The Synology DS1621+ is a network-attached storage (NAS) device that is designed to provide reliable, high-performance storage for businesses and organizations. The DS1621+ is powered by a quad-core processor and features six drive bays that support both hard disk drives (HDDs) and solid-state drives (SSDs). This allows it to provide fast, flexible storage that can be easily expanded as your storage needs grow.
In addition to its impressive performance, the DS1621+ is also equipped with a range of advanced features that make it easy to manage and protect your data. It includes Synology’s DiskStation Manager (DSM) operating system, which provides a user-friendly interface and a variety of tools and utilities for managing your storage. The DS1621+ also supports a range of security and data protection features, including encryption, backup and recovery tools, and access controls.
Overall, the Synology DS1621+ is a versatile and powerful NAS device that is well-suited for businesses and organizations that need fast, reliable storage. Its advanced features and easy-to-use interface make it an excellent choice for those looking to manage and protect their data.
Synology DS1621+ NAS pros
This is a product geared more towards business use rather than home use. With up to 6 slots to install hard drives or SSDs, and a further expansion up to 16 drives with additional 2 DX517 expansion devices, this NAS is a storage beast.
To begin, to decide how much storage this DS1621+ can provide for you, you should use the Synology RAID calculator. It provides a simply interactive graphic demo of how much capacity is available for certain RAID configurations. For example, by installing 6 x 18 TB drives, you will get 90 TB of available use space while 18 TB is used for protection if you choose SHR (Synology Hybrid RAID) or RAID5 configuration. For the less technical average person, choosing SHR is easier. It is the automatic configuration to optimize storage space and provide protection for data loss from hard drive failures.
So for the beginner, someone might ask, why can’t I choose RAID0 to get total of 108 TB data (6 X 18 TB)? Well, yes you can, but you really should not. This is because in the event one of the hard drives fails, you will definitely lose your data. If you choose SHR or RAID5 for example, if one of the hard disk drives fails, you can easily remove the damaged drive and install with a new drive, and all your data is still intact.
DSM (DiskStation Manager) aka Synology’s operating system is easy to use. It is one of the best in the market with frequent firmware updates to protect against bugs and zero-day exploits. Furthermore, Synology has a range of applications that are one of the best. Take for example the Photos app. You can easily upload your images and videos into your NAS and view them on your TV with the Synology Photos app on Google TV or view it from your iPhone or PC.
Highlights of review DS1621+ by Synology
- Processor – AMD Ryzen V1500B Quad-core 2.2 GHz
- Memory – 4 GB DDR4 ECC SODIMM
- Hard Disk Drive Slots – 6 x 3.5″ or 2.5″ SATA HDD/SSD (Hot swappable),
2 x M.2 Slots (NVMe) - Size – 9.57 x 11.1 x 6.54 inches
- Weight – 11.22 pounds
- LAN – 4 x Gigabit (RJ-45), optional 25GbE or 10GbE network
Benefits of using the DS1621+ Synology NAS
Performance wise, this network-attached storage is fast. According to the specs, it can perform sequential read speeds up to 2,323.49 MB/s and 1,434.42 MB/s write speeds on a 10GbE SSD.
While on a Windows file transfer with the hard disk drive (HDD) on 1GbE, performance is 86.84 MB/s download and 76.06 MB/s upload.
So there is added benefit to upgrade to the 10GbE option and use SSDs if you require higher speeds. For example, if you regularly edit videos on your NAS, you might consider the upgrade useful. Otherwise, for regular use, it is more than adequate to stick to the base 1GbE 4X LAN ports.
Like all the Synology NAS Plus series, you can use the range of Synology apps built into your NAS. Take for example the upgraded version, Synology Photos (Older photos manager is the Synology Moments). To use the upgraded Synology Photos, you will need to use the updated DSM 7.
Synology Photos – works great with the Synology DiskStation DS1621+
There are tons of features in the new Synology Photos application. Take for a start, there is AI capabilities to sort your images according to faces. You can sort all the same faces and continuously share with your family member.
Take for example, you have set a default to share any images with your face with your wife, anytime a picture is taken with your face on it and uploaded into your NAS, the picture is instantly accessible by your wife. Yes, it is all done automatically.
Also, there is enhancement everyday. The team has created app for Google TV which means you can view your images from your NAS onto your television. Of course, you can also view it on your Android, iOS, Windows PC, MacOS and Linux devices.
File sharing (Synology Drive) – excellent with the Synology NAS DS1621+
Nothing beats the convenience of having your data locally stored with full autonomy and security yet being able to share it with anybody you desire. With its intuitive applications built for the Synology Drive, sharing files across different devices and platforms is easy. Spend less time figuring out the technicality and be more efficient with your time.
You can easily set it up to open your Synology Drive like opening up any folder in your MacOS or Windows PC seamlessly. You will feel like its just like another partition of the hard drive on your computer. Yes, it does feel that nice. You can easily drag and drop, copy and paste files easily.
Tons of useful applications built by Synology for the Synology 6 bay NAS DiskStation DS1621+
Easily install applications using the DSM (operating system for Synology), which is easily accessible using a web browser. You can install apps like Synology Note Station, Surveillance and even email servers (perfect for small businesses). Other than that, you can also use third party apps like Plex (to store and stream your videos), even install a blog using WordPress or even create a web server using Apache and PHP. With the powerful processor and memory of the DS1621+, running virtual machines is also easy. So you can even install Windows 10 into your NAS and run it virtually.
How to build your Synology Disk Station DS1621+
When you buy a NAS, it will come without the hard drives installed. In order to set it up, you will need the following items
- NAS DS1621+
- Hard disk drives (NAS grade) – eg. Seagate IronWolf, WD Red or consider SSD if you need higher speed & performance
- UPS (uninterruptible power supply) – to safeguard your NAS in the event of power failure
- High grade ethernet cables (preferably Cat 8)
- High speed internet
- High speed router
- Additional RAM memory (optional)
- 10GbE connection upgrade (optional)
Leave a Reply