hard drive

How To: Synology DS1821+ Network Attached Storage (NAS) & DSM 7.0

Mike ConnellyConnected Home, Technology

A significant upgrade, the Synology DS1821+ replaces the DS1819+’s Atom C3538 with an AMD Ryzen V1500B quad-core processor and adds two built-in M.2 NVMe slots. We cover the hardware differences, SSD caching trade-offs, and notable DSM 7.0 features relevant to the upgrade decision. The performance gap between these two units is larger than the model numbers suggest. Continue reading How To: Synology DS1821+ Network Attached Storage (NAS) & DSM 7.0

How To: Ubiquiti Cloud Key Gen2 Plus Review & Migration

Mike ConnellyConnected Home

The Ubiquiti UniFi Cloud Key Gen2 Plus consolidates two separate appliances into one: it runs the UniFi SDN controller and serves as a network video recorder for UniFi Protect. The hardware upgrade from our original Cloud Key, the migration process, and the internal hard drive swap are all documented. With only a $20 price gap between the standard Gen2 and the Plus model, we recommend buying the Plus model.
Continue reading How To: Ubiquiti Cloud Key Gen2 Plus Review & Migration

How To: Synology DS1819+ Network Attached Storage (NAS) Review & Migration

Mike ConnellyConnected Home

The DS1819+ replaces the DS1817+’s Intel Atom C2538 with the newer C3538, and its PCIe 3.0 slot supports NVMe SSD caching rather than being limited to SATA speeds. Beyond those hardware differences, the disk migration process and key software features in Synology’s DSM are also addressed, including Synology and third-party applications, the file system, file sharing, synchronization & backup, and security. Continue reading How To: Synology DS1819+ Network Attached Storage (NAS) Review & Migration

Synology DS1817+ Network Attached Storage (NAS) Review & Configuration

Mike ConnellyConnected Home

The Synology DS1817+ is an eight-bay NAS running a quad-core Intel Atom processor with SHR2 RAID, capable of surviving the simultaneous loss of two drives without data loss. This review covers hardware configuration, file system selection, file sharing protocols, and security hardening for a demanding home prosumer environment. Btrfs goes beyond what EXT4 offers by adding automatic file self-healing and snapshot replication, but migrating between the two on Synology requires a full volume rebuild. Continue reading Synology DS1817+ Network Attached Storage (NAS) Review & Configuration