after this time, it may well be because the router was on a dynamic IP setting and has changed it’s address. Use the Synology Assistant tool to find your Synology MR2200ac or RT2600ac’s new address.

When the system reboots, it will book back into the login GUI, but now it will be the improved and further polished SRM 1.3 login screen. From here you can log in as normal and enjoy SRM 1.3 with new features.

Next, lets discuss what you need to do in order to add existing MR2200ac and RT2600ac routers to a mesh network with the RT6600ax Router.

Adding a Synology MR2200ac or RT2600ac Router to the Synology RT6600ax Router as a Mesh Point

In order to add a Synology MR2200ac or RT2600ac to your RT6600ax Router as a mesh point, you will need to ensure that they are running SRM 1.3 as their firmware. In the case of the RT2600ac, this will be REALLY easy, as you can access the main SRM 1.2 GUI and update to SRM 1.3 as the software appears on the Synology Download section. However, in the case of MR2200ac nodes (which are rarely used as a primary router) you are going to need to update each node with SRM 1.3 before they are seen by the RT6600ax. If you have them connected with an RT2600ac, it is easy to push the update to SRM 1.3 across the whole existing network. However, if you only have the RT6600ax and 1 or more MR2200ac mesh routers, each one will need to be updated to SRM 1.3 using the steps in the guide above THEN formatted to factory settings.

If your MR2200ac is on SRM 1.2, follow the guide above to upgrade it to SRM 1.3. If you have updated your MR2200ac to SRM 1.3, you now need to restore it to factory settings here:

Doing so will result in the device deleting all data and settings – so be sure that this is what you want to do. Proceeding with this will result in the device taking 5-10 minutes to complete.

Alternatively – you can reset your MR2200ac router by using the reset pin on the rear of the router. However, this will not allow you to make any configuration backups and is irreversible.

Next, head over to your Synology RT6600ax Router and head into the WiFi Access Tab to start adding WiFi points/Nodes

You will be asked which connection method your nodes will be connected by. I STRONGLY recommend selecting both ethernet and wireless connections

The reason I recommend this is that it is about 100x easier to set up a smaller mess network of around 5-6 nodes by bringing them all together and connecting via LAN to the RT6600ax, then later disconnecting them and positioning them where you need them to be. It IS worth remembering that later on when you get them up that their distance from the primary router will affect the strength BUT (crucially) when a Synology mesh router is connected with the RT6600ax primary router, it knows the wifi identity and security credentials of the node and will connect wirelessly with the MR2200ac etc as soon as it is within range (even if the primary connection was via wired ethernet).

Note, if you are connecting the nodes (temporarily for setup or long term) via ethernet, you need to ensure that the MR2200ac or RT2600ac has cable connected to the WAN port and into a LAN port of the RT6600ax. Otherwise, the connection/host-client communication will not function correctly. Again, later on, after the node is set up, you can move these nodes away and the wireless connectivity will also function between the mesh points.

After this, there are a few steps to highlight the best places to set up a mesh node (in terms of proximity and multiple points), but also a note that you need the mesh mode in the correct LED lit configuration (that single blue flashing light)

When the RT6600ax scans the local network for the other Synology router to extend the mesh network, it will list the router(s) it has found and then invite you to enter the secure pin code that is printed on the back of all Synology routers (8 digits, numerical, cannot be changed)

After that, the RT6600ax Router will begin setting up the new mesh WiFi point (testing the strength of connection, copying over the SSID configuration and establishing the backhaul). This will not take more than a minute or so per node and (unless the mesh node has been obstructed, powered down, or has not been updated to SRM 1.3) should connect to the RT6600ax network.

And that is it. Now the MR2200ac or RT2600ac are part of your RT6600ax Mesh router system. They will no longer appear on the Synology Assistant tool and their SRM GUI cannot be accessed – they are now connection nodes to the larger RT6600ax router system and can be managed and adjusted in the SRM 1.3 GUI of the primary router. You can also power down the mesh router nodes and move them to new locations in your home or office for greater coverage. When they power back on, as long as they are in the coverage area of the primary router, they will re-join the RT6600ax/Primary router network automatically. If they are in a weak area of coverage/distance, the system will let you know and recommend which ones need to be brought closer.

If you are still unsure about the benefits of SRM 1.3 and debating whether purchase a Synology Router (or maybe you have one and you are unsure whether to upgrade from SRM 1.2 > 1.3), you can use the video and article below where I fully reviewed SRM 1.3 on the RT6600ax Router.

Synology SRM 1.3 Video Review

Synology SRM 1.3 Video Review

This description contains links to Amazon. These links will take you to some of the products mentioned in today's content. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. Visit the NASCompares Deal Finder to find the best place to buy this device in your region, based on Service, Support and Reputation - Just Search for your NAS Drive in the Box Below

Need Advice on Data Storage from an Expert?

We want to keep the free advice on NASCompares FREE for as long as we can. Since this service started back in Jan '18, We have helped hundreds of users every month solve their storage woes, but we can only continue to do this with your support. So please do choose to buy at Amazon US and Amazon UK on the articles when buying to provide advert revenue support or to donate/support the site below. Finally, for free advice about your setup, just leave a message in the comments below here at NASCompares.com and we will get back to you. Need Help? Where possible (and where appropriate) please provide as much information about your requirements, as then I can arrange the best answer and solution to your needs. Do not worry about your e-mail address being required, it will NOT be used in a mailing list and will NOT be used in any way other than to respond to your enquiry. [contact-form-7] Terms and Conditions Alternatively, why not ask me on the ASK NASCompares forum, by clicking the button below. This is a community hub that serves as a place that I can answer your question, chew the fat, share new release information and even get corrections posted. I will always get around to answering ALL queries, but as a one-man operation, I cannot promise speed! So by sharing your query in the ASK NASCompares section below, you can get a better range of solutions and suggestions, alongside my own.  

Synology Release SRM 1.3 for the RT2600AC & MR2200ac Router for Adding RT6600ax Mesh Setups

Good news for those of you who have been considering upgrading their existing Synology router mesh setup OR those who already own the previous releases in the Synology Router series with the announcement of SRM 1.3 for the RT2600ac and MR2200ac devices. Synology Router Manager (SRM) 1.3 was released with the newest device in the brand’s router lineup, the RT6600ax, but not made available for the previous generation devices immediately. The newest version of SRM includes multiple improvements to the GUI, included applications and services, added vLAN support and (most important of all) now means that those of you who have an existing MR2200ac Mesh network in place can now connect with the RT6600ax (that many opted to replace the RT22600ac in their existing set ups). Updating your Synology MR2200ac and RT2600ac to SRM 1.3 SHOULD be very easy as soon as the Release Candidate of SRM 1.3 is available on the official download pages (HERE for the MR2200ac and HERE for the RT2600ac) as you will be able to manually download and update your system OR head into the control panel and allow the router to check the Synology update database and update directly.

Important Note About Using MR2200ac as a Mesh Node for the Synology RT6600ax Mesh Router

IMPORTANT!!! If you are running an RT6600ax WiFi 6 Router and want to add a batch of new/factory restored MR2200ac Mesh Points, you will need to go through the process of updating each node from SRM 1.2 to SRM 1.3. However, unlike Synology NAS systems during initialization, there is no point in the first-time setup of the MR2200ac/RT2600ac to upload a firmware file or the system search for the latest firmware online. This is only possible AFTER the router is initialized and from there, you will need to download the latest firmware (SRM 1.3), allow the system to reboot, THEN reinitialise the MR2200ac/RT2600ac so it can enter a ‘find’ status (when the LED on the system is a single, flashing blue light). From THAT point, you can find the MR2200ac/RT2600ac in the WiFi Access Point Search of your RT6600ax Router and add these nodes successfully. So:

• ALL Synology MR2200ac Mesh Routers will need to be updated individually to SRM 1.3 before attempting to connect with an RT6600ax Router Network
• SRM 1.3 Update can be downloaded from the Synology site OR from the MR2200ac initialization (coming soon, after Release Candidate and final release are made public online)
• First-time initialization and setup in 1.3 has been updated, so the initialization of a Router with SRM 1.3 on board is much simpler and more user-friendly
• If you try to connect your RT6600ax to an MR2200ac mesh node without updating that mesh node to SRM 1.3, it will SEE the MR200ac, but it will not be able to connect it due to firmware incompatibility between SRM 1.2 and SRM 1.3

It is worth highlighting that from then onwards, your primary router will be able to push updates to the nodes individually (much as the RT2600ac pushes updates to the MR2200ac mesh router points). No doubt as time goes on, this method of updating with be considerably easier and as newer routers go through manufacture, they will have SRM 1.3 onboard by default.

IMPORTANT #2! – If you are migrating from an RT2600ac to an RT6600ax Router, make sure to update the RT2600ac to SRM 1.3 first, then backup your router configuration in the control panel by heading to Control Panel > System > Update & Restore > Backup Configuration. From here you can create a config file that you can store locally on your computer, which can then be used to reinstate your configuration on the new RT6600ax. SRM 1.2 configurations cannot be used on an SRM 1.3 Router

Installation of SRM 1.3 on the Synology MR2200ac Router

First of all, upgrading to SRM 1.3 is much the same as typical firmware updates in Synology products IF you already have the device setup and can log in to the GUI.

Updating an MR2200ac or RT2600ac via the GUI

Log into your Synology MR2200ac or RT2600ac and head into the control panel, then select System, then Update & Restore, then select Manual SRM Update.

From here browse your local machine and find the .PAT file that you downloaded from Synology.com in the download area of the RT2600ac or MR2200ac, then select it and choose to install this update

You will be greeted by a pop-up that states that this update may change or remove some features of SRM 1.2 in line with SRM 1.3. Additionally, it will stop backup configurations you have made of SRM 1.2 from working in this new revision of the software. From here you can click confirm to proceed

The system will start uploading the SRM 1.3 pat update file to the MR2200ac or RT2600ac router

You will then be informed that in order for the update to take effect, then you will need to restart

During this installation and completion of the SRM 1.3 update, the router and its services will not be accessible.

When the installation of the first part of the SRM 1.3 update is completed, the system will reboot and a clock will count down. If the router GUI does not reappear in the browser after this time, it may well be because the router was on a dynamic IP setting and has changed it’s address. Use the Synology Assistant tool to find your Synology MR2200ac or RT2600ac’s new address.

When the system reboots, it will book back into the login GUI, but now it will be the improved and further polished SRM 1.3 login screen. From here you can log in as normal and enjoy SRM 1.3 with new features.

Next, lets discuss what you need to do in order to add existing MR2200ac and RT2600ac routers to a mesh network with the RT6600ax Router.

Adding a Synology MR2200ac or RT2600ac Router to the Synology RT6600ax Router as a Mesh Point

In order to add a Synology MR2200ac or RT2600ac to your RT6600ax Router as a mesh point, you will need to ensure that they are running SRM 1.3 as their firmware. In the case of the RT2600ac, this will be REALLY easy, as you can access the main SRM 1.2 GUI and update to SRM 1.3 as the software appears on the Synology Download section. However, in the case of MR2200ac nodes (which are rarely used as a primary router) you are going to need to update each node with SRM 1.3 before they are seen by the RT6600ax. If you have them connected with an RT2600ac, it is easy to push the update to SRM 1.3 across the whole existing network. However, if you only have the RT6600ax and 1 or more MR2200ac mesh routers, each one will need to be updated to SRM 1.3 using the steps in the guide above THEN formatted to factory settings.

If your MR2200ac is on SRM 1.2, follow the guide above to upgrade it to SRM 1.3. If you have updated your MR2200ac to SRM 1.3, you now need to restore it to factory settings here:

Doing so will result in the device deleting all data and settings – so be sure that this is what you want to do. Proceeding with this will result in the device taking 5-10 minutes to complete.

Alternatively – you can reset your MR2200ac router by using the reset pin on the rear of the router. However, this will not allow you to make any configuration backups and is irreversible.

Next, head over to your Synology RT6600ax Router and head into the WiFi Access Tab to start adding WiFi points/Nodes

You will be asked which connection method your nodes will be connected by. I STRONGLY recommend selecting both ethernet and wireless connections

The reason I recommend this is that it is about 100x easier to set up a smaller mess network of around 5-6 nodes by bringing them all together and connecting via LAN to the RT6600ax, then later disconnecting them and positioning them where you need them to be. It IS worth remembering that later on when you get them up that their distance from the primary router will affect the strength BUT (crucially) when a Synology mesh router is connected with the RT6600ax primary router, it knows the wifi identity and security credentials of the node and will connect wirelessly with the MR2200ac etc as soon as it is within range (even if the primary connection was via wired ethernet).

Note, if you are connecting the nodes (temporarily for setup or long term) via ethernet, you need to ensure that the MR2200ac or RT2600ac has cable connected to the WAN port and into a LAN port of the RT6600ax. Otherwise, the connection/host-client communication will not function correctly. Again, later on, after the node is set up, you can move these nodes away and the wireless connectivity will also function between the mesh points.

After this, there are a few steps to highlight the best places to set up a mesh node (in terms of proximity and multiple points), but also a note that you need the mesh mode in the correct LED lit configuration (that single blue flashing light)

When the RT6600ax scans the local network for the other Synology router to extend the mesh network, it will list the router(s) it has found and then invite you to enter the secure pin code that is printed on the back of all Synology routers (8 digits, numerical, cannot be changed)

After that, the RT6600ax Router will begin setting up the new mesh WiFi point (testing the strength of connection, copying over the SSID configuration and establishing the backhaul). This will not take more than a minute or so per node and (unless the mesh node has been obstructed, powered down, or has not been updated to SRM 1.3) should connect to the RT6600ax network.

And that is it. Now the MR2200ac or RT2600ac are part of your RT6600ax Mesh router system. They will no longer appear on the Synology Assistant tool and their SRM GUI cannot be accessed – they are now connection nodes to the larger RT6600ax router system and can be managed and adjusted in the SRM 1.3 GUI of the primary router. You can also power down the mesh router nodes and move them to new locations in your home or office for greater coverage. When they power back on, as long as they are in the coverage area of the primary router, they will re-join the RT6600ax/Primary router network automatically. If they are in a weak area of coverage/distance, the system will let you know and recommend which ones need to be brought closer.

If you are still unsure about the benefits of SRM 1.3 and debating whether purchase a Synology Router (or maybe you have one and you are unsure whether to upgrade from SRM 1.2 > 1.3), you can use the video and article below where I fully reviewed SRM 1.3 on the RT6600ax Router.

Synology SRM 1.3 Video Review

Synology SRM 1.3 Video Review

This description contains links to Amazon. These links will take you to some of the products mentioned in today's content. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. Visit the NASCompares Deal Finder to find the best place to buy this device in your region, based on Service, Support and Reputation - Just Search for your NAS Drive in the Box Below

Need Advice on Data Storage from an Expert?

We want to keep the free advice on NASCompares FREE for as long as we can. Since this service started back in Jan '18, We have helped hundreds of users every month solve their storage woes, but we can only continue to do this with your support. So please do choose to buy at Amazon US and Amazon UK on the articles when buying to provide advert revenue support or to donate/support the site below. Finally, for free advice about your setup, just leave a message in the comments below here at NASCompares.com and we will get back to you. Need Help? Where possible (and where appropriate) please provide as much information about your requirements, as then I can arrange the best answer and solution to your needs. Do not worry about your e-mail address being required, it will NOT be used in a mailing list and will NOT be used in any way other than to respond to your enquiry. [contact-form-7] Terms and Conditions Alternatively, why not ask me on the ASK NASCompares forum, by clicking the button below. This is a community hub that serves as a place that I can answer your question, chew the fat, share new release information and even get corrections posted. I will always get around to answering ALL queries, but as a one-man operation, I cannot promise speed! So by sharing your query in the ASK NASCompares section below, you can get a better range of solutions and suggestions, alongside my own.  

Comparing the Synology DS1520+ vs DS1522+ NAS – Which Should You Buy?

Let’s be honest. Network Attached Storage (NAS) is much the same as any other kind of consumer-available technology, in that every few years a brand will release the latest hardware in its portfolio and buyers will IMMEDIATELY start comparing it versus its predecessor. New vs Old, Launch Price vs Discount Deals, Cutting Edge vs Well Established – regardless of your own motivation, then are a whole bunch of reasons why someone will be comparing the Synology DS1522+ for 2022 versus the 2020 released DS1520+ NAS. Today I want to take a closer look at these two NAS systems from the big brand in NAS drives and compare their strengths, their weaknesses and ultimately help you decide which one deserves your data right now. Let’s begin.

Note – Depending on when you are reading this, the availability of the DS1522+ or DS1520+ will be different. So, regardless of which one of these two NAS systems best sounds like it suits your needs, it is paramount that you remember that your data should be backed up at all times. So do not just leave your data in an insecure or unsafe state in favour of waiting for either of these NAS to arrive. Unless your data is in at least 2 separate copies (NAS, close, USB, etc), it is NOT backed up! If you need help, you can use the free NAS advice section HERE.

Comparing the hardware of the Synology DS1522+ and DS1520+ NAS

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+.

Though both systems feature 8GB of DDR4 memory, the 1522+ has much higher pedigree and wins here thanks to its use of much more impressive ECC (error code correction) memory to identify and repair any bit level write errors and can also be scaled to a considerably higher 32GB of memory (with the DS1520+ maxing out at 8GB).

NAS Model	DS1520+	DS1522+
CPU Model	Intel Celeron J4125	AMD Ryzen R1600
CPU Quantity	1	Embedded Ryzen
CPU Architecture	64-bit	64-bit
CPU Frequency	4-core 2.0 – 2.7 GHz	2-core 2.6 – 3.1 GHz
Hardware Encryption Engine (AES-NI)	Yes	Yes
Integrated Graphics	Yes	No
CPU Cache	4 MB cache	1 MB L2 cache, 4 MB L3 cache
Memory
System Memory	8GB DDR4 non-ECC SODIMM	8GB DDR4 ECC SODIMM
Memory Module Pre-installed	8GB (4GB On-board + 4 GB via a 2666Mhz Module)	8 GB (8GB x 1)
TDP	10W	25W
Total Memory Slots	1	2
Maximum Memory Capacity	8GB	32 GB (16 GB x 2)
System Fan	92 mm x 92 mm x 2 pcs	92 mm x 92 mm x 2 pcs
Power Supply Unit / Adapter	120W External	120W External

Next up, let us discuss storage on the DS1522+ and DS1520+M, as these two systems are near enough identical on that one. Both arrive with 5x SATA storage bays, though you can deploy either NAS with as little as a single rive if you want. From there you can go ahead and install enough drives to accommodate a RAID 1, RAID 5, RAID 6 or Synology’s own flexible RAID configuration, SHR. Both systems can be initialized to operate with either a BTRFS or EXT4 file system, as well as supporting the wide range of services and features of the Synology Storage Manager. Finally, as mentioned, both systems feature M.2 NVMe SSD bays and both only allow these to be used for caching with DSM and its services/storage. Even in terms of expandability, these systems are largely identical. with both supporting the connection of two DX517 expansion chassis and reaching a total potential 15 bays of storage. As both systems support the latest version of Synology DSM, that maximum volume, simultaneous volumes, active storage shares and hybrid storage support are largely identical. The only area where things might differ significantly between the DS1520+ and DS1522+ is regarding Hard Drive compatibility. Synology changed its position a bit on compatibility in a few of the 2022 series hardware releases (beginning with the RS3622xs+, DS3622xs+ and DS2422+ at the start of the year) with them stating that they fully support the use of their own HDDs and SSDs in these systems, but not in third party drives from the likes of WD and Seagate. These drives will still be usable in their systems, but the user will be greeted by a warning message regarding compatibility. Now, this is not a factor of the DS1520+ compatibility, however, we are still (at the time of writing) awaiting confirmation of the HDD compatibility list of the DS1522+ NAS, so although it is NOT CONFIRMED RIGHT NOW it is possible that your choice of supported HDDs might impact which NAS is better for your storage.

Model	DS1520+	DS1522+
Size (Height x Width x Depth)	166 mm x 230 mm x 223 mm	166 mm x 230 mm x 223 mm
Drive Bays & Storage	5x SATA	5x SATA
Maximum Drive Bays with Expansion Unit	15 (DX517 x 2)	15 (DX517 x 2)
M.2 Drive Slots	2 (NVMe) for Read/Write Caching	2 (NVMe) for Read/Write Caching
Hot Swappable Drive	Yes	Yes
RAID Support	JBOD, RAID 0, 1, 5, 6, 10, SHR	JBOD, RAID 0, 1, 5, 6, 10, SHR

Now in terms of the external connectivity and how it can be upgraded, this is another big area of difference between the DS1520+ and DS1522+ NAS. Both systems arrive with 4 1GbE RJ45 LAN ports, which can be combined via link aggregation/Port Trunking to allow up to 4Gb/s bandwidth between the system and a supported smart switch. 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 E20G22-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 DS1520+ 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 the same 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.

Model	DS1520+	DS1522+
RJ-45 1GbE LAN	4 (with Link Aggregation / Failover support)	4 (with Link Aggregation / Failover support)
2.5GbE LAN	No	No
10GbE LAN	No	Optional
USB 3.2 Gen 1 (5Gb/s)	2	2
USB 3.2 Gen 2 (10Gb/s)	No	No
eSATA Port	2	2
PCIe Expansion	No	Yes (currently supports E10G22-T1-mini Adapter)
Supported File System	Btrfs EXT4	Btrfs EXT4
Size	166 mm x 230 mm x 223 mm	166 mm x 282 mm x 243 mm
Weight	2.62 kg	5.1 kg

Overall, I think the differences between the DS1520+ and DS1522+ are some of the most notable that the brand has ever delivered between two NAS just two years apart in the same series! The option of 10GbE later in the system’s lifespan, along with a huge 32GB of ECC memory on the DS1522+ I think narrowly put that NAS ahead, but it is by no means an unquestionable victory, as not only are those advantages of the DS1522+ more centred around additional purchases, but also the DS1520+ features that quad-core graphics embedded CPU – which means that a number of common Synology NAS desktop uses for entertainment such as Plex Media Server and Video Station are going to run much more efficiently on the older system. Then you have to also factor in that the DS1520+ is going to be available at a more affordable price thanks to its longer time at retail (with the DS1522+ almost certainly remaining close to its RRP for the bulk of 2022. I still think the DS1522+ is the better business and mission-critical performance choice overall, but the DS1520+ is going to be better suited to home and prosumer users overall.

Expected Performance of the Synology DS1522+ vs DS1520+ NAS Compared

The performance of Synology DSM services and supported 3rd party connected appliances is going to be very similar on both the DS1520+ and DS1522+ NAS when it comes to utilizing the respective systems in low volume/frequency client tasks. By that, I mean that the scale of the operations that you need the NAS to action (from simple file sharing and downloading, to more intensive multi-site backups, file streaming, databases and surveillance for example) will largely dictate which NAS will perform better for you. As mentioned, the DS1520+ and its embedded graphics supported CPU will use fewer resources to perform graphically focused tasks such as transcoding, as well as running applications that have a high volume of visual data such as live camera feeds in Surveillance Station 9. Whereas the file handling and general transfer performance of traditional data exchanges are going to use fewer resources on the DS1522+ embedded Ryzen processor, as well as have a much, MUCH higher ceiling for total processes thanks to that larger memory scalability already discussed. Below is a breakdown of the most popular applications and services that are included with either the Synology DS1520+ or DS1522+ NAS:

Synology Office – Create documents, spreadsheets, and slides in a multi-user environment. Real-time synchronization and saving make collaboration a breeze.

Synology Chat – Aimed at businesses, Synology Chat is an IM service that transforms the way users collaborate and communicate.

Synology Drive – Host your own private cloud behind the safety of your NAS with 100% data ownership and no subscription fees.

Synology Moments – Manage your photos and videos with deep-learning algorithms that automatically group photos with similar faces, subjects, and places.

Synology Calendar – Stay on track, share calendars, and schedule meetings, while ensuring sensitive information remains safely stored on company premises.

Synology Active Backup for Business (ABB) – Consolidate backup tasks for virtualized environments, physical servers, and personal computers, and rapidly restore files, entire machines, or VMs – license free.

Synology Hyper Backup – backup you NAS safely and efficiently to multiple destinations with deduplication, integrity checks, compression, and versioning.

Synology Surveillance Station – Safeguard your business, home, and other valuable assets with reliable video surveillance tools.

Synology Virtual Machine Manager (VMM) – An intuitive hypervisor that supports Windows, Linux, and Virtual DSM virtual machines. Its powerful disaster recovery tools help users achieve maximum service uptime.

Synology High Availability – Synology High Availability (SHA) combines two Synology NAS servers into one active-passive high-availability cluster, alleviating service disruptions while mirroring data.

Synology Central Management System (CMS) – Synology CMS allows you to manage multiple Synology NAS servers quickly and conveniently from a single location.

Synology Video Station – Manage all your movies, TV shows, and home videos. Stream them to multiple devices or share them with friends and family.

Synology Photo Station – Built to help photographers manage their photos and share them with clients for feedback or business development.

Synology Audio Station – Manage your music collection, create personal playlists, stream them to your own devices, or share with family or friends.

Synology File Station – Manage your Synology NAS files remotely through web browsers or mobile devices

However, the extent to which you can use all these applications at any single time (both as multiple clients using the same software or multiple applications running in parallel on the same NAS system) is going to be better on the Synology DS1522+ in the grand scheme of things, thanks to that potential 32GB of memory available to scale up down the line. Here is how these two Synology NAS drives compare in volume and features in those 1st party services:

Model	DS1520+	DS1522+
Max Single Volume	108TB	108TB
SAN Manager	128 ISCSI Targets and 256 LUNS	128 ISCSI Targets and 256 LUNS
Surveillance Station	40 Cameras Max, 2 Licenses	40 Cameras Max, 2 Licenses
Collaboration Suite	ALL Tools	ALL Tools
Synology Drive	350 Connections , 5,000,000 Files	350 Connections , 5,000,000 Files
Active Backup	FULL Support (Google, 365, VM,  local)	FULL Support (Google, 365, VM, local)
Synology Photos	All Features	All features
Hybrid Share	Full Support of 10x syncs	Full Support of 10x syncs
Accounts	2048 Users, 256 Groups, 512 S.Folders	2048 Users, 256 Groups, 512 S.Folders
SHA	Yes	Yes
VMM	Yes, 4 Recommended Max	Yes, 8 Recommended Max
Hardware Transcoding	Yes	No
MailPlus	100 concurrent users, 5 Licences	100 concurrent users, 5 Licences
SHR Support	Yes	Yes
Snapshots	65,536 Max	65,536 Max
Web Hosting	Upto 30x	Upto 30x
Hyper Backup	Yes, all features and clients	Yes, all features and clients
Max Tested R/W Speed	451.28MB/s – 451.18MB/s	736MBs – 796MB/s

Once again, very similar and indeed, both systems largely provide the building blocks to use each application to the highest extent allowed/recommended by Synology in DSM. Despite these NAS’ having very different CPUs, they still ultimately support the same volume of services (at maximum) in DSM. But the DS1522+ clearly has more recourse scaling possible and that will hopefully mean that you will be able to push several applications in higher frequencies each more on the newer system than the old one. Just don;t overlook how useful that Intel Celeron CPU would be to multimedia tasks.

Synology DS1520+ vs DS1522+ NAS – Conclusion and Verdict

Synology has clearly taken a rather different tactic in the release of their newest 5-Bay system, making changes to the expected hardware configuration and architecture that set it on a very different path than its predecessor. Those with longer memories will know that the Diskstation 5 Drive portfolio used to be very much this kind of design (i.e a file transfer focused CPU, more memory scaling, optional 10GbE, etc) and rather than building off the design of the 4-Bay (as the DS1520+ did against the DS920+), the DS1522+ seems to scale itself against the DS1621+ in it’s shape and abilities. If you were already looking at Synology NAS systems that being heavy emphasis on scaling their architecture notably down the line in efforts to remain future proof, the DS1522+ is going to tick ALOT of boxes for you. Whereas if you were looking at a Synology NAS for home use, a Plex Media server, low client/user use and generally as more of a setup-and-forget solution, then the DS1520+ will likely suit your needs better and will have the added benefit of a more palatable price point in 2022. How far Synology will extend the build logic of the DS1522+ towards other solutions in the diskstation/rackstation portfolio still remains to be seen. Most business users will want to opt for the DS1522+ though. Cheers for reading!

NAS MODEL ID	Synology DS1520+ NAS	Synology DS1522+ NAS
Where to Buy:

 

Need More Help Choosing the right NAS?

Choosing the right data storage solution for your needs can be very intimidating and it’s never too late to ask for help. With options ranging from NAS to DAS, Thunderbolt to SAS and connecting everything up so you can access all your lovely data at the touch of a button can be a lot simpler than you think. If you want some tips, guidance or help with everything from compatibility to suitability of a solution for you, why not drop me a message below and I will get back to you as soon as possible with what you should go for, its suitability and the best place to get it. This service is designed without profit in mind and in order to help you with your data storage needs, so I will try to answer your questions as soon as possible.

This description contains links to Amazon. These links will take you to some of the products mentioned in today's content. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. Visit the NASCompares Deal Finder to find the best place to buy this device in your region, based on Service, Support and Reputation - Just Search for your NAS Drive in the Box Below

Need Advice on Data Storage from an Expert?

We want to keep the free advice on NASCompares FREE for as long as we can. Since this service started back in Jan '18, We have helped hundreds of users every month solve their storage woes, but we can only continue to do this with your support. So please do choose to buy at Amazon US and Amazon UK on the articles when buying to provide advert revenue support or to donate/support the site below. Finally, for free advice about your setup, just leave a message in the comments below here at NASCompares.com and we will get back to you. Need Help? Where possible (and where appropriate) please provide as much information about your requirements, as then I can arrange the best answer and solution to your needs. Do not worry about your e-mail address being required, it will NOT be used in a mailing list and will NOT be used in any way other than to respond to your enquiry. [contact-form-7] Terms and Conditions Alternatively, why not ask me on the ASK NASCompares forum, by clicking the button below. This is a community hub that serves as a place that I can answer your question, chew the fat, share new release information and even get corrections posted. I will always get around to answering ALL queries, but as a one-man operation, I cannot promise speed! So by sharing your query in the ASK NASCompares section below, you can get a better range of solutions and suggestions, alongside my own.  

Synology HD6500 60-Bay Rackmount NAS Released Synology announces the availability of the HD6500, the first of the HD series, designed for super-sized storage needs. The 4U, 60-bay HD6500 streamlines petabyte-level storage with support for up to 960 TB per chassis and can be easily paired with up to 4 additional RX6022sas 60 bay expansion units […]

Terramaster TOS 5 Software Update RELEASED!

According to Terramaster the new TOS 5 release has been in development for one and half years, includes more than 50 new features, 600 enhancements, comprises 300,000 lines of new code and now, the long-awaited TOS 5.0 is officially released today! Although there are a huge number of improvements under the bonnet, there is also a whole bunch of improvements on the surface too, ranging from improvements in the GUI and responsiveness to new fully featured applications. Here is what you need to know.

TOS 5 Now has a Secure HyperLock-WORM file system Option

Data is a precious asset of the vast majority of users, and data security is very important! Some data storage and custody are even regulated by law, such as court cases, medical cases, financial securities, company financial data, etc. These important data can only be read but not written within a specified time period according to the law. Therefore, such data needs to be protected against tampering. The WORM (Write Once Read Many) features provide a write-once-read-many technology, which is a commonly used method for data security access and archiving in the storage industry. The WORM feature means that after the file is written, it can enter the read-only state by removing the write permission of the file. In this state, the file can only be read and cannot be deleted, modified, or renamed. By configuring the WORM feature to protect the stored data, it can be prevented from accidental manipulation.

TerraMaster HyperLock-WORM file system is a storage system with WORM characteristics. Through the write-once-read-many technology, the integrity, confidentiality, and accessibility of the original data in the storage medium are guaranteed to satisfy the sensitive requirements of enterprises. Data security storage and legal supervision needs. The characteristic of the TerraMaster HyperLock-WORM file system is that its WORM feature is developed based on the file system and is not limited by the file service type. It is suitable for most common file services, but can only be set by the administrator. Administrators can flexibly assign read and write permissions to users and set a protection period. During the protection period, the data uploaded to the device can only be read and cannot be deleted, modified, or renamed. The protection period can be set up to 70 years! In order to improve security, once the protection period is set, it can only be extended but not shortened.

Compared with other storage solutions with WORM features, the TerraMaster HyperLock-WORM file system has higher security. Once the TerraMaster HyperLock-WORM file system is created, even the administrator cannot delete or modify the storage partition from the menu page or the system background. As long as the storage device is safely placed in an isolated environment, anyone without access to the NAS hardware devices, even employees with administrator privileges or hackers, cannot pose a threat to the data. TerraMaster HyperLock-WORM file system is an innovation in data security management, which can provide more secure protection for customers’ important digital assets, and is suitable for industries with important data such as government, public health, law, finance, and enterprises.

New Storage Utilities in TOS 5

The core function of a TNAS is data storage and backup. TOS 5 has fully optimized storage management and added more utilities to facilitate users to monitor the health status of storage space and increase storage space utilization.

• Hard disk Benchmark
  Through the hard disk benchmark test, you can better understand your hard disk’s read/write, latency, and throughput performance. The hard disk benchmark can also reflect the health of the hard disks
• Hard Disk Secure Erase
  Secure Erase can completely erase the data on the disk by randomly writing 0 or 1 to the disk. Securely erased hard drive data can no longer be recovered, suitable for users who store sensitive data.
• SMART Long Test
  SMART is an important indicator of hard drive reliability. SMART Quick Test and SMART Long Test options have been added to TOS 5. You can get more accurate hard drive health indicators with the SMART long test, but the advanced long will take more time.
• Hard Disk Bad Block Warning
  Enable monitoring of the bad blocks of the hard disk. Once the number of bad blocks increases, a notification and warning will be sent to the administrator.
• SSD TRIM
  By periodically TRIMing the SSD, the storage sectors are pre-initialized to maintain the excellent read and write performance of the SSD.
• Hard disk Operation Log
  Record all operations of the system or the user to the hard disk.
• Array Synchronization Settings
  Device performance is affected during array synchronization. The new system allows users to customize the synchronization speed of the array according to their needs.
• Data Scrubbing
  Data scrubbing is the process of modifying or removing incomplete, incorrect, inaccurately formatted, or duplicated data in a database. Data scrubbing improves data consistency, accuracy,and reliability.
• File System Defragmentation
  File system defragmentation can reorder, optimize and organize scattered data fragments, thereby improving the efficiency of disk data reading and writing.
• File System Compression
  Once file system compression is enabled, data stored to TNAS will be automatically compressed to save storage space. Users can customize the compression level. The higher the compression level, the higher the compression rate and the more space saved, but the slower the writing speed.
• SSD Cache Array
  Failure of an SSD serving as a cache will risk data loss. Users of TOS 5 can set up an array for multiple SSD caches, such as RAID 1 for 2 SSDs, even if one SSD fails, it will not affect the normal operation of the cache, thereby reducing the risk of data loss.

• 

New Photo Management Tool with AI-Powered Cataloging and Identification – (Still in Beta at time of writing)

Terra Photos is a smart photo management application. Through the AI ​​algorithm, Terra Photos can recognize and classify the faces, pets, things, and scenes of the photos in the specified directory, which is convenient for you to sort, classify and share the photos through the graphical interface. Terra Photos is the ideal photo management tool for home users, photographers, and creative agencies.

• AI face recognition
  Terra Photos has a built-in AI algorithm that can automatically recognize and classify faces with an accuracy rate of up to 80%. For wrongly recognized faces, Terra Photos also provides manual correction methods to provide greater convenience for photo management.
• Broader AI applications
  Not only face recognition, Terra Photos can also automatically identify dozens of categories such as pets, objects, landscapes, sports, vehicles, and flowers by enhancing AI operations. Terra Photos provides users with smarter management tools, greatly increasing the usefulness of photo management.
• Geographical Classification
  By integrating the GPS location information of photos through map resources, Terra Photos can also automatically categorize your photos by geographic location, making it easier for you to quickly query your photos.
• Take into account personal privacy and sharing
  Terra Photos adopts a separate storage strategy for personal photos and shared photos of family members. The two kinds of photos are stored in directories with different access rights, which helps to protect personal privacy and facilitates the sharing of photos between family members or business customers. share with each other.
• Flat UI
  Terra Photos uses a flat user interface to flatly display the user’s commonly used categories in the first-level directory, such as photos, albums, videos, people, pets, objects, locations, recently added, and favorites, which is more conducive to users to quickly browse and find target photo.
• More flexible management strategies
  Terra Photos’ flexible query filtering strategy can begin to help you filter out the photos you want by combining the name and time of the photo, with the combination of the year, month, day, and ascending and descending order.
• Share happiness and creativity
  Terra Photos provides users with sharing tools, you can choose to create photos or share albums and flexibly formulate sharing strategies, sub-defining sharing titles, sharing links, effective time, access passwords, download permissions, etc. Terra Photos provides an easier way for home-sharing or business client sharing.

Surveillance Manager for Adding and Monitoring Multiple IP Cameras on a Live feed on Your  Terramaster NAS

Surveillance Manager is a video surveillance management tool. Through Surveillance Manager, you can build a video surveillance system with multiple IP cameras and TNAS, connect your cameras through ONVIF protocol, manage cameras, view real-time recordings, view historical recordings, and store the recordings of network cameras directly in TNAS to specify storage location.

• Simple to Use
  Surveillance Manager uses web browsers for configuration and management. The recording device does not need to be connected to a monitor, and any computer in the network can log in to the system to view the recording.
• Good Compatibility
  The surveillance Manager adopts the general ONVIF protocol and can adapt to most general-purpose cameras. It supports the automatic camera search, which simplifies the connection configuration of the cameras
• Suitable for Medium-sized Users
  The surveillance Manager can connect dozens of cameras at the same time and support multi-channel recording. Suitable for families and small and medium-sized business users.
• Multi-channel Real-time Monitoring
  The surveillance Manager supports multi-channel real-time monitoring. The screen display layout of monitoring can be customized, and the screens can be switched with one click.
• Timeline Rollback
  Roll back the recorded video by dragging the timeline or customizing the time period, making it easier to view historical events.
• Recording Schedule
  The surveillance Manager supports custom recording schedules and activity-triggered recordings to increase storage space utilization.
• Form Recording Storage
  The recorded video is classified and stored according to the camera and time, which is convenient for quick query and download

• 

New iSCSI Manager Application to Manager Larger Storage on your Terramaster NAS

Terramaser NAS is widely used as a storage device for virtualized computing. With TerraMaster iSCSI Manager, you can create multiple iSCSI targets and LUNs on your TNAS, and customize the capacity, permissions, and connections through a graphical interface to meet your storage space requirements in different virtualization environments.

• Custom ISCSI Target IQN
  Using iSCSI Manager, create multiple iSCSI targets on your TNAS and customize IQNs to help you easily identify. You can also choose to enable authentication or mutual authentication for the iSCSI Target to increase access security.
• Customize network management policies
  To improve network utilization efficiency, you can designate a dedicated network interface and channel for the iSCSI Target to separate the iSCSI Target’s network from the networks of other services. To optimize the transfer efficiency of the iSCSI Target, you can also limit the maximum fragment size in bytes transmitted and received.
• Multiple session connections
  In order to adapt to complex virtualization application scenarios, iSCSI Manager allows users to enable multiple session connections from one or more initiators for iSCSI Target. Note: Multiple session connections provide flexible connection methods for initiators, but improper settings may put your data at risk! Make sure you use multiple session connections in a cluster-aware file system.
• Balance performance and flexibility
  You can create multiple LUNs and mount them to the iSCSI Target you specify. iSCSI Manager provides Thick provisioning and Thin provisioning configuration strategies for LUN storage space. Thick provisioning can provide better storage performance, in contrast, thin provisioning can provide more flexible storage space utilization.
• Safer protection
  Combined with the Snapshot technology, you can take snapshots of LUNs to prevent data loss caused by misoperations or accidents. Note: Snapshots are not supported for LUNs under the Thick provisioning configuration.
• Initiator access control
  By default, all connected initiators in iSCSI Manager have read and write permissions to LUNs. You can also customize access permissions for each initiator to meet the needs of various occasions.
• Low-capacity write protection
  When the storage space of the LUN is about to be exhausted, if the initiator continues to write data to the LUN, the LUN may be destroyed. For this reason, iSCSI Manager has specially designed the low-capacity write protection function. When the LUN is in low capacity, it will prevent the initiator from continuing to write data for protection.

New CloudSync Tool for connecting your 3rd Party Cloud Services and Remote Servers in TOS 5

CloudSync is a cloud drive synchronization application for fast and secure data synchronization between your TNAS and cloud drives. It is a very practical and efficient one-stop cloud drive disaster recovery solution. Different from previous versions, in TOS 5, we have integrated the synchronization of various cloud drives into one application, which is more convenient for users to use. At the same time, we have also redesigned the application layout, added some features, and optimized the user experience.

• Support multiple cloud drives
  CloudSync integrates a variety of mainstream cloud drive synchronization functions in one application, including Google Drive, OneDrive, Amazon S3, Dropbox, Baidu, Alibaba Cloud, etc. It only needs to manage one application to meet different cloud drive synchronization management.
• Multiple synchronization strategies
  CloudSync provides users with two-way and one-way synchronization strategies. Two-way synchronization can meet the flexible needs of data utilization, and one-way synchronization can meet the focus of data protection and increase data security.
• Data leakage prevention strategy
  In order to improve the protection of sensitive data, CloudSync supports data encryption. You can encrypt the data before synchronizing it to the cloud drive, and then decrypt the data after synchronizing it back to TNAS to prevent data leakage on the cloud drive.
• Scheduled Tasks
  According to usage scenarios and business requirements, users can set the execution time of synchronization tasks by themselves to avoid the busy time of business operation.
• more flexible configuration
  In order to meet more customer needs, CloudSync also supports various flexible configurations such as synchronization bandwidth limit, file size limit, synchronization file type limit, synchronization frequency, etc.
• In full control
  CloudSync not only provides users with a detailed synchronization task configuration history, but also provides a list of millions of file backups and transfers, allowing you to monitor the backup progress and various exceptions throughout the process.

Terramaster Duple Backup Deduplication Management Tool in TOS 5

Duple Backup has not been released an official version before TOS 5 and has been developing and testing it. In TOS 5, we have redesigned Duple Backup. The new Duple Backup has optimized the user interface, added some features, and improved the user experience. Duple Backup has powerful backup and restore functions, and is a disaster recovery tool designed to strengthen the data security of TNAS devices. To prevent data loss due to TNAS device hardware failure or system failure, through Duple Backup’s intuitive user menu, you can back up important folders or iSCSI LUNs in TNAS to multiple destinations (such as remote TNAS devices, file servers, or cloud disks) ), and supports multiple backup strategies of incremental backup and multi-version backup. The backup and restore process is very simple and intuitive, and can quickly restore lost data in the event of a device failure.

• Various backup objects
  The backup object of Duple Backup can be the shared folder in TNAS or the specified file directory. Not only that, it can also back up the iSCSI LUN and the configuration of the iSCSI LUN in the TNAS device to meet the needs of backing up the data in the TNAS.
• Multiple destinations
  According to business needs, you can choose up to 4 different backup destinations for the data in TNAS, such as: another TNAS device, file server, WebDAV server, various mainstream cloud disks. With the Duple Backup Vault client, using two TNAS devices for mutual backup can greatly simplify the backup configuration process.
• Multiple backup strategies
  According to business requirements and storage resource configuration, you can select incremental backup or multi-version backup strategies for backup tasks to improve storage space utilization.
• Secure data transfer
  Taking data security into full consideration, Duple Backup uses SSL certificate encryption throughout the backup task to ensure the security of data transmission.
• Efficient transmission
  In order to improve backup efficiency, before performing backup tasks, data is compressed and then transmitted, and the maximum compression rate can be as high as 30%, which not only reduces the user’s network bandwidth usage, but also saves storage space and reduces customers’ IT investment costs
• Restoration is easy
  Through an intuitive graphical interface, Duple Backup provides suitable restoration methods for different destinations. When an accident occurs, users can use Duple Backup’s restoration tool to restore data in a very short period of time to reduce losses caused by disasters.
• 3-2-1 Backup Strategy
  In order to prevent data loss in the event of an accident, the 3-2-1 backup strategy is widely adopted by many users, that is, to keep at least 3 backups of data, 2 of which are stored on different devices, and at least 1 is stored in a different place. Duple Backup, as a backup tool specially designed for TNAS, is ideal for a 3-2-1 backup strategy.
• In full control
  Duple Backup not only provides users with a detailed backup and restore task configuration history, but also provides a list of millions of file backups and transfers, allowing you to monitor the backup progress and various exceptions throughout the process.
• Suitable for a variety of applications
  Duple Backup is not only suitable for home users, but also for business users with multiple offices or branch offices. With local backup and off-site backup of branch offices, it can provide reliable security for data.

• 

Improved Snapshot Management and Services Added in TOS 5

TerraMaster Snapshot is a disaster recovery tool developed based on the BTRFS file system. Take snapshots of shared folders or iSCSI LUNs and quickly restore data after a disaster by taking advantage of file system features. In TOS 5, Snapshot has been redesigned to add more features and improve the user experience.

• Filesystem level snapshots
  TerraMaster Snapshot is a snapshot tool based on the BTRFS file system. The Btrfs file system introduces advanced storage technology and snapshot technology to provide flexible and efficient data protection and recovery tools while improving high data integrity.
• Save your time and space
  The TerraMaster Snapshot snapshot function is based on COW (copy-on-write), so snapshots can be created almost instantaneously, and they take up almost no space when they are first created, greatly increasing the utilization of space and time. It can be said to be a perfect snapshot solution.
• Virtualization disaster recovery
  TerraMaster Snapshot can provide a good disaster recovery solution for virtualized storage space by taking snapshots of shared folders or iSCSI LUNs, whether it is virtualized storage through NFS or iSCSI.
• Higher snapshot performance
  TerraMaster Snapshot can create up to 1,024 snapshots for each shared folder and up to 65,536 snapshots for the entire system, providing you with adjustable, storage-saving data protection capabilities to meet stringent snapshot performance requirements.
• Efficient snapshot rollback
  The snapshot file resides in the same storage space as the subvolume, and you can browse it like a normal directory and restore a copy of the file as it was when the snapshot was taken. TerraMaster Snapshot arranges snapshots through a timeline, combined with an intuitive graphical interface, when you need to restore a snapshot file, you only need a few mouse clicks to roll back the snapshot to the version you need.
• Remote incremental backup
  Generating snapshots on the same storage space as the snapshot subvolume is not an ideal backup strategy, and if the hard disk fails, the snapshot will be lost. TerraMaster Snapshot can send snapshot copies as incremental backups to an external hard drive or to a remote storage system via SSH (the backup destination also needs to use the BTRFS file system) for increased data security

Complete Remote System Access Tool in TOS 5 – Security Isolation Mode

For users who pay great attention to data security but do not need to use external network resources, TerraMaster has added a new security tool in TOS 5 — Security Isolation Mode. At present, hackers and ransomware are raging around the world, and a large number of customers’ precious digital assets are under unprecedented threat. TOS 5’s unique Security Isolation Mode can provide users with a safe and reliable operating environment, isolate external risks, and protect digital assets from infringement.

• Kernel security level
  Through the digital signature based on the kernel level, once the security isolation mode is enabled, any programs that have not been signed by the system will be blocked from running, effectively preventing viruses or malicious code from running.
• Self-isolation
  The Security Isolation Mode can effectively prevent illegal in-stack and out-stack access to the external network through the self-established isolation barrier, only allow legal access in the local network, and protect the system from external malicious attacks.
• Secondary advanced protection
  In order to prevent security barriers and system protection measures from being attacked and tampered with, the Security Isolation Mode adopts secondary password verification protection. Deleting or modifying all configuration information related to security protection measures requires password verification again, effectively preventing hackers from damaging the barrier.
• Strong blocking
  Any code based on Java, php, or Python will be blocked from execution, effectively preventing the system from being injected with malicious code to threaten data security.
• Scenes to be used
  . Enterprises or organizations that are extremely sensitive to data security;
  . External network services that need to be closed and isolated, do not need to access the external network or provide remote access;
  . Only use TNAS to provide file storage, no need to run web pages, databases, mail services, virtual machines, and other applications;
  . Applicable industries: military, judicial, electric power, scientific research, medicine, and other industries

New Terramaster Flexible RAID System – TRAID

TRAID is the abbreviation of TerraMaster RAID. TRAID is a flexible disk array management tool developed by TerraMaster. It has features such as the automatic combination of disk space, hard disk failure redundancy protection, and automatic capacity expansion. All these features do not require manual configuration by the user, and the system will automatically complete the configuration according to the properties of the hard disk. TRAID provides users with an optimized, flexible and elastic disk array management solution, especially suitable for new users who are not proficient in how to configure a disk array. Once you have selected TRAID as your array type, you cannot convert TRAID to a traditional array type unless you delete and recreate the array. If you want to manage the array type manually, it is recommended that you use the traditional type when building your array, such as Single, RAID 0, RAID 1, RAID 5, RAID 6, RAID 10, etc. Below is our description of how TRAID works and a demonstration of me mixing a bunch of drives in a single RAID, one by one.

Improved Backup Management Tool in TOS 5 – Centralized Backup

Centralized Backup has not released an official version before TOS 5, and has been developing and testing it. In TOS 5, we have redesigned the Centralized Backup. The new Centralized Backup has re-optimized the user interface, added some functions, and improved the user experience. Centralized Backup is a professional disaster recovery tool specially developed for business users. By using Centralized Backup, company IT managers can use TNAS as the central backup server, without having to configure each host separately, and use TNAS as the initiator to centrally back up the storage space of internal employee computers, workstations, servers, virtual machines, or even is the system partition.

• Developed for business users
  For business users, data security is extremely important, and for IT administrators, it is a huge challenge to make timely backups of various servers and be able to manage the personal computer data of multiple employees. Centralized Backup combines the needs of business users to provide a centralized active-backup solution.
• Multi-purpose machine
  By running Centralized Backup on a TNAS device, only one TNAS device can be used to meet the backup requirements of the enterprise for employees’ computers, servers, file servers, virtual machines, and workstations, greatly reducing the enterprise’s IT investment costs.
• Employee computer backup
  Different from general backup tools, Centralized Backup does not require employees to participate in the backup process. IT administrators can initiate backup requests from the server through Centralized Backup’s PC backup module, and can actively back up folders on hundreds of employees’ computers. , disk partition, or system partition. Centralized Backup can greatly protect digital assets scattered on employees’ computers, and can greatly reduce the workload of IT administrators.
• Server backup
  The server is the central nervous system of an enterprise’s digital information. The server not only runs a variety of application environments such as OA, CRM, and ERP that support business operations, but also stores important business data. Through the server backup function of Centralized Backup, IT administrators can simultaneously backup systems and data of multiple servers to TNAS. When an accident occurs, the abnormal host can be quickly restored, greatly reducing the impact of equipment failure on the business.
• File server backup
  The file server is the storage center of enterprise digital assets. Disasters such as unexpected power outages, equipment failures, and system failures may lead to the loss of precious digital assets. Through the file server backup function of Centralized Backup, IT administrators can back up the file directories of multiple file servers to TNAS, reducing the risk of data loss in the event of a disaster.
• Virtual machine storage backup
  Centralized Backup supports storage backup of VMware Vshpere and Windows Hyper-V virtual machines. Through the virtual machine backup function of Centralized Backup, the backup of multiple virtual machine clients can be initiated from TNAS.
• Multi-version restore
  Centralized Backup provides the backup target multi-version management function. When a disaster occurs, IT administrators can roll back the time of the repository to find the correct backup version to restore to the specified destination host.
• In full control
  Centralized Backup not only provides users with detailed backup and restore task configuration history, but also provides millions of logs, allowing you to monitor the backup progress and various exceptions throughout the process. By enabling the notification function, administrators can keep track of the progress status of backup and restoration in a timely manner.

TFM Backup for Internal Backup and Folder Synchronization

TFM Backup is the abbreviation of TerraMaster Folder Mirror backup. TFM Backup is a dedicated backup tool for TNAS shared folders developed by TerraMaster. Through TFM Backup, you can easily backup the shared folders in TNAS to other local folders. Storage location or a remotely mounted folder. TFM Backup has mirror backup and differential backup to choose from, and users can realize automatic scheduled backup by configuring backup schedule tasks. TFM Backup provides users with a simple and flexible backup solution for backing up data in TNAS.

• Improve disk space utilization
  Traditional RAID 1 disk arrays use redundancy to mirror the data of one disk to another disk, which can effectively avoid the risk of data loss due to disk failure. But a RAID 1 disk array requires at least 2 disks, that is, in a RAID 1 disk array, at most 50% of the effective disk storage space is available. For some users, not all data is important data, and it may not be necessary to mirror the entire disk data. Before TerraMaster launched TFM Backup, RAID 1 array seemed to be the only choice when users made mirror backups of data on disks. Now, users can choose to use TFM Backup to selectively do mirror backup, which can increase the utilization of disk space while ensuring data security.
• Flexible backup strategy
  TFM Backup has two backup strategies: mirror backup and differential backup. In the mirror backup mode, the backup source data is always consistent with the destination data, which can reduce the work of data management; in the differential backup mode, the newly added or modified data is backed up, even if the source data is deleted, the destination The data always retains the last backup version, which can effectively avoid the loss caused by misoperation.
• Custom backup plan
  TFM Backup provides a customizable backup plan, and you can customize the backup time, period, and frequency. You can perform backups during less busy periods according to business needs to avoid disruption to normal business.
• Multiple backup tasks
  TFM Backup supports multiple backup tasks. You can use TFM Backup to create multiple backup tasks for multiple folders with different backup policies and destinations, and configure different task schedules for each task to meet the backup needs of different file types in various application scenarios.
• Flexible backup destination
  The backup destination of TFM Backup can be in a different storage pool, a different volume, or a different device (using a remotely mounted folder). To avoid data loss caused by disk hardware failure, it is recommended to set the backup destination to a volume in a different storage pool.

Improved System Storage Searches with Terra Search

For some medium or large institutions, finding the required information from the vast amount of stored literature can be a big challenge. Terra Search’s file content search capabilities can help you overcome this challenge. Terra Search can quickly find all kinds of mainstream documents containing search keywords by establishing a database and search engine, which greatly improves the work efficiency of employees.

• Customized for industry applications
  Terra Search is specially developed and customized for business users, and has the characteristics of flexibility, speed, practicability and wide application. Terra Search is suitable for institutions and enterprises that need to manage a large number of documents, such as libraries, judiciary, hospitals, scientific research, military, government, etc.
• Powerful search engine
  Terra Search has a built-in powerful search engine, combined with a large database, it can easily handle millions of document management and content search, and can search hundreds of target files per second (related to the hardware performance of the TNAS device).
• Applicable to a variety of documents
  It is widely compatible with documents in various mainstream formats, such as office documents, text files, pdf, photos, music, e-books, web files, program codes, etc., to meet more than 90% of business users’ common file search needs.
• Image text content recognition
  Terra Search has a built-in automatic recognition function of image text content, which can quickly identify text in multiple languages ​​in images. The supported image formats include jpg, gif, jpeg, png, tiff, tif, etc.
• Custom search criteria
  In order to increase search efficiency, Terra Search also provides user-defined search conditions. Users can add search conditions such as file name, extension, title, owner, creation time, etc. according to their needs.
• Custom search directory
  By setting specific search directories and file types, users can limit the scope of the search, and improve search flexibility and search efficiency.
• Search result preview
  Terra Search provides a preview function of search results. Even for pictures, you can view the search results of pictures and texts through the preview window, and quickly screen accurate search results.
• Category display
  Through the flattened category display of the search page, users can screen documents, pictures, applications, and videos from the search results, making the search results clear at a glance.

Improved VPN Service Support with VPN Server in TOS 5

VPN Server provides you with an easy-to-use VPN solution, which can set up a TNAS device as a VPN server to allow other devices to remotely connect to TNAS through a private channel to ensure data communication security. Multiple devices connected to the VPN Server can form an interconnected network through private channels.

• Supports multiple VPN protocols – TerraMaster VPN Server supports PPTP, OpneVPN and L2TP/IPSec protocols, which can adapt to different network environments and meet your different business needs.
• Multiple authentication methods – VPN Server supports PAM and LDAP authentication, can connect with local users and domain users, and supports PAP, MS-CHAP, MD5, SHA, RSA and other authentication methods to ensure the privacy of private channel connections.
• Real-time network I/O monitoring – VPN Server uses graphs to monitor the network I/O of each VPN connection in real-time, allowing you to know the status of online devices and the I/O load of the network in time.
• Simple operation interface – VPN Server uses a flat menu, each VPN connection is managed separately, and the advanced setting items use the default options to avoid troubles for users due to complicated configuration options. It is simple, intuitive, and very suitable for home users and small and medium-sized buisness users.
• Log tracking – VPN Server provides a complete operation log and execution log, which is convenient for you to understand the operation history and the connection status of the VPN service, which can help you to quickly troubleshoot the fault.

How to Upgrade to Terramaster TOS 5 from TOS 4 – What You Need To Know?

Upgrading to TOS 5 is not as straightforward as other firmware updates and there is an element of complexity that, if done wrong, might result in re-initialising your system and formatting your storage/data, so follow the steps below VERY carefully! Please follow the guide below to install the new TOS 5.0 system

Must read before installation!

1.Since the root file system, storage path, application installation location, and startup method of TOS 5.0 are different from those of the previous version, you cannot directly update to TOS 5.0 from the current version, but need to reinstall the system.

Reinstalling the system will theoretically not delete the data on your hard drive, but for safety consideration, please back up your data in advance.

1. The new TOS 5.0 system is only applicable to the x.86 series of TNAS models (220 series, 221 series, 420 series, 421 series, 422 series, 423 series);

2. Your current TOS version need to be 4.2.32 or above;

3. TNAS PC needs to be 5.0.19 or above, otherwise, it may not work properly;

4. TNAS Mobile needs to be 5.0.1 or above, otherwise, it may not work properly. Note: Currently, TNAS Mobile is only available for iOS, and the Android version will be released soon, please pay attention to our update news.

How to install TOS 5.0?  

1. Download the TOS 5.0 installation package;

2. Log in to your TOS, go to Control Panel > General Settings > Factory Default, tick “Reset to Factory default” and click “Apply” to clear your system;

3. Your TNAS will automatically restart and enter the initialization guide page; if you cannot enter the initialization page, please use the TNAS PC to search for your TNAS again, and enter the IP address of your TNAS in the browser address bar;

4. Select the “Custom” mode during the initialization process, upload the TOS 5.0 installation package, and wait for the installation to complete;

5. After the system installation is completed, the system will automatically restart; Then, follow the instructions on the page to complete the administrator settings;

6. After the system is installed, you need to clear the browser cache, otherwise some system pages may not be displayed correctly.

Installation packages download link:

1. TOS 5.0：https://download2.terra-master.com/TOS_X642.0_5.0.120_00154_2206121730.ins

2. TNAS PC for Windows OS：https://download2.terra-master.com/TerraMaster_TNASPC_for_win_V5.0.22.zip

3. TNAS PC for macOS：https://download2.terra-master.com/TerraMaster_TNASPC_for_mac_V5.0.22.dmg

4. TNAS Mobile for iOS：It will be published later.

 

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The Synology DVA1622 Deep Video Analysis 2-Bay NAS Released

Synology today announced the launch of the Deep Learning NVR DVA1622 as it expands its successful line of deep learning network video recorders with a solution for smaller deployments. Synology previously launched the four-bay DVA3221 to put AI-powered surveillance in the hands of small and medium-sized businesses. The new two-bay DVA1622 for the first time brings AI-powered analytics, such as face recognition, within reach of small businesses and households.

Synology and surveillance

Synology develops innovative solutions in storage, surveillance, and networking. Since the launch of its signature Surveillance Station video management system, more than 2 million IP cameras have been activated in more than 60 markets worldwide. With over half a million deployments currently active, Surveillance Station has become a household name in video surveillance. In 2022, Synology released Surveillance Station 9.0, consolidating advances while further pushing the envelope in ease of deployment, management, and operation.

A tailored solution for local use

The DVA1622 allows home users, shop owners, and others to profit from up to two simultaneous smart analytics tasks while monitoring up to 16 cameras in the smallest possible footprint. But that is not all. Unlike its larger brother, the DVA1622 supports HDMI output for up to 16 streams on one screen and local controls via two USB ports, eliminating the need for a PC to monitor and manage your deployment.

“We designed the DVA1622 specifically with the needs of small and home users in mind,” said Tony Lin, product manager for surveillance at Synology Inc. “That doesn’t just mean right-sizing its capacity, but also adding additional features to make sure that it can be used with a monitor, mouse, and keyboard as an all-in-one, standalone surveillance solution.” 

More than just threat identification

Deep learning video analytics (DVA) tasks can help enhance security by actively identifying specific threats as configured. They can also reduce the effort of securing premises by providing more accurate and filtered alerts, for instance, by only notifying users of movement by people or cars. Deep learning analytics can help automate aspects of site management, such as by identifying authorized persons or calculating occupancy. And, finally, they can help generate statistics and other useful information.  

Enhancing home security

Timely alerts are crucial to prevent break-ins. With one or two DVA tasks, home owners can transform their home surveillance from simple CCTV recording to an active threat detection system that warns when suspicious activities are detected. 

Many homes have lightly fenced gardens, driveways, sheds, and ground floor rooftops from which thieves can force themselves in. However, setting up motion detection for open areas can lead to many false notifications as animals, deliverers, and other inputs trigger alarms. 

The DVA1622 supports Intrusion Detection, which can correctly identify when humans or vehicles cross preset boundaries, such as fence tops, and in which direction. People and Vehicle Detection scans feeds for humans or cars and sends alerts when these enter or linger in an area for a certain amount of time.

Small retail and hospitality

Surveillance not only helps keep businesses safe, but helps manage premises more efficiently. Identifying persons barred from the property, making sure only personnel enter restricted areas, guarding limits on occupancy, and keeping the private parking lots free of non-authorized vehicles can be automatized with DVA features.

Facial Recognition lets businesses build a database of visitors and employees, and automatically identify visitors who require special attention or non-staff entering restricted areas. People Counting can be used to calculate visitor numbers, as well as total building occupancy. When too many people congregate in a defined area, Congestion Alerts can set off alerts to workers on site. And with License Plate Recognition, the DVA1622 can tip off owners when vehicles that do not belong to members or employees enter a parking lot.

Secure surveillance ecosystem

The DVA1622 comes out of the box with the Surveillance Station 9.0 video management system, offering the latest and greatest in surveillance. With support for over 8,300 new and older camera models, and even more models through ONVIF conformance, migrating from other solutions is a breeze. Easy setup wizards automate configuration to get you up and running in no time. Surveillance Station further offers integration with I/O modules, audio systems, door controllers, and other surveillance devices, to make security systems truly interactive, and with other Synology systems.

CPU
CPU Model	DVA1622: Intel Celeron J4125 DVA3221: Intel Atom C3538
CPU Architecture	DVA1622: 64-bit DVA3221: 64-bit
CPU Frequency	DVA1622: 4-core 2.0 burt up to 2.7 GHz DVA3221: Quad Core 2.1 GHz
Hardware Encryption Engine (AES-NI)	DVA1622: Yes DVA3221: Yes
GPU
GPU Model	DVA1622: Intel UHD Graphics 600 DVA3221: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650
Video Output
Video Output	DVA1622: HDMI X 1
Supported Video Resolution	DVA1622: 1080p 60Hz
Memory
System Memory	DVA1622: 6 GB DDR4 non-ECC DVA3221: 8 GB DDR4
Memory Module Pre-installed	DVA1622: 6 GB (2 GB + 4 GB) DVA3221: 8 GB (4 GB x 2)
Total Memory Slots	DVA3221: 2
Maximum Memory Capacity	DVA3221: 32 GB (16 GB x 2)
Notes	DVA1622: Synology reserves the right to replace memory modules with the same or higher frequency based on supplier’s product life cycle status. Rest assured that the compatibility and stability have been strictly verified with the same benchmark to ensure identical performance. DVA3221: Synology reserves the right to replace memory modules with the same or higher frequency based on supplier’s product life cycle status. Rest assured that the compatibility and stability have been strictly verified with the same benchmark to ensure identical performance. Please select Synology memory modules for optimum compatibility and reliability. Synology will not provide complete product warranty or technical support if non-Synology memory modules are used for memory expansion.
Storage
Drive Bays	DVA1622: 2 DVA3221: 4
Maximum Drive Bays with Expansion Unit	DVA3221: 14 (DX517 x 2)
Compatible Drive Type	DVA1622: 3.5″ SATA HDD DVA3221: 3.5″ SATA HDD 2.5″ SATA HDD 2.5″ SATA SSD
Hot Swappable Drive	DVA1622: Yes DVA3221: Yes
Notes	DVA1622: “Compatible drive type” indicates drives that have been tested to be compatible with Synology products. This term does not indicate the maximum connection speed of each drive bay. DVA3221: “Compatible drive type” indicates drives that have been tested to be compatible with Synology products. This term does not indicate the maximum connection speed of each drive bay.
External Ports
RJ-45 1GbE LAN Port	DVA1622: 1 DVA3221: 4 (with Link Aggregation / Failover support)
USB 3.0 Port	DVA1622: 2 DVA3221: 3
eSATA Port	DVA3221: 2
Appearance
Size (Height x Width x Depth)	DVA1622: 166 mm x 106 mm x 223 mm DVA3221: 166 mm x 250 mm x 237 mm
Weight	DVA1622: 1.51 kg DVA3221: 4.92 kg
Others
Wake on LAN / WAN	DVA1622: Yes DVA3221: Yes
System Fan	DVA1622: 92 mm x 92 mm x 1 pcs DVA3221: 120 mm x 120 mm x 1 pcs
Fan Speed Mode	DVA1622: Cool Mode Quiet Mode Full-Speed Mode   DVA3221: Cool Mode Quiet Mode Full-Speed Mode
Power Recovery	DVA1622: Yes DVA3221: Yes
Noise Level*	DVA1622: 18.4 dB(A) DVA3221: 28.3 dB(A)
Scheduled Power On / Off	DVA1622: Yes DVA3221: Yes
Power Supply Unit / Adapter	DVA1622: 60 W DVA3221: 250 W
AC Input Power Voltage	DVA1622: 100 V to 240 V AC DVA3221: 100 V to 240 V AC
Power Frequency	DVA1622: 50/60 Hz, Single Phase DVA3221: 50/60 Hz, Single Phase
Power Consumption*	DVA1622: 19.93 W (Access) 4.02 W (HDD Hibernation)DVA3221: 43.92 W (Access) 28.43 W (HDD Hibernation)

Surveillance data can be kept safe in case of disaster with automated backups to Synology NAS and by dual recording, from IP cameras to a second device or to the cloud with C2 Surveillance. Protecting video recordings against theft, intrusion, or unauthorized use is easy with footage and device encryption, HTTPS and SRTP support, live watermarking, and integrity authentication tools.

Need the DVA1622 as part of a larger deployment? With Surveillance Station Centralized Management System (CMS), several to hundreds of Synology DVA, NVR, and NAS devices can be managed, operated, updated, and protected from a central management server. Process video at the edge while keeping central control and maintain your servers remotely from a single, powerful console.

Availability

The DVA1622 is available now through Synology resellers and partners.

If you want to check the price and availability of this new NAS in your region, you can visit one of the retailers listed below. Clicking these links will result in a small % of whatever you spend going back to NASCompares, which will allow us to keep making great content. Thank you

This description contains links to Amazon. These links will take you to some of the products mentioned in today's content. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. Visit the NASCompares Deal Finder to find the best place to buy this device in your region, based on Service, Support and Reputation - Just Search for your NAS Drive in the Box Below

Need Advice on Data Storage from an Expert?

We want to keep the free advice on NASCompares FREE for as long as we can. Since this service started back in Jan '18, We have helped hundreds of users every month solve their storage woes, but we can only continue to do this with your support. So please do choose to buy at Amazon US and Amazon UK on the articles when buying to provide advert revenue support or to donate/support the site below. Finally, for free advice about your setup, just leave a message in the comments below here at NASCompares.com and we will get back to you. Need Help? Where possible (and where appropriate) please provide as much information about your requirements, as then I can arrange the best answer and solution to your needs. Do not worry about your e-mail address being required, it will NOT be used in a mailing list and will NOT be used in any way other than to respond to your enquiry. [contact-form-7] Terms and Conditions Alternatively, why not ask me on the ASK NASCompares forum, by clicking the button below. This is a community hub that serves as a place that I can answer your question, chew the fat, share new release information and even get corrections posted. I will always get around to answering ALL queries, but as a one-man operation, I cannot promise speed! So by sharing your query in the ASK NASCompares section below, you can get a better range of solutions and suggestions, alongside my own.  

Synology RS822+ and RS822RP+ Rackstation NAS Unveiled

If you have been keenly following Synology hardware and software releases so far in 2022, then I think it would be fair to say that they have been rather business-focused. With many of us anticipating the reveal of a new plus series 22′ 2/4 Bay in their lineup, we have all rather been caught off guard with the number of Small/Medium-Business to Enterprise solutions revealed so far. And today we want to discuss another entry into that tier of the brand’s portfolio, with the Synology RS822+/RS822RP+ Rackstation NAS – a follow up to the RS820+/RS820RP+ NAS revealed back in 2019, that is going to arrive with a familiar range of hardware choices from Synology, but in this tight 1U expandable server. Arriving on the scene oddly close to the similar RS422+ NAS, the new RS822+ and RS822RP+ (same NAS, but redundant secondary PSU on board) is a much more expandable and upgradable solution in a number of ways and follows on from previous entries by Synology in this product line. Let’s take a closer look at the hardware on offer, how it will impact on DSM 7.1 performance and whether this system will deserve your data in 2022.

Hardware Specifications of the Synology RS822+ and RS822RP+ Rackmount NAS

Much like a number of PLUS series in the Synology portfolio that are geared toward small-medium business (SMB) users, the 4 Bay RS822+/RS822RP+ arrives with the AMD Embedded Ryzen V1500B quad-core processor that first debuted on the DS1621+ and DS1821+, so Synology has had plenty of time with this CPU to get the most out of it for DSM. Whereas the RS422+ NAS first revealed here 2 months ago which arrived with the AMD Ryzen R1600, so it will be interesting to see how these two processors will compare later down the line when they are both on the market. The system also arrives with a slightly underwhelming 2GB of memory, but this can be upgraded to an impressive 32GB of memory. Additionally, this memory is ECC (error-correcting code), so high volume and frequency transfers will have that additional checksum in the background to check data write as it passes through and repair the files that aren’t up to snuff! Oddly, this is another system that does not arrive with M.2 NVMe SSD bays, despite Synology highlighting the importance of caching on business transfers – especially odd when the 6/8 Bay systems with the same CPU/Memory architecture arrive with the 2 slots by default. You can add this, as well as network upgrades, via the available PCIe Gen 3 x8 upgrade slot on the rear though, so it is not the end of the world. Finally, we can see that the RS822+/RS822RP+ arrives with 4 LAN/Ethernet ports which are 1GbE each. Despite the advantages of this system supporting LAG/Port trunking to maximize that bandwidth, it is still slightly puzzling that Synology continues with implementing gigabit ethernet on their solutions in 2022. 2.5GbE and 10GbE are hardly mainstream (and the latter clearly would incur additional cost), but with most looking at a system like this to last them a good 3-5 years at least, that would have been a nice bit of future-proofing in terms of base-level connectivity and not partially limited behind an upgrade hurdle. Overall, the hardware here still results in a solid 4 Bay 1U NAS, but not a huge jump up from the RS820+/RS820RP+ outside of that CPU. Below are further specifications:

CPU model	AMD Ryzen V1500B
CPU quantity	1
CPU architecture	64-bit
CPU frequency	4-core 2.2 GHz
Hardware encryption engine (AES-NI)	Yes
System memory	2 GB DDR4 ECC SODIMM
Pre-installed memory modules	2 GB (2 GB x 1)
Number of memory slots	2
Maximum memory capacity	32 GB (16 GB x 2)
Memo	Choose Synology Memory Module for best compatibility and reliability. Synology will not provide warranty or technical support if you extend your memory with non-Synology memory. For more information on recommended memory configurations, please refer to your Synology product hardware installation guide . Synology reserves the right to replace with higher frequency memory modules depending on the supplier’s product life cycle. Rest assured that the same benchmark will be rigorously tested for compatibility and stability to avoid performance differences.
Drive bay	Four
Maximum number of bays when using expansion unit	8 (RX418 x 1)
Compatible drive types * (Click here for all supported drives)	3.5 “SATA HDD 2.5 “SATA SSD
Hot swappable drive	Yes
RJ-45 1GbE LAN port *	4 (Link Aggregation / failover support)
USB 3.2 Gen 1 port *	2
eSATA port	1
Memo	The maximum transmission unit (MTU) for a 1GbE LAN port on this device is 1,500 bytes. The USB 3.0 Standard has been renamed to USB 3.2 Gen 1 by the 2019 USB Implementers Forum (USB-IF).
PCIe expansion	1 x Gen3 x8 slot (x4 link)
Internal drive	Btrfs EXT4
External drive	Btrfs EXT4 EXT3 FAT NTFS HFS + exFAT
Form factor (RU)	1U
External dimensions (height x width x depth)	RS822 +:44 mm x 480 mm x 492.6 mm RS822RP +:44 mm x 480 mm x 518.6 mm
weight	RS822 +:6.4 kg RS822RP +:8.0 kg
Rack installation support *	4 pillars 19 inch rack (Synology Rail Kit –RKM114 / RKS-02 )
Memo	Rail kit sold separately
System fan	RS822 +:40 mm x 40 mm x 3 pcs RS822RP +:40 mm x 40 mm x 2 pcs
Fan speed mode	Maximum speed mode Cooling mode Low noise mode
Power recovery	Yes
Noise level *	RS822 +:27.4 dB (A) RS822RP +:38.8 dB (A)
Reserve power on / off	Yes
Wake on LAN / WAN	Yes
Power supply unit / adapter	150 W
Redundant power supply	RS822 +:―――― RS822RP +:
AC input power supply voltage	100 V to 240 V AC
Power frequency	50/60 Hz, single phase
power consumption*	47.69 W (access) 16.7 W (HDD hibernation)
British thermal unit	162.83 BTU / hr (access) 57.02 BTU / hr (HDD hibernation)
Memo	Click here for details on how to measure power consumption . The noise test was performed on an idle Synology system with all Synology SATA HDDs mounted. We installed two GRAS Type 40AE microphones 1 meter away from the front and back of the device. Background noise: 16.49-17.51 ​​dB (A), temperature: 24.25-25.75˚C, humidity: 58.2-61.8%
Operating temperature	From 0 ° C to 35 ° C (32 ° F to 95 ° F)
Storage temperature	-20 ° C to 60 ° C (-5 ° F to 140 ° F)
Relative humidity	5% to 95% RH

How does the Synology RS822+/RS822RP+ Compare with the Synology RS820+/RS822RP+ NAS?

Perhaps you have been considering the Synology RS820+/RS820RP+ already, considering upgrading from it or had already been holding out to see if the brand would introduce a follow-up in 2022? Whatever your reason, comparing the Synology RS820+ and RS822+ Rackstation NAS is not taxing. The new Ryzen V1500B CPU in the RS822+/RS822RP+ NAS being with it a much more proficient and capable system overall. Along with this, it allows the newer 2022 unit to support more memory (thanks to the system having 2 slots, not 1), ECC Memory included, faster overall transfers and ultimately means that you are going to get a  great deal more efficiency out of DSM’s day to day operations. So, if you want more hardware available for larger ranges of connected users and tasks, the RS822+/RS822RP+ has this advantage straight off the bat. After that, things are quite similar – both have a PCIe 3×8 slot, both support the RX418 expansion, both have 4x 1GbE LAN and USB 3.2 Gen 1 and both have a redundant PSU version available. Still, that greater performing CPU is going to seal the deal for many. Below is how they compare on the specifications table:

Hard Drive & SSD Compatibility on the Synology RS822+/RS822RP+ NAS?

It’s an important question for many users! Since Synology changed their support and compatibility position on a number of high-end business solutions in 2022 to change their supported HDD/SSD to feature only their own media, many have been concerned that this was a trend that would continue in other releases. I am pleased to confirm that this is not the case with the RS822+/RS822RP+ and this new 1U 4-Bay Rackmount NAS has a considerable number of 3rd party HDD vendors listed on the compatibility pages. It is still not exactly exhaustive and the available list of drives is not as wide in brand and capacity as we have seen on older Synology NAS releases, but it good to see that this system is not going to have the tighter compatibility on media that the likes of the DS3622xs+ and DS2422+ NAS arrived with at launch.

Software Specifications of the Synology RS822+/RS822RP+ NAS?

As the RS822+/RS822RP+ NAS system arrives with a familiar Ryzen V1500B and DDR4 ECC Memory architecture that was seen on the DS1821+ and DS1621+, we can already ascertain that its performance with DSM 7.0/7.1 is going to be very good. This is not a hardware architecture that is going to lend itself very well to high graphically demanding tasks (so 4K Multimedia is off the table) but these specifications will still run the entirety of the Synology first-party applications available for business (backups, the collaboration suite, VMs, Surveillance, cloud synchronization, etc). Here is a breakdown of what the RS822+/RS822RP+ Rackstation supports and to what extent:

DSM Product Specifications
Storage space management
Maximum single storage space capacity*	108TB
Maximum storage space	64
SSD Read/Write Cache (White Paper)	Yes
SSD TRIM	Yes
Supported RAID disk array types	Synology Hybrid RAID Basic JBOD RAID 0 RAID 1 RAID 5 RAID 6 RAID 10
RAID configuration migration	Basic to RAID 1 Basic to RAID 5 RAID 1 to RAID 5 RAID 5 to RAID 6
Expandable storage space with larger hard drive	Synology Hybrid RAID RAID 1 RAID 5 RAID 6 RAID 10
Add hard disk to expand storage space	Synology Hybrid RAID JBOD RAID 5
Global Hot Spare supports RAID types	Synology Hybrid RAID RAID 1 RAID 5
Remark	The actual maximum storage pool and volume size depends on the hard disk capacity used, the number of available disk slots and the RAID type. Maximum single storage space is not directly equivalent to maximum net total storage capacity. (see more) The available capacity of each storage space is lower than the size of the maximum storage space, which actually depends on the file system and the amount of system metadata stored.
file service
archival agreement	SMB/AFP/NFS/FTP/WebDAV
Maximum number of simultaneous SMB/AFP/FTP connections	500
Windows Access Control List (ACL) integration	Yes
NFS Kerberos authentication	Yes
Remark	The test standard is based on the maximum number of simultaneous connections supported by this model. During the test, 25% of the connections were simultaneously transferring files. The transfer process only ensures that the connection is not interrupted, and the minimum transfer speed cannot be guaranteed.
Accounts and Shared Folders
Maximum number of local user accounts	2,048
Maximum number of local groups	256
Maximum number of shared folders	512
Maximum Shared Folder Sync Tasks	8
Hybrid Share
Maximum number of Hybrid Share folders	10
Remark	For more details on the maximum number of folders for Hybrid Share, see this article .
high availability
Synology High Availability	Yes
log center
Logs received per second	800
General Specifications
Internet Protocol	SMB1 (CIFS), SMB2, SMB3, NFSv3, NFSv4, NFSv4.1, NFS Kerberized sessions, iSCSI, HTTP, HTTPs, FTP, SNMP, LDAP, CalDAV
Supported Browsers	Google Chrome Firefox Microsoft Edge Safari
supported languages	English, Deutsch, Français, Italiano, Español, Dansk, Norsk, Svenska, Nederlands, Русский, Polski, Magyar, Português do Brasil, Português Europeu, Türkçe, Český, ภาษาไทย, Japanese, 한국어, Traditional Chinese, Simplified Chinese
Remark	For details on supported browser versions, please refer to the DSM Specifications .
Add-on Packages View Full Package List
Antivirus by McAfee (Trial)
Yes
Central Management System
Yes
Synology Chat
Maximum number of people online at the same time	100
Remark	Simulation of user environments, measured with an average of 20,000 messages, emojis, or stickers per user, requires less than ten seconds of server response time. Where applicable, the system is tested with maximum memory installed and set to allow the maximum number of simultaneous connections.
Document Viewer
Yes
Download Station
Maximum number of download tasks	80
SAN Manager
Maximum number of iSCSI Targets	128
Maximum number of LUNs	256
LUN Clone/Snapshot, Windows Offload Data Transfer (ODX)	Yes
Media Server
DLNA Compatible	Yes
Synology Photos
face recognition	Yes
Snapshot Replication
The maximum number of snapshots supported by a single shared folder	1,024
The maximum number of system snapshots	65,536
Surveillance Station
Maximum number of camera support channels (requires installation of camera authorization)	40 (with 2 free licenses) (check compatible IP cameras)
Frames per second (FPS) (H.264)	1200 FPS @ 720p (1280×720) 800 FPS @ 1080p (1920×1080) 350 FPS @ 3M (2048×1536) 280 FPS @ 5M (2591×1944) 170 FPS @ 4K (3840×2160)
Frames per second (FPS) (H.265)	1200 FPS @ 720p (1280×720) 1200 FPS @ 1080p (1920×1080) 600 FPS @ 3M (2048×1536) 480 FPS @ 5M (2591×1944) 200 FPS @ 4K (3840×2160)
Remark	The maximum number of IP cameras and FPS figures are obtained when the test rig is continuously recording with a full hard drive. Actual system capabilities will vary based on system configuration, hard drive performance, number of features enabled, and presence of other workloads.
Synology Drive
Recommended number of clients that can be synchronized at the same time	350 (The number of devices that can be connected at the same time when the recommended number of files is stored)
Recommended number of files to store	5,000,000 (applicable to index or files belonging to Synology Drive , files accessed through other protocols, please refer to the file service in the above field)
Remark	Exceeding the recommended quantities above will not cause the kit to stop functioning, only longer response times. Using SSD cache can significantly improve performance. The Btrfs file system and unencrypted shared folders were used in the above tests.
Synology Office
maximum number of users	200
Remark	Test opening multiple files, each edited by 30 users simultaneously. Client performance may affect the maximum number of simultaneous editing users. Client Test PC Specifications: Intel Core i3-3220 / 8GB RAM
Video Station
Yes
VPN Server
Maximum number of connections	40

Any Confirmation on the Price and Release of the Synology RS822+ and RS822RP+ NAS?

Right now we are still awaiting confirmation on the pricing and release date on the RS822+/RS822RP+ Rackstation NAS to be confirmed by Synology. However, it has already appeared online in the east of the globe and that likely means that we will see it’s release before the end of July at the latest. Add to this that the model name has ’22 in it and that means that Synology will likely want this model released before August (typically the tipping point for when model IDs change to the follow-up year, 22 > 23). Pricing will almost certainly be near enough identical to the price of the RS820+/RS820RP, at around the £800-900 – $900-950 o- €850-950 mark (your region and local TAX depending) but that is still unconfirmed. Stay tuned for more updates on this NAS by following me and Eddie on NASCompares.

You can check the availability and pricing of the RS822+ NAS via the links below:

This description contains links to Amazon. These links will take you to some of the products mentioned in today's content. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. Visit the NASCompares Deal Finder to find the best place to buy this device in your region, based on Service, Support and Reputation - Just Search for your NAS Drive in the Box Below

Need Advice on Data Storage from an Expert?

We want to keep the free advice on NASCompares FREE for as long as we can. Since this service started back in Jan '18, We have helped hundreds of users every month solve their storage woes, but we can only continue to do this with your support. So please do choose to buy at Amazon US and Amazon UK on the articles when buying to provide advert revenue support or to donate/support the site below. Finally, for free advice about your setup, just leave a message in the comments below here at NASCompares.com and we will get back to you. Need Help? Where possible (and where appropriate) please provide as much information about your requirements, as then I can arrange the best answer and solution to your needs. Do not worry about your e-mail address being required, it will NOT be used in a mailing list and will NOT be used in any way other than to respond to your enquiry. [contact-form-7] Terms and Conditions Alternatively, why not ask me on the ASK NASCompares forum, by clicking the button below. This is a community hub that serves as a place that I can answer your question, chew the fat, share new release information and even get corrections posted. I will always get around to answering ALL queries, but as a one-man operation, I cannot promise speed! So by sharing your query in the ASK NASCompares section below, you can get a better range of solutions and suggestions, alongside my own.  

Which Synology NAS Drives will we see in 2022?

“When is the DS922+ NAS Coming?”. We are barely scratching the surface of 2022 and anyone that knows how the Synology naming convention works is keen to when the DSx22+ (or even DSx23+) series is going to drop! Whether you are an existing Synology NAS drive owner, hoping to migrate from a particularly old system or just keeping an eye on the changing tides of tech at the big brand in network-attached storage, the periodic refresh of the Synology hardware portfolio is generally something that is much anticipated. Synology is a brand in the world of NAS that is heavily focused on software, with their DSM, SRM and C2 platforms more often getting the lion share of regular updates throughout the year. However, their portfolio is actually rather extensive and every 2, 3 or 5 years (depending on the product series) the brand will revisit an existing sing;e/batch of hardware solutions and update them with more ports, capable CPUs or more. The motivation for this can be pretty diverse and occasionally outside of the brand’s own control (such as the CPUs from Intel having a regular refresh cycle at the point of production forcing the hand’s of manufacturers to update their hardware specifications regardless), so many Synology NAS buyers who are looking at a solution to buy (eg the DS920+ or DS218play) will look at the fact that they have been in the market 12-18months and think “is there something better coming along?”. It is understandable and given the frequency of Synology going this being so diverse based on the range PLUS the effects of the pandemic AND semiconductor shortages worldwide, predicting the new Synology hardware being released can be a tricksy business! Luckily a few bits and bobs of the Synology 2022 hardware coming this year have been revealed or accidentally uncovered, as well as clear motions on the movement of stock, pricing and hardware online give even further indication of things we can comfortably predict sometimes. So, today I want to go through all the things we know about, all the things we can comfortably predict and put together every single piece of Synology NAS hardware confirmed/potentially coming in 2022. Additionally, if you would rather hear more details on this and how these points were reached, there is a full Video about Synology NAS Hardware I know about or predicting can be found HERE

Let’s talk hardware!

Budget and Value J and Play Series Synology NAS Drives in 2022

Arguable the range from Synology that is by FAR the longest due for an upgrade is the Synology Value series of desktop NAS drives. The bulk of the affordable solutions that carry the ARM-based CPUs and are aimed at smaller task/user-base users, many users who are migrating away from modest WD MyBooks or WD MyClouds (some of which are no longer receiving firmware updates) and therefore looking for a device that is modest, yet still jam-packed with cool DSM features – just on a smaller scale of volume. However, even a quick look at the value end of the spectrum of solutions from Synology in this bracket reveals a sad fact – that of the 7 solutions on offer, 6 of them have the same CPU and they only deviate in the number of bays, amount of memory (2GB max) and all but one has 1x 1GbE network interfaces.

The slight ‘staying on the fence’ feeling is further bolstered when you see that some of these solutions were released at the tail end of 2017 (over 4 years ago) and when compared with the value J series 2/4-Bay released in 2020 are really, REALLY similar. There is certainly a feeling of bottleneck in the range and it leads you to the feeling that either the brand is going to have to phase out everything EXCEPT the J series (for fear of continued overlap) OR that the brand will be releasing more affordable solutions very soon in order to close this bottlenecked area of the portfolio.

Regardless of whether Synology pushes ahead with a DS122, DS222, DS422 and DS222play follow-ups to their 2017/18 series predecessors OR they phase them out in favour of a DS222J and DS420j focused value tier, Synology will NOT abandon this tier of their portfolio/audience. Notwithstanding that it stands as an affordable entry point into the Synology ecosystem, these systems are used as partner/side systems for many for backups and more. The BIG question though will be 1) the CPU and 2) 2.5GbE? On the subject of the CPU, I think we are almost certainly going to be looking at an ARM Cortex A55 processor. Available in several revisions (with varying clock speeds and brand architecture), the CPU below is one that I have seen tremendous uptake on in the last quarter of 2021 in both component sets and arriving on other value server options. Although is understandably modest, is still a good jump on the ARM Cortex A53 of the previous generation.

However, I would be surprised (and very impressed I should add) if Synology embraces 2.5GbE on this value tier. It is not impossible, but Synology has always been very slow in the uptake of 2.5GbE and although I DO think the brand will start finally integrating it (covering in a bit), I think that it would be very uncharacteristic of the brand to include it in the value/J series right now. Find out more about my thoughts on this from my video with Eddie the Webguy in the video linked below (will skip you to the right bit!):

03:30 – Synology Budget NAS Drives in 2022? (DS122, DS222, DS422, DS222j, DS422j, DS222play)

 

Synology NAS and 2.5GbE Diskstation Solutions

Back in Spring 2020 when Synology released a remarkably large number of solutions (for them, 4-5 solutions a year is fairly normal, whereas we saw 12 different hardware releases in the first half of that year), on rather big elephant in the room was the absence of 2.5GBASE-T, aka 2.5G network ports. Now, there was also the usual explanations of the lack of 10GbE of course on 2/4Bay solutions, but this can largely be ignored due to the cost of hardware, the portfolio and the lanes afforded internally to the CPUs that these systems are built around to remain in that price point. However, back then, every other brand had multiple 2.5GbE equipped solutions in the market and these were priced at their 1GbE alternatives, so this seemed like quite a large omission b the brand. Then there was the added fact that Synology was one of the FIRST brands to talk about 2.5GbE on their desktop solutions in the market way back in 2018/2019 when they revealed their prototype DS1620xs+ NAS solution at their Taipei based annual event:

However, this would later be released as the DS1621xs+ and dropped the 4x 2.5GbE in favour of 2x 1GbE and 1x 10GbE (so, not a bad change really). So, now in 2022, many buyers want to know whether Synology is FINALLY going to integrate 2.5GbE into their potential DS922+, DS722+, DS222+, DS1522+, etc? Synology is gradually starting to talk about 2.5GbE of course. Back at their Synology 2022 event (at the end of 2021) they revealed their new Synolgo yRT6600ax WiFi 6 router and right there, loud and proud, was a 2.5GbE ethernet port. It does not exactly make their new router ‘the only show in town’ with that feature (the Synology Router series is more about the versatility of the software that the hardware) but it was still good to see the brand making waves in this area FINALLY.

Add to this that Synology has been significantly pushing their C2 Cloud platform and services (C2 Backup, C2 Transfer, C2 Password, C2 Surveillance and more) and the idea that a number of their SMB and Prosumer solutions in the Diskstation portfolio will be used in bare-metal-to-cloud-sync setups and 1GbE/109MB/s is quite a bottleneck in this age of +1Gb internet connectivity being available in a large % of the world. So, yes, I DO think Synology will embrace 2.5GbE, but it is a question of how they implement this feature, as the brand also has a little history in creating £30-50 gaps in  between their systems ‘mid series’ that push the budget in different directions.

So, for example, they might include 2.5GbE on all DSx22+ systems BUT 1 port of the dual-core DS422+/DS422play and DS222+ but two ports on the quad-core DS922+, DS722+ and DS1522+ (again, all predicted hardware at this time!). Alternatively, they might use place 1GbE on the dual-core systems and 2.5GbE on the quad-core systems. A big factor in all this is going to be the CPU that the brand chooses to use in the next generation DSx22+ NAS drives. I have three CPUs in mind that I am confident the brand will opt for that I will discuss below, but the reason I bring it up in conjunction with 2.5GbE is because of their respective PCIe lanes/chipset. This is ultimately the physical hardware support that the CPU can afford (HDD Bays, LAN, USB, M.2s, etc) and as these newer CPUs will afford the larger number of lanes, it will be a question of how the brand flexes that advantage. More bandwidth on the M.2s? greater network bandwidth and quantities? Maybe even 10GbE (which would be a fantastic stretch indeed).

Find out more about my thoughts on this from my video with Eddie the Webguy in the video linked below (will skip you to the right bit!):

07:50 – The NEED for 2.5GbE, it is NOW or NEVER

 

WHEN and IF we Will See a Synology DS922+, DS222+ or DS722+ NAS Soon?

And there it is. Probably the most important question for many potential buyers in the whole damned article. Many users who were still using the 2017/2018 generation hardware, decided to skip the 2020 generation of Synology NAS hardware as it was not a huge jump on the existing range for the most part (the lack of 2.GbE as mentioned, USB 3.2 Gen 1, same support cache support on m.2) and with the exception of a few unique examples (the DS720+ having those M.2 Ports, the DS620slim and DS1520+ filling important portfolio gaps for example). a number of those users are now outside of warranty, their HDD/SSDs are low/out of warranty and are now looking to migrate onto a new series Synology in 2022. The reason that now feels like the right time for the brand to make the jump towards a DS922+, DS722+, DS222+ etc is largely down to the brand having a refresh cycle on its tier of around 2-2.5 years (as often indicated by the even number on the 12/14/16/18/20+ year marker in the model ID. 2020’s series of releases were a rare example by the brand of releasing their series almost 3 years later (JUST scraping in on June/July of 2020 and still maintaining the same release year naming convention which more often Aug/sept = the following year naming) and although this rule is not iron-clad (eg the DS415+ or DS1019+ NAS) it is a rule that is 9/10 well observed:

However, though the bulk of the hardware in the change from 2020 to 2022 will remain the same (1/2 network ports, M.2 NVMe SSD ports, USB 3.2 Gen 1, SATA storage bays, expandability in the quad core systems but not the dual core solutions) the biggest question, aside from 2.5GbE discussed earlier, will be the CPU. Now the BULK of the releases in the Prosumer PLUS series devices in the last 10 years have been Intel Celeron processors, as this is a great sever usage CPU that arrives with a great power performance on 24×7 deployment, embedded graphics and still allows a nicely balanced pricepoint to the end user. The brand HAVE used alternative CPU families for this series in the past (with an Intel Pentium used in the DS916+, a rare treat in the circumstances) but in the case of a new DSx22+ NAS series, the chances are that the CPU is going to be one of three popular choices in the market right now. The FIRST choice (and arguably most likely right now) is going to be the Intel Celeron N5000 series. This processor is a great follow up to the Intel J4125 in the current 2020 generation, though not without a bit fo a bump on the way. That bump is that thanks to hardware shortages and the pandemic (as well as some other supply chain and R&D hurdles) Intel have released three revisions of this processor, the Intel Celeron N5105, N5095 and N5095A. Because of this, most manufacturers that are already implementing this family of processors on their hardware are having to list all THREE processors in their data sheets, despite the three processors being VERY similar:

Now, IF this IS the CPU that Synology opt for in their DS922+, DS222+, DS722+ etc, then it will be understandable for some buyers to want to know if there is any meaningful difference between each CPU. Well, yes there is, but it is very small and it is centred around the embedded graphics and how many processes it can run (which in turn can result in a smaller increase in active conversion processes/encodes). Again, this difference is very small and pretty unlikely to be felt. It would not be the first time taht Synology have released a NAS series with differing CPUs in the market, but this si normally provided with the prefix ‘II’ (eg the DS916+II and DS216+II), which I do not think is possible in this case without making things harder for buyers (especially when expecting a retailer to check in advance before buying!). Here is how the N5105 and N5095 Intel CPUs compare:

HOWEVER, Synology is a brand that is VERY aware of its USP with its existing user base. This combined with the desire for the brand to want to ensure that their hardware is presented with as little friction as possible opens the door to another CPU choice and one that is not only way, WAY easier to present to their end-user base, but also is a noticeably degree more future proof. The Intel J6412 is a noticeably more modern Celeron processor that not only allows a great degree of chipset/hardware resources to be used, but also means that in a single stoke the end-user friction that the N5000 might bring is gone AND they immediately release the best CPU for this tier in 2022 compared with their competitors (which for a software-focused brand, would be a remarkably slick move indeed). This CPU, though the better choice IMO, would still be a little uncharacteristic for the brand to choose (unless the DSx22+ series comes much, much later in the year). Here is a brief overview of the Intel Celeron J6412 CPU:

Now, how the J6412 and N5105/N5095 compare with the current DSx20+ series processor (the J4125) is actually quite an impressive jump in caching, memory frequency/quantity and efficiency across the board. Either one would be a great choice of CPU in a DS922+, DS722+ or DS1522+, but I still think that the brand might play it a little safer and opt for the N5105/N5095 (Though I want to be wrong!).

With all that in mind, I would say that the dual-core DSx22+ systems from Synology (the DS222+, DS422+ and/or DS422play for example), if the N5000 series processors are in the fold, will be the N4505 CPU. Built in a comparatively similar vein to the J4025/J4125 processors in 2/4 Core in the 2020 generation, it would be the obvious choice for Synology if they choose to go down that road of CPUs. Here is a brief overview on the specifications:

The DSx22+ Synology NAS’ are always going to be the ‘Reebok Classic’, ‘Adidas Black’ or ‘IBM Thinkpad’ solutions from this brand, mass appeal and the regular purchase for many. So therefore it is important that Synology balance the price point of this hardware and the three CPUs above are what I feel will be the likely way forward by the brand. Find out more about my thoughts on this from my video with Eddie the Webguy in the video linked below (will skip you to the right bit!):

09:00 – The Synology DS922+, DS222+, DS1522+ and/or DS722+ NAS?

 

New Affordable Synology 10GbE Diskstation NAS Drive?

Moving away from the subject of 2.5GbE and onto the broadly more appealing and always growing one of 10GbE, it is 2022 and STILL, we have yet to see more affordable 10-gigabit solutions from Synology (at least as far as home and prosumer users are concerned). Synology is a lot better than it once was on the subject of 10G desktop/rackmount solutions, with several now available in their portfolio that range from 6 Bay desktops (the DS1621xs+) all the way to beastly rackmounts that arrive with 2x 10GbE out the door and optional 25GbE FC cards. They even have made a stab at more entry-level flashstation solutions like the FS2500 which is a 12 Bay 1U rackmount with 10GbE and dedicated SSD support that is a big dip in price compared with the rest of the range. Synology Rackstation users have had a fantastic degree of variety in 10g equipped solutions in the last 2-3 years that, although still are pricey, are comparatively well spread in their costs generally. Desktop/Diskstation users looking for 10GbE however are way, WAY more overlooked. In fact, short of the DS1621xs+ released in mid-2020 for £1600 and DS3622xs+ released at the tail end of 2021 for close to £3000 – there is precious little else for anyone looking for 10G for under £1200 without buying a default 1G box like the DS1621+ or DS1821+ and buying a Synology £150-200+ 10GbE upgrade card. Indeed, the last time Synology released an affordable 10GbE solution as the DS1817 back in 2017, and it’s specifications of a 32bit 1.7Ghz Annapurna processor made this EIGHT BAY(!!!) NAS have to work way too hard to fully saturate that 1,000MB/s connection.

Click to view slideshow.

All the brands, I repeat ALL (I even include WD and their Business NAS series) have released an affordable 10GbE desktop NAS solution for under £1K in the last 3 years and it still surprises a lot of users that Synology has yet to do this. This is made particularly galling when there are 10GbE network controllers on the market from Aquantia AND even m.2 to 10GbE adapters on the market that make integrating a 10GbE port onto a 4/6/8-Bay system with even a mid-range 64bit ARM CPU considerably easier. Other brands have done so (several times since the DS1817 too).

So, it is with all that in mind AND the fact Synology is strengthening its cloud sync services (as mentioned earlier with C2) that I think that in 2022 they will definitely revisit the subject of an affordable 10GbE solution for Prosumers and lighter SMBs. Logic dictates that they will repeat the chassis choice of the DS1517 and DS1817 (not + editions) as these are good base levels of storage to saturate the 10GbE bandwidth, but given the performance of modern high capacity HDDs (both Synology HAT5300 drives and 3rd party ones from Seagate and WD) means that even a 4 bay can hit the 600-800MB/s bandwidth too. Add a little caching and an option to expand (as you would in the DS920+ for example) and the idea of an affordable 4-Bay 10GbE NAS from Synology makes ALOT of sense. It is an area that I think the brand has ignored now for simply too long and instead of tackling the 2.5GbE conversation, it suddenly makes them look meteoric in the hardware things!

Find out more about my thoughts on this from my video with Eddie the Webguy in the video linked below (will skip you to the right bit!):

15:15 – The Death of 1GbE and the Affordability of 2.5GbE and 10GbE Components

 

New Synology Ryzen Powered Diskstation NAS Drive

For the desktop small/medium business (SMB) users, the last 18 months or so has actually been surprisingly fruitful. Synology has released a whole bunch of solutions in diskstation and rackstation that is geared much more towards throughput, VM use, Surveillance and allowing numerous means of upgradability in the hardware architecture. For a long time, Synology had a bit of a fixation with the Intel Atom/Denverton processor, with this rather old generation processor popping up on around 20 systems over 5 years. Fast forward to now and their choice of moving towards an embedded Ryzen processor for this tier of their portfolio has been received incredibly well. A more modern processor that although not arriving with embedded graphics, still provides tremendous flexibility and efficiency, whilst still supporting the full range of services that Synology have worked on in DSM 7. Indeed, the AMD Ryzen V1500B (for Synology) is still pretty new and the brand is still pushing the limits of what they can do with it.

It is for these reasons that I think it will be pretty unlikely that we will see much change from Synology on systems like these in 2022. The rules of their naming conventions aside slightly, the current lineup is either still too new OR the hardware involved still not fully explored by the brand that I think they will be reluctant to push hard on a follow up anytime soon. That said, towards the END (so H2 onwards really) of 2022 might well be a different story. With the DS1623+ or a DS1823+ potentially due a refresh, I can certainly see Synology doubling down on their utility of the embedded Ryzen processors and moving up to the next tier of this processor and opting for the AMD Ryzen V1780B CPU. Comparable to the V1500B, it still brings a lot of power/efficiency advantages, whilst not changing the core architecture too much over the predecessor to make an upgrade difficult internally. It is logic like this than we saw in the Intel Atom C2538>C3538 and Intel Xeon D-1527>D-1531 already, so it would be a very much in the brands style!

Regardless, of all the potential hardware followups, I think this is one of the less likely end of the spectrum and otherwise something that will see a follow up in the later part of 2022. Find out more about my thoughts on this from my video with Eddie the Webguy in the video linked below (will skip you to the right bit!):

18:13 – New 6-Bay or 8-Bay Ryzen Based NAS?

 

New Synology Hard Drives, SSD Media and Compatibility?

There are few things about the Synology platform that is more divisive with the audience than the move by the brand in 2020 to produce it’s 1st party-branded SSDs and HDDs. On the face of it, it makes ALOT of sense. Many buyers do not want to concern themselves with separate warranties, different branded software/priorities and seek a single-ecosystem solution and Synology (with its DSM platform that seeks to provide the full business hardware/software suite) is looking to provide exactly that! The wrinkles on the forehead’s of buyers start when systems begin to arrive with compatibility/support pages that are noticeably trimmed down to result in a Synology solution being ONLY used with Synology HDD or SSD media. This is a position that is currently only extended to the top/high end of their portfolio (with a recent exception that I will discuss in a bit) and for the most part, this seems to be accepted by the audience. One bup though for users who ARE on board with using Synology HDD/SSD media are the capacities and types that are available. Recently Synology released a small revision change in their SSDs (so the SNV3400/SNV3500 and SAT5200 ranges changed to SNV3410/SNV3510 and SAT5210) and their HAT5300 SATA hard drives branched out into a SAS version in the HAS5300, but there are still some holes in the media portfolio that are rather glaringly obvious and likely to be filled in 2022.

Once area that the brand has still yet to explore (despite being in a great position to do so) is with in-house SAS SSDs and/or U.2 SSDs. Synology has a number of high-end flash rackstation (flashstation) solutions available, as well as a number of SAS equipped rackmount solutions (that STILL have Synology-only-drive support limitations in place) and the fact that Synology has solutions like these, yet sub-performance drives to interfaces to populate them with is baffling! Synology NEEDS to release one of both of these as a media supported tier in their hardware portfolio in 2022, or else it potentially leaves their locked-in solutions looking a tad bottlenecked. Another of the most OBVIOUS areas that I am convinced Synology WILL improve upon in 2022 is the capacity of their HDDs and SSDs. Considering the range of solutions they have, the fact that the HDDs are only available in 8TB, 12TB and 16TB is really odd. The HAT5300 and HAS5300 SSDs are Toshiba M06, M07 and M08 enterprise hard drives and at the tail end of 2021, we saw Toshiba unveil its 18TB MG09 drive (specs below). So, that means that it will only be a question of time before Synology apply their firmware revisions and livery to this new release and a Synology HAT5300-18T arrive. This still puts them a pinch behind the 20TB and (recently) 22TB hard drives from the likes of WD and Seagate in their respective NAS HDD portfolio’s, but for those looking at the bigger 21 and 22 series boxes that are locked to Synology HDDs, it is going to be good news.

Form Factor			3.5-inch
Buffer Size			512 MiB
Rotation Speed			7200 rpm
Maximum Data Transper Speed (Sustained)(Typ.)			268MiB/s
Power Consumption (Idle-A)	SATA	18TB/16TB	4.16W
		14TB	3.77W
		12TB/10TB	3.30W
	SAS	18TB/16TB	4.49W
		14TB	4.25W
		12TB/10TB	3.76W
MTTF			2 500 000 h/0.35%
Weight (Max)		18TB/16TB	720g
		14TB	705g
		12TB/10TB	690g

HOWEVER, to return to the subject of Synology drive media and hardware that has more streamlined compatibility/supported media lists, when the DS2422+ NAS arrived for desktop users, many users (myself included) were surprised to see that the official compatibility lists only showed Synology HDDs and SSDs supported. This kind of thing is understandable at the enterprise tier (once again, complete/eco-system solutions), but the PLUS series was always considered a Prosumer/SMB layer by many and it left some wondering if this indicated anything changing on this in the future DSxx22+ NAS releases in 2022. I do not think Synology would lock/limit compatibility on their DS922+ or DS222+ etc releases to Synology only drives IF the HAT5300 and SAT5210/SNV3410 were the ONLY ranges that the brand provides in its portfolio. As these drives are either too Pro/enterprise (in price, design and noise level) to use in more modest NAS systems and it would significantly hurt the sale of sub-£1000 hardware if it comes with such a small pool of media to populate it with. HOWEVER, if Synology decided in 2022 to release a range of more affordable/base level HDDs for NAS (perhaps a HAT3300 that is built on the Toshiba N300 NAS class series – to follow the logic of the enterprise drives). THEN I would wonder about the PLUS series and Synology drive compatibility.

Overall though, I DO think that Synology will release some larger capacity HDDs in 2022, along with further evolving their SSD media ranges towards higher-end flash use. Any move by them to provide a HOME/SMB tier of HDDs that are built on Toshiba N300 NAS hard drives would not be outside the relms of possibility, but if they did, I hope they are a little more flexible on compatibility at the DSx22+ tier. Find out more about my thoughts on this from my video with Eddie the Webguy in the video linked below (will skip you to the right bit!):

21:10 – Synology Hard Drives and Drive Locking (limited compatibility)

 

Synology DVA1622 2-Bay Surveillance NAS Drive with AI Supported Services

Synology revealed quite a few interesting hardware and software plans in their recent 2022 and Beyond event, with quite an impressive amount of focus being given to their planned updates for the Surveillance station and a new piece of AI-powered NVR hardware, the DVA1622. This is by no means their first AI-assisted surveillance solution (with the DVA3219 and DVA3221 for High-end business and enterprise released in recent years), but the DVA1622 is by far the most compact and buyer accessible entry into this series yet (though almost certainly still arriving with a price tag that will push it outside the low end, home user). Arriving with Surveillance Station 9.0 at launch, the DVA1622 will feature the support of deep video analysis found in the larger 4 bay GPU equipped versions (though in lower volume instances), as well as unique local access options and easier compact deployment. So, let’s take a look at everything we learned about this new NAS system for surveillance see what makes it stand out from the crowd.

Learn more in my original article on the Synology DVA1622 NAS at the end of 2021 Below:

Find out more about my thoughts on this from my video with Eddie the Webguy in the video linked below (will skip you to the right bit!):

25:40 – The Synology DVA1622 AI-Powered Surveillance 2-Bay

 

The Synology HD6400 Rackstation NAS Drive – Still a THING?

Originally revealed way, WAY back in Summer 2019, Synology revealed a number of interesting prototypes that they were working on (alongside revealing their latest beta of DSM 7.0 at that time) and of all, the one that really stood out for me was the BEAST that was the HD6400. The HD6400 is/was a top-loaded 60-Bay Rackmount NAS Solution that featured 2x Intel Silver 8-Core Processors, upto 512GB of DDR4 ECC registered UDIMM memory that appeared at numerous tradeshows globally, but since then has gone remarkably quiet! They even covered it in the presentations by the regional Synology managers of each presentation as ‘something we are working on’ and of all the rackmount solutions by the brand, it was one that really stood out (remember, this was hte same event that had the first DVA3219 AI-powered surveillance system, the UC3200 Dual Controller system and their Mesh routers – so it was an event filled with a lot of high points).

However, after that…SILENCE! I have not seen or heard anything on this monster rackmount server since and although the system was physically present at the Berlin 2019/2020 Synology event I attended, it was a hollow/display model without ports or components fully in place. It is not impossible that this system will still see the light of day, but much like the SG-1000 network overview and management device (more than a switch really) that was shown in 2017/2018, I fear this incredibly rackmount may be vaporware now. I hope not, but it’s not looking good!

Click to view slideshow.

You can find out everything I wrote about it in this article here from back in 2019 – https://nascompares.com/2019/09/04/synology-hd6400-60-bay-monster-nas-4u-rackmount

Alternatively, Find out more about my thoughts on this from my video with Eddie the Webguy in the video linked below (will skip you to the right bit!):

26:25 – What Happened to the Synology HD6400 60-Bay Racckstation NAS?

 

Synology RT6600ax WiFi 6 Mesh Router

Yes, THAT router! When Synology hosted its annual event (Synology 2022 in Dec 2021) one device that got ALOT of attention was the RT6600ax. This was a WiFi 6, 5.9Ghz frequency support, Mesh support, 6 Antennae, tri-band coverage 6,000Mb total bandwidth (shared) and even a 2.5GbE network port. It is (most) of exactly what Synology router owners had been asking for for the last 12-18 months and also arrives with compatibility with existing MR2200ac mesh routers.

Synology RT6600ax Router Hardware Highlights

• Planned to arrive in H1-2022 with SRM 1.3
• Tri-Band WiFi 6 Support
• 6 x High gain adjustable antennae (4×4 MIMO antennas)
• 5.9Ghz / 160MHz channel Support
• Four 1GbE (Gigabit Ethernet ports) (1x WAN 3x LAN)
• 1x 2.5GbE LAN/WAN Port
• 6600Mbs Bandwidth Potential
• Multi-Network creation in SRM 1.3
• Improved DS Router Mobile Application and Browser GUI in SRM 1.3 in 2022
• Mesh Support with future AX devices
• No word on USB Support, but almost certainly going to be featured

Alongside this, Synology has highlighted that Synology Router Manager (SRM) will be receiving a big update in 2022 that adds features such as vLAN (long overdue) and tweaks to the user interface in an effort to make it much more user friendly where they missed the mark in SRM 1.2. The release of the RT6600ax Synology router is more than likely to be Q1 of 2022 (Jan-March) as they will want to release this and SRM 1.3 together where possible (regions etc). Additionally, test documents are slowly appearing online and some of which show how far through development the Synology RT6600ax is and docs that are locked to the first week of March 2022 further highlight this.

Learn more in my original article on the Synology RT6600ax Router at the end of 2021 here – https://nascompares.com/news/synology-rt6600ax-wifi-6-2-5gbe-router-revealed

Alternatively, Find out more about my thoughts on this from my video with Eddie the Webguy in the video linked below (will skip you to the right bit!):

27:10 – When will the Synology RT6600AX WiFi 6 Router be Released?

 

And there you go. Right now at the time of writing, these are the big things we either know are coming from Synology in 2022 or expect from them in hardware releases! I will be revisiting this page periodically to add anything further I learn as the year goes on, so I recommend that yu bookmark this page or add your email address to the notifications box (in green/blue) as then you will get an alert when I add more. Alternatively, you can always use the free advice section below to contact me or Eddie if you are on the fence about choosing a Synology NAS system and are worried that something new is imminent. Thanks for reading and have a great day, week, month or year!

 

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Terramaster NAS Devices Being Targetted by Ransomware – IMPORTANT

If you are a current Terramaster NAS user, then immediately log into your system and check that your data is in order. In a little over the last week, numerous users have been reporting that their TNAS systems have been hit by ransomware attacks (bearing similarity in structure and protocol to the eCh0raix attacks that were attempted/executed on QNAP and Synology NAS systems in 2020/2021) and a considerable number of users are reporting that the data has now been encrypted, with the usual ranSom note for payment (bitcoin to X wallet etc) left for the user’s attention. Despite any internet-accessible device always having to take into consideration (and preparation) for the possibility of an outside intruder getting in, there are questions being raised about the extent to which this has been the fault of Terramaster to secure their systems, re-enforce security protocol/workflows onto their audience (many of whom purchasing their value series devices with a domestic level of technical knowledge) as well as questions being raised about vulnerabilities in the uPnP (previously raised in April 2021). Here is a breakdown of everything we know so far at the time of writing.

The Terramaster NAS Ransomware Attack – The Story so far and what Terramaster Recommend You Do

On the 11th Jan 2022, Terramaster raised this post on their official forum and news pages here regarding reports of ransomware attacks on TNAS systems. The key points and recommendations for actions from that post were as follows:

Recently, we have received reports that some TNAS devices have been attacked by ransomware. Based on the case study, we preliminarily concluded that this was an external attack targeting TNAS devices. To keep your data safe from attack, please take action immediately!

We suggest you take the following countermeasures:

1. Upgrade your TOS to the latest version;

2. Install good anti-virus software on your computer, TNAS device and router to help you detect and resist malicious threats;

3. Disable port forwarding on your router.

4. Disable the UPnP function on your TNAS.

5. Disable RDP, SSH and Telnet when not in use;

6. Change the default port of FTP.

7. Set a high security level password for all users;

8. Disable the system default admin account, re-create a new admin account, and set an advanced password;
Note: For versions after TOS 4.2.09, you can set the administrator account without using the default admin username when installing the system. If it was upgraded from a version before TOS 4.2.09, you need to reset the system configuration, then you can customize the user name.

9. Enable firewall and only allow trusted IP addresses and ports to access your device;
a. Go to Control Panel > General Settings > Security > Firewall.
b. Create a firewall rule and choose the operation of allow or deny.
c. Fill in the IP range you allow or deny access to.

10. Avoid using default port numbers 5443 for https and 8181 for http;

11. Enable automatic IP block in TOS Control Panel to block IP addresses with too many failed login attempts;

12. Backing up data is the best way to deal with malicious attacks; always back up data, at least one backup to another device. It is strongly recommended to adopt a 3-2-1 backup strategy.

If unfortunately, you have found that your data is infected by ransomware:

1. Disconnect your computer and TNAS device from the Internet immediately;

2. Before restoring data, thoroughly remove the infection in the computer system and TNAS; You need to restore your TNAS to factory settings and completely format all your hard drives.

Now, how did this occur? It seems like details are being circulated regarding a vulnerability that was found online in December. A remarkably comprehensive and detailed breakdown of how this vulnerability into a Terramaster was exploited can be explored here, published in December 2021 – https://thatsn0tmy.site/posts/2021/12/how-to-summon-rces/

There has been several criticisms raised against Terramaster and their recommendations that were raised, as well as how loud the brand is being, outside singular forum posts, to raise awareness of this. Criticisms range from not adequately explaining methods of actioning the recommendations (such as how to disable the admin account and how it is not simply a case of an on/off option accessible via a separate account immediately to all) or detailing how these changes will impact system use afterwards. An official Terramaster support team member has responded:

First of all, it is very sad that this happened to all the victims. Terramaster has been working hard to strengthen the security of TNAS devices. Various security tools are integrated in TOS, and we also provide you with various possible countermeasures. However, once your device is exposed to the Internet, there is a risk of being attacked. Because you are dealing with very professional hackers, hackers will do anything to gain profits. Only one method is not enough to avoid attacks. In order to improve the security level, multiple security measures must be adopted. Even so, there is still no guarantee that your device is completely secure. A large number of devices are attacked by ransomware every day, including Terramaster, QNAP, Synology, and even the servers of some large enterprises or government agencies.
https://unit42.paloaltonetworks.com/ech … ware-soho/

If you expose your device to the internet but don’t want to do anything, you may be one of the victims. After studying the cases of individual victims, we found that the hackers continued to attack the victim’s device through the ftp service for more than dozens of hours. If you use the system default port, low security level account and password, you are very likely to become a victim. However, ftp is definitely not the only way to attack, please act immediately and follow our countermeasures one by one to reduce the risk of being attacked.

We will continue to study how the ransomware invaded TNAS devices and will release updates in a timely manner.

Now, one recommendation that has raised particular scrutiny is disabling the default admin account. Many users highlight that Disabling the default administrator account is easier said than done as it is dependant on your installation and version of TOS. To disable the admin account (taken from the official Terramaster official forum and their service team), you need to be a new user with a new TOS installation from 4.2.09 or later versions. For all users with TOS versions installed before 4.2.09 or update to a later version is not possible to disable the default admin account, you need to re-install a new TOS later than 4.2.09. If you are considering re-installing TOS fresh on your terramaster (for security or as a last alternative to get your system storage back without paying ransomware payments regardless of lost data, a guide from terramaster to recover can be found here – https://forum.terra-master.com/en/viewtopic.php?f=76&t=423

Additionally, Terramsater is currently working on TOS 5.0, the latest version of their software (currently still in early alpha/beta testing) and some users on the official forum are highlighting that jsut waiting on this new full release is preferable.

If you have been hit by the Terramaster Ransomware Attack?

Currently, it seems (at least at the time of writing) that if your Terramaster NAS has been hit by this ransomware, there is little to no 3rd party tool/decryption solution available online. However, much like when QNAP was hit by eChoraix and Qsnatch, over time some solutions were made (some in executional form such as QRescue with PhotoRec addons) and some in reverse engineering methods might be possible, so if you have important data that you hope to have recovered, but bulk at the prospect of paying the attackers, it might be worth moving this data off the NAS and onto another storage system (USB, Cloud, offline server, etc) in the meantime. Of course, if you still wish to use your terramaster NAS system, it will require a system reset/format. Indeed, Terramaster themselves raised it (rather bluntly one might say) in their official forum regarding the process of the malware attack in this (and most) cases and the result, if no decrypted can be put together (as has been the case on a few of the 2020/early-2021 ransomware attacks on other platforms such as QNAP:

Since the ransomware creates a random sequence as the AES Key, and then encrypts the previously generated AES Key with the locally generated RSA public key, and uses the AES CFB algorithm to encrypt the files in the infected device, each encrypted device uses a different key. Likewise, once files are encrypted by ransomware, there is usually no way to decrypt them. If your data is so important that you need to get it back, paying the ransom might be the only way. It’s worth reminding that even paying the ransom is not a 100% guarantee that your data will be rescued. If you are not willing to pay the ransom, intend to give up the encrypted data. You can go to Control Panel > Storage, delete volumes and storage pools, and restore the system to factory settings.

If I was in the shoes of someone who had their data encrypted, without a backup in place, then (where possible) I would still hold out for recovery methods. It was rightly raised by Charlie Crocker on the Terramaster forum that decryption of previous NAS ransomware is still ongoing and so if you have the means to move this data elsewhere (along with the ransom .txt, as this is often incredibly useful for identifying the encryption campaign method later), I would recommend that – rather than wiping it all! But I can appreciate that this can be an expensive option.

Criticism of Terramaster in their Response to this Ransomware Attack

Currently, Terramaster is being heavily criticized on their own forums for their handling of this. Understandably, some users were already unhappy with the raised reminders if UPnP weaknesses in a previous version of TOS. An older vulnerability in the Terramaster NAS system was reported in April 2021. As it turns out though, their NAS systems are accessible across the entire internet via the UPnP protocol. Universal Plug and Play (UPnP) is used by an infinite number of network devices, including NAS, routers, computers, gaming consoles, printers, mobile devices, IoT devices, and many more. A full breakdown of this vulnerability in TOS last year was covered over on StorageReview here – https://www.storagereview.com/news/terramaster-nas-vulnerability-found-over-upnp/

This is a developing matter and I will continue to update this article and compile it in a video over on YouTube shortly (when available, it will be published below).

 

The Highlights of CES 2022 for those interested in Data

The consumer electronics show (CES) was once again held in Las Vegas last week and though a number of the big names were still physically present at one of the biggest tech events on the calendar, CES 2022 was still a combination on-site and digital arrangement, with a number of regular yearly attending brands switching to e-stands or giving it a miss entirely. That said, there was still plenty of new and exciting tech to be shown off for 2022 and 2023 that covered practically every facet of home and business electronics. To go through them all here would take an article 20x longer than this one, plus do you really come to NASCompares for information on a new and exciting toothbrush? No! You came to learn about what you and your data will be able to do in 2022. So, these are my highlights of CES 2022 for those that are interested in NAS’, routers, switches and the big developments in PCIe 5 M.2 NVMe SSDs for later this year. As coverage and the wrap up of CES 2022 happens, I will update this page with anything else in the world of personal/business data that I think you should know. Let’s go through the best bits.

ADATA Elite SE920 USB4 External SSD

Originally uncovered at their annual even in the second half of 2021, ADATA followed it up with further information on the new ADATA Elite SE920 external SSD, a USB4 powered NVMe SSD in an enclosure that promises to provide up to 4,000MB/s read speeds. Thanks to a combination of the M.2 NVMe storage inside and the 40Gb/s performance bandwidth of USB4, this would be the fastest USB-bus powered single drive external enclosure in the world! Adata says its new SE920 SSD is the world’s fastest portable storage. The drive combines Intel Thunderbolt 3 and USB4 to push up to 4,000MB/s transfer speeds and features proprietary ‘Heat Conduction’ technology to keep temps in check. Like most of its other product announcements, Adata didn’t go into detailed specifics or pricing information of the drive. It also highlighted the 7,400MB/s transfer speeds of the upcoming Legend PCIe 4.0 SSD, which — on paper — makes it top-tier in terms of consumer-grade internal storage.

Highlights of the ADATA SE920 External SSD are:

• 40Gb/s External Solid State Drive
• Built In Fan & Thermal Heat Dissipation Build
• PCIe NVMe SSD inside and a PCI-Express to USB bridge
• 4x faster than the SanDisk Extreme or Samsung T7
• USB Powered

Although USB4 is by no means mainstream yet, the SE920 is a great indication of where the humble USB is going and after the rather slow uptake of Thunderbolt 4, this is likely going to be a much more appealing choice of future upgrade. With maximum transfer speeds that are four times faster than regular USB 3.2 drives, ADATA’s SE920 USB4 SSD is a monster. With access to such incredible performance and ADATA’s proprietary heat conduction technology, the SE920 is ready for practically any workload, making this drive an excellent choice for workstation and prosumer workloads. USB4 is receiving rapid adoption on the latest PCs, with Intel supporting USB4 under their Thunderbolt 4 banner. Thunderbolt 4 is, effectively, Thunderbolt 3 with higher minimum speed requirements and full support for USB4. Over the next year, USB4 is expected to become more easily available on high-end motherboards and laptops.

QNAP HS-264 Silent NAS Drive

Although already rumoured and highlighted as a potential release over on the NASCompares YouTube Channel last year, the new QNAP HS-264 silent NAS has now been confirmed. Using the familiar architecture of the most recent TS-x64 hardware releases (the TBS-464 and TS-364), this new 2-Bay desktop NAS system is designed to be compact, fast and (most important of all) as quiet as possible. The HS-264 does not feature an internal fan, relying on the top of the chassis acting as a wide-spreading heat dissipation panel. The design of the HS-264 Silent NAS is using a modified version of the HS-251+ chassis and although it lacks a few of the flourishes of the HS-453DX (as well as 10Gbe), it is still a remarkably nice looking piece of kit.

Click to view slideshow.

QNAP has released entries into their Silent NAS series for a almost a decade now and each iteration has brought something new and fresh to the series. That said, the HS-264 is much more comparable to a mainstream NAS (featuring 2.5GbE, a Quad Core Intel Processor, 8GB DDR4 memory and NVMe SSD slots to combine with the 2 HDD bays), although the 10GbE of it’s predecessor is absent (almost certainly due to the system needing those CPU PCI resources elsewhere to keep it more balanced). Here are the key hardware specification highlights:

QNAP HS-264 Silent NAS – £TBC

• 2021 Gen Intel Celeron N5105 CPU
• 2.0-2.9GHz Quad Core Processor
• Integrated Intel UHD Graphics
• 8 GB DDR4 (non-expandable)
• 2 x 3.5“ HDD Bays
• 2x 2.5GbE Network Ports
• 2x HDMI 2.0 for 60Hz 4K
• 2x USB-A USB 3.2 Gen 2 (10Gb)
• 2x USB-A USB 3.2 Gen 1 (5Gb)
• Fanless Design, 60W PSU

We are expecting the QNAP HS-264 Silent NAS to arrive in early spring.

A Wi-Fi 6E USB Dongle (RTL8832CU) & Wi-Fi 6E/BT Combo Solution (RTL8852CE)

Last year, we saw D-Link release it’s USB-to-WiFi6 adapter (we reviewed the D-Link DWA-X1850 here) and even now at the start of 2022, it is only one of two USB connected 802.11ax wireless adapters on the market. Now, a lot of this is thanks to component manufacturers working on controllers that bridge the hardware architecture of new wireless protocols with existing expansion ports and slots on modern computers. Although WiFi 6 upgrades via PCIe slots have been around for a few years, the convenience of USB upgrades to AX Wii cannot be understated. Therefore now that the world is moving towards WiFi 6E (comparable to WiFi 6, but with several upgrades in transmission and usage of the 6Ghz frequency band), with several hardware client manufacturers starting to spec out their new hardware with it, controller and general component brands such as Realtek are incredibly important.

At CES 2022, Realtek revealed several of their planned controllers that range from coverage of 10GbE, 5GbE and intelligent switch internal management. Of all of these, two particular planned releases stood out. Realtek are now working on releasing a planned architecture for USB-to-WiFi 6E adaters (as well as improved Bluetooth coverage) that bulld on the existing AX-over-USB, ensuring that access to WiFi 6e is going to be considerably easier from the start. Using its 160MHz bandwidth and the cleaner 6GHz band, RTL8832CU peak throughput is up to 1.8Gbps. A 2GB file transfer would be expected to complete in 15~20 seconds. With 6GHz support in Wi-Fi 6E, the RTL8852CE increases overall Wi-Fi performance to achieve the highest throughput for a better speed experience with lowest latency. The integrated BLE Audio, with support for multistream and broadcast audio, further reduces power consumption to bring a better overall listening experience to consumers.

The World’s Smallest 5Gb Ethernet Controller (RTL8157/RTL8126/RTL8251B)

Alongside the WiFi 6e to USB developments, Realtek will launch a 5GbE Single-Chip Ethernet Controller Series compatible with IEEE 802.3bz Multi-Gigabit functions at the end of 2022, supporting 5G/2.5G/1G/100M/10Mbps network bandwidths. The network environment permits easy upgrade to 5Gbps network bandwidth over existing network cabling (Cat 5e). Realtek 5Gb Ethernet products provide various interfaces for PCIe (RTL8126 Series), USB (RTL8157 Series), and PHY (RTL8251B Series) to meet a wide range of applications (e.g., PC, PON, Cable Modem, Wi-Fi 6 AP router, switch, CPE, built-in and external network card, PCIe/USB-to-Ethernet accessories, etc.). Realtek’s 5Gb Ethernet IC adopts the Quad Flat No-lead (QFN) Package, is lightweight, and is easy to handle. This form factor will be the smallest 5GbE solution in the world.

New Phison E26 PCIe Gen 5 x4 NVMe SSD Controller Revealed

Phhison had already been trailing this for the bulk of December, but at the CES 2022 event they revealed developments on three big projects that are nearing full integration/release in some of your future hardware. The big one of these three was, of course, the Phison E26 (PS5026-E26) SSD controller for PCIe 5.0 x4 media. Phison made an enoughmous impact with their E16 and E18 controllers in the PCIe 4.0 x4 generation of SSDs and the new E26 controller seemingly builds considerably on that, with indications of greater throughput of 13,000/12,000MB/s Seq Read/Write, 1.5/2.0Million 4K random Read/Write IOPS, up to 32TB supported and arriving with NVMe 2.0 compliance. Images of the E26 in situ were provided by Phison below:

Click to view slideshow.

Key specifications of the Phison E26 architecture were also provided:

Controller	Phison PS5026-E26
Interface	PCIe 5.0 x4, 32GT/s
NVMe Rev	NVMe 2.0
Processor	2x ARM Cortex-R5 & 3x Proprietary CoXProcessor
DRAM Support	DDR4/LPDDR4 (32bit)
Capacity	32TB
NAND Supoort	3D TLC, QLC
Flash Transfer Rate	2,400MT/s
Security	AES 256, SHA 512, RSA 4096
ECC Support	Yes, LDPC & RAID
Seq Performance	12GB/s Read, 11GB/s Write
4K IOPS Random	1.5M Read, 2.0M Write

Key highlights from Phison at CES 2022:

PS5026-E26 – Phison’s first PCIe Gen5 SSD architecture

The E26 SSD solution provides a best-in-class combination of performance and low power consumption using Phison’s unique architecture. The E26 is a configurable SSD platform designed for PCIe Gen5 that will cover the enterprise and consumer markets. The company’s first Gen5 controller will come in a variety of form factors and features that can scale to over 10 GB / s while meeting the power requirements for everyday computing. Phison will debut the E26 at CES 2022 for the first time.

PS5021-E21T – Phison’s New DRAM-Free PCIe Gen4 High-Performance Solution

The E21T showcase will showcase Phison’s new DRAM-free architecture as the future leader in next-generation mobile gaming. The E21T, the successor to the E19T, and the E21T BGA, the successor to the E13T, breakthrough performance barriers using Gen4 to set new standards for user experience.

PS5013-E13T – Phison BGA for Mobile Games

Xiaomi opted for the Phison E13T BGA SSD for its superior performance and efficiency for the Black Shark 4 gaming phone series. Xiaomi reckons the E13T BGA delivers a 69 percent increase in read and write performance, showing that NVMe is redefining mobile gaming. Phison will show the Xiaomi Black Shark 4 at CES 2022 in a first-person Zoom demo.

In testing, the Phison E26 and its PCIe Gen 5 m.2 NVMe architecture was shown off in CrystalDiskMark benchmarks below:

Phison controllers are used in the majority of PCIe 4 NVMe SSDs in the market right now and therefore we can comfortably assume that adoption of the Phison E26 when PCIe m.2 NVMe SSDs are further established in the second half of 2022 will be very high once again.

Netgear MS108EUP Multi-Gigabit Ethernet Plus Switch

Although Netgear revealed several new hardware solutions at CES 2022 (new WiFi 6E solutions for the most part), the Netgear MS108EUP really stood out for me, arriving with a rare combination of 2.5GbE, on 8-Ports and with PoE support. NETGEAR Plus Switches with PoE meet business networks growing needs by providing fundamental network features such as simplified VLANs, QoS set-up and IGMP Snooping that will help optimize the performance of business networks. Plus Switches are the perfect upgrade from the plug-and-play unmanaged switch, delivering essential networking features at a very affordable price. The new model MS108EUP supports 2.5 Gigabit speed connectivity and Power-Over-Ethernet (PoE) that can provide up to 60W/port. The new switch model can power devices such as VoIP phones, surveillance IP cameras, wireless access points and many other applications. This new Plus switch includes advance PoE control to help optimize the performance and troubleshooting of business networks. The new and improved business-friendly GUI allows easy management and simple configuration.

• Multi-gigabit copper ports : 8 (1G/2.5G)
• Number of PoE+ (802.3at) ports : 4
• Number of PoE++ (802.3bt) ports : 4
• Total PoE Power budget : 230 Watts

• Uninterrupted PoE : Yes
• Max MAC entries : 16K
• Buffer size : 1.5MB
• VLAN (Number Supported) : 64
• EEE : Yes
• DoS Prevention : Yes
• Internal/External PSU : External
• Max power (worst case, all ports used, line-rate traffic) : 230W
• Fans : 0

The price tag for the Netgear MS108EUP at $400 does seem a pinch high, but this is one of the very few PoE+/PoE++ switches on the market that are 2.5GbE equipped.

Adata Nighthawk and Blackbird PCIe 5 x4 M.2 NVMe SSD

Alongside the other big SSD names, ADATA also took the opportunity a CES 2022 to reveal their two PCIe Gen 5 x4 SSDs, codenamed Nighthawk and Blackbird). Much like their current XPG GAMMIX series, these new ADATA SSDs step away from the use of the Phison controller and instead the new Adata Nighthawk will be using a new Silicon Motion SM2508 PCIe5 controller and the Adata Blackbird will be using Innogrit’s new PCIe controller, the IG5666. Adata already has a strong connection with Innogrit, so when they announced work on a PCIe 5.0 controller, it was heavily anticipated that ADATA would be one of the first adopters. Here are the full specifications of each SSD:

	ADATA Nighthawk	ADATA Blackbird
Controller	Silicon Motion SM2508	InnoGrit IG5666
Interface	PCI Express 5.0 x4	PCI Express 5.0 x4
Sequential reading	upto 14 000 MB/s	upto 14 000 MB/s
Sequential write	upto 12 000 MB/s	upto 10 000 MB/s
4K random read	upto 1 800 000 IOPS	upto 2 000 000 IOPS
4K random write	upto 1 600 000 IOPS	upto 1 400 000 IOPS
Capacity	upto 8 TB	upto 8 TB

The two prototypes ADATA PCIe Gen5x 4 SSDs made an appearance at the ADATA CES booth. The ‘Project Nighthawk,’ and its Silicon Motion SM2508 controller is capable of delivering sequential read/write performance of up to 14/12GB/s, and ‘Project Blackbird’ and InnoGrit IG5666 controller is capable of delivering read/write performance of 14/10GB/s. Both SSDs sports capacities of up to 8TB at 2280 m.2 length.

Samsung PM1743 PCIe Gen5 SSD

Although by no means an industry secret that Samsung have had PCIe 5.0 SSDs in development, CES 2022 was able to provide more information on the new Samsung PM1743 enterprise SSD. Samsung themselves had this to say about their new PCIe 5.0 x4 SSD developments: “For over a decade, Samsung has been delivering SATA, SAS and PCIe-based SSDs that have been recognized for outstanding performance and reliability by leading enterprise server customers including corporations, governments and financial institutions. The introduction of a PCIe 5.0 SSD, along with PCIe 6.0-based product developments that are underway, will further solidify our technological leadership in the enterprise server market. Intel has been working with Samsung to test Samsung’s newest PCIe NVMe SSD, the PM1743. Together, we have jointly resolved complicated technical issues encountered with PCIe 5.0 during this initial evaluation period. The performance potential of Gen5 is truly impressive. In the near future, we strongly believe that PCIe Gen5 systems with high-speed NVMe SSDs will have the ability to transform applications such as AI/ML and high-performance databases,” said Jim Pappas, Director, Technology Initiatives, Intel Corporation. “Looking ahead, we are confident that Intel and Samsung’s continued commitment in industry leadership will provide these and other benefits to our mutual customers.”

PCIe 5.0 offers a bandwidth of 32 Giga transfers per second (GT/s), doubling that of PCIe 4.0. Leveraging a proprietary controller designed to support the latest PCIe standard, the PM1743 will deliver outstanding read and write speeds to accommodate the rapidly increasing performance requirements of data centers. Specifications for the PM1743 (in two forms) are below:

	PM1743 (15.36TB)	PM1733 (15.36TB)
Form Factor	U.2 or E3.S	U.2
Interface	PCIe 5.0 x4, NVMe	PCIe 4.0 x4, NVMe
Controller	Unnamed Samsung PCIe 5.0	Samsung S4LR014 PCIe 4.0
NAND Flash	Samsung 128L TLC (TBC)	Samsing 96L TLC
Sequential Read	13000 MB/s	7000 MB/s
Sequential Write	6600 MB/s	3500 MB/s
Random Read IOPS	2500k	1500k
Random Write IOPS	250k	135k
Active	30 W?	20 W
Idle	TBC	8.5 W
Write Endurance	TBC	28 PBW 1.0 DWPD for 5 Years

Experience up to 13,000 MB/s or double the read and write speed of the previous generation, PM1733. With a proprietary controller, the PCIe 5.0 PM1743 strengthens performance and reliability, providing enterprise users with expanded system capacity suitable for heavy workloads. The latest form factor EDSFF E3.S improves signal integrity and boosts performance while featuring category-leading capacity of 15.36TB within the category. A thin 7.5 mm enables higher storage density in enterprise servers while increasing performance and enhancing power efficiency. Additionally, the Samsung PM1743 supports both 2.5-inch and E3.S form factors.

The Samsung PM1743 that was demonstrated was still in its tech/prototype form, so it wasn’t much to look at – as well as being injected in the Intel-powered test machine via an adapter card. Luckily Ryan Shrout was able to demo some of the early performance and how it compares with the current PCIe 4 speed via Twitter below

Perks of the job! Was going to save this demo for #CES2022 but with that off the table, why not just share it with everyone right now?! Here’s a 12th Gen ⁦@intel⁩ Core i9-12900K system paired with a new ⁦@Samsung⁩ PM1743 PCIe 5.0 SSD getting over 13GB/s!! pic.twitter.com/oyL08KzDtV

— Ryan Shrout (@ryanshrout) December 30, 2021

We are still a fair way away from Samsung launching a commercial/prosumer SSD in simple m.2 form (perhaps a Samsung 990 Pro), but these are all solid and interesting developments to look forward to in 2022/2023.

 

The QNAP TS-464T4 Thunderbolt 4 NAS

If you are a thunderbolt user and have been looking at network-attached storage (NAS) in the last few years, then it would have been impossible to avoid QNAP. They have been one of the very few brands that have been able to merge the use of your own private server with the utility, speed and convenience of Thunderbolt. Well into its 4th (or maybe even 5th technically) generation of Thunderbolt NAS systems, they have now released at the CES 2022 event their new Thunderbolt 4 equipped 4-Bay NAS solution, the QNAP TS-464T4. Arriving in a similar form as the more affordable thunderbolt 3 NAS system from 2018, the TS-453BT3, this new system is utilizing a lot of the new build specifications of the slowly appearing TS-x64 series, but then ramps things up significantly with the inclusion of 3 types of connectivity (all higher than gigabit), as well as two media bay types, 10Gb USB and a sturdy and cost-effective Intel Celeron processor. The QNAP TS-464T4 certainly has a lot to live up to (following the high acclaim that the TS-453BT3 has achieved) but if they can get the price right on this NAS, then we could well be looking at one of the best entry points for users who want to jump on board the thunderbolt NAS scene that we have seen yet. Let’s discuss everything we know about this nifty little device.

Click to view slideshow.

As mentioned earlier, the hardware specifications of the QNAP TS-464T4 is not really going to be the beastly architecture of the TVS-472XT or TVS-1288X, as this NAS is designed to be used by smaller creative business users. The system features four hard drive media bays (SATA) that support RAID 0,1,5,6,10, as well as two additional m.2 NVMe SSD media bays that can be used for caching, direct storage or tiered storage in conjunction with the larger HDD bays. The system also arrives with two Thunderbolt 4 ports (USB-C) that will no doubt be backwards compatible with Thunderbolt 3, this means that two users will be able to connect with the TS-464T4 directly over thunderbolt to access it’s storage, as well as the NAS remaining accessible by countless users via the network/internet. This is thanks to the system ALSO features 10GbE and 2.5GbE network ports. These appear to be native (i.e. not via a PCIe card as found on the TS-453BT3), so this means the TS-464T4 will almost certainly be as compact in it’s 4-Bay chassis as the TS-453BT3, TS-464 and TS-453D. Finally, the system also includes an HDMI 2.0 output for a 4K 60FPS monitor, as well as multiple USB ports that are no doubt going to include USB 3.2 Gen 2 (10Gb/s) as found in the rest of the TS-x64 series so far. This is all built on an architecture of the Intel Celeron currently found in the TS-x64 series, the Intel N5105 or N5095A, which is an embedded graphics enabled, x86, 64bit, quad-core chip. Given the memory/cache hungry nature of thunderbolt, the TS-464T4 will likely ship with at least 8GB of memory by default. So, in summary:

QNAP TS-464T4 4-Bay NAS – £TBC**

• Intel Celeron N5105/N5095 CPU
• 2.0-2.9GHz Quad Core Processor
• Integrated Intel UHD 600 Graphics
• 8GB DDR4 SODIMM (16GB Maximum, 2-Slots)*
• 4x SATA 3.5″ HDD Bays (20TB Current Max)
• 2x TB4 USB-C Ports
• 2 x M.2 NVMe SSD (PCIe Gen 3×1 / 3×2*)
• 10GbE Network Port
• 2.5GbE Network Port
• HDMI 2.0 (60FPS 4K)
• **Estimate £999

QNAP has been a little quieter on the eventual release price and planned launch date for the TS-464T4 NAS, however, we can make some educated guess! First and foremost, the pricetag will need to sit well with the hardware on offer and the rest of the thunderbolt portfolio. So, given the £900-1000 price tag of the TS-453BT3, we can comfortably assume that this will be a target figure for the TS-464T4. Regarding the release date, QNAP has been gradually releasing the TS-x64 series in the closing stages of 2021 (with the TS-364 and TBS-464 being released in Nov and Dec). With the reveal of the TS-464T4 and HS-264 at the CES 2022 event lining up neatly in Jan ’22, I think we are likely to see a release of the TS-464T4 in the first quarter of 2022

 

QNAP TS-H1290FX PCIe 4 U.2 Desktop Flash Server NAS

One of the most high-end QNAP desktop solutions that we have seen in years, at CES 2022 we finally go to see the BEAST that was the TS-h1290FX. a PCIe 4 equipped Flash Server that can utilize 12 U.2 SSDs in it’s default chassis (as well as more drives via expansions), featuring an 8/12 Core AMD EPYC processor, up to 1TB of DDR4 memory and even features 2x 25 Gigabit Ethernet ports. For those looking at flash storage and the removal of all internal or external bottleneck’s, this is a MONSTER release. The system even features multiple PCIe Gen 4 upgrade slots, which allows further enhanced network port upgrades and storage upgrade cards. Here is how the TS-h1290FX looks:

Click to view slideshow.

Supporting twelve U.2 NVMe PCIe Gen4/SATA SSD drives, the TS-h1290FX is QNAP’s first all-flash desktop NAS that is ideal for office environments. Equipped with an AMD EPYC 16 core 7302P/8 core 7232P processor and built-in 25GbE & 2.5GbE connectivity, the TS-h1290FX empowers data-intensive, low-latency applications and enables smooth file transfer, display, and real-time editing of 4K/8K media. High-performance and easily scalable, the TS-h1290FX streamlines backup, collaboration, and video editing/storage workflows. It supports installing an NVIDIA graphics card and Fibre Channel card and offers direct connectivity for up to twenty PCs/workstations when used with multiple QNAP PCIe quad-port network cards. The TS-h1290FX can also be paired with QDA-UMP4 U.2 NVMe to M.2 NVMe PCIe Gen 4 adapter to boost IOPS performance when configuring SSD caching and expanded with QNAP TL-D800C &TR-004 enclosures.

QNAP TS-h1290FX Desktop Flash NAS – £TBC

• NVMe Storage QuTS Hero ZFS Platform
• AMD EPYC 7232P 8-core 3.1-3.2 GHz
• AMD EPYC 7302P 16-core 3.0-3.3GHz
• 64/128/256GB RDIMM DDR4 ECC
• (1TB Max over 16 Slots)
• 12 x 2.5-inch U.2 PCIe Gen 4×4 NVMe (24x ? TBC)
• 2 x 25GbE (SFP28 SmartNIC) Ports
• 2x 2.5Gbe Copper Ports
• 3x PCIe Gen4 x16 Slots
• 1x PCIe Gen4 x8 Slot
• 750W Internal PSU
• 5yr Warranty (TBC)

Details on release seem to indicate that the TS-h1290FX will be released by QNAP very soon.

QNAP KoiBox-100W All-in-one Video Conference Solution

Running the KoiMeeter video conferencing operating system, the KoiBox-100W is the ideal replacement for costly SIP-based conferencing systems and features value-added 4K wireless projection, four-way communication, and local storage features. Creating private meetings with the KoiBox-100W provides higher security and privacy compared with public cloud meetings, and the auto-answering function provides greater convenience in certain usage environments. Besides private meetings, the KoiBox-100W streamlines communication between different platforms by allowing joining Zoom®, Skype, Microsoft Teams®, Cisco Webex®, and Google Meet calls.

• 4K wireless projection

  Present with a 4K high-resolution visual experience.

• Four-way communications

  Multi-point video conferencing with QNAP KoiBox-100W, KoiMeeter, the KoiMeeter mobile app, and compatible SIP systems.

• Join cloud meetings

  Use cloud-based meeting platforms almost every day? No problem! The KoiBox-100W supports well-known cloud meeting services.

• Share mobile phone screens

  Scan the QR code on the KoiBox-100W display to quickly share your mobile phone screen.

• Local storage

  Install a 2.5-inch SATA drive to store meeting videos, audio, and files.

  Note: SSD/hard drive sold separately.

Click to view slideshow.

Here are the specifications of the KoiBox:

Model	KoiBox-100W
CPU	Intel® Celeron® dual-core 1.8GHz
System Memory	4GB DDR4
Flash Memory	M.2 2242 SSD 30GB
Drive Bay	1 x 2.5-inch SATA (HDD/SSD not included)
Gigabit Ethernet Port	1 x 1GbE RJ45
Wi-Fi / Bluetooth	Intel Wi-Fi 6 AX201, 802.11ax, Bluetooth 5.2
HDMI Output	1 x HDMI 1.4b output
USB Port	4 x USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-A

 

QNAP QSW-M2116P-2T2S 10GbE & 2.5GbE PoE++ Switch

The QNAP QSW-M2116P-2T2S is a L2 PoE Managed Switch with sixteen 30-watt 2.5GbE PoE+ ports, two 90-watt 10GbE PoE++ ports. Offering a total power budget of 280 watts and two 10GbE SFP+ ports, the QSW-M2116P-2T2S not only enables a high-speed and high-power PoE network infrastructure for Wi-Fi 6 Access Points and Routers, but also provides backbone network uplinking capabilities. The QSS, QNAP Switch System with user-friendly web interface, helps IT administrators efficiently control Layer 2 and PoE networks, including wireless APs, IP Cameras and Digital Signage, core Switches and Servers. The QSW-M2116P-2T2S offers SMBs a cost-optimized and centrally managed LAN deployment solution.

• Compliant with the IEEE 802.3bt PoE++ and IEEE 802.3at PoE+ standards. Offers 2-port 90-watt and 16-port 30-watt PoE capabilities. Can supply a total power budget of 280 watts to meet the demands of high-powered devices (PDs).
• Compatible with 10GBASE-T and 5GBASE-T technologies to support five speeds (10G / 5G / 2.5G / 1G / 100M), the QSW-M2116P-2T2S offers higher transmission speeds when used with existing cables.
• Two 10GbE SFP+ ports can connect to the Internet, Routers, core switches, and NAS to fulfill the high bandwidth demands of backbone network or data centers.
• Offers a user-friendly web interface to help IT administrators efficiently control Layer 2 and PoE networks. Additionally, the overview dashboard and graphical statistics analysis show IT administrators all switch information and powered devices at a glance, making central management of high-power devices intuitive and easy.
• Provides comprehensive Layer 2 management features (such as VLAN, LACP, QoS IGMP Snooping, and Wake-on-LAN) for IT administrators to efficiently control network bandwidth and enhance security via the user-friendly switch management web interface.

Click to view slideshow.

Here are the full specifications of the QNAP QSW-M2116P-2T2S switch:

Model	QSW-M2116P-2T2S
Management Type	Web Managed
Number of Ports	20
10GbE SFP+	2
10GbE BASE-T (RJ45)	2
2.5GbE (RJ45)	16
Total PoE Ports	18
PoE PSE (802.3af, 15.4W)	Port 1-16
PoE+ PSE (802.3at, 30W)	Port 1-16
PoE++ PSE (802.3bt, 90W)	Port 19-20
PoE Power Output	Port 1-16 (30W), Port 19-20 (90W)
Total PoE Power Budget	280W
Power Supply Description	Internal Power Supply Unit
Max. Power Consumption	350W
Input Power Type	AC
Input Voltage Range	100-240VAC, 50/60 Hz
MAC Address Table	32K
Total Non-Blocking Throughput	80Gbps
Switching Capacity	160Gbps
Management Interface	Web
Console	RJ45

Much like the previously mentioned QNAP Flash server release, we think release of the QNAP QSW-M2116P-2T2S is going to be in the first quarter of 2022.

Netgear Nighthawk RAXE300 WiFi 6E Router

Although the RAXE300 is not the brand’s first WiFi 6e hardware release (eg. the RAXE500), it is the first real/formal entry into the 6Ghz band router scene in their Nighthawk series for gamers. It allows upto 7.8Gbps speeds across the total bandwidth and opens the door for gamers to experience WiFi 6E’s new 6GHz “express lane” with the NETGEAR Nighthawk RAXE300 Tri-Band WiFi 6E Router. With eight WiFi streams and unmatched performance, the RAXE300 boosts capacity and reduces interference for smoother 4k/8K video streaming and AR/VR gaming. Your most demanding tech gets wired connections with one 2.5G and five Gigabit Ethernet ports. Sending maximum Gigabit Internet speeds across your 2,500-square-foot home, this exceptional value keeps up with everything your family does.

• WiFi Technology : WiFi 6E (IEEE® 802.11ax) Tri-Band WiFi (AXE7800) 8-Stream
• 2.4GHz AX: 2×2 (Tx/Rx) 1024/256-QAM 20/40MHz, up to 600Mbps
• 5GHz AX: 4×4 (Tx/Rx) 1024/256-QAM 20/40/80/160MHz, up to 4.8Gbps
• New 6GHz AX: 2×2 (Tx/Rx) 1024/256-QAM 20/40/80/160MHz, up to 2.4GbpsBackwards
• with IEEE 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac WiFi
• Supports new WiFi 6E devices on 6GHz WiFi band
• WiFi Speed : AXE7800 (.6+4.8+2.4Gbps)
• WiFi Band : Tri-Band 6GHz + 5GHz +2.4GHz
• WiFi Range : 2,500 square feet
• Ethernet Ports : Five (5) 10/100/1000 Mbps Gigabit Ethernet ports + one (1) 2.5G/1Gbps Multi-Gig port
• 4x GbE (2x port aggregation LAN)

• 1x 1GbE Internet/LAN (configurable)
• 1x 2.5G/1Gbps Multi-Gig port (configurable)
• Multi-Gig: Ability to aggregate two Gigabit LAN ports (configurable) concurrently
• USB Ports : One (1) USB 3.0 port. Type-C for network storage
• Processor: Quad-core 1.7GHz processor
• Security: NETGEAR Armor—Advanced cyber threat protection for your home network and your connected devices††
• NETGEAR Smart Parental Controls—Easily manage your kids‘ time online across their connected devices∞
• Guest network access—Separate & secure
• Supports WPA3, the latest and cutting-edge WiFi security protocol
• VPN Support—Secure access to your home
• Automatic firmware update delivers latest security patches to the router

Nighthawk RAXE300 Tri-Band WiFi 6E Router, powered by a 1.7GHz quad-core processor, is built for performance at an ultimate level. The ultra-fast processor enables the router to seamlessly handle data intensive applications such as 4K/8K UHD video streaming, VR/ AR gaming, as well as provide a stronger, more reliable WiFi experience. This powerful processor is optimized for AX making intelligent spontaneous decisions to schedule data traffic to maximize WiFi Bandwidth utilization.

Archer AXE200 Omni – AXE11000 Tri-Band Wi-Fi 6E Router

Called Archer AXE200 Omni, the company’s new Wi-Fi 6E router features four motorized antennas that independently move and rotate to automatically provide the strongest signal possible to your devices as they move around your home. The router serves as an alternative in needing to implement a mesh network at home – which oftentimes can burn a hole in your pocket if you live in a really big house and require multiple nodes. The most impressive feature of this new product is its four external antennas that mechanically rotate and independently adjust their angles. This automatically ensures that signals are being sent to where it’s needed the most in the house. The tri-band router has support for all the modern Wi-Fi bands from 6GHz all the way to 2.4GHz so your older devices will truly benefit from this router. To really enjoy top speeds you’d need to have devices that support Wi-Fi 6E as well, else this benefit will be moot. Powered by a 2.0 GHz quad-core processor, the Archer AXE200 Omni includes a 10G and 2.5G ethernet port which allows tethering gaming PCs and video game consoles to the internet. The Archer AXE200 Omni is definitely an innovative idea, which means it will cost more than a regular router. TP-Link hasn’t revealed the pricing of its new router yet.

Highlights of the Archer AXE200 Router:

• Mechanically Rotating Antennas – Robotic antennas auto-adapt their orientation for the best signals.
• AXE11000 Tri-Band – Delivers speeds up to 11 Gbps.
• Next-Gen Processing – Armed with a 2.0 GHz Quad-Core CPU.
• 10G Port -1× 10G port offers ultra-reliable, high-speed data transmissions.
• EasyMesh – Create a true seamless mesh network with EasyMesh.
• HomeShield – Provides comprehensive network protection, robust parental controls, and real-time loT security.

This router is certainly something I plan on keeping my eye on in CES 2022, as although TP-Link are by no means the first to crack into the prosumer WiFi 6e market, the automatic antenna rotation and motion to improve your network coverage and performance is definitely something that is new for the home. No full confirmation about release dates, but I will keep my eyes open! Additionally, alongside the AXE200, TP-Link also unveiled showed off another Archer series router for WiFi 6e deployment, the Archer AXE300. Although it lacks the automatic/motor controller antenna movement, it features greater coverage and hits a whopping 16Gb/s total bandwidth, along with featuring two 10GbE ports.

Highlights of the Archer AXE300 Router:

• AXE16000 Quad-Band – AXE16000 Quad-Band Wi-Fi delivers Wi-Fi speeds up to an unprecedented 16 Gbps.
• Dual 10G Ports – A 10 Gbps WAN/LAN Port and a 10 Gbps SFP+/RJ45 Combo LAN Port not only provide ultra-high-speed internet access but also open up the possibility of faster NAS transmissions over the LAN.
• Next-Gen Processing – Armed with a 2.0 GHz Quad-Core CPU.
• Maximized Coverage – 8x antennas provide maximized Wi-Fi coverage.
• Wi-Fi 6E Unleashed – The brand new 6 GHz band brings more bandwidth, faster speeds, and near-zero latency
• HomeShield – Customize your home network with enhanced security and control.

I will add more interesting data related hardware releases that were unveiled at CES 2022 last week as they appear. Otherwise, you can watch the Data News of the Week special over on YouTube in which I discuss all these releases and more. You can skip ahead to chapters by using the links under the video.

Chapters in the Video (skip ahead to the product by clicking below):

01:55 – The Netgear Nighthawk AXE7800 WiFi 6E Router

02:55 – Archer AXE200 Omni Directional WiFi 6E Router

04:25 – Archer AXE300 AX16000 WiFi 6E Router

05:45 – Wi-Fi 6E USB Dongle (RTL8832CU) & Controller

07:40 – Netgear MS108EUP Multi-Gigabit Ethernet Plus Switch

09:40 – The Adata Nighthawk and Blackbird PCIe 5 x4 M.2 NVMe SSD

10:10 – ADATA Elite SE920 USB4 External SSD

11:30 – The Samsung PCIe 5 x4 NVMe SSD PM1743

13:30 – The Phison E26 PCIe Gen 5 x4 Controller

16:15 – The QNAP TS-464T4 Thunderbolt 4 NAS

17:20 – The QNAP TS-264 Silent NAS 2-Bay

18:20 – The QNAP TS-h1290FX 12-Bay PCIe 4 SSD Flash Desktop NAS

20:45 – The QNAP KoiBox-100W Conference System

22:25 – The QNAP QSW-M2116P-2T2S 10GbE & 2.5GbE PoE++ Switch

 

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Review of the Synology 2022 Event – Everything Synology Revealed

It’s that time again, almost as regular as clockwork, with the return of the annual Synology event. Synology has been extraordinarily business and enterprise-focused throughout this year, with numerous significant updates in services on their C2 cloud platform, Cloud assisted services and (of course) the release of DSM 7 in the summer. The ‘Synology 2022 and Beyond’ event took a similar form to that of last year’s event, with the reveal of an annual summary video, followed up by several YouTube videos that featured key personnel across their global divisions to discuss the companies performance throughout 2021, as well as where they are going with their software, hardware and services in 2022. As we expected, the primary focus appeared to be on software and the C2 cloud platform, but there was the odd mention of things that are brewing in software. The full range of videos can be found on their official YouTube channel here, however, if you are interested in learning the highlights, I have covered the best bits below. This article will be live a short while after the event, but will be regularly updated over the next few days. Alternatively, the most interesting things that are shown at Synology 2022 and Beyond will be added over on the NASCompares YouTube here. Let’s discuss what Synology revealed.

The Highlights of the Synology 2022 Digital Event

Below is a breakdown of the most important or interesting things we learnt at Synology 2022 and Beyond. Several of these are hardware, software or services that are already available (but with further updates), are ones that have formally been in beta or are brand new features from Synology for 2022. Let’s take a look.

Synology DSM 7.1 – Early Features Revealed

As covered in a much, MUCH bigger article HERE, during the initial keynote speech of Synology 2022 and Beyond, Mike Chen went into details regarding the development of the next sub-update of DSM 7, discussing features that will even launch in DSM version 7.1, in more granularly as updates arrive individually. These included the following areas covered:

Upcoming Synology DSM 7.1 Reveals

• Active Insight GUI Improvements
• Improved Integration of Application in Active Insight overview and management (Hyper Backup demonstrated)
• Support of GFS (Global File System), HTTP/3 security and an additional cache-warm-up feature
• Further Rolling out of Out of Band management support in 2022 devices onwards
• Improved Multi-file server/storage access and control via a single portal
• Improved Remote Domain control with Read-Only Support
• Scale-Out Storage (Future Projects)
• Full Synolgoy NAS DSM Backup and Restoration

As mentioned, the article from last week covers each of these new features and services for DSM 7.1 in much more detail, so if you want to learn more about it you can read it by clicking the post below or just watching the video:

Synology DSM 7.1 Video	Synology DSM 7.1 Article

Synology RT6600AX WiFi 6 Mesh Router

That’s right, it’s taken a long, LONG time but we are finally going to see an 802.11ax ready Synology router. The Synology RT6600ax is their newest solution in their router series and the first to embrace the significantly higher bandwidth WiFi AX connection, as well as Synology highlighting that it will support true 160Mhz frequency (the 5.9Ghz band). Information on the Synology RT6600ax arrived across the primary introduction video that featured the founder of Synology (Phillip Wong) and a network dedicated video on the official Synology YouTube video shortly afterwards. Further details on the SRM 1.3 big update next year were also covered, but let’s first focus on what we learned about this new router.

Synology RT6600ax Router Hardware Highlights

• Planned to arrive in H1-2022 with SRM 1.3
• Tri-Band WiFi 6 Support
• 6 x High gain adjustable antennae (4×4 MIMO antennas)
• 5.9Ghz / 160MHz channel Support
• Four 1GbE (Gigabit Ethernet ports) (1x WAN 3x LAN)
• 1x 2.5GbE LAN/WAN Port
• 6600Mbs Bandwidth Potential
• Multi-Network creation in SRM 1.3
• Improved DS Router Mobile Application and Browser GUI in SRM 1.3 in 2022
• Mesh Support with future AX devices
• No word on USB Support, but almost certainly going to be featured

The big focus of the course is the support of WiFi 6 (AKA 802.11ax), as this has become widely adopted by modern wireless client hardware manufacturers in place of WiFi 5 a/c/n etc. From New-gen consoles and computers, to even Amazon Fire TV and Virgin ISP routers, WiFi 6 is very much an established thing and hence why people have been counting the days till Synology and its SRM equipped Routers jumped on board with the RT6600ax router. Alongside this, the RT6600ax will also feature the 6 antennae setup that was featured on the RT2600ac before it. This will allow a tremendous degree of coverage and shared frequency bandwidth of up to 6000Mbps. There is more to learn about the RT6600ax in the video and article linked below:

Synology RT6600ax Video	Synology RT6600ax Article

Updates to Synology Router Manager in SRM 1.3

Of all the software platforms that Synology have for their hardware, one very popular, heavily featured, prosumer YET lesser updated in features is the Synology Router Manager (SRM) platform. Alongside the reveal of the new WiFi 6 Router RT6600ax system, there are also additional improvements coming in SRM 1.3. The main two featured were as follows.

Improved vLAN/Multi-Network Services and Multiple SSIDs in SRM 1.3

Despite the clear love for SRM from many, one oddly absent feature for the longest time has been the ability to create multiple sub/simultaneous networks. You could always create a low-access/controlled Guest Network, but that was about it. FINALLY, it will be implemented in SRM 1.3 I will be looking forward to seeing the GUI for this, as that has often been a stumbling block for router providers (the topography and a single viewpoint of ALL the active networks at once is a tricking balancing act that few get right to the satisfaction of lesser tech-head users). Likewise, the support of multiple SSIDs in SRM was always an oddly slimmed back/absent feature (depending on the depth of what you wanted/needed) and is finally arriving in a larger and established form in SRM 1.3. Synology detail that support of multiple SSIDs will hit 10x on dual-band systems and up to x15 on triband models (such as the RT6600ax), but it will require that you disable Smart Connect to use.

Improvements to the Design and Utility of the DS Router Mobile Application

One early plus of the Synology router series was that they featured a huge amount of control compared with most off-the-shelf routers (as well as some top-end parental control and family/team management of connectivity and devices). That said, the mobile application for Android and iOS (DS Router) lacked a lot of the important control options of the web browser GUI (and the ones it did have were a little ill-placed at times). The Improved DS router app comes with various management including creating new wireless networks, configuring parental control or web filtering, setting traffic control schemes, etc. right from the dashboard.

Synology Photos Updates at Synology 2022 and Beyond

When Synology first merged the Synology Moments and Photo Station applications into a single tool, Synology Photos, most people were quite enthusiastic about it. When DSM 7 was fully released back in the summer of 2021, the initial reception was a little cooler. A big part of this was that some felt that key features of the previous generation photo applications had features, functionality of services that were absent in Synology Photos. Fast forward to now and we are now starting to see a number of those services be implemented into Synology Photos, as well as new one arriving too. It still doesn’t seem like the complete package yet, but the few extras that were shown at Synology 2022 did leave me hopeful to see those older features returning in a new and intuitive way. The features mentioned were those below.

Faster Permission Configuration on the fly

Something that very much falls into the bracket of professional photographers and users with a significantly larger user base on their NAS server, Synology Photos now has much faster and intuitive permission and access controls built into the GUI of Synology Photos. You could always give general users or authorized team members a degree of access or permissions to your files, folders and albums, however, it was always in a less than user-friendly way in Synology Photos – either at the DSM Control Panel level or somewhat awkwardly provided at the folder config level in photos. The next Synology Photos update contains much easier and faster on the fly access controls built into browser GUI, as well as improvements to the mobile control too.

Improved Photo Collecting and Pooling

Alongside the improved on the fly control and changing of album access that Synology Photos will shortly feature, it will also improve the ability to create shared spaces for multiple users to pool their collections into a single album. Certainly of use at bigger events (as we hope for the post-pandemic ‘new normal’ to kick in any day now) when you want to ensure that every attendee’s experiences are in one place. Likewise, the tailored access privileges and even new/non-signed user sharing controls will make this a useful tool for those big social events.

Synology Photos (finally) has Map View Mode

Although this was NOT the big Synology Photos update I was waiting for (that being Subject-recognition to finally be re-instated after its disappearance after Moments) it is still an often requested feature – Map view. With the bulk of typical users taking their photos via mobile phones (or exporting from Google Photos etc), these images will contain useful meta-data that will contain (alongside the camera, timestamp, light, ISO, etc) the geo-locational data of where the photo was taken. For those that travel ALOT, this means that you can finally use Synology Photos to view a map and see where your photos were taken, grouping different collections into new albums, based on their country, county, town or more). Though it was only highlighted as being added in the Mobile GUI and app, I am sure this will be carried over to the web-based GUI.

Synology DVA1622 Surveillance 2-Bay with KVM Output

Although this is not the first deep video analysis NAS system from Synology, till now it has always been a fantastically enterprise solution that was of interest to most but out of their scale or budget. The newly revealed DVA1622 is a much more compact version of this product line that is coming in the first half of 2022. This new surveillance NAS system has a few of its hardware specifications confirmed below:

Highlights of the DVA1622 Surveillance NAS

• Supports upto 16x IP Cameras
• Supports upto 2x AI-Powered Tasks
• Arriving with Surveillance Station 9.0 by default
• Supports H.265 Format/Compression
• USB Ports, but full KVM support TBC
• Stylised on the DS720+ Chassis4K HDMI Enabled
• AI Deep Video Analysis Features Inc. People and vehicle detection, People counting Face recognition, Intrusion detection and Deep motion detection
• Expandability (DX517?) TBC
• Details on inclusive camera license TBC

Alongside a few other pieces of hardware that were revealed during the Synology event, there are also improvements in the GUI and services of Surveillance station in its new 9.0 version, coming next year.

Synology Surveillance Station 9.0 Details

Synology’s surveillance station platform has always been an exceedingly strong arm of the company and alongside the reveal of the DVA1622 NAS hardware, they took the time to show off their upcoming big update to their NVR software, Surveillance Station 9.0. These updates focused on improvements to the user experience (i.e UX design changes). the scalability of your recordings and security enhancements. Let’s go through the highlights of Surveillance Station 9.0 at Synology 2022.

Surveillance Station 9.0 and Monitor Center

Originally, when accessing your surveillance setup, the display of real-time camera feeds and accessing recordings/alerts in a dynamic and interactive way was spread across two applications – Live View and Timeline tools. In Surveillance Station 9.0, these are being combined into a single tool called Monitor Center, Combing the bank of live camera feed and historical recordings into a single GUI. This also includes the addition of adding surveillance devices (such as IP Speakers and IP controlled door locks) into the wider control GUI window of Monitor Center. This means a much wider and more customizable control deck on a single screen. Alongside this, when alerts (based on movement, light, defined lines, etc) are triggered, these are also accessible and visible on the same panel and when viewed, can shink the existing feed dynamically to allow the alerts into this single screen easily. Combinations of events that are triggered can be consolidated into smaller collections for alerts/display to the end-user. Finally, the time bar at the bottom of the monitor center feed will allow you to bookmark or capture a user-defined clip in 2 clicks, as well as allow scrolling through past recording at multiple speeds be possible, whilst live camera feeds and controls on the wider Monitor Center feed remain live.

Overall, it does seem a much more customizable feed layout in the web-based GUI and unlike my feeling on when Photo Station and Moments were combined into the Synology Photos application in DSM 7 (it’s getting there!), combining all of these elements of control for your surveillance setup makes a huge amount of sense and I am genuinely looking forward to getting to grips with this new NVR tool.

Dual Recording with Synology C2

Having a selection of cameras in your home or business environment that are recording feeds 24×7 is a business-must and in most cases, these cameras will be sending their feeds to a Synology NAS on a network directly connected to the physical NAS (or an offline/non-internet network that is branched into the NAS system. Records are kept in that NAS with numerous backup and sync options built-in, but what if an intruder breaks into your premises and destroys/steals the NAS? Live synchronization of the NAS to an offsite NAS or discreetly hidden 2nd server will only be as useful as the speed with which the duplicated recording data can be sent. Burglaries are FAST operations and there is every possibility that the time for an alert recording or completed recording block being sent to the 2nd storage location won’t be fast enough – therefore the capture of a break-in will be lost. This is a problem that has been raised before and now with Synology’s improvements to their C2 cloud platform, a solution has been presented in the form of Dual Recording.

Duel recording will allow records from your camera feeds to be sent to BOTH the NAS server AND an area of C2 cloud storage (not THROUGH the NAS). This recorded footage will be accessible through the Synology C2 Surveillance portal, which will allow much, MUCH smaller loss of recording time compared to a backup and/or sync operation previously.

Synology were keen to highlight that using the C2 Surveillance platform to create a 2nd recording path for your surveillance setup will allow only up to a 5 second recording loss at most, the ability to view recordings in the C2 Surveillance browser-based GUI, features end-to-end encryption to prevent interception/editing and (most important of all) the ability to share those recordings from your C2 Surveillance space securely (for the police or company-wide). Synology states that this additional surveillance feature will require a subscription service and there will be a tier for home users and another for business users. They are detailed as follows:

Basic Plan – $1 per Camera, per Month

• Only Stores Triggered Events
• Stored in up to 720p Resolution
• Only held for 7-Days

Advanced Plan – Pricing TBC per Camera/Batch

• Smart Continuous Recording (Full FPS in Events and 1FPS when Idle/Normal)
• Stored in up to 1080p
• Recordings are held for up to 30 Days

Although the pricing on the business tier is yet to be confirmed, Synology is saying that they want to keep this as cost-effective as possible. Personally, the basic plan at $1 per camera (when you think of your 2x camera licences with most Synology NAS) is a pretty small price and to ensure that 2nd recorded stream, a very attractive feature. There were several more innovations coming in Synology’s Surveillance Station 9.0 application revealed during the event. Find out about the by reading the article below or watching the video:

Surveillance Station 9.0 Video	Surveillance Station 9.0 Article

Synology Drive Updates at Synology 2022 and Beyond

Synology Drive has been one of the most evolved tools in the brand’s line up, starting with what seemed like an application to simply create a single-portal access point to your data to simplifying how it could be viewed/accessed, it has transformed after every update into a newly equipped tool that has fast become one of Synology’s biggest applications for both home and business. The updates that were shown at Synology 2022 and Beyond, though mostly improvements to the user experience and GUI, also contained a couple of big features.

Mac on Demand Sync is (Still) Coming

It feels like this has been taking longer than DSM 7 itself did. When Synology drive first revealed the ability to create a native folder on your computer that could show the contents of the NAS (without taking up space), then allow you to dynamically stream or manually pin files on demand (as well as remove at your discretion for space) – it was a big, BIG feature. This was something that was a big selling point to Microsoft’s own OneDrive system and it was through cooperation with them that Synology was able to implement this feature for Windows Computers.

Though it is available on a few other platforms, one BIG one that did not have it was Mac OS – to the annoyance of many. Synology therefore was pleased to highlight that thanks to Mac developments and improvements in Synolgoy Drive alongside it, that this feature is coming for Mac users soon.

Improved Drive Mobile App Design and Versatility

Another area that Synology Photos is seeing improvements within is the mobile application and it’s multimedia handling. Synology was always designed to be the single portal access point for your data access (eg opening photos in an image viewer, but still open music in a music player and excel docs in a table/spreadsheet viewer). It still has this but now a few more filter controls and file specific options are being integrated (playlist controls, album creation, grouping, etc), as well as further improvements in the file pinning for files that you want to access when connectivity to your NAS is limited but you still want access to those specific files 24×7 locally)

2-Way Android and iOS Synchronization

Alongside the improvements to the mobile application, there is also the improvements to support on both Android and iOS Mobile devices with (much demanded) 2-way synchronisation now arriving. A feature that has seemingly taken longer than many feel it should have, this can be used to hugely speed up sharing files from multiple mobile devices (on-the-fly photo local folder destinations, multimedia, work files shared with teams) and its benefits to background backup operations native NAS file access to a greater team management storage area cannot be understated.

All these quality of life improvements are great to hear, but like many, I have been waiting on the support of a lot of on-the-fly streaming/pinning features to arrive for Mac and this is the third time it has been raised at these events, so I will be a great deal more enthusiastic when I finally see it.

Synology C2 Backup for Home and Business

Originally rolled out in early autumn of 2021, Synology C2 Backup is the brand’s answer to adding a cloud tier of backup and recovery of your PC alongside your existing physical Synology NAS (aka Bare Metal). The Synology C2 cloud platform has been up and running now for a few years and although it has arguably been of greater use to business users with large collections of desktop/portable PCs across their organization, some home users have been jumping on board too.

Synology C2 itself is the cloud space that can be integrated into the Synology NAS system and services (such as Hyper Backup, Active Backup and Hybrid Share), but C2 Backup (as the name suggests) is the service that is precisely aimed at whole system (or precise folder) backups. Now, this was always possible with your Synology NAS (with the applications mentioned), however, integrating a cloud element greatly increases access and utility of both fluidity of those backups and swiftness of recovery worldwide.

C2 Backup is covering pretty much the entirety of existing mainstream windows platforms (11, 10, 7, Server, etc) and alongside huge integration with the Office 365 SaaS platform and bare metal NAS, means that access to your emails, files, docs and accounts data will still be accessible natively in the event of internet failure or when accessing remotely outside the network. Synology 2022 and Beyond highlighted a number of the services that have been rolled out already in C2 Backup for home and business, but presented them in a much more user-friendly way than previously demonstrated. C2 Backup also continues to be a subscription fee-based service (though with a 90-day trial available) but with unlimited connected system quantities still being available.

Now that C2 is fleshing itself out significantly since launch, expect a full review of this service here on NASCompares in 2022.

Synology C2 Transfer for Business

Synology C2 Transfer is the brand’s ultra-secure data transfer portal that adds numerous levels of encryption, tailored authentication, watermarking and management to file sharing. Sharing files from your NAS is not a new concept, but this has been done with a heavy degree of the responsibility of network/internet security falling on the end-user (many of whom overly rely on the ‘defaults’). The C2 transfer provides a management panel for these primarily C2 based shares and everything from the smallest file shares to the largest databases is delivered via end-to-end encryption and the live/active management panel allowing realtime viewing/control of active data movement from your Business C2 cloud.

As you might expect, Synology is targeting the particularly high-end user with a service like this and the Synology C2 transfer service lives within the C2 platform (and integrates Bare Metal of course to a degree) but is a separate subscription service starting at $49.99 for 5 users and can be expanded. It’s quite a steep price on the face of it, but for hugely secure, mission-critical and highly confidential information, a lot of enterprise-level users will likely be happy to pay.

Synology C2 Identity

Another indication of how much Synology is shifting a lot of their weight towards their C2 cloud platform is with increased remote access management in C2 Identity. Accessing the C2 cloud platform remotely for each of your individual teams and their client hardware is something that (as your user base grows) is going to be tough to manage. Then when you integrate connected SaaS platforms such as Google Workspace, Office 365 and Windows Servers, keeping an eye on access cloud-wide is going to be a big task. The Synology C2 Identity platform (free to home users and a subscription add on with expandability for business) is a single portal access point that allows you to monitor and manage active access by users (as well as the entire access eligible groups). Viewing connected users to your Synology NAS hardware is not new, but the level of live-control of those users has always been a little basic (disconnect and blacklist being the only real option). The C2 identity platform provides real-time monitoring via a browser admin console and provides a much more detailed breakdown of accessing users, their information and a variety of actions to engage with.

Protect all user credentials on C2 Identity with the Secure Remote Password (SRP) protocol and complex password requirements. Additionally, C2 Identity communicates with clients using SRP, a secure zero-knowledge password protocol. SRP generates a secure encryption key and provides authentication without ever sending password-equivalent data over the network, thereby protecting against man-in-the-middle attacks. Finally, the service also allows easy migration for users from an LDAP server, Windows AD server, Microsoft 365, Google Workspace, or by importing a CSV file. I am still the tiniest bit unsure about this as a service. Certainly not its security of utility (I am positive it will do exactly what Synology say it will do) but it is another continued move by the brand to innovate on their C2 platform that indicates them pushing harder for the enterprise level than the home and/or SMB tier.

Synology C2 Password

Let’s get one thing straight, password management software is NOT new! With an abundance of online digital services, website credentials, payment systems and data storage logins to stay on top of, Synology are not the first to come up with a single portal/app management tool to keep these all in one place (and encrypted). So although Synology has been talking about their C2 Password service, its true appeal should lie in its use with your Synology storage – not as a concept! As you might expect, it has the usual assisted login (i.e. login suggestion) support, cross-platform synchronization, unique password generator and secure storage of your patent details – so what makes this any different than  G Authenticator and/or just letting Chrome do it all?

Its key appeal outside of other platforms is that it can act as a unique security checkpoint for file/data sharing with your intended recipients. Password’s on your shared links is not new, but the C2 Password (and in conjunction with C2 Transfer) means that in-house security credentials and access can be enforced to a much higher degree. Additionally, the information that is stored in C2 Password is encrypted throughout and ONLY stored on the device with the tool (so not remotely on the cloud etc). It is a small difference with the many other password/credential storing tools out there, but for businesses to ensure a closed/controlled access system, it is an important one. Home users can access for free (single account etc), but businesses will need a subscription service tier at $4.99 a year for every 5 users, though that has yet to be fully rolled out. I think to pick up by end-users on this service will (once again) be tremendously business/enterprise only, with the bulk of users already having their own login/credential security setup already well established. Still, it’s something that businesses moving the bulk of their network/remote storage and services to Synology will likely integrate widely as a matter of due diligence. Finally, it was briefly touched on that n 2022, Synology will be introducing C2 Object storage service for S3-compatible applications.

Synology FS2500 FlashStation Rackmount Server

Though this new Synology SSD focused flash server was not featured at the Synology 2022 and Beyond Event, it DID end up online (thanks to numerous super keen eShops throughout Europe) that very same week. The new Synology FS2500 FlashStation Rackmount NAS server, featuring a new 1U chassis, 10Gbe and a new AMD Ryzen CPU for the brand and their portfolio.

For more information on this system, the software abilities of the FS250 and how it compares with the rest of the existing Synology Flashstation NAS series, watch the video below:

Synology Hard Drive and SSD Media

The Synology range of media continues to grow, to the excitement of some and the annoyance of others. Originally beginning in 2019 with their range of SATA SSDs, this range has continued into 2021/2022 with SATA hard drives (HAT5300), SAS hard drives (HAS5300) and two versions of NVMe SSD caching media (the SNV3400 and SNV3500). There has been slight revision changes (SNV3400 > SNV3410 and SAT5200 > SAT5210), but aside from that, there has been little change in their media ranges. Increases in available capacities have been highlighted and the continued rather closed support of only their media on the higher tiers of their NAS hardware has continued in 2021, going further in 2022 by the looks of things. For my part, I continue to have mixed feelings on their storage media portfolio. On the one hand, the bulk of them ARE very good drives, promising high performance, durability and workloads (and living up to it) – as well as the tailored firmware of course.

However, with more NAS hardware appearing with limited drive compatibility that eliminates the use of only Synology branded drives (such as the recent DS2422+ – the first PLUS series device to feature this support choice), it is another indicator of Synology shifting its gears internally towards being an enterprise provider that wants to combat the bit SaaS and PaaS providers. It’s a gamble that Synology has clearly been in the process of since early 2019, but a lot of home and SMB users are starting to notice. Ultimately, I do recommend the Synology HDD/SSD media, but not as the ‘ONLY’ choice.

Synology 2022 and Beyond – Conclusion and Verdict

And that was it, the Synology 2022 and Beyond event. I certainly miss the live global events, but can understand in the current climate why this is simply not possible right now. Shortly after the keynote speech and individual feature videos were released on the Synology official YouTube channel, Synology issued a press summary and even touched on a few release details of some of the elements covered during the event. Although still a pinch vague, there is a suggestion of the spring months seeing some great releases. Synology DSM 7.1 and Surveillance Station 9.0 will be released in Q1 2022 as public previews. SRM 1.3 will debut on the RT6600ax router in Q1 2022. Support for RT2600ac and MR2200ac will be added in Q2 2022. More detailed information on other features and services will be available at a later date.

 

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Need Advice on Data Storage from an Expert?

We want to keep the free advice on NASCompares FREE for as long as we can. Since this service started back in Jan '18, We have helped hundreds of users every month solve their storage woes, but we can only continue to do this with your support. So please do choose to buy at Amazon US and Amazon UK on the articles when buying to provide advert revenue support or to donate/support the site below. Finally, for free advice about your setup, just leave a message in the comments below here at NASCompares.com and we will get back to you. Need Help? Where possible (and where appropriate) please provide as much information about your requirements, as then I can arrange the best answer and solution to your needs. Do not worry about your e-mail address being required, it will NOT be used in a mailing list and will NOT be used in any way other than to respond to your enquiry. [contact-form-7] Terms and Conditions Alternatively, why not ask me on the ASK NASCompares forum, by clicking the button below. This is a community hub that serves as a place that I can answer your question, chew the fat, share new release information and even get corrections posted. I will always get around to answering ALL queries, but as a one-man operation, I cannot promise speed! So by sharing your query in the ASK NASCompares section below, you can get a better range of solutions and suggestions, alongside my own.  

Synology 2022 & Beyond – Video Streamed Event on Thursday 2nd December

Good news for anyone who has been wondering about what to expect from Synology in 2022, with the announcement of the global event ‘Synology 2022 and Beyond’, arriving next week. Synology has been hosting live events physically in numerous locations globally for almost a decade now and (as of last year) starting to move towards a global, video streamed event (for obvious reasons). These events have always been a great way for new and old followers of Synology solutions to find out how the brand has been performing, what its plans are for the next period and ultimately a good idea of what the brand will be prioritizing in its ecosystem. Last year we saw a large degree of focus towards DSM 7, their cloud platform’s evolution and indications on where they see their premiere products going. It’s a shame that we are still not returning to numerous, physical launch events around the globe, as this generally means a larger focus on hardware. No doubt a few planned 2022 (and even 2023) solutions will be revealed, but typically a global video streamed event means a greater focus on software and services. Still, this has always been a strong area for Synology and therefore still worth following.

How and Where Can I Watch the Synology 2022 Video Streamed Event?

The Synology 2022 and Beyond event has still yet to confirm how the event will be displayed at the time of writing. Last year te even was hosted via youtube and was then shown via a series of YouTube videos from the official Synology YouTube channel. I will update this article as soon as details on where to watch the Synology 2022 event as it gets confirmed.

What Time Does the Synology 2021 Event Start?

The Synology 2022 and Beyond event is going to start on Thursday, December 2nd for global streaming. Depending on your location and time zone, that means it will go live at:

Thursday 2nd December 2021

• 9AM PST (USA)
• 10AM MST (USA)
• 11AM CST (USA)
• 12  NOON EST (USA)
• 2PM Brazil UTC-3
• 5PM GMT London, UK
• 6PM CET Berlin, Germany
• 8PM MSK Moscow, Russia
• 9PM Dubai UAE
• 22:30PM IST Mumbai, India

Friday 3rd December 2021

• 1AM Singapore UTC+8
• 1AM CST Bejing China
• 2AM JST, Tokyo, Japan
• 4AM AEDT Sydney, Australia
• 6AM NZDT Auckland, New Zealand

What Do We Expect at the Synology 2021 Launch Event?

At this time, Synology is being characteristically quiet about the contents of their ‘Synology 2022 and Beyond’ event. Typically these events are introduced with a summary of how the brand has performed in the last 12-18 months, highlighting which hardware, software and services have excelled. Likely expect a big chunk of focus to go towards DSM 7’s rollout and how it has picked up on the last 6-7 months (outside of Beta’s and the RC). Synology has the following to say on their own News Room pages:

Synology Inc. today announced its virtual annual event will premiere on December 2, 2021.

On the heels of this year’s packed release calendar, 2022 AND BEYOND previews key improvements to core storage features and much-anticipated updates to networking and surveillance solutions, with major announcements across Surveillance Station, SRM, and DSM.

Major themes this year are performance, reliability, and security, with new features changing how users secure their data, networks, and physical assets, sync and share files, and manage large deployments.

So, not a huge amount to go on. However, the mention of the SRM platform is encouraging, as many have been wondering about the next step for the Synology router series (with continued information flying around regarding a WiFi 6 solution. Likewise, the mention of major updates on Surveillance station is something to wonder about – given the brand’s huge priority of their NVR hardware/software system. There has been a big, BIG focus in 2021 so far to Synology promoting their cloud C2 services, along with a lot of client applications for personal and business security, so how these will integrate into the rest of the existing Synology ecosystem is likely to be discussed too.

Of course, many users would like to see a big focus shift onto hardware – where are the 64bit ARM refreshes of the 1/2/4-bay ranges (DS122, DS222, DS422 and the PLAY series have been quiet for quite a while). Equally, with a big jump in their media ranges and support in the enterprise-level systems, will we start seeing some better support for U.2, SAS SSD or a new Flashstation? It’s too early to say and we will know in a little over a week. Expect a full write up here on NASCompares, as well as coverage of everything we learnt shortly after the event.

Here is the summary of Synology 2021 Event from last year:

 

This description contains links to Amazon. These links will take you to some of the products mentioned in today's content. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. Visit the NASCompares Deal Finder to find the best place to buy this device in your region, based on Service, Support and Reputation - Just Search for your NAS Drive in the Box Below

 

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Need Advice on Data Storage from an Expert?

We want to keep the free advice on NASCompares FREE for as long as we can. Since this service started back in Jan '18, We have helped hundreds of users every month solve their storage woes, but we can only continue to do this with your support. So please do choose to buy at Amazon US and Amazon UK on the articles when buying to provide advert revenue support or to donate/support the site below. Finally, for free advice about your setup, just leave a message in the comments below here at NASCompares.com and we will get back to you. Need Help? Where possible (and where appropriate) please provide as much information about your requirements, as then I can arrange the best answer and solution to your needs. Do not worry about your e-mail address being required, it will NOT be used in a mailing list and will NOT be used in any way other than to respond to your enquiry. [contact-form-7] Terms and Conditions Alternatively, why not ask me on the ASK NASCompares forum, by clicking the button below. This is a community hub that serves as a place that I can answer your question, chew the fat, share new release information and even get corrections posted. I will always get around to answering ALL queries, but as a one-man operation, I cannot promise speed! So by sharing your query in the ASK NASCompares section below, you can get a better range of solutions and suggestions, alongside my own.  

 

Hello August, we have Summer Olympic 2020 playing right now in 2021, nobody would guess that from the last Olympics. While we are still catching up on what we’ve missed in 2020, 2021 summer sure feels more like another summer. As we slowly moving on from this pandemic, the sign of life is flourishing. As usual, we brought you this week’s wallpaper theme from Smashing Magazine, enjoy.

The post Download Smashing Magazine Desktop Wallpaper August 2021 Windows 10 Theme appeared first on Next of Windows.

Something nice is on its way to Windows. Something vivid, and something fun, really fun to use. According to this Microsoft’s Design post, more than 1800+ emojis will be replaced by another sea of icons that are not only moving but in the 3D format as well.

Here are 5 brand new emojis that look so cute.

And here are also some concept sketches that capture the new hybrid world.

Aren’t they fun to watch and will put a smile on your face when someone sends you one of those.

And how about the newly designed Clippy?

One thing I always wanted in Windows 10 is a nice collection of emojis that can represent my feelings whenever I use them. But often time they fall short. Now, hopefully, I can finally enjoy them.

According to Microsoft, this new set of emojis will come to Teams and Windows this holiday season, with Yammer, Outlook, and more lighting up throughout 2022.

The post A New Set of Emojis Coming to Windows appeared first on Next of Windows.

Streaming a version of Windows 10 or 11 right from the cloud is what Microsoft wants to do in this case. Imaging, running a version of Windows with all the apps, data, and settings across any major platform available on the market, how easy and convenient would that be, to all of us?

That’s exactly what Windows 365 Cloud PC does.

It’s basically an Azure virtual desktop that can be accessed directly from any modern web browser or through Microsoft’s Remote Desktop. If you have used RDP as your remote access tool, this is not much different. Instead of accessing your windows from your work, you are accessing it right from Azure’s cloud service.

That said, you will still need a bare minimum PC hardware to access your cloud PC. The difference is, that PC now can be a Linux, a Mac, or a tablet.

Windows 365 will only available for business when it launches on August 2nd when the pricing will be revealed.

There will be two editions of Windows 365: business and enterprise, both powered by Azure Virtual Desktop. Individual cloud PC can be configured from a single CPU, 2GB of RAM, and 64GB of storage all the way to 8 CPUs, 32GB of RAM, and 512GB of storage, with 12 different configurations in between.

Windows will be everywhere, folks. That’s the future Microsoft is planning on for us.

The post Microsoft Announces Windows 365 appeared first on Next of Windows.

July is a month that we celebrate the birth of two major countries in North American, the place we call home. Canada day (July 1st) and 4th of July, American Independence Day. I’m sure to many of you July means something else, because of that we have fully packed wallpaper themes for your desktop to have a fresh new look. As usual, we brought you this month’s wallpaper themes from Smashing Magazine, enjoy!

The post Download Smashing Magazine Desktop Wallpaper July 2021 Windows 10 Theme appeared first on Next of Windows.

I thought Windows 10 was the last Windows we will ever have from Microsoft. But guess whoever made that statement was wrong because the rumor once again turned out to be right.

Microsoft announced Windows 11 today on June 24, 2021

No more live tiles, just the apps, recent documents, and a separate search interface from the Start Menu that can be centered on the taskbar.

A new Snap Layouts that allow you to quickly snap apps into the various modes, which can also be remembered to ensure that apps always open on the correct screen.

The updates are also 40% smaller and more efficient as they can be done in the background.

And how about the Teams is integrated directly into the taskbar?

Windows Widgets also come back with a whole new set of touch gestures.

Lastly, a new redesigned Store app that supports for Android apps on Windows, including TikTok and Instagram.

And it will be free upgrade to all Windows 10 users.

Official release? no firm date yet but estimated will be around October.

The post Windows 11 is Here appeared first on Next of Windows.