First of all, let me start by saying, a RAID is NOT a backup in itself, as RAIDs can also fail, corrupting some or all of the data. This can happen at anytime, in year 10 or year 1 and depend on the hardware, which are a combination of the RAID device (NAS, DAS, etc...), de storage medium (Hard Drive, SSD, etc...), power supply, etc....
However the chances of that happening all at once are less than having no RAID at all.
My advice, if you are able, is to constantly replace the olders/smallest drive in your (RAID) array with a newer one. Similarly to changing (pairs of) your road tires on your vehicle, before even 1 shows signs of failure or fails at all. Drives in these devices can get into a sleep mode, but are otherwise constantly on and or running/spinning and thus wearing out.
Above is basic knowledge for storage and not just Synology.
While there are drives and devices (and cars) that can reach a 20year lifetime, certainly not all can or will.
There is a "3-2-1 Rule" for data storage/backup out there, which is:
- There should be 3 copies of data
- On 2 different media
- With 1 copy being off-site (aka at different location)
As for the purchase of this device, Synology DS 723+, I'm very satisfied with the performance and features.
The price reflects that also, even for home use.
My previous NAS/RAID devices are a Buffalo Linkstation (2 drive) and a Drobo 5N (5 drive), both are around 10 years old and an 8 drive Drobo at work, still in use.
The 5 bay Drobo for it's time had a nice feature of being able to use all (or most of) the usable space when using drives of different sizes, and also being able to swap out any drive out for any other drive (smaller or larger) and the Drobo device would take care of it ALL (called BeyondRaid). No messing with pools or volumes. You only have to make a folder share. For it's time, this was VERY sophisticated and worth the investment then.
Even today with Synology you have to specify manually if and how you want to add a drive to a storage pool, and how you want a volume on one of these pools, and then define your shares.
For the home user, you'll need some basic knowledge or just read the manual of course if you have not done this ever before. It's just not as straight forward as with a Drobo.
However this is not a bad thing in itself, as you may want to configure this Synology device for different uses and keep multiple volumes on different storage pools for different uses etc... I consider this a Pro, but it will require some more knowledge of the workings of this device.
It has many other features and plugins (apps) which I will not go into in this review, but again there is a use for each and every one of them for a specific use(r), depending on your needs.
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.
Hardware wise, it has 2x Gigabit ports, which can be used individually, as a fallback or bonded. Some other brands have 10Gigabit networking built in, with this particular Synology it is an optional plug-in upgrade at $110 at the time of writing this. I don't have a 10Gigabit network at home at this time, but I will be upgrading down the road, I think.
There are also 2 NVME slots which you can utilize for cache (and storage) and you can also upgrade the RAM (memory) if you plan on using more apps (plugins). For basic nas use, this is not required.
1 con for me is the flimsy plastic of the device and the trays.
It might be fine for you, and even if made from titanium would not affect the performance of this device at all. However coming from Buffalo (Metal + plastic) and Drobo (full metal), this is a step down. This is also true with the very flimsy plastic disk trays and clips.......... (Drobo uses a trayless design, you just pop in the drives like a VHS cassette in a VCR !).
Other bonus features new to me also are the web interface, which is quite snappy. There are also apps/plugins for remote login etc, you can enable this if you want it.
I'm still figuring out many of these.
All in all I'm satisfied with my purchase so far and will update this review down the road.
Purchased in october of 2023.
| Brand | Synology |
|---|---|
| Series | DS923+ |
| Item model number | DS923+ |
| Item Weight | 4.94 pounds |
| Product Dimensions | 23.23 x 20.08 x 11.22 inches |
| Item Dimensions LxWxH | 23.23 x 20.08 x 11.22 inches |
| Color | Black |
| Voltage | 100240 Volts |
| Department | Computers & Accessories |
| Manufacturer | Synology |
| ASIN | B0BM7KDN6R |
| Is Discontinued By Manufacturer | No |
| Date First Available | November 16, 2022 |
