Synology DS1019+ Gigabit NAS Review - Introduction

Synology DS1019+
A proper NAS and a perfect media server?

Synology recently released its latest Gigabit Ethernet NAS server aimed towards the consumer market. Armed with a more powerful quad-core processor the DS1019+ NAS is to set to deliver on the multimedia front as the new SoC is looking to be offering to be an excellent Plex transcoder but also adds NVME caching to speed up small file transports. Our tested DS1019+ model comes with a total of five drive trays offering a multitude of RAID solutions, and as stated nice speeds up with NVME based cache storage.

The DiskStation DS1019+ has been fitted with a rather feisty Celeron J3455 quad-core processor at 1.5 GHz that can turbo to 2.3 GHz. Onboard you will find two ddr3l memory modules at 4 GB, that means dual-channel memory is a reality with up-to 8GB DRAM installed. Synology provides the device with not one, but two m.2. 2280 slots, so you can create a cache based on NVME SSDs. The good thing is that you will not be using either of the five drive slots. The maximum internal storage capacity based on 14TB drives thus could make this unit hold 70TB. As mentioned in the topic title, the DS1019+ could be the perfect media NAS, as it allows to encode/decode and transcode h264 and h265 via the Video Station and DS video, that includes 4k streams. According to Synology, this enabled 4k videos to be converted and played on computers and media players that otherwise do not support Ultra HD formats. However, this is a NAS back to its roots, a proper file (streaming) server with a wide application suite making this a server for all your common needs as well.

Synology fitted the NAS with a pretty spicy processor, it has plenty enough to offer for performance and also remains to be a fairly energy friendly unit as well, offering a wide range of features including file-sharing, Usenet download, web applications, download systems, security center and so on. Yes, years ago a NAS unit had the sole function to serve files. These days however they have become easy to manage servers with selectable applications you can install. Combined with the right amount of security and options a NAS can be a very powerful solution for your LAN or SOHO environment. Today's tested model NAS unit has five HDD bays (hot-swappable) that are RAID 0/1/5/6/10 and JBOD compatible. It offers 2x full duplex Gigabit Ethernet jacks, but unfortunately lacks a 10 Gigabit Ethernet jack. It also comes with two USB 3.1 (Gen 1) connectors as well as an eSATA connector. Power consumption with one storage unit like an HDD or SSD sits at roughly 10 Watts. So this NAS might be a terrific low power option while providing a small server in features. 

The company's "Plus" series devices, it is aimed at higher-end home users and small businesses with a price (without drives) of $649.99. Have a peek at the product and then we'll dive a little deeper into the review.