Synology DS220j 2-Bay NAS Revealed

Good news everyone, Synology has finally revealed the DS220j. Back in early summer ’19, I told you guys about a range of brand new NAS devices that Synology we had in store for us in 2019/2020. one of those devices that were remarkably absent was the cost-effective range series 2 bay, the DS220J. Instead, we were alerted to the DS120j and DS420j which, although popular in their own way, have never had the popularity of a decent low-price RAID 1/SHR two hard drive NAS. Being revealed over 2 years after its predecessor (the DS218j), the DS220J is the new affordable NAS drive from Synology and is aimed at the home and small office user that wants a discrete, budget friend;y, yet featured and capable NAS solution from the company that brought you DSM. Arriving with support of those popular features, such as Moments, Video Station, File Station, as well as most of the top tier technology collaboration suite apps, the DS220J is a NAS that has been on the wish lists of a number Synology fans for quite a while. so let’s take a look at everything we know about this brand new drive arriving next month.

Probably the most important question for those looking at this kind of 2-Bay NAS is what are the hardware specifications? The DS220j NAS is remarkably similar to the older DS218j, but with one rather big difference that you will spot later. Wanting to know the hardware inside the DS220j Synology NAS is a fair question, as once a Synology NAS in this price/audience is announced, the hardware will govern just how well it will support the existing range of DSM 6.2 applications, as well as the number of concurrent/simultaneous users. Serving as a halfway point between the Synology DS120j and the DS420j, the DS220j arrives with an impressive Realtek 64bit ARM-based CPU, which was previously featured in much more expensive solutions in the 2017/2018 series (DS118, DS218, DS418, DS218play) and certainly moving up a gear from the DS218j, which arrived with a 32bit Marvell processor. However, in almost every other hardware regard, from the chassis and ports, to the available memory, things are very similar – which is great in terms of cost, as it will likely arrive at a price point that is only a pinch higher than the DS218j, but a bit annoying to hear that the much more impressive CPU in the DS220j will be paired with a non-upgradable 512MB memory. It IS DDR4, which is always welcome and of a higher frequency than the DDR3 in the older DS218j. But still, that memory limitation will be a sore point and one we need to touch on in terms of software on the Synology DS220j NAS.

CPU: Realtek RTD1296 ARM 64bit

CORES: 4 Cores

FREQUENCY 1.4Ghz

MEMORY: 512MB DDR4, non-upgradable

BAYS: 2 3.5″/2.5″ (with adapter) Bays, non expandable

RAID SUPPORT: JBOD, RAID 0, RAID 1, SHR

Hot Swapping: No

Storage Interface: SATA

Max Storage Supported (Jan 2020) per Bay: 16TB Seagate Ironwolf and WD Red 14TB NAS Drives

NUMBER OF FANS: 1

USB 3.0 PORTS: x2

RJ45 LAN PORTS: x1 RJ45 1Gbe

ONE TOUCH COPY Button: No

SSD CACHE BAYS: No

CHASSIS MATERIAL: Plastic Casing, Metal Internals, Ventilated logo on each side

Synology J series NAS drives were never designed to completely show off everything a Synology NAS can do and the DS220j is not going to be your powerhouse NAS solution. It is designed to work as your entry point into NAS, as a low-end data sharing solution, or as a network backup to an existing network storage setup in the background. Typically with this Realtek 64bit CPU, we have seen quite alot of potential. When this RTD1296 CPU has been featured on previous NAS drives from Synology (the DS418, DS218, DS819 to name a few) we have seen it support Plex Media server, 15-20 cameras in Surveillance station, BTRFS as a file system and more. However, this it is going to be a VERY DIFFERENT story with the Synology DS220j, as that 512MB DDR4 limit is going to prevent a number of these software packages being able to run. Looking at the hardware available, below are what we can expect the DS220j NAS to support. Bear in mind that an official specs breakdown should be in the next few days here on the blog and many of these specifications will be FULLY CONFIRMED shortly.

BTRFS Support: No

Synology Hybrid RAID: Yes

Snapshot Support: Limited/None

4K Support: No/Limited

Transcoding Support: No

Synology Multimedia Support*: Photo Station, Moments, Video Station, Audio Station

Synology Drive: Yes

Synology Chat: Yes

Synology Active Backup: No

Synology Surveillance Station: Yes, 12 Cameras at 720p h.264

Synology Virtual Machine Manager: No

Synology High Availability: No

Synology Mail/Mail Station: Yes

Synology Office: Yes, online

Docker: No

Synology CMS: Yes, Limited

Synology Download Station: Yes

Hyper Backup: No

Plex Media Server: No/Limited (TBC!!!)

iTunes Server: Yes

WordPress: Yes

As you might expect, information on the DS220j, details are still a little thin on the ground. I have received a specifications sheet and am verifying it as we speak (s should be out there for you guys shortly), but in terms of release, we are looking at release at the end of February 2020 and as for price… well… Nothing concrete, but we will almost certainly see a price that is 10-15% above the to the £130+ ex.VAT that the DS218j is available for. I cannot see them justifiably exceeding the £145+ ex.VAT mark on this NAS Drive, without it hurting the DS420j price point.

If the DS220j seems too far away from release for your urgent storage needs, you are upgrading from the DS218j and this isn’t a big enough jump for you, or you are looking for a new Budget Synology NAS and this does not float your boat, I would recommend the Synology DS420j NAS Drive, as it features that same CPU, but with 1GB of DDR4 memory and 4 Bays of storage by default (double the RAM and Double the RAID storage potential.

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