# Synology DS120J Review | Rumbamon19



## RumbaMon19 (Jun 20, 2021)

So this is my review of Synology DS120j NAS.

*Design And Features*

This is a single-bay NAS best for home/personal use-case. It comes with a Marvell Armada 3700 dual-core CPU. It has one Ethernet RJ45 port and 2 USB ports for external devices.

It has a sturdy build. It comes equipped with a silent fan for cooling. The front panel has 3 indicators, one each for Status, LAN and HDD activity. Below the indicators is the power button with a power indicator. The NAS comes with 512MB of RAM.

It runs on Synology’s DSM Operating system; It is a web-based OS and makes configuration really easy even for beginners. The control panel offers a plethora of settings and customizations.

*Installation and Performance*

The DS120j is a beginner friendly device. It is very easy to configure too. I just removed two screws on the rear panel, installed the hard disk, secured the disk in the bracket and screwed it back. The finder was able to recognize my NAS immediately and opened up the Set-up page.

I really liked the simple installation setup of the NAS.

On the set-up page, I was only required to click set-up and within 10 minutes the NAS was ready for configuration. On restart, I created an Admin account and set up the shares.

The performance of the device is good for home users but not for those with very heavy workflows.

_p1/4_


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## RumbaMon19 (Jun 20, 2021)

*Features

DSM*

DSM is synology’s OS which run on there NAS. My NAS is compatible with DSM 6.2. here is a brief overview.






The desktop on the NAS looks great. As you can see, one can place widgets on the widgets area, It has a separate notification area and then there is a mini notification bar on top.





This is the app drawer on the NAS. It lists all the packages downloaded from the package center here.

*Cloud Sync*

The cloud sync feature on the NAS is useful for syncing the files on your cloud server and the NAS. It supports bi directional sync.





I used it with My google drive and Onedrive.





It can also be configured to sync the on specific times of a week or days.

*Moments *

Moments is synology’s Photo indexing service. The service works great. The android app has a UI similar to Google photos and is excellent. It was able to back up a huge number of photos, from my phone.





It has an AI powered backend which helps in indexing the photos. It also improves the quality of the photos in some cases and the results are noticeable.

*Download Station*

The download station is used to, as name suggests download things. It supports FTP, HTTP, Torrent and emule services.




The download station is great add on to the NAS as It helps to store the files directly to it. I was able to download torrents as well as seed them from there within. The download station is pretty optimized and works without glitches.

*Synology Drive*

Synology drive is essential for collaborations and team works as well if the NAS is to be used outside the local network. It works as a cloud drive, and can be accessed from anywhere. It is really a good feature and helps file access from distant paces so you don’t need to carry it everywhere.

I used the PC version of sinology drive and it is able to automatically backup my PC as the files changes. That can however be scheduled too.

There are some more features worth mentioning. This includes the WebDAV server, Itunes server, Audio station(I really liked it), USB Copy.

I have been using the scheduled on and off feature too, it is really a life saver.

_p2/4_


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## RumbaMon19 (Jun 20, 2021)

*There are somethings which can be improved about.*


The weak CPU, which is basically the cause for many other issues also. The RAM also acts a limiting factor while file transfers. So there needs to be improvements in hardware.
The Moments app was not able to load templates of some pictures. I tried clearing cache but that didn’t work.
There should have been an inclusion of USB 3.0 ports for faster data transfer.
The overall interface is good, but feels a bit slow. Although there is latency and stuff in place but there needs to improvement in like loading times, time to open a dialog box etc.
It takes full 5 minutes to boot, which is huge but considering the CPU, it is expected.
The apps on Android had good UX but on iOS it feels to be on bit rough side.
_p3/4_


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## RumbaMon19 (Jun 20, 2021)

*What I conclude:*

The device is good option for home users. It suits Indian weather due to cooling fan and keeps temp well below 55℃. It does lag on some features where it needs improvements. Overall, it is good, but some issues need to be fixed. It has those extra features which are essential too. I liked the device and overall I would give it 8.5/10

_p4/4

Thanks to Team Digit for providing the units. All the views in the above review are mine and not changed at all._


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## RumbaMon19 (Jun 20, 2021)

Finally got a Gigabit router and tested it. I Transferred a img copy of SD Card used in RPI to the NAS. The speeds i achieved were between 45-60 in the beginning but then it stayed at 45-50 

Here is a screenshot.


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## RumbaMon19 (Jul 12, 2021)

_---reserved---_


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## RumbaMon19 (Jul 12, 2021)

---_reserved---_


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