Synology DiskStation DS418play 4-bay

Synology has designed the DiskStation DS418play to be a centralized multimedia hub, but it really offers a lot for all types of different users. First off this is a 4-bay unit giving up to 40TB of storage space in a very small footprint. 40TB is more than enough space for backing up quite a lot of different things. Also with Synology Hybrid RAID you don’t have to worry about losing data if you replace or upgrade your drives.

With more RAM compared to the previous NAS models, this is definitely a huge leap for Synology’s PLAY series, making the product line better than ever. Synology has always been known for creating reliable and effective devices that are also very user-friendly for all: from their custom DSM operating system that makes setting up, configuration, and software installation easy, to the Hybrid RAID technology.

The four-bay Synology DiskStation DS418play is a multimedia network-attached storage (NAS) device that offers numerous apps, tool-free access to drives, and relatively fast performance.

The four-bay Synology DiskStation DS418play is a multimedia network-attached storage (NAS) device that offers numerous apps, tool-free access to drives, and relatively fast...

The DS418play is designed to be able to do almost any typical NAS and Specifically Synology NAS tasks. It runs the latest DSM 6.1 software (DSM 6.2 now available in Beta HERE) and with that you have the ability to utilize a huge array of home, office, small business, big business and more. Along with these browser-based applications, you can download many, many mobile applications on iOS and Android, install 1st and 3rd party compatible desktop applications and even run virtual machines.

If you are a home user looking for a device that can help you keep things backed-up such as family photos across a variety of devices or need some network storage access that can grow with you, then the DS418Play is a great solution. Perhaps you are a small business that wants some digital storage space and some collaborative tools for multiple employees without having to purchase a large rack-mounted server. The DS418Play would be a nice fit too.

Network Attached Storage (NAS) might sound technical and foreboding, but Synology's simple to use multimedia-centric Synology DS418play makes it simple and enticing to use for all your local storage needs.

Right now DS418play (disk less) retails for about $ 461 USD. I do find it to be a little bit on the high end of the price curve for a traditional NAS however, if you factor the streaming, trans-coding and additional features with in this unit the price seems just right. Upgrades to this devices are also available in form of RAM. DS418play can support up to 6Gb of DDR3L type of ram.