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!!!!.

Synology has been around since the year 2000 and they are known for creating outstanding and high-quality NAS or network attached storage devices; they are also recognized for producing IP surveillance solutions, as well as various network equipment that can be utilized for personal or business use.

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...

Network Attached Storage (NAS) devices have definitely evolved over the past few years. Yes they are there to give you a reliable data backup for your files, with easy access to these files over the network, or even over the internet.

– Easy setup and configuration; – Synology Hybrid RAID; – Can add more RAM if needed; – Hardware accelerated 4K video transcoding; – Newer Synology Drive app is great; – Lots of "Packages" to add to the functionality; – 2 LAN ports w/ link aggregation and failover support

– Hardware acceleration only seems to work with DS Video app

While casual NAS users may be better-served by a more affordable model, those with heavy video needs will find the DS418play combines a bevy of useful features to create a very capable multimedia NAS.

Integrated 4K video server; Powerful media transcoding abilities; Many apps available to expand featureset

Pricey; No direct HDMI output; No PCIe slot for upgrades

This review has been a long time coming. Launched in September last year, Synology's DiskStation DS418play NAS (network attached storage), is geared towards consumers interested in delivering high-definition media to multiple devices in their home. You may ask "why

Sturdy; unassuming build and aesthetics; Synology's DSM OS is excellent; Packages for a bevy of use cases

Drive sleds and tabs are finicky; Fan noise louder than expected on low speed; Arrived with a UK plug

Whether you want to access important documents, pictures from your latest holiday or one of the movies from your collection, the Synology DS418Play will work perfectly as your own personal cloud.

Easy to set up; Fast and robust system; Offers access from computers and mobile devices; Easy to manage; Can act as back or storage or both

Has quite a large footprint; Doesn't come with HDDs - requires additional expense

Really happy with both this unit and PB tech. Have it loaded with 8TB seagate iron-wolfs and it worked seamlessly first time (unlike the other brand NAS I bought first and returned).

It took me five minutes to really like Synology's DiskStation . Why so quick, you may ask Because the installation of two SATA hard drives into the unit took just that long. Snapping a new drive into the bay was a breeze, requiring neither a screwdriver nor screws.

Easy installation; Plethora of useful apps; Terrific capacity

Expensive; Drive not included

Good.