Synology DiskStation DS723+

Product Information

Moving away from the CPU, we CAN talk about one thing that is likely to arrive onboard the Synology DS723+ NAS – potential 10GbE support. Now, before we get too excited, it’s really important to highlight that this would be delivered via an OPTIONAL single 10G Copper (10GBASE-T) module. The DS723+ will almost certainly arrive with 1GbE network ports, which will definitely disappoint some users who were hoping that 2022/2023 would be when Synology finally adopts 2.5GbE – especially when 2.5GbE is available on the Synology Router, arriving on many ISP routers, value routers, switches and more. It is not totally out of the question that Synology will surprise us and integrate 2.5GbE into this system, but realistically, they have been pretty clear about how little interest they have in it and I think they would see optional 10G on the DS723+ as a far more palatable choice – even on a comparatively bandwidth light 2x SATA bay system like this. 2.5G is now more than a fad in 2022. As greater than gigabit internet connectivity is becoming increasingly common (even ‘affordable’), so the thought that a NAS has the potential to be capped at 1GbE (109MB/s) when a particularly well-connected internet cloud service could exceed that is pretty disheartening. Still, the option of 10GbE would be very welcome, though in this case. some might wonder why they didn’t just roll this in and increase the DS723+ NAS price a fraction. If you are looking for a Plex server, this isn't the one you want, because there isn't integrated graphics. I believe the best one right now from Synology is the DS920+ but I have no intention of going this route so I did limited research on it. In the case of the DS224+, we see a smaller pool of supported storage media, as well as a lower list of larger capacity drives being featured also. The DS723+, on the other hand, seemingly has a larger pool of more high capacity drives added and available to it, as well as a larger range of Synology’s own drives available for use with that system that includes the higher end options in the HAT5300 range. Synology has clearly prioritized higher-end drives for more advanced Synology systems, but for those that like to use their system clearly and rigidly within the defined parameters of a brand to maintain their warranty/guarantee, this is going to be a little disheartening to see the smaller pool of verified compatible storage media on the more affordable NAS solution. This is something that may well change over time as more drives are added to verified compatibility lists, but Synology has not exactly been putting their foot on the gas here. Given how close these two systems have been released side by side and the large disparity between their compatibility lists, I can’t see a huge amount of change happening anytime soon. It is absolutely no surprise that the more expensive Synology NAS has a better degree of hardware options in the long term. Though, it should be highlighted that a lot of the real benefits available in the DS723 are optional extras, long-term scalability and upgrades that are not necessarily available in the default model. It could be very easily argued that you are paying for entry to then pay extra for delivering upgrades, SSD upgrades, storage scalability, and increasing your memory years from now. Nevertheless, the fact that the baseline memory is ECC and the AMD CPU is indeed more powerful in most ways, does make up some of that additional cost and ultimately mean that in terms of hardware and connectivity, the DS723+ is the better of the two. Synology has switched to AMD hardware in lieu of Intel, and I'm all for it. The Ryzen R1600 that powers the DS723+ is a dual-core model with four threads, with a base frequency of 2.60GHz and 3.10GHz boost. The best part about the switch is that there's significantly more power here than the Celeron J4125-powered DS720+ and DS920+, making the DS723+ a true powerhouse.

This is where I want go next in due time, and it highlights just a couple features that the Synology offers to improve my workflow efficiency, and save money.The Synology DS723+ comes with a default 2GB of DDR4 Memory. The biggest difference here in comparision to it’s predecessor is that the memory modules are ECC (Error Correcting Code) which is normally found on higher tier enterprise grade appliances. ECC memory modules have an extra chip on board specifically designed to detect, correct and monitor common kinds of data corruption and they come at a much high price point in comparison to non-ECC memory. Moments, para guardar y compartir todas tus fotos escaneadas, digitales, respalda bien las fotos y videos de smartphones y tabletas; en mi caso en una Smart-TV pude ver fotos en varios formatos; applies to files indexed or hosted by Synology Drive. For file access through other standard protocols, refer to the File Services section above) Synology now also has a RAID mode capable of using drives of different sizes, they call it SHR (Synology Hybrid Raid) and works similar to Drobo BeyondRAID.

I’ve been using Synology NAS for 11 years on a 1Gb/sec wired network and am a Plex user. I’ve experimented with various setups to maximize 4K video delivery to various output sizes, as in iPad/iPhone, PC/Mac, 4K smart TV and 1080p projector. Any time a 4K video had to be transcoded to another size, the Synology CPU was buried. By one user. I found out that the Apple TV 4K also performs transcoding of 4K input to match the display it’s connected to. So the server no longer needs to perform the transcoding (unless I’m on my iPhone/iPad, which requires transcoding, and it isn’t pretty)! This means that the Synology NAS needs less processor cores/speed (in most cases) when transmitting video media. Applicable to files indexed or belonging to Synology Drive , files accessed through other protocols, please refer to the file service in the above field) There is no avoiding that the CPU choice inside the Synology DS723+ NAS is going to split opinion the tiniest bit. Until now, this 2/7-bay expandable product family has been exclusively Intel-based and integrated graphics equipped (Celeron, with a brief dance with Pentiums in 2016) which all benefited from particularly good multimedia & graphical handling when it comes to server-side transcoding/conversions, especially with more complicated and dense media formats such as HEVC/H.265. This is why the DS720+ (and DS718+ and DS716+ predecessors) were so popular for use as a Plex Media Server, Synology Video Station, Surveillance Station and even Virtual Machine deployment. The new Synology DS723+ NAS on the other hand is the latest system that has jumped ship from Intel over to AMD, with the DS723+ being built on AMD architecture, with a Ryzen Embedded Dual Core R1600 processsor. Now, it is worth highlighting that the R1600 IS a very good CPU. It is the same processor that is in the DS1522+, which we demonstrated could saturate 10GbE in a RAID 5 (more on this later) and also the DS1522+ NAS performs well in Plex at 1080p and native (non transcoded/convereted) 4K too, so the switch by Synology from an Intel to this AMD is not without merit. Before we dig deeper though, let’s discuss the specifications that we know about the DS1522+ NAS, alongside educated guesses we can make that are based on the CPU, product family and Synology’s past with the diskstation series:Both the Synology DS723+ and DS224+ NAS support AI-supported photo and ‘thing’ recognition supported to a very high degree from the free branded software included Ich hatte vor Jahren mal eine WD- My Cloud Mirror Gen1. Nun da WD den Support eingestellt hat für dieses Modell, habe ich mich jetzt nach Jahren für ein neues NAS-System entschieden. PCIe add-in cards, expansion units, and storage drives are sold separately. Refer to the compatibility list for compatible devices. What is the NAS going to be used for? I think with the support of virtual machines and containers, your NAS can also double as your main home server. If that’s what you’re looking for, I’d say go QNAP.

El costo de esta unidad NAS, SÍ desquita por las características de hardware y las aplicaciones que se le pueden instalar. El fabricante Synology proporciona varias aplicaciones muy buenas, para sacar el mayor provecho posible. Entre las más importantes: Both can Stream 1080p HD or 4K media, with superior performance natively and mid-range performance in Plex I, too, am awaiting a new Synology box that provides 4 or 5 discs with at least one 2.5Gbs network connection and a processor/GPU configuration that supports fast video decoding. Without that option, I have no need to upgrade. Synology’s focus is not on multimedia so I look to the near future with doubt. Perhaps Intel will eventually create new devices with this market in mind. For a start, the DS723+ features an eSATA external port that is used to connect the official Synology 5-bay expansion device, the DX517. This means that while the DS220 Plus has a maximum long-term capacity of two SATA drives, the DS723+ allows you to expand your storage down the line by an additional five SATA bays. This can be done gradually and this storage can either mirror the original NAS or extend the storage pool across both devices. I have always been a big fan of the Synology Diskstation chassis for it’s minimalistic, yet attractive and efficient design. The absence of a USB copy button still irks me a little and the largely plastic design is not going to be to everyone’s taste, but you cannot fault the amount of R&D that has gone into the construction here. Let’s discuss the ports and connectivity of the DS723+ NAS.Most users are going to have a plexa library that they’ve probably customized and should customize in one bulk “media folder” and then break it down within…. If you do stuff like that for all your multimedia they’re native apps don’t work you have to have it where they want it…. Same with sync you have to have it where they want it and it’s only sync … Me personally I want one-way sink data goes on the NAS … You can delete it off the phone or computer and that won’t transfer over…. They have improved the drive application but I still have to improve video photo and the other ones to be one way and for us to control the locations multiple or single nested location I don’t want to be told or you got to have it in the ” home /user /names/ photo/ to have the photo application work Both NAS are completely compatible with Windows, Android and Mac systems, as well as acting as a bring between software platforms to share and distribute files for migration and file sync] Such absolutely pointless decisions on their part. Ah well. I should have held off longer and waited for a USB 4 storage option as this unit is a complete and utter disappointment! Surveillance Station includes 2 free licenses. Connecting more cameras and devices requires additional licenses. The same was observed playing 1080p files and there was no buffering experienced throughout. A slight spike is seen in CPU utilization initially which settles down soon after. Memory utilization continued to run unaffected. 4K to 1080p transcoding

With the DS723+, Synology is solidifying its position in the home category. Between the DS1522+, DS923+, and now the DS723+, there's a good selection of servers targeted at home users, and the best part is that they share the same Ryzen R1600 hardware, making the purchasing decision a little easy. The DS923+ and DS723+ have the added benefit of utilizing the M.2 slots for storage, and that is a huge deal — considering just how long it took the brand to roll it out. the number of devices that can be connected at the same time when the recommended number of stored files is reached) Do I recommend this unit? If it suits your needs, absolutely. There are many options, which cater to different users/needs, so take your time and do your homework.

It may seem especially unusual for Synology to provide the option of 10GbE on a 2-Bay NAS (as the brand has been oddly reluctant to provide greater than gigabit connectivity on their smaller devices till now) but this was a feature in one form or another that users who have been looking at the expandable 2-Bay and 4-Bay diskstation series (DS716+, DS718+ and DS720+) have been requesting for YEARS! The Synology DS723+ NAS arrives with an upgrade slot on the rear of the chassis (PCIe Gen 3 x2) that allows the installation of a 10GbE (10GBASE-T) network upgrade module that allows the system to upgrade towards a 1,000MB/s network connection! With the DS723+ NAS running on a very competent and fast-file-service internal architecture AND supporting 2 drives in a RAID environment to increase internal performance, the option to scale up the external connectivity to 10x that of traditional gigabit is fantastic. Although there is a question of whether it is possible to fully saturate a 10GbE/1,000MB/s connection with a 2x SATA drive NAS, you also need to factor in the option to expand the system by 5 more bays with the DX517, or by running a storage pool on one or more of the M.2 NVMe SSD bays. Either of these options will allow that 10 Gigabit connection to be fully saturated with ease. That’s what I did. I bought the QNAP TVS-H1288x. Yes, it is expensive, but it also serves many purposes in my home. I have a Plex server, along with a Windows 11 and Ubuntu VM running, and a few containers to handle various duties in my house. It has 4 2.5Gbe ports, 2 10 Gbe ports, and 2 Thunderbolt 3 ports for any imaginable network needs you might have. I can still add a GPU if I want and I’m currently only using a portion of the machine’s potential. So I won’t be needing to upgrade this H/W anytime soon. Unlike previous models where one of the memory modules were soldered onto the mainboard, the DS723+ allows for all modules to be upgraded. The unit can be upgraded to a whopping 32GB of memory if you ever had the need to and allows for a great degree of expandability in terms of running applications on the NAS. I feel like Synology is the Nvidia of NAS. 8GB of Vram 500€ GPU anyone? No… it’s the max 6GB 1Gbe NAS I am using it to sync my Photography company's Dropbox files, create Lr catalog files from the files, and then store our active (not yet approved) client files. The Cloud Sync isn't as flexible as the Dropbox application in terms of visibility of "Only online" files. Your files can only be syncd as "Available offline" or in other words, stored locally. You do have 3 options of syncing, one way sync (either way) and two way sync. I didn't like being unable to view my "Only online" files and then choosing to sync them through my windows file explorer like I would have liked. This made me instead create a LUN through DSM, which created a drive that appears as local on my windows file explorer, so that I could set it as a target location for the Dropbox desktop application. My workflow is as follows: