Synology has a great track record when it comes to offering multi-bay network attached storage (NAS) solutions, and this time around the vendor is taking on the likes of WD’s My Cloud with the single-bay DS115.
The successor to the DS115j, the $179 DS115 features much more robust hardware and a slew of software-based additions that make it a worthy device in this price segment.
Hardware overview
The DS115 shares a lot of the hardware as well as the design details from the two-bay DS215j, making the NAS a powerhouse thanks to the dual-core Marvell Armada (88F6720) processor and 512MB DDR3 RAM. The processor is clocked at 800MHz and can handle floating point calculations. Synology claims that the NAS can deliver reading speeds in excess of 110MB/s and writing speeds of over 104MB/s.
Connectors include eSATA, USB 3.0, USB 2.0 and a Gigabit Ethernet port, with the unit as a whole featuring a black color variant that serves to offset it from the DS115j and the DS215j, both of which were clad in white.
The design may not be as awe-inspiring as what is on offer with WD, but the build quality is far sturdier. There are three LED indicators at the front for power, status of the hard drive and LAN connectivity, along with a power button that sits at the bottom.
The hard drive is accessed by removing the side cover, with the sliding mechanism similar to what we’ve seen in the predecessor. With dimensions of 166mm x 71mm x 224mm, the DS115 is designed to be compact and unobtrusive. While the hardware on offer is certainly compelling, it is the software in the form of Synology’s DiskStation Manager that sets the DS115 apart.
