Synology DS115j Review NAS

Reviewing Diskstation DS115j

Synology DS115j        Top Speed: 100 MB/s  IOPS: 761.35 Noise: 18.1 dB(A) Power: 10.52 W / 4.97 W
PROS	CONS
Excellent choice of Apps. Low-power Low Noise DLNA Compliant Very cheap Relatively Fast data transfer	Very slow Expensive with HDDs No data protection Difficult drive installation No USB3 ports No Video transcoding Not expandable No Copy button Not upgradable Not expandable

 

Review | Best use case for DS115j

• Torrent download server
• Network file server for very small office
• PC backup and Apple time machine
• Some HD streaming over DLNA to smart TV

 

 

Review | DS115j Hardware review

 

 

 

This tiny CPU will still support simple Video streaming over DLNA.

RAM memory will not be replaceable nor upgradeable.

USB2 ports will make backup speeds very slow.

Single LAN port seems to be faster than CPU can push through.

Scheduled power on and off can be set up automatically.

Plastic chases and adjustable fan speed will let you make it silent.

DS218j 100V to 240V AC power will let you use it in any country.

Thanks to weaker Armada CPU you will save a tiny bit of electricity

Review | DS115j Unboxing

Review | Alternatives to DS115j?

DS116 – will be a more powerful option – no transcoding. Supports Synology moments.

DS118 will be a more powerful option with some 4K video transcoding

DS216se – Same spec as DS115j just 2 drive option for some data protection

DS216j   – Slithly faster. Better if you want to use some appliecations.

Review | What can I connect to DS115j?

Wireless Speaker Sonos

The great thing about Sonos is that you don’t need to pay for music subscription service. With the cheapest NAS at home like DS115j or any other, you can have your backups done for all of your devices and still use your network drive as a Sonos music library. Sonos will connect to your NAS via your network and let access your provided music library. If you have little more of IT knowledge, you can even set up your Alexa or Sonos with Alexa built in to play music on your voice commands (“Alexa! Ask DS Audio to Play Music!”).

Casting devices

Nowadays it is so cheap to upgrade your old TV and make it smart. All you need is Google Chrome or EZcast alternative plugged into your HDMI port at the back of your TV. Now you have great functionality added to your TV to send a video file directly from your NAS to a TV. No need for wires and chargers and other mess. You can use your phone as a remote to go to your movies or family videos and cast that content on your TV during family or friend gatherings.

 

Amazon Fire TV

You may not have a smartphone, or you just simply prefer to control your content with a remote in that case Amazon Fire TV will be a great addon to get to your TV. It also plugs into your HDMI port and will play content from your NAS to a TV. No wires no mess.

nVidia Shield TV

It gets even better! If you want some more entertainment and all previously mentioned functions – nVidia TV is a great thing to get. You can use it for playing games and watching movies from your NAS. The greatest thing is – shield TV does video transcoding. So even if you have a cheap NAS with a weak CPU, in a combination of shield TV you can now automatically on the fly change video file size and format for a destination device. It is a great way to reduce network load and let older devices to play video content which normally was not supported on the device.

Review | How fast is DS115j?

RAID 1 ST6000VN0001 6TB HDD, 1GbE LAN port: MTU 1500; connected to 1 client PC via HP 2530-48G switch

 

SMB Sequential Throughput (64KB)

Read MB/s 100.29 Write MB/s 64.3

SMB Sequential Throughput via Encrypted Shared Folder (64KB)

Read MB/s 30.36 Write MB/s 12.41

Windows File Transfer (1MB file x 3000)

Read MB/s 61.57 Write MB/s 33.09

Windows File Transfer via Encrypted Shared Folder (1MB file x 3000)

Read MB/s 21.32 Write MB/s 8.28

Mac File Transfer (3GB file x 1)

Read MB/s 85.07 Write MB/s 59.66

Mac File Transfer (1MB file x 3000)

Read MB/s 43.26 Write MB/s 35.3

Web Server – PHP Response Efficiency

Responses per second: 761.35

What is maximum capacity hard drive compatible with DS115j?

Maximum raw capacity DS115j can handle is 24TB (2x12TB). That is storage with RAID0 setup, which offers maximum storage space and data writing speeds. A solution like this requires a backup plan in place. If disaster strikes, users will not be able to use NAS functions until data on it is restored.

WD is the very popular choice because they are quieter than other drives, due variable disk spinning speed.

Seagate is popular because of their rescue services and integrated health check shared between NAS and a drive

HGST is popular among IT professionals who need faster spinning disks with higher IOPS for faster data accessing rather than transfer speed.

Review |  Final Thoughts- should I buy DS115j?

DS115j is very basic NAS which actually is just network-enabled hard drive. It is good as very first NAS for skeptic people not realizing how useful network storage is. It doesn’t cost much. But get at least this if any other NAS seems to be expensive.

 

Similar Reviews:

Synology DS218J NAS Review

Related Posts:

Synology DS218j Review

Synology DS218 Or DS218+ Or The DS218Play

 

 

Where to buy from?

nascompares.com offers Free Build and Test service with every NAS you buy with hard drives included. Either it’s party or fully populated, SPAN will setup your preferred RAID type, install your favorite apps, do firmware updates and do hardware tests. That will put your mind at ease knowing that hard drives and NAS unit are all set and tested and will definitely work straight out of the box. When sourcing components from many different resellers you could end up with incompatibility issues or untested/ broken bits and with no support. On top of all that you also get a Free Bespoke solution before you buy and also free support after you got your NAS.

https://nascompares.com/xxx/

If you still prefer local retailer:

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