Synology NAS DS211 & DS411j Review

General Media

Photo Station

Photo Station offers a basic web interface to access shared photographs. Once enabled, all photographs in the target folder become visible from http://**NAS IP**/**Folder Name**. Photostation can also be accessed on all common Smartphone OS' - Android 1.5+, Apple iOS, Windows Mobile and Symbian OS.

Media Server

As I hinted earlier, Music and Video tends to be a popular reason to consider such centralised storage options. A particular perk of the 211 and 411j NAS systems is that they offer a sizeable amount of flexibility with media.

The most notable feature is DLNA Media Server capability. This will allow users to stream music and video from the NAS box to certified media players, which range from games consoles (XBOX360, PS3) to Wi-Fi equipped Televisions.

Download Station

Don't lie. Many of you are likely to be hefty Torrent users. Synology NAS systems are equipped with an e-mule based application where your server can be left to download independently of other machines.

This avoids having to leave a desktop machine switched on in order to download large files. Consequently this should result in significant power savings...or will it? Read on to find out more about the NAS servers' power/energy parameters as well as consumption figures.