Every year, our homes become mini data centers, with the addition of new computers and mobile devices as well as the introduction of smart home and IoT appliances. We not only consume more massive amounts of data and content, we also produce just as much via our smartphones, digital cameras, and...

Design and Hybrid RAID makes it easy to hot swap drives; Solid file transfer speeds; 4K online transcoding on the fly; DiskStation Manager (DSM) transforms NAS into personal cloud

Slow to wake up on LAN

The DiskStation DS416slim is an interesting hunk of network storage, in that it is much easier to carry around than any other NAS we've seen previously. Plus, as SSD prices fall and capacities rise, it's not hard to imagine being able to stick four 1TB SSDs inside for fast, quiet, redundant storage.

Remarkably small footprint; dual Ethernet and USB 3.0 ports, including link-aggregation support; full DSM experience, despite size

Slower than many other NAS we've reviewed; limited capacity; due to use of thin 2.5-inch drives

The 4-bay DS416slim was designed to serve home users or professionals in need of a compact and energy-efficient NAS. Although the DS416slim is part of Synology's J Series, which is their budget line, it includes everything that a personal user or small business would need.

Very compact form factor; Small energy footprint

Mediocre performance; Limited capacity

Let us start out by talking a little bit about the design. The Synology DS416 is as square a box as it can be, yet it is stylish designed with round corners and glossy front plate that hides the drive bays away.

Dual LAN for Link Aggregation and Trunking; Dual-core CPU and 1GB RAM; 256-bit AES Encryption; Up to 10 iSCSI LUNs and Targets; Energy efficient; Good performance; DSM Operating System

No eSATA port; No one-touch copy button; Memory not upgradeable

The DS416slim is a solid four-bay NAS that trades maximum performance and capacity for a tiny footprint, making it great for offsite backups, cluttered work environments, or locking up at night.

This is my first NAS, was fairly easy to setup. Take the NAS out of the box slap in some drives and power it up. Then point your browser to the specified address and follow the directions. The things that take a bit more setup are the web/cloud tools.

Dual NICs; 4 Drive bay; AND Synology! What more could you ask for

I didn't realize it until I pull this thing out of the box and realized how small it is...this NAS only supports LAPTOP (2.5") HDDS! It is literally the only NAS I've ever seen that doesn't support desktop sized 3.5" HDDs; Don't make the same mistake I did and then pay the (crazy) restocking fee

Bought this product based on reviews. Bought the WD 4T Red drives. Inserted them, powered up, ran through setup, on reboot, got blinking blue light of death (BBOD - google it). Contacted support. Inserted only one drive and able to complete setup. Adding other disks literally took over 3 DAYS!!!!.

Four bay tower NAS units aren't exactly svelte, however how about a four bay tower NAS that fits into the palm of your hand? The Synology DiskStation DS416slim is one of the smallest four bay NAS units we have seen in our labs.

Very small size; DSM OS

Limited capacity; It's no speed demon

Who needs their own NAS drive at home Not me I thought, and not at that price. But when I asked around the family "Do you have backups" the answer I received was a universal "No". So no backups of college work, no backups of school projects, no backups of tax documents, letters, photographs (25,000...