Synology DiskStation DS716+ NAS Overview
Unlike the DS216+ we reviewed earlier this year the DS716+ has a much more rugged and business-like design. The chassis itself is mostly made of steel with the front bezel being a heavy plastic. This is a two bay NAS so it should easily fit on your desk.
At the front of the device you will find your two drive bays as well as indication LEDs and buttons. The two drive bays are distinguished by bay 1 and bay 2 by small dots right above each bay. These bays are also lockable with the included keys, the locks are located at the bottom of each bay. On the right side of the device you have status, LAN 1, and LAN 2 LED indicators, a reset button, USB 3.0 port, and power button.
The bays are easily opened by pressing and pulling on them from the bottom. Each bay slides out effortlessly from the DS716+. The bays themselves are made of heavy plastic and support both 3.5-inch and 2.5-inch drives. 3.5-inch drive installation will be tool-less whereas you’ll need to screw in your 2.5-inch drives.
The side of the unit has a very large Synology logo, which actually helps out with cooling your drives inside as the letters in the logo are ventilated. On the bottom of the unit are 4 rubber feet which will keep the unit in place wherever you plan to have it.
Finally moving around to the back of the unit you will find the rest of your connections. These include dual Ethernet ports, two USB 3.0 ports, eSATA port, power connection, reset button, and a lock port. Having dual Ethernet ports means you have failover and Link Aggregation support, which is great especially if you are using this NAS in a business setting. There is also a cooling fan on the back of the unit to keep everything inside nice and cool. If the fan happens to fail the unit will make a beeping sound to let you know.
