After beta testing for over six weeks, Synology is ready to roll out its latest operating system, DiskStation Manager 5.1. The update is now available for the vendor’s range of NAS products.
The major addition is Security Advisor, which runs a diagnostic to check your network preferences, password strength and other system settings to determine if your NAS is vulnerable. Synology was quick to roll out a patch after it was found that a hack allows remote users to access a user’s DiskStation earlier this year, hence the focus on increased security with this update. There’s also a new tool that automatically blocks malicious programs from accessing system resources.
On the productivity side, Note Station is a new addition that allows you to write, centralize, sync and manage all your notes across devices. Along with the ability to password protect notes, the feature allows you to share and collaborate with others and revert to previous versions. All notes are saved in your private cloud, and there is also the option of importing existing notes from Evernote. All notes can be easily accessed through a mobile device via DS Note.
The built-in file manager, File Station, has also received numerous additions, and now comes with built-in FTP and email clients. With DSM 5.1 users now have the ability to monitor and manage SSD cache.
Entertainment utilities like Video Station, Audio Station and Photo Station have all picked up updates, and now come with a better search interface that allows you to easily find content. You can sync your content to external cloud services such as OneDrive, Box, and hubiC, and as for data backup, you can configure Microsoft Azure, SFR, and hicloud.
Synology’s DSM is by far the best OS in the NAS segment thanks to the sheer number of features on offer, and with verison 5.1, it has gotten even better.
