The test system used in this review is equipped with an Intel Core i7-6700K CPU, GIGABYTE GA-Z170X-UD3 motherboard, 32GB (16GB x 2) of Crucial Ballistix Sport LT DDR4 memory, Samsung 960 PRO 512GB SSD and a GIGABYTE GeForce GTX 1060 WINDFORCE OC 6G graphics card. For the operating system, I installed a fresh copy of Windows 10 Enterprise.
To test the performance of the Synology DS218+, I ran a series of benchmarks using CrystalDiskMark 3.0, ATTO Disk Benchmark 2.46, Iometer and the Intel NAS Performance Toolkit. The tests were run using a pair of Seagate 10TB IronWolf NAS (ST10000VN0004) hard drives configured as RAID 0 and 1 volumes. The DS218+ was connected to the computer using CAT6 ethernet cables and a gigabit Cisco switch.
CrystalDiskMark 3.0:
First, I ran a few quick tests using CrystalDiskMark. This benchmark tool measures the performance of a storage device by testing its sequential read and write speeds as well as its random read and write speeds using blocks 4KB and 512KB in size.
 RAID 0 |
 RAID 1 |
Synology doesn't really say what kind of speeds the DS218+ is capable of when not using encryption. Using CrystalDiskMark we can see that the NAS is able to read at 118.4 MB/s and write at 117.8 MB/s when connected to 1GbE network.
 RAID 1 - with encryption |
Thanks to its hardware encryption engine, the DS218+ also performed pretty well when doing encrypted file transfers. Once again, it was able to read at 118.4 MB/s and write at 117.8 MB/s. However, its performance dropped by nearly 20 MB/s when doing 4K random writes at high queue depths.
ATTO Disk Benchmark 2.46:
I also used ATTO Disk Benchmark to test the DS218+'s sequential read and write speeds. The tests are run using blocks ranging in size from 0.5KB to 8192KB and the total length set to 32MB and 256MB.
 RAID 0 |
 RAID 1 |
The DS218+'s performance was about the same when tested with ATTO. With the two hard drives in a RAID 1 array, the unit topped out at 118 MB/s when reading and 117 MB/s when writing.
Iometer:
Next, I ran a series of tests using Iometer. This tool can be configured to benchmark a number of things. In this case, I used it to measure the DS218+'s sequential read and write speeds using blocks ranging from 512B to 2MB in size. The tests were run using random bytes and a queue depth of 3.
The RAID configuration had very little impact on the DS218+'s sequential read performance. In both cases, the NAS was able to read at speeds as high as 112 MB/s.
The DS218+'s sequential write performance varied a bit when tested with Iometer. While it was able to write at more than 98 MB/s when configured for RAID 0, its write speed topped out at only 95 MB/s when using RAID 1.
Intel NAS Performance Toolkit:
The Intel NAS Performance Toolkit (Intel NASPT) is a file system exerciser and analysis tool designed to enable performance comparisons between network attached storage (NAS) devices. Intel NASPT focuses on user level performance using real world workload traces gathered from typical digital home applications: HD video playback and record, data backup and restore utilities, office productivity applications, video rendering/content creation, and more.
 RAID 0 |
 RAID 1 |
The DS218+ reached some respectable speeds when streaming HD video and copying large files to and from the server. As with other NAS devices though, its transfer rates dropped considerably when creating content and copying directories full of small files to the NAS.
Final Thoughts:
The Synology DS218+ is a great choice for anyone looking for a compact, yet powerful, storage solution for their home or small business. Equipped with an Intel Celeron J3355 dual-core 2.0 GHz processor, 2GB of DDR3 RAM and an AES-NI hardware encryption engine, this 2-bay NAS delivers great performance as well as a multitude of features for both home and small business environments. Along with an easy to use web interface, the DS218+ offers centralized, cross platform storage and backups, cloud synchronization, media streaming with video transcoding and remote access via Synology's QuickConnect service. For a 2-bay NAS with a single gigabit network port, the DS218+ also performed relatively well, reading and writing at more than 117 MB/s throughout our tests.
As part of this review, Synology asked that I take a look at Surveillance Station. Admittedly, this is not a feature that I've spent a lot of time with in the past, but now that I have, I'm pretty impressed. Like Synology's other applications, Surveillance Station is very easy to set up and use thanks to its intuitive desktop-like interface and user-friendly video management tools. It also offers a number of more advanced features including smart analytics that will alert you of suspicious behavior, as well as the new "Home Mode" that can be configured to automatically switch between different settings when you enter or leave your house.
The only real complaint I have about the DS218+ and Surveillance Station is that only two camera licenses are installed by default. This is probably fine for most home users, but if you want to add more camera to your system, you will need to purchase additional licenses which cost about $50 each.
The DS218+ is available now and can be purchased from online retailers like Amazon for about $300.
Highs:
- Dual-core Intel Celeron processor with AES-NI encryption engine
- Two hot-swap drive bays
- Supports SHR, RAID 0, 1 and JBOD disk configurations
- File sharing and backups for Windows, Mac and Linux clients
- Integrated video surveillance system
- Gigabit Ethernet
- USB 3.0 and eSATA ports
- Easy to use web interface
- Remotely accessible from web browsers and mobile devices
- Cloud synchronization
- Multimedia streaming with 4K video transcoding
- Quiet operation
- Reasonably priced
- Two year warranty
Lows:
- Surveillance Station includes only two device licenses
