Synology DS423+ NAS Review!

[@GigAHerZ64]

In my retro lab, I have a simple Debian based VM on my modern machine, that I'll bring up every time I mess around with old machines. It does many things: * it mounts smbv3 shares from Nas and reshares them in smbv1. * it also shares my modern machine's optical drive * it provides hayes modem emulation over usb-com adapter with properly set up ppp server for dial up * it provides proxy for visiting old pages with the help of web archive Makes life so much easier. ;)

[@vswitchzero]

Brilliant! That's exactly the sort of thing I'm going to look into setting up.

[@son6060]

Thannks for your informative, concise, and nice review. You saved me from watching 40+ minutes reviews

[@erinwiebe7026]

Before buying a DS220+, I used to DIY & host everything on a little Debian system. It worked well, so long as I maintained it along with my interest in doing so. I'm an amateur photographer and I have a large photo library and for me, a small Synology NAS made a lot more sense in the end. I'd much rather spend time with my creative outlet than with Linux admin (which I do enough of at work as it is). What I really like about the Synology setup, are apps like Hyper Backup so I can make & rotate offline/off site backups as well. I've replaced Google Photos with Synology Photos too, which is nice peace of mind knowing my photos are no longer hosted on a free, 3rd party service somewhere. Synology's hardware & software are solid and well worth the price IMO. The outdated LAN & CPU aren't big enough detractors for me. For a one person network, it's perfect.

[@vswitchzero]

Thanks for your comment! Yes, I totally agree. Having a convenient turn-key solution like this is really worth it for many people. I have been super impressed by Synology's software packages and definitely see a lot of value there. I haven't tried Synology Photos yet, but will definitely give it a try.

[@pedrocaixinha8907]

Hi in regards to the old ftp/smb accesing i recall having to set also a less secure password. max 8 characters alpha, this was with a diffetent branding of nas though. cheers :)

[@vswitchzero]

Thanks very much for the tip, I will give this a try!

[@kiwoneka]

Another fantastic Video - I do recall the very first one

[@cementheed]

The basic 4 bay unit is excellent and their software is a really bright feature. Their price point is also very good.

[@nestination]

great review man thanks a lot!

[@JasonTaylor-po5xc]

1 GbE lan is certain retro especially since you can't use USB nics or PCIe cards, their hdd policy is also retro.

[@--Lam]

Wait, so in 2023 you can still get a NAS with a 1 Gbps Ethernet?! Last year I built a NAS from my old ODROID H2+ (Celeron J4115), which of course back in 2016 had dual 2,5 GHz NIC-s, and the NAS, including a NAS case and the SSDs (Optane boot NVMe + 2 SATA SSDs) came up to like $300, counting the original price of the H2+. Oh, and that one's completely passive, no fan at all. The H3 I replaced it with in non-NAS duty needs a 92 mm fan, Intel kind of failed with the Celeron N5105, it's HOT when passive (yes, tested even without a case; of course the Noctua fan I stuck there at minimal RPM is impossible to detect with any human senses, behind a dust cover you can't see or touch it to confirm it's running - still a downgrade from that J4115, regardless of the new GPU and codecs in QuickSync). Wonder where Synology got their previous gen Celerons, if Odroid couldn't and they had to discontinue the H2 line... oh wait, does that mean it's actually a pre-pandemic model, made from a huge pile of old parts in their warehouse, being sold in 2023? ;) But the old trusty H2+ (basically this Synology's hardware, just made 7 years ago), cool while completely passive. Dual 2,5 gigs, remember, 2016 vintage. Oh, and it has HDMI and DP output for initial OS installation and potential future diagnosis (it hasn't been connected to a display for 6 years straight, but it's a feature you want for peace of mind). And the most funny (actually outrageous) thing is: the NAS you're advertising has slower network card than a $20 Internet subscription (2 Gbps) here in Poland. Just saying, you pretend to be Canadian, but you're very USA, "yeah it's bad and slow, but at least it's expensive! Murrica!"

[@framebuffer.10]

I did a complete guide in my blog how to secure Windows98 and allow modern (NTLM2) SMB shares to be mounted. You just need a new registry key and the right version of dsclient (which I linked in the guide, but can be found in any Windows 2000 ISO btw). Have a look if you want 🙂

[@vswitchzero]

Oh awesome, thanks! I'll definitely have a look. Could you provide a link?

[@framebuffer.10]

@@vswitchzero I tried twice but yt keeps deleting my comments, not sure how to do it 😅

[@DA-bc8wg]

Very nice video. Still contemplating on the 423+ or the 723+. I like both. I won't be running Plex, but I do run my content off of Apple TV, Zidoo, Kodi and Dune Solo. Would the 723+ do well for this. Plus a good 98% of my content is 1080p. Any suggestions?

[@vswitchzero]

Thanks! Sorry for my slow reply. To be honest, I don't have much experience with video streaming from a NAS, so I can't really help much. Although the 423+ has a quicksync offload capable CPU, the 723+ has a relatively powerful Ryzen series chip. My understanding is that it should be able to handle 1080p content without difficulty. The 723+ also has the benefit of more supported RAM and may be better suited to run virtual machines if that interested you. If you don't need four bays, I think the 723+ would be a great choice for a wide range of uses.

[@hottroddinn]

Did you end up buying it? The 723+ is a Ryzen processor which means it is not doing hardware Transcoding. It's better to have hardware transcoding so that your media server does a good job. I'll be sticking to the 423+ purely for this reason.

[@DA-bc8wg]

No. I didn't buy it yet. Still in limbo. Probably wait til Black Friday. Thanks for responding. The 423+ could do, because I'm a newly at the NAS. So I wouldn't have anything to compare it to. Plus 4 bays sounds better than 2 any day.@@hottroddinn

[@p_mouse8676]

About old smb shares. You could put a small cheap Linux machine (or pi type system) as a translation between the two. With a adequate firewall that would also be more safe I think. Great review BTW!

[@NickyLarson16]

Hello, i would like to know if i'm using some HDD 2.5" it's should be compatible?

[@vswitchzero]

Yep, any 2.5 inch SATA HDD or SSD will fit into the hot swap trays 👍

[@chrishalle1982]

Why doesnt it have an Network Indicator like other synology NAS? You are Limited to 2 Gig Ehternet it has to 1 gigabit ethernet connectors what means it can use 2 connections as one.

[@vswitchzero]

Good question - not sure why Synology didn't include the network indicator light. Yes, it is possible to combine the two NICs using the link aggregation protocol (LACP) as long as a switch is used that supports this. If you have more than one client accessing the NAS simultaneously, it's possible to get up to 2Gps throughput.

[@chrishalle1982]

@@vswitchzero yes thats what i meant :)

[@steelpuxnastik_yt]

I had j3355, j3455, j4005, j4105 and they all can work with 16GB RAM, but officially only 8. j4125 it's just the same with j4005, j4105, so you can try to put even 16GB on one stick, who knows, I haven't tried, but more than 8GB totally not a problem, at least on consumer motherboards with that processors.

[@vswitchzero]

Nice! I wondered about that. I used to push beyond the "official" memory limits on some home server builds I did on socket 1156 years back. I'll have to see if I have an 8GB SODIMM around here and give it a try.

[@steelpuxnastik_yt]

@@vswitchzero the only difference that I tried DIMM memory, but as I understand without XMP possibility to work on higher then standard 2133mhz can only SODIMM, that has something like already standard higher frequency. So on that boards I worked only on 2133, but 2400 supported. And now I have n5105 with SODIMM and they really works as officially supported 2933mhz, when memory can work on 3200. But I really would be not surprised if you put stick with 16GB and it will work like 18GB in total.

[@T3hBeowulf]

The key for using a 16GB stick is to ensure it's a "Dual Rank" SODIMM. I can confirm this works as I am currently able to use 18GB of RAM on my 2-bay DS220+.

[@bufordmaddogtannen]

It looks like the USB-IF had another seizure and decided that the marketing name for that usb port is now "USB 5Gbps".

[@herbie747]

Did the extra 4gb of RAM work or not??

[@vswitchzero]

It did indeed. No issues at all.

[@markcentral]

Synology’s products are expensive, but part of that is that you are also paying for their very good OS and support. That being said, I think you nailed it on the negatives section of the video. It’s a shame this cpu is too underpowered, and that they’ve opted for 1 gbit lan ports in 2023. I suspect they use lower end parts to create more product segmentation with their higher end offerings, but I think it will only drive users to build their own custom cheaper TrueNAS setups. Imagine how much further a 35W 8 core Ryzen 5700GE will outperform it

[@hottroddinn]

If you are building your own, what case are case and motherboard are you using and how much will it cost without the drives?

[@tristankordek]

2:36 USB 3 5Gb

[@hayko_7295]

Way too expensive for me. And the only 1gig nic is odd..

[@Павел-ш6ь7д]

Спасибо за обзор!

[@the_beefy1986]

Thanks for throwing those imperial units in there for us unwashed Americans :)

[@vswitchzero]

LOL! In Canada, everything is officially metric, but it's honestly all over the place. Both measurement systems are used all the time depending on who you talk to and what you are talking about :-)

[@framebuffer.10]

btw almost 11K subs, you are rocking man! Remember when we were only 1K 😎🦾

[@vswitchzero]

Thanks so much! 1K feels like just yesterday, hard to believe :)