Installation and operation …
The Synology DS214+ NAS was tested with the following system:
PC:
Intel Core i7 2600K @ 4 GHz
4x 4 GB DDR3 RAM
ASUS P8P67 PRO Rev 3.1
MSI GeForce 780ti
Seasonic Platinum power supply 760W
Samsung Pro 840 Pro 256 GB SSD
Windows 7 Ultimate 64 bit
CMStorm Stryker case
FritzBox 7362 SL
PC and NAS connected via GBit LAN
Internet connection T-Online DSL 6000
Additional hardware used:
Samsung Galaxy Note 3
Apple MacBook Pro
The initial setup of the RAID array in Mode 1 (Mirroring) with our two 3 TB hard drives took almost 8 hours to complete. The temperature of both disks rose during this period at 40°C, which is, due to the 8 hour torture quite okay. Thereafter, the Synology Disk Station 214+ is ready to use.
Once we have established all users, folders and shares, we filled the DiskStation immediately with data.
As a guideline, the following values are mentioned in the Synology documentation: 208 MB / sec. read, 153 MB / sec. write. These values are chosen very optimistic and depend as always on the hardware used.
We chose a file which has an approximately size of 27 GB and copied it from the Samsung SSD directly to a folder of the DiskStation.
The whole process took 4 minutes and 18 seconds at an average transfer rate of about 100 MB/sec. Then we loaded the file back down on the SSD. This took 4 minutes and 2 seconds at an average transfer rate of about 110 MB / sec.
We then repeated the experiment with a folder that contained 35,532 files and a size of approximately 25 GB.
The upload to the DiskStation took 14 minutes and 58 seconds with an average transfer rate of 30 MB/sec. The subsequent download was ended after 13 minutes and 47 seconds … thanks to the average transfer rate of 35 MB/sec.
During the test, we have measured the load of the NAS. The processor was busy 25%/avergage and the memory utilization was approx 13% average. In peak network utilization reached a value of about 100 Mbit, which shows us that the hard drives are more frequent the limiting factor. After this read/write test, we have measured the temperature of the hard drives. The hard drive in slot 1 had a temperature of 29°C, the hard disk in slot 2 reaches a temperature of 30°C. These values have been measured at a room temperature of about 20°C and with the fan set to “Silent Mode”.
Easy was also setting up the DLNA service in conjunction with a Smart TV. The media were immediately detected in the network and played without any problems. Also available on mobile devices. However, the video file must already be, for example playing with Apple devices, in the right/required format because the Synology DiskStation make no “on-the-fly” conversion of videos. This is only possible with audio files and works also perfectly.
The connection to our NAS via VPN was also very easy to accomplish. In this case, we have chosen the PPTP version and set up this one on our mobile devices. Neither the Samsung Galaxy Note 3 nor the Apple MacBook Pro had problems to connect via VPN to our Synology DS214+. Of course, the connection speed is highly dependent on the internet connection speed. However, in order to download an image or a required document even a mobile data connection (3G, LTE) is completely sufficient.
We come to the last point in our practical test, the energy consumption. Synology publishes a a power consumption of 28 watts under load and 10 watts in idle mode for operation.
In our test, the Synology DS214+ NAS has a power consumption of about 27 watts under load. These were reduced in idle mode to 11 watts when the hard drives are shot down.
When switched off, the NAS consumes still 0.3 watts. If we count time with a kilowatt price of 28 cents/kWh, then this would result in costs of about 69 Euro, when you operate the NAS 24 hours a day, 7 days a week under full load. If you shut it down at night, and thus have a 14-hour running time, you can reduce the annual electricity costs to about 40 Euro per year. Assuming the NAS is running in this time under full load.
This small current cost calculator can be used for PC or NAS power consumption and calculate electricity costs:
Interactive power consumption calculator
Synology DS214+ NAS Results and general impression …