Synology DiskStation DS1520+

Product Information

The asking price and core count alone piqued our interest when we first heard about it… as not that long ago a low TDP, high core count NAS appliance that comes standard with 8GB of RAM would have gone for much, much more than that. More intriguing is the bay count. Five bay models are a personal favorite of ours as they actually offer a high enough drive count to make Raid 6 a viable solution. Mix in the fact that once you go above 4-bays they almost invariable double the fan count from one to two while still not increasing the asking price all that much and 5-bays are, in our opinion, a great introduction to the world of NAS appliances. For instance, I had an old DS411j that failed on me, one of the drive failed but the NAS was full, so now I can’t even start it up. I just wish I could buy some of the 12 slots new NAS and then mount my 4 old drive into the new system and then just transfer data and format the old drives to add them to the new volume. I asked Synology if we can do that, their answer: nope, unless you build a Linux computer and mount drives on Linux and transfer your data. If I need to build a Linux computer, I’d better off just to use FreeNAS and never have to deal with Synology DSM… Digging deeper will only further increase your interest. Not only is this a 5-bay model that uses the rather peppy, and yet power sipping, Intel Celeron “Gemini Lake” J4125 processor. Not only does it come standard with 8GB of Samsung DDR4-2666 (and not 2400 as usually used) RAM, it also comes with nice to have features. Features such as dual NVME M.2 slots and dual eSATA ports for easy future expansion abilities. Much like getting a four core CPU, these are features that not that long ago were reserved for pricier models. Yet here we are. A ‘Plus’ line model that offers all that and still comes with an MSRP of under 7-bills. Now in terms of the external connectivity and how it can be upgraded, this is another big area of difference between the DS920+ and DS1522+ NAS. Both systems arrive with 1GbE RJ45 LAN ports, which can be combined via link aggregation/Port Trunking to allow up a larger degree of network connectivity. But the DS920+ arrives with 2x 1GbE and the DS1522+ arrives with 4x 1GbE. This is only really a big deal if you are looking at smart switch supported environments or have larger shared bandwidth concerns though. However, the big difference in bandwidth potential between these two NAS centres around the DS1522+ features the option to upgrade it’s network connectivity to 10GbE by installing an E10G22-T1-mini 10G network upgrade in the available proprietary slot. Now, this is not a connection that is available in the default DS1522+ and is an optional upgrade, but still, it is good to know that the option of adding 1,000MB/s bandwidth is available down the road. The DS920+ does not include an option to increase the network connectivity in this way (though unofficial and not officially supported USB-to2.5GbE and 5GbE connectivity via 3rd party adapters are possible (but I wouldn’t trust their long term stability really) and for many, this will be a deal-breaker between these systems in the same way the CPU differences between these two NAS’ does. Both systems see a very similarly sized chassis and the 10GbE upgradable slot on the DS1522+ using a smaller M.2 sized connector rather than the PCIe 3×8 slot of other Synology NAS, so it does not impact the size of the chassis either. Model The installation will take 10min approx. The NAS will restart automatically right after the DSM installation. You will hear a short beep when it's done.

Of course, you will have to either require a managed network switch or have a system that can leverage the advantages of link aggregation/port trunking in the first place, but still, nevertheless, the DS1520+ provides you with a better overall available bandwidth early doors and even if all other elements of these devices were equal, you cannot beat more network interfaces on a NAS. Once again, you pay a premium, but you are getting something for your money. As well as the performance benefits internally mentioned previously would also result in better external performance in the DS1520+ (that’s to a larger RAID array and more memory) over those LAG’d gigabit ports. Though, it is still a shame that we are still talking about 1Gbe on NAS systems from Synology in their 2020+ series. If you're looking to use the DS1520+ as a media streamer, there are a lot of features you'll like. Plex is available as a native client, and Synology has dedicated utilities for audio and video streaming. There's also a Photo Station that does a great job collating all your photos, and the Moments feature automatically creates highlights and sorts your photos into albums, much like Google Photos. While my existing 920+ is still in service, I got tired of waiting for synology to include 10gb standard in the pro series nas’s and build my own for less then a new 920+ My suggestion is if you have the knowledge or desire make your own Nas.. Perhaps Synology will catch up in a few years. Still using my ds918+ with 16gb. CPU a bit slow and only use older VMs on it, but it works, the memory is plenty for everything I need the nas to do with plex and others services I run on it and I also have the expansion bay runn with a total of 9 drives. The Synology DS220+ NAS Drive Review – https://nascompares.com/2020/06/01/synology-ds220-nas-hardware-review/The external performance when comparing the brand new Synology DS1520+ vs that of the fractionally older Synology DS920+ is probably one of the largest areas of disparity between both NAS systems. Although the additional 4GB of memory will play its part, the fact that the DS1520+ arrives with 4x 1GbE LAN ports by default, compared with the 2x 1GbE featured on the DS920+ largely makes this an open shut case. Additional cooling is available on the base of the device along the main controller board area and allows air to flow through the device over the internal storage drives and heatsinks located on the internal PCBs to be dissipated easily. On the taskbar, you have the Main Menu on the left side; and on the right, you have Notifications, Options, Search, and Widgets. On the desktop area, you get app shortcuts and all widgets you decide to add. Two widgets are immediately displayed: System Health and Resource Monitor. 7. Manage your Synology Storage Space Now in terms of the external connectivity and how it can be upgraded, this is another big area of difference between the DS1520+ and DS1522+ NAS. Both systems arrive with 4 1GbE RJ45 LAN ports, which can be combined via link aggregation/Port Trunking to allow up to 4Gb/s bandwidth between the system and a supported smart switch. However, the big difference in bandwidth potential between these two NAS centres around the DS1522+ features the option to upgrade it’s network connectivity to 10GbE by installing an E20G22-T1-mini 10G network upgrade in the available proprietary slot. Now, this is not a connection that is available in the default DS1522+ and is an optional upgrade, but still it is good to know that the option of adding 1,000MB/s bandwidth is available down the road. The DS1520+ does not include an option to increase the network connectivity in this way (though unofficial and not officially supported USB-to2.5GbE and 5GbE connectivity via 3rd party adapters are possible (but I wouldn’t trust their long term stability really) and for many, this will be a deal-breaker between these systems in the same way the CPU differences between these two NAS’ does. Both systems see the same sized chassis and the 10GbE upgradable slot on the DS1522+ using a smaller M.2 sized connector rather than the PCIe 3×8 slot of other Synology NAS, so it does not impact the size of the chassis. Model

Synology Drive – Host your own private cloud behind the safety of your NAS with 100% data ownership and no subscription fees. Along with a degree of ventilation located around the main hard drive bay area, the Synology DS1520+ also features ventilation on either side of the plastic chassis via a mesh ventilated logo. This has always been one of those little things that Synology features on each of their NAS chassis designs and is a subtle means to promote passive ventilation in conjunction with the twin active cooling fans on the rear. On the DS1522+ can you easily pull apart the case and upgrade the fans to Noctua with faster speed. It would be louder but cool the drives better. Should I wait still? Isn’t Synology going to release a 5 bay that comes with a 10gbe port built in finally? Synology had some popular NAS released last year, among those, the DiskStation DS1520+. This NAS is one of the most proficient and powerful network storage devices for home and small business users currently in the market. This system is specially designed for various purposes, allowing you to perform demanding and straightforward tasks, possible to its powerful hardware and the web-based Synology DiskStation Manager (DSM). It may not come as a huge surprise, but if you need to choose between the Synology DS1520+ and the Synology DS920+, definitely buy the Synology DS1520+ NAS, if you can afford that higher price tag. The Synology DS920+ is definitely a good solution and is still one of the best Diskstation as they have produced for many years, but there is just no avoiding the simple fact that the Synology DS1520+, even in its default release, provides more in every single way than the DS920+ does and if you think you are going to upgrade one or more parts of the Synology NAS system in its lifetime whilst you use it for home or business, it makes more sense to invest on day one and buy the Synology DS1520+ NAS.

Setting up Plex on the NAS takes just five minutes, and thanks to the Celeron J4125 chipset, you should have no issues with streaming 4K content to devices throughout your home. You will need a Plex Pass for hardware-accelerated transcoding, and the DS1520+ does a stellar job with 1080p and 4K transcodes. The DS1520+ certainly represents the familiar hardware design that we have seen from Synology in previous units, as well as been comparable in many ways to both the DS920+ and DS1019+. However, once we take a look at the ports and connections, you are able to see some distinctions that set the DS1520+ apart from these devices. Synology DS1520+ NAS Rev iew – Ports and connections

should I be weary on noise? (how loud is it if I live in a small apartment and it would need to live in a common area like living room) The 4 and 5-Bay Diskstation releases from Synology have always been one of the most interesting tiers of the brand’s desktop solutions. The reason for this is that all too often this scale of system serves as a bridging point between Prosumer & SOHO systems and the small/medium business hardware in their portfolio. This is demonstrated first in the scale of the available RAID 5/6 storage, but then more so in the scalability and upgradability of these two volumes system, allowing one to two expansions, greater network connectivity (arriving with 2x or 4x LAN ports) and better internal hardware than the more domestic targetted solutions – often with the internal hardware differing considerably between each periodic 2-3yr refresh by the brand. Let’s first look at the internal hardware of these two NAS’ to see how much they differ. The DS920+ NAS first arrived on the scene with some great hardware advantages over the rest of the plus series 2020 systems (DS720+, DS420+, etc), arriving with a 4 Core Intel Celeron Processor that featured integrated graphics, 4GB of DDR4 2666Mhz memory and NVMe SSD upgrade slots. In the two years since its release though, Synology clearly decided to make some big changes in the base level architecture of the plus series and specifically in the DS1522+ to make it considerably more scalable and general business/file-ops focused. The newer DS1522+ features a dual-core AMD Ryzen embedded R1600 that, although arriving with half the cores of the Celeron in the DS920+, has a higher CPU frequency and total achievable frequency in turbo/burst when needed. That said, users will be surprised to learn that this CPU also does not feature embedded graphics, so therefore the DS1522+ will be less CPU efficient at handling multimedia or VM deployment than the DS920+. Returning to our comparison of old and new, they both sport two USB 3.0, two eSATA, four 1GbE LAN ports and have five internal bays that can take 3.5 or 2.5-inch hard drives or SSDs. After banging my head between these two devices I could not bring myself to justify that I’d still be spending that extra coin to have a single 10Gbe plus initial cost but lose out on a overall superior Cpu that can blast threw a Plex media server and other media related applications. It’s actually pretty disappointing but I’d only be able to barely justify the DS1522+ in a Office environment and just barely at that. As a home media(Plex) and storage solution The Ds1520+ just makes a lot more sense, add 2 Tb of Nvme for a great price these days and you have a beast, even two years later. Case closed As much as I am starting to appear like a broken record, it should come as no surprise that the Synology DS1520+ is the better storage choice compared with the DS920+ NAS. Although it seems fantastically obvious, it is worth touching on. First, we have the simple case that the Synology DS920+ is a 4x drive system and the DS1520+ is 5x drive system. Taking into account the latest 16TB hard drives from companies like Seagate ironwolf and WD Red, this means that the DS920+ NAS has a current maximum storage total of 64 Terabyte whereas the DS1520+ NAS supports up to 80 terabytes.Synology Drive provides a built-in universal portal to access your data anytime and anywhere, and synchronize all your files across platforms, including Windows, macOS, Linux, Android, and iOS.

If you are migrating and upgrading, I'd be sure to read the section on HDD Migration and look closely at the table, considering your Source and Destination NAS models.In the front of the NAS, you get five hot-swappable bays to palace your drives. Drives in these bays can each have a 3.5-inch SATA (like the IronWolf I am going to install), a 2.5-inch SATA drive, or 2.5-inch SSD. The drive bays can be prevented from being pulled out accidentally; you can secure them with the key included. NASCompares Could you please do a video comparing the new 5-bay DS1522+ with the older 6-bay DS1621+/DS1621xs+ models? I am a home user trying to decide whether to move to a NAS and if so, whether to use a 5-bay or a 6-bay NAS. (I presently have a SANS Digital 5-bay USB RAID in a RAID5 and a Promise Pegasus R6 6-bay Thunderbolt RAID in a RAID6.) Thx for all the informations, sometimes a bit hard to follow because of the repetition and the mix information between comparison vs description. However, the extent to which you can use all these applications at any single time (both as multiple clients using the same software or multiple applications running in parallel on the same NAS system) is going to be better on the Synology DS1522+ in the grand scheme of things, thanks to that potential 32GB of memory available to scale up down the line. Here is how these two Synology NAS drives compare in volume and features in those 1st party services: A faster method, the one I will use for this guide, is to enter your NAS's name directly in the windows file explorer. My NAS's name is NAS_mulcas; then I should use the following format: \\NAS_mulcas. The same name as the one point in the image above.