# CONTEST ALERT - Synology-Digit NAS Review Contest - Win NAS units and HDDs



## Anorion (Apr 5, 2021)

*Reviews*

IMCJ
whitestar_999
Aestivial
Vyom
Nerevarine
Cool Buddy
Rumbamon19
sygeek
Dragonoid

*Entries are closed. *

*WIN SYNOLOGY NAS + Hard Drives*​
Are you plagued by low storage problems? Do you like taking a lot of photos but have no space to store them? Are you contemplating buying some cloud storage?

Why not simply take part in these two contests to get a free Synology NAS!

Note: this is Contest #1, click here to go to contest 2
*CONTEST #1*​Prizes​
5x Synology DS120j NAS (hard drives included)
5x Synology DS220+ NAS (hard drives included)
Details and timeline​
Applications open on - 4th April, 2021
Head over to - What is NAS?
Based on the above link, answer 2 questions on this thread to participate:
What is your current storage problem that Synology could help you solve? (Please be as descriptive as possible.)
What application(s) you’d like to review?
Back up PC and Mac automatically
Photo and video backup for iOS and Android
NAS as the ultimate media streamer
Share and collect files in a breeze
Your own unique use case


Fill the Google form -  Synology NAS reviews - The Digit Forum
Applications close by - 21st April, 2021
10 participants will be selected and given Synology NAS units + HDDs - 23rd April, 2021
Selected participants will get to use the Synology NAS for 3 weeks and check out all the features
Selected participants have to review the NAS and share their experiences in this section* at the end of 3 weeks i.e. by 14th May, 2021
Selected participants get to keep the Synology NAS units + HDDs
Terms and Conditions​
Contest runs from April 2nd, 2021 to April 21st, 2021
This contest is sponsored by Synology and run by Digit.
Contest is open to all Indian Citizens above the age of 18 as of April 2nd, 2021.
Terms and conditions, and timelines are subject to change.
You must have an account on the Digit Geek forums in order to participate in this contest.
Only one application per household will be accepted.
Selected contestants will get to permanently keep the NAS unit along with the hard drives that they have been given as long as all terms and conditions are adhered to.
Forum rules are final and applicable to all interactions during the contest.
Digit and its parent company, 9.9 Group Pvt. Ltd. reserves the right to restrict entry.
*If all of this seems like too much trouble, then just head over to the simpler contest to get a chance of winning some Synology gear and goodies, **Contest #2*

*Changes: *
* This has been changed to another thread in the same section from a post in this thread on 05/04/21

Contest has been split into two threads. Responses to the second contest have to be in that thread. 14/04/21
All deadlines have been extended by one week. 14/04/21


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## Desmond (Apr 5, 2021)

You should also share this thread to the official Digit group.


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## Anorion (Apr 5, 2021)

I will in about 5 hours


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## sygeek (Apr 5, 2021)

*What is your current storage problem that Synology could help you solve? (Please be as descriptive as possible.)*
I have a couple of use cases I'd like to solve with a NAS:

The most common: shared storage for all my devices. No more shuffling around external HDDs, or using cloud providers (for non-essential data) to sync devices. I switch around plenty among my devices, and having a NAS will be a lifesaver. Currently, I use my desktop for this purpose and it is a NIGHTMARE.
Common encrypted repository for all important files and documents which is often required by my family.
Similarly, a Google photos alternative. The service is going to be paid in a few months and I'd like to self-host an alternative solution that my entire family can use.
Dump all my movies and shows, instead of deleting them due to storage/logistic constraints.
As a local Plex server (no transcoding).
Look to install various lightweight self-hosted software, which are currently running on a VPS.
Configure the NAS with my old phones for a homegrown surveillance setup.

*What application(s) you’d like to review?*

Back up PC and Mac automatically
Photo and video backup for iOS and Android
NAS as the ultimate media streamer
Share and collect files in a breeze
Your own unique use case


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## desiibond (Apr 5, 2021)

Anorion said:


> I will in about 5 hours


Should we also put our review plan, here in this thread?


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## Æsoteric Positron (Apr 5, 2021)

Anorion said:


> What feature of Synology NAS do you like this most?


The automatic backup is one of the features of synology that would prove a significant quality of life improvement. This would eliminate all the tension of loosing important documents and dear photos. Since synology also have redundancy the fear of loosing the backup itself would be non-existant. It would provide absolute peace of mind knowing that every important moment of your life is automatically backed up. Just the thought of never managing and doing your backups manually again is kind of rebellious against traditional backups.



Anorion said:


> Which Synology NAS would you ideally buy?


DS120j NAS  itself. Its cheap and seems go to as the first NAS device.


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## Nerevarine (Apr 5, 2021)

*What is your current storage problem that Synology could help you solve? (Please be as descriptive as possible.)*
Multiple PCs and Laptop. Need a centralized storage for :
1. Media files to stream.
2. Sync Phone photos and music
3. Keep backup in Google Drive

Current system I use is the one described in this thread
Raspberry Pi 4 - devil's curse from hell
*geek.digit.in/community/threads/raspberry-pi-4-devils-curse-from-hell.207836/post-2378521Tinkering is fun but when I relocate to new residence, setting the whole thing up would be a tiresome job. An end to end solution would seemlessly fix most of my issues.

*What application(s) you’d like to review*
All of them.
Unique cases include, separating out my existing NAS from General purpose computing unit (download/seedbox)..
1. Use my Rock64 SBC to setting up a drive sync for automatic backups to Google Drive using Rclone.
2. Use my Rock64 SBC to only handle aggregator/download tool and store them in my NAS

Previously, Rock64 used to be both a NAS as well as a low powered computer to  do the above. Now since both are separate, if the Rock64 crashes, it doesnt take down the NAS with it. Plus the obvious performance benefit of doing so.

EDIT : I realized Synology has inbuilt solution to handle both of the above. No need of an external device. Furthermore, there is provision to access the NAS outside without portforwarding. This is amazing as this was a major pain for me, regarding port forwarding and getting the nas shared to outside internet.

If I get the chance to review, I can actually use my existing SBC for something else, timelapses, hydroponics etc etc..


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## RumbaMon19 (Apr 5, 2021)

Anorion said:


> 1. What is your current storage problem that Synology could help you solve? (Please be as descriptive as possible.)


I have 3PCs at home and all need to be backed up as they contain important data. But space is coming as an issue here. I also do a lot of torrenting, so i need one NAS for storing all that. I have setup a mini home security camera, which requires a lot of storage than I expected, so NAS can be benefecial as storage usecase. I have a library full of photos which i capture from DSLR, so need to store them also. I will also be using it as a vpn server for home. My family members will be able to use Plex server for streaming.




Anorion said:


> What application(s) you’d like to review


1) Back up PC and Mac automatically
2)Photo and video backup for iOS and Android
3)NAS as the ultimate media streamer
5)Your own unique usecase:- As torrent client and also to store IP-CAM recordings in it.

Contest #2 


What feature of Synology NAS do you like this most?
The Torrent feature, The software used by synology, DSM is much better and has more add-ons as compared to OMV which i am currently using. It helps to add more features like Torrents, VPN server and also use it for storing IP-CAM data. The easy backup features are also helpful, as the data is backed up timely, decreasing data lose risks.

     2. Which Synology NAS would you ideally buy?
DS220+ is good as it has better hardware. It will be able to run as plex server for home and download torrents without any performance glitches. It is also dual bay, so can be increased and also used with RAID setup.  It will be easier to multitask because of that extra juice.


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## Anorion (Apr 6, 2021)

Hey just an update. The reviews have to be posted in this section as individual posts.


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## Anorion (Apr 6, 2021)

desiibond said:


> Should we also put our review plan, here in this thread?


If you want to, you can!

Oi, everyone participate in both contests like Nerevarine did


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## hiteshsalian (Apr 6, 2021)

Anorion said:


> What feature of Synology NAS do you like this most?


The best feature I liked is of streaming videos from anywhere, be it my personal desktop or mobile or my android TV. My current effort of downloading the video, then move it to external HDD and then connect it to a device to view it will be gone. This hassle will no longer exist and Synology NAS setup being so easier helps it even better. Plus I can share those videos with my friends as well, how cool that would be !! And not just download, I can give them a link to upload any videos they have which I need. And they can do that without even needing an account, easy peasy...



Anorion said:


> Which Synology NAS would you ideally buy?


For a start, I would ideally like to go with the DS220j as it has a user friendly interface and is a complete multimedia solution which is perfect for my personal home use.


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## sygeek (Apr 6, 2021)

Anorion said:


> If you want to, you can!
> 
> Oi, everyone participate in both contests like Nerevarine did


Um, can a single participant get selected for both contests?


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## Aestivial (Apr 7, 2021)

Anorion said:


> *#CONTEST-1:*





Anorion said:


> *1. What is your current storage problem that Synology could help you solve? (Please be as descriptive as possible.)*


Ans. Well the foremost is accessibility; even though I lack considerable amount of storage for my overall usage, accessibility throughout my personal network connection (at Home) via a centralized storage medium, is something that I definitely cannot overlook! Given the add-ons of high-speed and ample data storage, it's a complete win-win.
Apart from that, I need a reliable source of backup for my data across multiple devices, in a centralized storage medium.
Employing the Moments feature from Synology NAS, I can finally rest easy with all the raw pics and videos from my phone, clogging my already short Google Storage space too.



Anorion said:


> *2. What application(s) you’d like to review?*


Ans. I'd be interested to review any/all of these following applications:
1. Back up PC and Mac automatically.
2. Photo and video backup for iOS and Android.
3. NAS as the ultimate media streamer/file-transfer.
4. Ease of accessibility across the network.




Anorion said:


> *#CONTEST-2:*





Anorion said:


> *1. What feature of Synology NAS do you like this most?*


Ans. If I had to credit NAS for one best feature (in my opinion), it'd be accessibility. Synology NAS brings down the shortcomings of traditional physical external-drives and competes as an faster and more secure alternative while being all the more accessible at hand. Being able to stream, share and collect media so easily is something that I think is definitely appealing in Synology NAS.



Anorion said:


> *2. Which Synology NAS would you ideally buy?*


Ans. Though, it really is a tough job to simply decide over all the available options being loaded with remunerative features, I think the one that would be an ideal choice for me (and my family usage) is the _Synology DS 220+ NAS, _being absolute value for money.


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## SaiyanGoku (Apr 7, 2021)

Anorion said:


> 1. What is your current storage problem that Synology could help you solve? (Please be as descriptive as possible.)


I have a lot of media content (mostly family photos, videos), game play recordings, offline steam/EGS/uplay/gog/origin game installer backup, few personal coding projects and backup of FOSS/freeware for offline installation spanning over multiple portable HDDs (which is cumbersome to maintain). I'm a data hoarder basically. I'd like to consolidate all of this in a single NAS for 24*7 access and to make some of it selectively available to family members so that they don't have to depend on cloud storage or WhatsApp for sharing photos and videos.

I don't like the idea of uploading highly confidential and/or important personal data on the cloud storage. My laptop has gigabit ethernet port and wifi, so I should get similar speeds transferring files to NAS as I get on USB 3.0 to HDDs.
Also, having a NAS for myself would help me give away my old, lower capacity portable HDDs to family members.


Anorion said:


> 2. What application(s) you’d like to review?


*1. Back up PC and Mac automatically*
I have a redundant backup of important docs on my laptop and hdd which I would like to move to always accessible private storage.

*2. Photo and video backup for iOS and Android*
Can't save every one of those on phone because of storage limitations. I wonder if I can use the usb 3.0 port on DS220+ to directly transfer files from my phones.

*3. NAS as the ultimate media streamer/file-transfer.*
This would be my primary usage. I have deleted/transferred to cloud so much of media content in past because I kept running out of space. Also, it would mean more space on laptop for games. I can finally install Halo MCC, Flight Simulator 2020 or Warzone 

*4. Share and collect files in a breeze*
What to do when you want to share high quality videos and pics but youtube/whatsapp/etc keep compressing them resulting in loss of image quality? Why does this 3rd party file transfer app requires phone, call logs, location, sms, etc permissions?
I expect a NAS to be a solution for these problems.

*5. Your own unique use case*
I take regular full TWRP backups of my phone, especially when trying out different roms. Then there are gameplay recording from Rocket League which I'd like to edit directly from the NAS before starting my youtube channel someday hopefully XD. Might try hosting own VPS and move over to bitwarden from Keepass.


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## Vyom (Apr 7, 2021)

Thanks digit for bringing out this contest! I am digging it! 

*CONTEST #1*

1. What is your current storage problem that Synology could help you solve? (Please be as descriptive as possible.)

I have huge collection of pictures and videos from me and my family that I want to sync to a central location so that I can go through and make sense of the memories that we have built over a decade! And I don't trust my data with big tech corporates that have huge privacy issues.

I am also a content creator and want to be able to keep backups of all my videos and be able to pull up archives and edit them.

Also I have a collection of so many movies that I want to be able to stream them to my TV. I want to do this since my parents to move from archaic "cable" to digital era, where they can watch shows and moves without ads.


2. What application(s) you’d like to review?
        Back up PC and Mac automatically
        Photo and video backup for iOS and Android
        NAS as the ultimate media streamer
        Your own unique use case: I want to review all of them and also the built quality and the power consumption. Also the noise it makes and how easy is the user interface etc. I would also want to be able to host my own password service using service like Bitwarden, since again, I don't trust big corporations for privacy.


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## Dragonoid (Apr 7, 2021)

First of all, thanks Synology and digit.in for bringing out this contest! It's one of a kind contest that I have seen and is really appreciated. 


CONTEST #1

1. What is your current storage problem that Synology could help you solve? (Please be as descriptive as possible.)

With the increase in usage of technology in our daily lives, the data requirements have gone up and subsequently the storage requirements also have increased. After graduating from high school, I became interested in films and anime. Slowly started to downloading more and more videos and now I have more than 400GB of videos, which I store into an external HDD. Copying files between HDD and laptop or mobile is a hassle which can be avoided using a NAS.
Also, my father has a huge collection of VCDs and DVDs which I want to digitise, so that can be streamed from a single storage device to mobile.
I am also a photographer and keeping those photos organized will be a real lifesaver.


2. What application(s) you’d like to review?
Back up PC and Mac automatically
Photo and video backup for iOS and Android
NAS as the ultimate media streamer
Your own unique use case: With Google changing its app policy for storing data, it has become necessary to store your own data yourselves. I want to use the NAS as a Cloud Storage with complete control rather than entrusting my data to big corps and being uncertain if the data is safe or not.


CONTEST #2

1. What feature of Synology NAS do you like this most?

I like the Synology software the most. A clutter free experience which can be used by an amateur also. Building your own NAS is time consuming and Unraid can be quite tricky for new users to get accustomed to.

2. Which Synology NAS would you ideally buy?
Ideally, I want to buy the Synology DS1621+. It has the perfect mix of storage flexibility, 2 M.2 slots for caching and an optional 10Gbe port for future-proofing.


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## omega44-xt (Apr 7, 2021)

CONTEST #2

1. What feature of Synology NAS do you like this most?
The convenience provided by its software. Being a relatively old school guy who backs up the pics from phone to my laptop, then to my ext HDD (setup using File History of Win10), this will make my task a lot simpler. 

2. Which Synology NAS would you ideally buy?
For my personal NAS, DS220j would be more than sufficient without costing a lot for features that I don't necessarily need.


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## Abiraman (Apr 8, 2021)

1. Using NAS at my accessible location gives me belief of secure that my data is safe and been on Public network, the long run cost of using a NAS is lesser than paid cloud services. No worries on sharing the NAS with families unless if it is cloud drive.

2. It will be useful for many movie buffs who wants to revisit their memories about a particular movie. NAS helps them to access at any location and provide the comfort of using it.


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## imcj (Apr 8, 2021)

First things first, I'd like to thank DIGIT for presenting this opportunity.

Moving on to the questions posted above, here is my entry for both the contests: 

For Contest No. 1: 


What is your current storage problem that Synology could help you solve?
Answer: As a freelancer that shoots and edits a lot of 4k footage, I need a reliable storage solution with redundancy for my endeavors. I also make videos on youtube which are also shot, edited and uploaded in 4k. So I have two issues with my work. First, I need ample storage to shoot and edit my videos and other projects that I freelance. Second, the ample storage for my footage needs to be reliable as well. Right now I am using external drives for my storage solution for storing all the 4k clips I shoot and edit and as with all external hard disks, one of my disk failed on me recently resulting in loss of footage. I went to service center of western digital as well but the drive could not be restored. It was very embarrassing for me to communicate the same to a paying client. After researching on the issue and its possible solutions, one of the best one that I have come around is Synology NAS. I NAS like DS220+ can help me with both my problems revealed earlier. It is the easiest route to a dependable solution.

What application(s) you’d like to review?
If chosen to review the NAS, I'd like to review it from the point of view of a creator/freelancer that will include: 
Back up of PC and Mac automatically using NAS.
Photo and video backup for my work files using NAS.
NAS as the ultimate media streamer.


For Contest No.2 

What feature of Synology NAS do you like this most?
 Answer: Synology Moments is the feature that I like most of Synology Nas. Its great that all my photos and videos taken by mobile phones can be backed up automatically to one personal place on your NAS with Moments. This is great because ideally my NAS will have better protection, reach and reliability than any other external hard disk used as a stop gap storage solution. What's even better is that all photos are automatically grouped together according to similar faces, places, and subjects with the power of AI technology. Life sounds quite easy with one of these Synology NAS storage solutions.

Which Synology NAS would you ideally buy?
Answer: After researching on the issue and its possible solutions, one of the best one that I have come around is Synology NAS. I NAS like DS220+ can help me with both my problems of storing huge data and that too reliably.DS220+ has seamless integration with mobile devices to make accessing data from mobile devices easier than ever for a quick edit or peek. On top of it, snapshot replication provides schedulable and storage capacity-saving data protection with 1,024 shared folder backups and 65,000 system-wide snapshots. Lastly it has the newer 2-core processor that boosts photo indexing, database response times, and web PHP response efficiency making it future proof for demanding applications.


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## ashkingansh (Apr 8, 2021)

Anorion said:


> *WIN SYNOLOGY NAS + Hard Drives*
> 
> Are you plagued by low storage problems? Do you like taking a lot of photos but have no space to store them? Are you contemplating buying some cloud storage?
> 
> ...


CONTEST #1

What is your current storage problem that Synology could help you solve? (Please be as descriptive as possible.)
I have a laptop with 1TB SSD, its fast but game files being above 90GB like COD:Warzone, Valorant, GTA V, RDR 2 fills it in no time, I already have a WD My Passport 2TB but it is slow and i want to store more new titles like FH4, and insane MS Flight Sim, i want to see if NAS could help me storing my big game titles and want to know if it is faster than my external HDD, i am planning on buying an 8TB External HDD on my birthday too

What application(s) you’d like to review?
Share and collect files in a breeze


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## dmantamp (Apr 10, 2021)

1. What is your current storage problem that Synology could help you solve?
I am using 3 different platforms for my work at home. Mac, Ubuntu and Windows. I have an external drive with good amount of capacity. While this drive works fine to move my data between Windows and Linux machines. But it does not work on Mac as it needs special formatting. At present if I have to share, I connect the drive to Linux and use SCP or FTP to transfer it to mac. I was looking to build a NAS myself, to solve this problem.

2. What application(s) you’d like to review?
   I would like to review the following use-cases
1.  Read and write files from Mac, Windows, Linux
2. Speed. I use the drive for storing my virtual machines (for development work). These files are minimum 10G each. So whenever I need to run to on my local box, I should be able to copy it fast. At present I have to keep attaching and removing the drive to machine and an additional overhead when using Mac as I cannot direct use them on Mac.
3. I would like to have backup for my documents, photos. At present I store photos on cloud storage. But for documents, I don't prefer it as they have confidential information.


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## _.yash007._ (Apr 11, 2021)

CONTEST#1

1. What is your current storage problem that Synology could help you solve?

Well, I'm a student and in today's date, we all know how it's all working online. And it's literally killing my pc when it comes to storage problems. You see, lectures of worth around 2 gigabytes daily + study materials on a daily basis make it really hard for me to store on my PC's storage. And swapping with HDD and other stuff like pen drives takes loads of time sadly. Also, one of my family member, being a teacher, recording meetings, scanning lot of study materials, etc really finds it hard to get storage on their PC too.
Now when it comes to storage in my Phone, it's a total endgame! I literally have made accounts on google in order to back up my photos and docs, which makes it really time-consuming to retrieve the data [Out of space in all of them  ] . Also, I have CCTV cameras around my place as well as a good friend's who lives far. And the HDDs in there too are hefty to maintain and take a lot of efforts. Uploading personal data to other cloud services feels pretty risky as well.

2. What application(s) you’d like to review?

Well all of them but the uniques ones really seem helpful
For starters, I really do like accessing my media on many devices, and copying those hither and tither makes it really sad.. plus the quality which is then seen doesn't really satisfy
The feature wherein I can use NAS as an ultimate media streamer using Video Station looks awesome.
Also auto backup is pretty common in Smartphones but the feature wherein I can do the same for my PCs is so cool. Important data like old records and pwds, etc really need that feature. Also easy and time saver for the old gen people XD.


Thanks!


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## tanmoycgartist (Apr 12, 2021)

Contest #1:

Q:What is your current storage problem that Synology could help you solve?
A: As a CG professional working in the movie industry for years and a freelancer , I need a reliable storage solution for my projects.As the multimedia and cg projects are usually contains hugh volume of data .So I need ample storage for my renders and simulation caches.Currently I  am using internal and external HDD as my storage solution
And already lost one of my disk crashed recently resulting in loss old project files as well as my personal photos and everything. And ther other tow storage media I have are also aging and can give up any day now. So being a close follower of tech I came across the Synology NAS. And I found that NAS like DS220+ (at least affordable)is best suited for me for now, but if I can win a free ont then definitely will prefer the more high end like DS420j or the DS420+


Q:What application(s) you’d like to review?
A: I would review it as a layman and from a regular guys's perspective, how seamless and easy to store backup all my files and getting them on demand.
Also will want to know how this NAS can handle/stream/feed my workstation with thousand of frames render footages with atleast half a gig size each for my realtime compositing work or the simulation cache which are even higher in size per frame.
Oh and yes ofcourse how easey it would be to setup it as my daily midea server for my smart entertainment system.

Contest #2

Q:What feature of Synology NAS do you like this most?
A: From the feature list as of now it seems the Synology Moments is favourite.It will automatically eliminate my and my family's tedious job of organising and backup process of photos  from multiple sources bliss. More over the reliability of a NAS on data protection from corruption is way supirior than traditional HDD. Which is the reason I need a NAS.

Q:Which Synology NAS would you ideally buy?
A: Ofcourse if was more affordable and also in my budget I would go for DS420+ as it has 4 bay and the storage limit is also higher. But currently keeping everything in mind the perfect solution would be the DS220+.It has seamless integration with mobile devices and the ability to schedule backup and the peace of mind for protection from HDD failure.


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## DaretoDefy (Apr 13, 2021)

Anorion said:


> *WIN SYNOLOGY NAS + Hard Drives*
> 
> Are you plagued by low storage problems? Do you like taking a lot of photos but have no space to store them? Are you contemplating buying some cloud storage?
> 
> ...


1. My current storage problem is I like to store BD50/BD REMUX files for that my current external storage(4TB) / Google Drive isn't efficient to store as the read/write/Upload(Cloud) takes more time than ripping/Downloading files.

2. Main reason I would like to use NAS is for Home server , I prefer PLEX media Server


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## Anorion (Apr 13, 2021)

Hello
There are some changes being made. Hold tight.


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## Anorion (Apr 13, 2021)

Hello
Please follow these instructions.
Respond to the second contest in its own thread. If you have already posted here, cut out your responses, and put them in the new thread for contest 2 here

All users are encouraged to participate in both contests, or at least if writing a review post is not your thing then participate in Contest #2 and everyone who participated in Contest #1, also participate in Contest #2.. More things can change depending on the response. Do not wait for the deadline, participate as early as possible.

Thanks


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## whitestar_999 (Apr 14, 2021)

Contest#1

1.  Q:What is your current storage problem that Synology could help you solve?
Ans. I have lots of internal & external HDDs(almost 30TB) & a syncology NAS will help me in de-cluttering my PC table(littered with external HDDs) as well as help in more ease of access to my data anywhere from my home network as well as from outside network.

2. Q:What application(s) you’d like to review?
Ans. I would like to review automatic one click backup solutions as well as media access from multiple devices & platforms like windows, android & even web browser for some simple media streaming & file operations.

1. Back up PC and Mac automatically
I have lots of files in my documents folders & I often edit office & text documents. Sometimes there are mistakes which skips my notice & result in lost info. The version & auto backup feature of syncology NAS will help me in this case as I will always have some previous copies of a document so even if there is a mistake in final edit I can still make use of previous versions to correct it.

2. Photo and video backup for iOS and Android
Most android file explorers nowadays comes with ftp/web server based file sharing so I also plan to use NAS as a backup destination for such personal data which is too sensitive to upload on google drive/photos.

3. NAS as the ultimate media streamer
Nowadays with increasing availability of 4k content the storage requirements have also gone up so a NAS as a single source to stream 4k content to multiple devices saves the hassle of finding enough storage on multiple devices. In this way NAS can help me in setting up a single source for streaming all my media across the network.

4. Share and collect files in a breeze
I have lots of files which I like to share with my friends & cousins but currently I need to upload them first to a cloud service & then send the link to them. Using syncology NAS share file feature & collect file feature I can directly send my files as well as allow my friends & cousins to send me files without involving a 3rd party(cloud service provider) in between. It is more secure & privacy oriented.

5. Your own unique use case
I would also like to deploy a snapshot based windows backup restore feature as found in many disc imaging software(differential & incremental backups to be precise) which can take snapshot of windows drive every few hours & save it to NAS & can be used to revert any changes made to windows/OS either intentionally(installing some new software or windows update) & unintentionally(malware attacks). As windows 10 regular updates nowadays have frequently become problematic in many cases it will be a nice insurance to know all it will take is a few min/hour to revert any inadvertent changes made to the windows/OS.


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## winshikhar (Apr 19, 2021)

Anorion said:


> What is your current storage problem that Synology could help you solve? (Please be as descriptive as possible.)


Being a technology enthusiast, I am an avid reader of technology-related magazines such as Digit, PC Quest, CHIP, etc. Now with all the knowledge that these magazines offer, they come with a DVD which packs additional content (software, games, documentaries) which just sits there, as we seldom use DVDs now. Many-a-times, these DVDs have an upgraded version of previously provided firmware/drivers/OS. So, copying all the media from such DVDs to the local disk is just not the solution. Thus, I would very much like to rip the DVDs into the NAS and access all of the updated content.


Anorion said:


> What application(s) you’d like to review?
> 
> Back up PC and Mac automatically
> Photo and video backup for iOS and Android
> ...


NAS as the ultimate media streamer and a private application server to edit various kinds of documents.


----------



## Vishalrana09 (Apr 19, 2021)

Anorion said:


> What is your current storage problem that Synology could help you solve? (Please be as descriptive as possible.)


Currently I have been facing a very big problem as I have to store  photos, videos, music, my personal data, professional data all these things in my hard drives I have 3 all are full 6 months ago a incident happened with me my hard drive it  crashed I was not able to recover my data and had a huge loss. Then I thought of going for cloud storage but as I saw their monthly charges they were to expensive plus I don't want to share my personal data in cloud where I don't have my full control, so I browsed a lot about NAS and its benefits

- Synology NAS is essently a intelligent box that helps you store all of your photos, videos, music , personal and professional data in a safe fast and easily accessible place

- My challenge is that my data is increasing day by day and all my storage devices are getting full and if they crash I am not able to recover any thing from them
Whereas NAS create a instant replica of your data in another drive so that if one crash the other one can give me my all valuable data .

- Also SYNOLOGY NAS  is like a one time investment and I can access my files from anywhere In the world without tension


What application(s) you’d like to review?


Back up PC and Mac automatically
Photo and video backup for iOS and Android
NAS as the ultimate media streamer
Share and collect files in a breeze
All 4 features


----------



## Priyanshu Tiwari (Apr 19, 2021)

Anorion said:


> *WIN SYNOLOGY NAS + Hard Drives*
> 
> Are you plagued by low storage problems? Do you like taking a lot of photos but have no space to store them? Are you contemplating buying some cloud storage?
> 
> ...





Anorion said:


> *WIN SYNOLOGY NAS + Hard Drives*
> 
> Are you plagued by low storage problems? Do you like taking a lot of photos but have no space to store them? Are you contemplating buying some cloud storage?
> 
> ...


What is your current storage problem that Synology could help you solve? (Please be as descriptive as possible.)

Currently I am using a laptop setup which consists of low storage and I need to store stuffs on drive too. I play games and record the clips but in order to transfer them to my mobile device, it takes a lot of effort. With Synology, I could easily store my data without any issues and can easily trasnfer them to my phone or any other devices. I am a student and I require to transfer assignments from one device to another in order to take print outs and submit them, but I feel Synology can help me to come out of this Hassel.


What application(s) you’d like to review?
->Back up PC and Mac automatically
->Photo and video backup for iOS and Android
->NAS as the ultimate media streamer
->Share and collect files in a breeze

I am a heavy storage user with less storage options, so I can give all the applications a try...


----------



## Cool Buddy (Apr 19, 2021)

Anorion said:


> What is your current storage problem that Synology could help you solve? (Please be as descriptive as possible.)



My current setup requires me to run two separate devices to create a NAS (A dedicated backup hard drive connected to a Raspberry Pi). And also, all the set up and maintenance needs to be done manually. At times, this can be taxing with our busy schedules. Synology NAS with it's various apps ecosystem will make this whole process easier and with a single device. There will be no mess of wires running from here to there.
Setting up a sync server is also a pain. I have multiple devices, PC, Laptop, Phone, Tab and there are some things I want to keep in sync in all these devices. Synology will make it easier for me to setup this multi-device sync.
Following from above, it will make my life easier with a local backup of all my photos and videos. Relying on cloud solutions either works out to be costly (with monthly subscription fee to paid for life) or makes data vulnerable to leakage. Having the data locally available solves both problems.
I will also be able to stream movies directly to my Android TV using Kodi.
Synology NAS's DiskStation manager will be far easier to maintain for me, rather than having to fumble around with a Linux terminal every time something goes wrong.



Anorion said:


> What application(s) you’d like to review?
> 
> Back up PC and Mac automatically
> Photo and video backup for iOS and Android
> ...


I will be trying out all 5 usecases. 

First three are obvious usecases mentioned in the first part. 
I see fewer practical usecases for fourth point for myself. However, having the option to share large files without relying on cloud applications is certainly a plus. I see myself sharing my phone's videos with my family, once I have this feature.
My unique usecases would include setting up a print server on Synology. My father sometimes needs to take printouts. However, since he has a laptop, he's forced to connect the printer to the laptop every time. I will try connecting the printer to Synology and setting up a print server (hopefully with a print queue functionality), if this function is supported for my printer model.


----------



## binayak (Apr 21, 2021)

Contest 1:

Most of us believe that use of NAS limited to storage of documents and media files. However, people don't know that NAS can be used in enterprises to host a variety of applications. I want to demonstrate an use case where Synology NAS can be used as primary storage of a database.

I work in manufacturing industry. We collect thousands of measurements every second from hundreds of equipment in our production line and store then in database for operation analysis. We require GBs of storage space every month. So efficient and affordable management of storage space has been a challenge. I want to experiment with Synology NAS and build a use case where I shall be storing millions of data points in the NAS and use an external server attached to the NAS to analyze the data. I shall review the product from perspective of data storage at industrial scale.

I'm a tech geek and have worked in IT & manufacturing industry for more than 5 years, I have worked with various NAS products available in the market and want to try out Synology for the first time.


----------



## Cool Buddy (Apr 23, 2021)

Any updates on the results?


----------



## whitestar_999 (Apr 24, 2021)

Cool Buddy said:


> Any updates on the results?


Corona situation is worsening & Delhi Maharashtra are in bad shape so I guess delay is inevitable.


----------



## Cool Buddy (Apr 24, 2021)

whitestar_999 said:


> Corona situation is worsening & Delhi Maharashtra are in bad shape so I guess delay is inevitable.


Understandable. But would have been nice if an announcement was posted about the delay.


----------



## Anorion (Apr 25, 2021)

Yes, timeline has been extended by one week for everything. We will be making the announcements and contacting by email.


----------



## Anorion (Apr 26, 2021)

Hello
Putting list of users who qualified to win Contest #1. If anyone is missing please respond here.

Sygeek
Aestivial
Nerevarine
RumbaMon19
hiteshsalian
SaiyanGoku
Vyom
Dragonoid
Abiraman
imcj
ashkingansh
dmantamp
_.yash007._
tanmoycgartist
DaretoDefy
whitestar_999
winshikhar
Vishalrana09
Priyanshu Tiwari
Cool Buddy
binayak


----------



## desiibond (Apr 27, 2021)

Anorion said:


> Hello
> Putting list of users who qualified to win Contest #1. If anyone is missing please respond here.
> 
> Sygeek
> ...


Did I miss anything. Do not see my name.


----------



## whitestar_999 (Apr 27, 2021)

desiibond said:


> Did I miss anything. Do not see my name.


Where is your review in this thread, I think you posted in that other thread only for contest#2.


----------



## desiibond (Apr 27, 2021)

whitestar_999 said:


> Where is your review in this thread, I think you posted in that other thread only for contest#2.


I had added my point in  google docs link that was shared earlier.


----------



## whitestar_999 (Apr 27, 2021)

desiibond said:


> I had added my point in  google docs link that was shared earlier.





> Based on the above link, *answer 2 questions on this thread* to participate:


----------



## Anorion (Apr 29, 2021)

desiibond said:


> Did I miss anything. Do not see my name.





desiibond said:


> I had added my point in  google docs link that was shared earlier.


It is okay, we are going to accept this response. Where is the link to the docs? Just post it again please. Will update the list shortly.

@pattaprateek @ABSCOMP you can complete your submissions too.

*Contest is delayed. Watch this thread for updates.*


----------



## chetansha (Apr 30, 2021)

Anorion said:


> Hello
> Putting list of users who qualified to win Contest #1. If anyone is missing please respond here.
> 
> Sygeek
> ...


I had put it up too .wherr did my name go. 6th april i had dine it.

Sent from my SM-M315F using Tapatalk
*uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20210430/286592a2ba511bed68234f78b6a28c38.jpg


----------



## whitestar_999 (May 1, 2021)

chetansha said:


> I had put it up too .wherr did my name go. 6th april i had dine it.


You were supposed to post in this thread too. Anyway I guess some relaxation is allowed.



> Based on the above link, *answer 2 questions on this thread* to participate:


----------



## Anorion (May 7, 2021)

Oi. Stay tuned. Stay home.


----------



## dmantamp (May 10, 2021)

Is this contest still on ? As per the first post, contest ends on 21st. On 25th April, I see a post saying it has been extended by a week. Two weeks are over since then.


----------



## Desmond (May 10, 2021)

The corona lockdown is causing an issue for everyone. So, please be patient.


----------



## Anorion (May 12, 2021)

It's on hold, we are figuring out timelines and how we can get the things to people.


----------



## chetansha (May 12, 2021)

Fedex and bluedart working . This is in tamil nadu
Qe have partial lockdown 

Sent from my SM-M315F using Tapatalk


----------



## Anorion (May 18, 2021)

We have to coordinate nationwide. It looks like its on hold till June at least.


----------



## Nerevarine (May 18, 2021)

Its no surprise you are facing issue with couriers. I had a lot of pain moving two office laptops to my office location. Couriers are denying certain locations nowadays.


----------



## Anorion (May 20, 2021)

Units have been shipped. Will be updating winners and timelines.


----------



## Anorion (May 20, 2021)

Winners are

*Synology DS220*
Nerevarine
Sygeek
Vyom
Cool Buddy
Aestival

*Synology DS120j*
whitestar_999
RumbaMon19
_.yash007._
imcj
Dragonoid


----------



## whitestar_999 (May 20, 2021)

Anorion said:


> Winners are
> 
> *Synology DS220*
> Nerevarine
> ...


My first win in any such contest. 

P.S. Do we get any package tracking info?


----------



## Cool Buddy (May 21, 2021)

Anorion said:


> Units have been shipped. Will be updating winners and timelines.


Shipped to the winners?

Awesome, I'm so excited!


----------



## RumbaMon19 (May 21, 2021)

Anorion said:


> Winners are
> 
> *Synology DS220*
> Nerevarine
> ...



Congrats to all other winners too. 

Also, if anything is going to be mailed, then pls notify here also as Hotmail has a bad habit of not delivering some mails.


----------



## sygeek (May 21, 2021)

Anorion said:


> Winners are
> 
> *Synology DS220*
> Nerevarine
> ...



*media0.giphy.com/media/5GoVLqeAOo6PK/200.gif


----------



## Vyom (May 21, 2021)

Anorion said:


> Winners are
> 
> *Synology DS220*
> Nerevarine
> ...



I don't have words to describe my excitement!
I would try to do justice with my reviews.

Also, since the shipments were delayed, that would also extend the deadline for reviews?


----------



## Vyom (May 21, 2021)

whitestar_999 said:


> P.S. Do we get any package tracking info?


Yup. Awaiting tracking info. 
My mobile network isn't the greatest. So I don't want to miss out any calls!


----------



## TheSloth (May 21, 2021)

@Æsoteric Positron almost won the contest here. You should have said you are @Aestivial


----------



## _.yash007._ (May 21, 2021)

Anorion said:


> Winners are
> 
> *Synology DS220*
> Nerevarine
> ...


Really Excited !
Awaiting tracking info.


----------



## imcj (May 21, 2021)

Anorion said:


> Winners are
> 
> *Synology DS220*
> Nerevarine
> ...


Thank you digit for making this happen. My first win here. Will try to justify the win with content.  Cheers all.


----------



## Nerevarine (May 21, 2021)

Congrats to all winners


----------



## Vyom (May 22, 2021)

So looks like I am the first (?) to receive the shipment?


----------



## Vyom (May 22, 2021)

Just opened it up. And it doesn't contain the disks. Is it being shipped separately?


----------



## Dragonoid (May 22, 2021)

Vyom said:


> Just opened it up. And it doesn't contain the disks. Is it being shipped separately?


Same with my DS120j. The disks are not included in the box. Will we get the disk on a later date?


----------



## Cool Buddy (May 22, 2021)

I received it too, around 2 PM today. Without disks, as others reported. 

I suppose disks would have been shipped separately from a different location.


----------



## Aestivial (May 22, 2021)

TheSloth said:


> @Æsoteric Positron almost won the contest here. You should have said you are @Aestivial


*cough *cough
Wow- 
XD


----------



## Aestivial (May 22, 2021)

Anorion said:


> Winners are
> 
> *Synology DS220*
> Nerevarine
> ...



Awesome! (Considering there's no "Aestival" and you mispelled my username XD)

Is there any confirmation mail or something which I should expect? Also, since the shipping address is already provided, when can I expect it to deliver?

(Will be helpful if you can confirm if it's DS220 or DS220+)


----------



## whitestar_999 (May 22, 2021)

I guess HDD will be shipped separately.


----------



## Vyom (May 22, 2021)

Aestivial said:


> (Will be helpful if you can confirm if it's DS220 or DS220+)


It would be most probably DS220+
Couldn't find DS220 on Amazon or anywhere else.


----------



## Cool Buddy (May 22, 2021)

Aestivial said:


> (Will be helpful if you can confirm if it's DS220 or DS220+)


It is DS220+

Few people, including me, have already received the NAS units. 

HDDs are yet to be received. I'm very curious and excited to know the specs of the HDD we're going to receive.


----------



## Nerevarine (May 22, 2021)

Most likely gonna be WD Reds or Seagate Ironwolf, as they are actual NAS HDD


----------



## imcj (May 22, 2021)

Nerevarine said:


> Most likely gonna be WD Reds or Seagate Ironwolf, as they are actual NAS HDD


He most probably wanted to know the read write speeds and capacity of the hdd's. 
Got my DS120J as well.  Most probably it will be a seagate drive.


----------



## Æsoteric Positron (May 23, 2021)

TheSloth said:


> @Æsoteric Positron almost won the contest here. You should have said you are @Aestivial


Welp, it would be certainly hard to impersonate a cute kitty XD


----------



## Aestivial (May 23, 2021)

Æsoteric Positron said:


> Welp, it would be certainly hard to impersonate a cute kitty XD


Ahem XP


----------



## Aestivial (May 23, 2021)

Vyom said:


> It would be most probably DS220+
> Couldn't find DS220 on Amazon or anywhere else.



Yass, couldn't find one either. Waiting for the shipment to arrive now (since they're already dispatched). But without the HDDs, have hardly anything to fiddle with, so hope they ship them out soon too!


----------



## Anorion (May 23, 2021)

TheSloth said:


> @Æsoteric Positron almost won the contest here. You should have said you are @Aestivial


Man. close lol. Would not have happened. 
There was a very fair process. Cant divulge all details, but there was every effort to match responses with what use case the company had.


----------



## TheSloth (May 24, 2021)

Anorion said:


> Man. close lol. Would not have happened.
> There was a very fair process. Cant divulge all details, but there was every effort to match responses with what use case the company had.


I know you guys seriously worked on this so no way a silly mistake like that can happen. I was just kidding there


----------



## Æsoteric Positron (May 24, 2021)

Ye, rest assured you can always trust yours truly @Æsoteric Positron to not indulge in any shady business............


----------



## Aestivial (May 24, 2021)

Anorion said:


> Winners are
> 
> *Synology DS220*
> Nerevarine
> ...



Already received mine, though not the HDDs yet. Were they shipped some time after the NAS shipment? Also which HDDs are we exactly looking forward too?


----------



## Aestivial (May 24, 2021)

Æsoteric Positron said:


> Ye, rest assured you can always trust yours truly @Æsoteric Positron to not indulge in any shady business............



XD Yass, he's a very diligent "Knight" now afterall.


----------



## Cool Buddy (May 24, 2021)

Any updates on the HDD shipments? What models, capacity, ETA, etc.?


----------



## sygeek (May 24, 2021)

Cool Buddy said:


> Any updates on the HDD shipments? What models, capacity, ETA, etc.?


Same question. Received my device today as well.


----------



## RumbaMon19 (May 24, 2021)

Anorion said:


> Winners are
> 
> *Synology DS220*
> Nerevarine
> ...



Any tracking no. I can get as I have not received it yet and it usually don't take that long to reach to my place.

Edit:- What a coincidence, received it after an hour and a half of writing this.


----------



## _.yash007._ (May 24, 2021)

RumbaMon19 said:


> Any tracking no. I can get as I have not received it yet and it usually don't take that long to reach to my place.


Yeah exactly same here. Also messaged Anorion regarding the same but no reply yet.

PS- please check your inbox Anorion


----------



## Nerevarine (May 25, 2021)

I got the device but as others have said it doesnt have any HDD.

Also, one thing to note, the default power adapter requires 16A socket(thicc boi), so get yourself a converter.


----------



## Cool Buddy (May 25, 2021)

Or you can just use a different power cable as it's a standard connector on the adapter.


----------



## whitestar_999 (May 26, 2021)

Chia inflating HDD price like anything so expect delays as availability is quite poor even in USA & obviously the worst in Asia(China effect).


----------



## Cool Buddy (May 26, 2021)

I wish they had despatched them together. Having the NAS unit and not being able to use it is killing me .


----------



## Nerevarine (May 26, 2021)

Have you guys decided what kind of review you will do ? Maybe we should have a system where we do reviews in such a way that there is minimal overlap. 10x read write benchmarks ain't gonna do much me thinks


----------



## Vyom (May 26, 2021)

Even if it have overlap, everyone has different style and needs.
So it would be fun to compare reviews once they are out. 

Or you can share your ideas to begin with.


----------



## Cool Buddy (May 26, 2021)

Nerevarine said:


> Have you guys decided what kind of review you will do ? Maybe we should have a system where we do reviews in such a way that there is minimal overlap. 10x read write benchmarks ain't gonna do much me thinks


Not planning on doing read write benchmark at all. My router will probably be a bottleneck for that anyway. 

Mostly about the features, ease of use, possible improvements, etc. I'm planning on trying out some less common usecases, already researching for that.


----------



## Anorion (May 26, 2021)

Last date for reviews is 19th June


----------



## _.yash007._ (May 26, 2021)

Anorion said:


> Last date for reviews is 19th June


Hey there. I haven't received mine yet, please check your inbox


----------



## Anorion (May 26, 2021)

Yupp, checking


----------



## Cool Buddy (May 26, 2021)

Anorion said:


> Last date for reviews is 19th June


Will we receive the HDDs this week? Would like to have a couple of weekends to try out all the features as it's not possible to do much on weekdays.


----------



## Anorion (May 27, 2021)

Actually according to our modified plan, we were supposed to ship only in the first month of June, but we pulled that back as much as we could.
Im sorry, the date remains 19th June... lol understand that that's the weekend... still its a whole week extra till then
We are still trying to figure out more things and how best to implement these ideas, so actually, it is better to get the reviews out sooner ^^


----------



## Aestivial (May 27, 2021)

Anorion said:


> Actually according to our modified plan, we were supposed to ship only in the first month of June, but we pulled that back as much as we could.
> Im sorry, the date remains 19th June... lol understand that that's the weekend... still its a whole week extra till then
> We are still trying to figure out more things and how best to implement these ideas, so actually, it is better to get the reviews out sooner ^^



Hey @Anorion, what about the specs of the shipped HDDs?


----------



## Cool Buddy (May 27, 2021)

Anorion said:


> Im sorry, the date remains 19th June... lol understand that that's the weekend... still its a whole week extra till then


Wasn't asking for the date to be delayed, was just asking if we'll receive the HDDs this week.


----------



## Nerevarine (May 29, 2021)

Well guys, it seems my device isnt powering on. Its been 10 mins but the blue LED is still flashing. Synology website says it might be a motherboard failure. Rip.. Better check your devices first guys


----------



## Cool Buddy (May 30, 2021)

Nerevarine said:


> Well guys, it seems my device isnt powering on. Its been 10 mins but the blue LED is still flashing. Synology website says it might be a motherboard failure. Rip.. Better check your devices first guys


Did you complete DSM installation? It will keep flashing till DSM installation is complete.


----------



## Nerevarine (May 30, 2021)

No, I just powered it on ? Does DSM installation automatically start  on first run ? I can't access the web interface, nor does it detect in my router


----------



## Cool Buddy (May 30, 2021)

Nerevarine said:


> No, I just powered it on ? Does DSM installation automatically start  on first run ? I can't access the web interface, nor does it detect in my router


No. Visit find.synology.com on any computer on the local network. You will get an option to install DSM from there. It installed very quickly for me and it is running fine after that.


----------



## Nerevarine (May 30, 2021)

No, seems like my unit is doa, unit is completely non responsive, even with no hdd inserted. Just the blue light blinking 

@Anorion any possibility of repair or warranty claim ?


----------



## whitestar_999 (May 31, 2021)

Nerevarine said:


> any possibility of repair or warranty claim ?


Review units like these don't have any warranty, either the company agree to send another review unit or it doesn't citing it as a bad luck case. Btw is the unit's fan turning on after powering up.


----------



## Nerevarine (May 31, 2021)

whitestar_999 said:


> Review units like these don't have any warranty, either the company agree to send another review unit or it doesn't citing it as a bad luck case. Btw is the unit's fan turning on after powering up.


It is turning on, but it just keeps on stuck on blinking blue led


----------



## Cool Buddy (May 31, 2021)

Have the hard drives been dispatched yet?


----------



## Anorion (May 31, 2021)

Nerevarine said:


> No, seems like my unit is doa, unit is completely non responsive, even with no hdd inserted. Just the blue light blinking
> 
> @Anorion any possibility of repair or warranty claim ?


Will figure out what you can do.


----------



## Cool Buddy (Jun 1, 2021)

Why do the admins keep evading the question on hard disks? It's been over 10 days since the result was announced and we still don't have so much as a clue as to when we can expect to receive the hard disk, if at all.

I understand there are availability issues and prices have gone up, etc. But what's the harm in letting the participants know what's being planned?


----------



## Aestivial (Jun 1, 2021)

Cool Buddy said:


> Why do the admins keep evading the question on hard disks? It's been over 10 days since the result was announced and we still don't have so much as a clue as to when we can expect to receive the hard disk, if at all.
> 
> I understand there are availability issues and prices have gone up, etc. But what's the harm in letting the participants know what's being planned?


 XD +1
(Getting more anxious abt HDDs cause of this TBH, since the NAS are pretty pointless without HDDs in the first place). Let's hope someone clarifies our doubt soon!


----------



## whitestar_999 (Jun 1, 2021)

Cool Buddy said:


> Why do the admins keep evading the question on hard disks? It's been over 10 days since the result was announced and we still don't have so much as a clue as to when we can expect to receive the hard disk, if at all.
> 
> I understand there are availability issues and prices have gone up, etc. But what's the harm in letting the participants know what's being planned?


Chia made large capacity hdd as elusive as bitcoin craze made graphics card elusive so no choice, even companies link synology don't know for sure when they will receive their hdd supplies.

@Anorion maybe look into 2TB hdd as their availability is not yet affected & frankly speaking just to review NAS even 1TB hdd are more than enough.


----------



## Cool Buddy (Jun 1, 2021)

whitestar_999 said:


> just to review NAS even 1TB hdd are more than enough.


Agreed. 

I, of course, had no idea what capacity HDD was planned, but since nothing was promised, I guess 1 TB would be ok.


----------



## Aestivial (Jun 1, 2021)

IMO, 1TB is just barely good enough; Yes to get through for review purpose sure, but since we get to use them as personal devices later, I would stick to "the more the merrier" XD


----------



## Cool Buddy (Jun 1, 2021)

Aestivial said:


> IMO, 1TB is just barely good enough; Yes to get through for review purpose sure, but since we get to use them as personal devices later, I would stick to "the more the merrier" XD


Definitely would. But right now, I'd just like to get whatever they can manage.


----------



## whitestar_999 (Jun 2, 2021)

Aestivial said:


> IMO, 1TB is just barely good enough; Yes to get through for review purpose sure, but since we get to use them as personal devices later, I would stick to "the more the merrier" XD


If it was some other time then it would have been fine but not now during Chia craze.


----------



## Anorion (Jun 3, 2021)

They are shipping the drives from Amazon


----------



## Cool Buddy (Jun 3, 2021)

Anorion said:


> They are shipping the drives from Amazon


Thanks for the update


----------



## sygeek (Jun 6, 2021)

Nerevarine said:


> It is turning on, but it just keeps on stuck on blinking blue led


Are you using the 16A adapter? Asking because I don't want to brick mine as well


----------



## Nerevarine (Jun 6, 2021)

I dont think its bricked because of improper power adapter. If it was, it wouldnt display the blinking blue led as well. But to answer your question, I was using a regular 3 pin computer cable.


----------



## whitestar_999 (Jun 8, 2021)

Update: Got one 1TB hdd so I guess my prediction about Chia impact was right. Anyway this is more than enough to review the unit.
@Cool Buddy @Aestivial @Vyom @Nerevarine @sygeek @RumbaMon19 @_.yash007 @imcj @Dragonoid _


----------



## Aestivial (Jun 8, 2021)

Wish they gave more storage though _sigh_ Still awesome! I got my dispatched note from digit team too, along with the tracking info. Hopefully will receive mine soon!


whitestar_999 said:


> Update: Got one 1TB hdd so I guess my prediction about Chia impact was right. Anyway this is more than enough to review the unit.
> @Cool Buddy @Aestivial @Vyom @Nerevarine @sygeek @RumbaMon19


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## Cool Buddy (Jun 8, 2021)

Haven't received the HDD or despatch note yet.

@whitestar_999 which model is it?

 And is it 1TBx1 or 1TBx2 for DS220+ winners?


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## Dragonoid (Jun 8, 2021)

Recieved mine too.
It's a 1TB Seagate Barracuda HDD. Slightly disappointed that it is a normal HDD not a NAS specialized drive like the Ironwolf. Curse you, Chiaminers.
Oh well, for the review it will do.
P.S. - After the HDD prices and availability becomes normal, I would have to buy a a higher capacity HDD for the NAS, as currently I have 2TB*2 external HDDs worth of data.


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## RumbaMon19 (Jun 8, 2021)

Received my HDD today.


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## Aestivial (Jun 8, 2021)

Dragonoid said:


> Recieved mine too.
> It's a 1TB Seagate Barracuda HDD. Slightly disappointed that it is a normal HDD not a NAS specialized drive like the Ironwolf. Curse you, Chiaminers.
> Oh well, for the review it will do.
> P.S. - After the HDD prices and availability becomes normal, I would have to buy a a higher capacity HDD for the NAS, as currently I have 2TB*2 external HDDs worth of data.


Even more disappointed since I was really expecting an Ironwolf NAS drive. Also, things get trickier for me cause I just realised there's no way I can migrate my data into just 1TB of storage (guess I'll have to sort out some files just for the review sake). On top of that, thanks to lockdown, can't even order new drives online anytime soon either


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## whitestar_999 (Jun 8, 2021)

Update: It took just 10 minutes to setup the NAS but it took another 1 hour to setup net connectivity on it as I connected it directly to my desktop which connects to net via wifi usb dongle(can't connect NAS to router directly because of placement issues). Had to figure out how to share net connectivity from desktop wifi adapter to desktop-nas ethernet connection.


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## Cool Buddy (Jun 8, 2021)

Yeah, not having wi-fi on the NAS unit is an issue. Wi-fi is fairly common these days and most household routers actually have faster wi-fi than ethernet, at least here in India. My router has 100 mbps ethernet ports, but provides 433 mbps over wi-fi 5 Ghz.

BTW, still haven't received my hard drive(s).


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## whitestar_999 (Jun 8, 2021)

Cool Buddy said:


> Yeah, not having wi-fi on the NAS unit is an issue. Wi-fi is fairly common these days and most household routers actually have faster wi-fi than ethernet, at least here in India. My router has 100 mbps ethernet ports, but provides 433 mbps over wi-fi 5 Ghz.
> 
> BTW, still haven't received my hard drive(s).


Check your email, you should have got email from digit official team with pic of package tracking info.


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## Cool Buddy (Jun 8, 2021)

whitestar_999 said:


> Check your email, you should have got email from digit official team with pic of package tracking info.


Sadly, I didn't get that either. I checked with them over email though and they confirmed it's arriving. So I'll wait


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## Dragonoid (Jun 8, 2021)

Hey, @whitestar_999 and @Anorion, I have received a faulty HDD. The HDD LED on the NAS is not blinking. So, connected using a SATA to USB adapter to my laptop. The Disk Management tool is saying Fatal Device hardware error. Please help


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## whitestar_999 (Jun 8, 2021)

Dragonoid said:


> Hey, @whitestar_999 and @Anorion, I have received a faulty HDD. The HDD LED on the NAS is not blinking. So, connected using a SATA to USB adapter to my laptop. The Disk Management tool is saying Fatal Device hardware error. Please help


Check using crystaldiskinfo free tool. Post screenshot of its values screen.


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## Dragonoid (Jun 8, 2021)

whitestar_999 said:


> Check using crystaldiskinfo free tool. Post screenshot of its values screen.


Since the drive cannot be initialized, the drive is not showing on the Crystal Disk info screen


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## RumbaMon19 (Jun 8, 2021)

Dragonoid said:


> Hey, @whitestar_999 and @Anorion, I have received a faulty HDD. The HDD LED on the NAS is not blinking. So, connected using a SATA to USB adapter to my laptop. The Disk Management tool is saying Fatal Device hardware error. Please help



are you providing enough power? You sure the USB to SATA is for 3.5inch drive?


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## Dragonoid (Jun 8, 2021)

RumbaMon19 said:


> are you providing enough power? You sure the USB to SATA is for 3.5inch drive?


The sata to USB is for 2.5" drives. I know that, but the drive is not being recognised by the NAS too and that's the main issue


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## Dragonoid (Jun 8, 2021)

Dragonoid said:


> The sata to USB is for 2.5" drives. I know that, but the drive is not being recognised by the NAS too and that's the main issue


For those thinking power is an issue, it was not. Used Seatools from Seagate to check the drive and the short generic test failed whereas the long generic test passed.


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## whitestar_999 (Jun 8, 2021)

Dragonoid said:


> For those thinking power is an issue, it was not. Used Seatools from Seagate to check the drive and the short generic test failed whereas the long generic test passed.


It is usually the opposite for most people, try hdd in nas now. Sometimes doing a full format by manufacturer utility may reset some faulty S.M.A.R.T. parameters making it "appear" healthy again.


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## Dragonoid (Jun 8, 2021)

whitestar_999 said:


> It is usually the opposite for most people, try hdd in nas now. Sometimes doing a full format by manufacturer utility may reset some faulty S.M.A.R.T. parameters making it "appear" healthy again.


Nope, no luck


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## whitestar_999 (Jun 9, 2021)

Dragonoid said:


> Nope, no luck


Bad luck I guess. At least you got the NAS unit alright unlike @Nerevarine.


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## Aestivial (Jun 9, 2021)

Got mine too, It's a Seagate Barracuda 1TB, and though it threw up this warning... 






It is working fine enough so far. Am done setting up the device, just waiting for verification in the background (Advice: Usually this takes quite some time while you'll be creating a new volume so keep it in mind). Will update if I find anything worth sharing!


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## Cool Buddy (Jun 9, 2021)

@Aestivial did you get one 1TB or two? You got DS220+ right?


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## Aestivial (Jun 9, 2021)

Cool Buddy said:


> @Aestivial did you get one 1TB or two? You got DS220+ right?


 
1TB, and yep DS220+


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## Cool Buddy (Jun 9, 2021)

Aestivial said:


> 1TB, and yep DS220+


Oh. So we can't test RAID configurations.


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## whitestar_999 (Jun 10, 2021)

Mixed impressions so far. Will do more testing over next couple of days, deadline is 19th June, right @Anorion & any guidelines/format needed to be followed for reviews?


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## Cool Buddy (Jun 10, 2021)

Received my single Seagate Barracuda 1 TB drive. Will try out later in the evening.


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## sygeek (Jun 10, 2021)

Received my HDD today as well. Chaliye shuru karte hai


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## Aestivial (Jun 11, 2021)

Is it just me or the whole things is kinda.... slow?


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## whitestar_999 (Jun 11, 2021)

Aestivial said:


> Is it just me or the whole things is kinda.... slow?


You got DS220 & still felt it slow, think about those(incl myself) who got much slower(hardware wise) DS120j.


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## RumbaMon19 (Jun 11, 2021)

Aestivial said:


> Is it just me or the whole things is kinda.... slow?



u mean transfer rates or web ui?
i have ds120j and there is no problem with transfer rates, the webui would be faster if was connected through rdp. But instead it is just a webpage made to look like desktop.


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## whitestar_999 (Jun 11, 2021)

RumbaMon19 said:


> u mean transfer rates or web ui?
> i have ds120j and there is no problem with transfer rates, the webui would be faster if was connected through rdp. But instead it is just a webpage made to look like desktop.


Have you tested the speeds with wifi?


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## RumbaMon19 (Jun 11, 2021)

whitestar_999 said:


> Have you tested the speeds with wifi?



my router only supports 10/100 ethernet and 2.4 G wifi, i transferred a 6.8Gig file. The transfer was pretty smooth with speed of 8.5-8.7 mbps, which is indeed near to 100 megabits/s.

there was no dip in speed, and did not go below 8mbps. Pretty smooth.


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## sygeek (Jun 11, 2021)

Aestivial said:


> Is it just me or the whole things is kinda.... slow?


How do you mean?


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## Cool Buddy (Jun 11, 2021)

Aestivial said:


> Is it just me or the whole things is kinda.... slow?


It's a 2 Ghz dual core Celeron, so can't be very fast. Having said that, it is felt only when on the web UI. However, NAS, by it's very design, is not meant to be used directly through its interface, it is only meant to be setup through the interface and accessed remotely. And so far, for me, any form of remote access does not feel slow at all.



RumbaMon19 said:


> u mean transfer rates or web ui?
> i have ds120j and there is no problem with transfer rates, the webui would be faster if was connected through rdp. But instead it is just a webpage made to look like desktop.


afaik, the OS is designed to run in headless mode and DSM doesn't have a UI at all. Safe to say if it was rendering a full fledged GUI, it would only be slower.


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## RumbaMon19 (Jun 11, 2021)

Cool Buddy said:


> It's a 2 Ghz dual core Celeron



no its not celeron it is a marvel ARM cpu, different instructions set.



Cool Buddy said:


> the OS is designed to run in headless mode and DSM doesn't have a UI at all. Safe to say if it was rendering a full fledged GUI, it would only be slower.



it would not be possible as it does not have gpu. I was just giving the idea of what is going on…


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## Cool Buddy (Jun 11, 2021)

RumbaMon19 said:


> no its not celeron it is a marvel ARM cpu, different instructions set.


Yes, 120j has Marvell Armada. 
DS220+ has Celeron Dual Core


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## RumbaMon19 (Jun 11, 2021)

Cool Buddy said:


> DS220+ has Celeron Dual Core



that would be significant Bump in performance over Marvell Armada.


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## Cool Buddy (Jun 11, 2021)

RumbaMon19 said:


> that would be significant Bump in performance over Marvell Armada.


Definitely. Even the clock speed is much higher, 2 Ghz Vs. 800 Mhz. And not to forget the RAM, which is actually upgradable to 6 GB.


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## whitestar_999 (Jun 11, 2021)

Cool Buddy said:


> And so far, for me, any form of remote access does not feel slow at all.


NAS is actually meant for streaming stuff & higher the quality, higher will be the load on processor.e.g. try streaming a 10MB/s video bitrate file & you will see.



RumbaMon19 said:


> my router only supports 10/100 ethernet and 2.4 G wifi, i transferred a 6.8Gig file. The transfer was pretty smooth with speed of 8.5-8.7 mbps, which is indeed near to 100 megabits/s.


I tried with a 1gbps ethernet connection & reached speeds of ~50MB/s which I believe is hardware limitation on 120j as a 7200rpm hdd which is 90% empty should easily achieve around 80-90MB/s speeds.


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## RumbaMon19 (Jun 11, 2021)

whitestar_999 said:


> I tried with a 1gbps ethernet connection & reached speeds of ~50MB/s which I believe is hardware limitation on 120j as a 7200rpm hdd which is 90% empty should easily achieve around 80-90MB/s speeds.


Yupp. Also that processor is not that much capable with just 512MB ram


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## _.yash007._ (Jun 12, 2021)

Finally, received my NAS today


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## Vyom (Jun 12, 2021)

I am getting way less speeds when I try to copy files from SMB share (from PC running linux). I am getting max of 1.1 MBps. Both my PC and Synology is connected via two different LAN cables from same router. It shouldn't be this low!
Not sure what I am doing wrong. But copying files is taking a long time.


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## RumbaMon19 (Jun 12, 2021)

Vyom said:


> I am getting way less speeds when I try to copy files from SMB share (from PC running linux). I am getting max of 1.1 MBps. Both my PC and Synology is connected via two different LAN cables from same router. It shouldn't be this low!
> Not sure what I am doing wrong. But copying files is taking a long time.



Are you sure the ethernet wires(Both PC and NAS ones) are Cat 5e or above? Also, does the router supports speeds of 100/1GBPS? as it is 1.1 MBPS, it seems to be running at 10MBPS speed instead of 100 or a gigabit. Issue seems to be in the PC's ethernet wire


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## sygeek (Jun 12, 2021)

Vyom said:


> I am getting way less speeds when I try to copy files from SMB share (from PC running linux). I am getting max of 1.1 MBps. Both my PC and Synology is connected via two different LAN cables from same router. It shouldn't be this low!
> Not sure what I am doing wrong. But copying files is taking a long time.


Getting 100-120mbps here, with gigabit router and ethernet


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## whitestar_999 (Jun 13, 2021)

sygeek said:


> Getting 100-120mbps here, with gigabit router and ethernet


Yours is DS220 model, I am unable to achieve more than 50-55MB/s speed on 120j most likely beause of weak processor(processor usage hovers around 85-90% during such transfer).


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## Vyom (Jun 13, 2021)

RumbaMon19 said:


> Are you sure the ethernet wires(Both PC and NAS ones) are Cat 5e or above? Also, does the router supports speeds of 100/1GBPS? as it is 1.1 MBPS, it seems to be running at 10MBPS speed instead of 100 or a gigabit. Issue seems to be in the PC's ethernet wire


I figured out the issue.
I was using a LAN splitter to toggle connections between my PC and work laptop. This splitter was the issue. Once I connected the LAN cable to PC directly, the speeds jumped from 1.1 MBps to 11.7 MBps!! And this limitation is probably because of my router which isn't a gigabit router.


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## Aestivial (Jun 13, 2021)

Vyom said:


> I am getting way less speeds when I try to copy files from SMB share (from PC running linux). I am getting max of 1.1 MBps. Both my PC and Synology is connected via two different LAN cables from same router. It shouldn't be this low!
> Not sure what I am doing wrong. But copying files is taking a long time.



Likewise, it's barely giving me the speeds I'd have expected being connected on LAN. Haven't tried connecting directly to laptop via ethernet yet though, should I? Getting average speed very low, so I expect am doing something wrong here... 

here's what am trying RN:

created a shared folder for myself via web UI.
rechecked no speed restrictions are on the user.
mapped a network drive via 'This PC'.
pasted my test files directly to the shared folder.

and yet here is my average speed:


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## sygeek (Jun 13, 2021)

whitestar_999 said:


> Yours is DS220 model, I am unable to achieve more than 50-55MB/s speed on 120j most likely beause of weak processor(processor usage hovers around 85-90% during such transfer).


Indeed. I was comparing the speeds for DS220 though as Vyom has the same model.


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## _.yash007._ (Jun 13, 2021)

Guys I'm having a problem while setting up the DSM. It says Failed to format disk 35 whenever I try to set up. Any suggestions?


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## RumbaMon19 (Jun 13, 2021)

_.yash007._ said:


> Guys I'm having a problem while setting up the DSM. It says Failed to format disk 35 whenever I try to set up. Any suggestions?



Seems like problem with disk.

From what I found on net, it says to connect to the PC and fully erase the drive before use.


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## _.yash007._ (Jun 13, 2021)

RumbaMon19 said:


> Seems like problem with disk.
> 
> From what I found on net, it says to connect to the PC and fully erase the drive before use.


I see. Then I'd probably need a SATA to USB which I'll have to get from outside and since it's Sunday everything's closed ☹☹. Hope it works...


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## sygeek (Jun 14, 2021)

Has there been any change in the review deadline (19th June), or is it the same?


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## Vyom (Jun 19, 2021)

There you go, here's mine:
*geek.digit.in/community/threads/sy...ble-aboad-of-all-thing-digital-review.209831/


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## RumbaMon19 (Jun 20, 2021)

*geek.digit.in/community/threads/synology-ds120j-review-rumbamon19.209832/
My Review on DS120j


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## Nerevarine (Jun 20, 2021)

*geek.digit.in/community/threads/synology-ds220-review-nerevarine.209830/#post-2403830


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## Cool Buddy (Jun 21, 2021)

Published my review of the DS220+
*geek.digit.in/community/threads/synology-ds220-nas-review.209846/


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## imcj (Jun 21, 2021)

Published my Review of DS 120 J NAS


> Synology DS 120 J NAS Review by IMCJ



Thank you Digit Team for providing this opportunity.


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## whitestar_999 (Jun 22, 2021)

*geek.digit.in/community/threads/review-of-synology-ds120j.209837/


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## Anorion (Jul 4, 2021)

Hey I had to read all of your reviews. Lol. 
Stand out ones for me were @imcj, @whitestar_999 and @Nerevarine  really well done! 
Only thing missing IMO are that only a few people did tests and gave screenshots.... if someone wants to understand about the performance, that is lacking after reading all the reviews. 

Those who want to add stuff continue doing so, and add images also. This is going to be promoted everywhere, so watch out for those on social media handles!


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## Vyom (Jul 5, 2021)

Yes I think others have done a very good job with their reviews. @imcj, @whitestar_999 and @Nerevarine indeed have done a really good job with details and analysis. And specially @imcj, wow the coloful images! Puts the pics I took to shame.

My objective was to write a "digit" style article. Also I had taken a lot more screenshots and pictures. But didn't want to make the article picture heavy, so selected few good pics.
I also intended to add more stuff later. Will add soon. Thanks for reminding.


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## whitestar_999 (Jul 5, 2021)

@Anorion @Vyom Thanks! I am now planning on adding more details for other features which I think are going to be of significance to a typical/first time buyer of NAS.


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## Nerevarine (Jul 5, 2021)

For me, doing benchmarks isnt possible right now because I lack the equipment. im in the middle of a transition and the minimum I need for benchmarks is a gigabit router (preferably with multiplexing) and a laptop/desktop with ethernet port. I lack both atm lol.. I will update in the future for sure.


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## Anorion (Jul 6, 2021)

First of all enjoy the devices hehe don't get pressurized by these things Im saying  Its over. But I will explain opportunity here.
It is okay, it is very clear when routers are the bottleneck. That should not stop anyone from testing on that set up. Just saying.
For example, the comparison that was made of connecting both LAN cables to same router then showing speed was really helpful!
One of the best things that we can do as a brand is to give device manufacturers genuine feedback about market expectations. The power cables, lack of wifi, unmarked screw bags, its things like these that make any review valuable. We have a community review prepared based on snippets of all the reviews, these will go up on digit site.

Will keep you all updated of progress ^^


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## Vyom (Jul 12, 2021)

Alright, I added following information to my review, in 2nd and 3rd reserved posts:

*Known issues and resolutions,
Wallpaper bug,
Setting up firewall,
Auto Block and Account protection,
2 FA Authentication,
SSH Service.

*geek.digit.in/community/threads/sy...all-thing-digital-review.209831/#post-2403826*geek.digit.in/community/threads/sy...-all-thing-digital-review.209831/post-2403827*
Do let me know anyone, if there's somebody is curious about any other thing and I shall try to add them to my review.


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## imcj (Jul 12, 2021)

Vyom said:


> Yes I think others have done a very good job with their reviews. @imcj, @whitestar_999 and @Nerevarine indeed have done a really good job with details and analysis. And specially @imcj, wow the coloful images! Puts the pics I took to shame.
> 
> My objective was to write a "digit" style article. Also I had taken a lot more screenshots and pictures. But didn't want to make the article picture heavy, so selected few good pics.
> I also intended to add more stuff later. Will add soon. Thanks for reminding.


Thanks for the compliment. I really like to click pictures and make videos. But I know many buyers prefer unfiltered straight out of camera pics that you provided in your review.


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## RumbaMon19 (May 9, 2022)

Ya sure synology d120J wud surely like cute outfits.


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