Final Thoughts
Kudos to Synology for a product which — with environment variability — nearly matches the marketing claims. In the NFS test, I saw just short of the 108 MB/s read and 55 MB/s write the company claims using hard drives that are a few months old. Additionally, I did see approximately 24W power usage.

Another great feature is the SDcopy — plug in an SD card and go — no card reader required. This is great for photographers who can tote the NAS with them to shoots.

The Control Panel is also magnificent. It look a little while for me to get used to it, but once I did, I want it for my QNAP NAS, too.

The DS211+ retails for around $400. QNAP’s top two bay offering, the TS-259+, retails for around $600, but features a faster Intel Atom 1.8 GHz processor and more connectivity. NetGear and Cisco also offer 2-bay diskless units for $400 and $660, respectively.

For a medium or small business, or even a home power user, the DS-211+ is a great device. Its up to 6 TB capacity can be augmented with a five bay DX510, an eSATA expansion unit.

ThinkComputers gives the Synology DS211+ Network Attached Storage Device a 9 out of 10 score.

How could it improve? Ditch whatever BitTorrent backend it’s using and use Transmission instead. That’s something I wish all NASes would do (QNAP just published a package for it, but it’s still not default). I’d also like to see the plastic front cover be secured somehow. There’s no lock or even a screw — a passerby in an office could walk right by and yank a drive.

Pros:
- Stellar NFS performance
- Great control panel
- Expandable via eSATA
- Price – performance ratio great
- SD card slot for quick backups

Cons:
- Front panel is easy access to drives, and is not securable