Hands-On Synology DiskStation DS223 Review: A Comprehensive Performance Analysis
Synology Diskstation DS223 Review: A Compact and User-Friendly NAS
Introduction
The Synology Diskstation DS223 is a compact and user-friendly NAS that’s designed for small businesses and home offices. While it may not be the most powerful NAS on the market, it’s an excellent choice for those who want a reliable and easy-to-use device for storing and sharing files.
Design and Features
The DS223 sits at the bottom of Synology’s huge NAS range, with only the single-slot DS124 and the more basic two-slot DS223j variant sitting below it. As such, it’s not particularly well specified, with only two SATA drive bays and no NVMe slots. However, it still offers 2GB of RAM onboard, which can’t be upgraded, and a lowly four-core Realtek CPU clocked at 1.7GHz.
Performance
While the DS223 may not be the fastest NAS on the market, it still offers excellent performance for its price range. In ATTO Disk Benchmark, it was around 20% slower than other Synology NAS enclosures for a 4KB file size, and about 10% slower for 16KB files. However, it still managed to deliver a respectable 111MB/sec writes and 113MB/sec reads – about the maximum possible over gigabit Ethernet.
Software and Apps
One of the standout features of the DS223 is its software and app support. Synology’s DiskStation Manager (DSM) operating system strikes almost the perfect balance between functionality and ease of use. Storage Manager makes it intuitive to create and manage storage pools and volumes, while all the network, user, and other settings are gathered together in Control Panel.
Package Center
The DS223’s Package Center offers a range of multimedia, backup, business, and communication apps, including 107 apps at the time of our review. This means you can enhance and add to the NAS’s functionality, although its modest power means it could struggle to run multiple demanding apps at once.
Conclusion
The Synology Diskstation DS223 is a compact and user-friendly NAS that’s easy to install and configure. While it may not be the most powerful NAS on the market, it’s an excellent choice for those who want a reliable and easy-to-use device for storing and sharing files. However, if speed is important, we’d recommend spending more on a 2.5GbE alternative such as the QNAP TS-264.
Key Features:
- Compact and user-friendly design
- 2GB of RAM onboard
- Lowly four-core Realtek CPU clocked at 1.7GHz
- Two SATA drive bays
- No NVMe slots
- 1GbE network port
- Supports up to 16 users
- Package Center offers 107 apps
- Compatible with Windows and macOS
