In the last week of September, Synology launched their Intel Rangeley-based DS415+. In our review, we found it resolved most of the issues encountered in the previous Atom-based SMB NAS units (such as performance with encryption enabled and latencies when subject to multi-client access). While 4-bay units tend to cover the needs of the lower end of the SMB spectrum, higher bay counts are necessary for the other segments. Towards this, Synology is launching the 8-bay DS1815+ today.

The main SoC in the unit is still the Intel Atom C2538 (same as the DS415+). The differences between the DS415+ and the DS1815+ (in addition to the obvious difference in the number of bays) include expandable memory (one free slot), two extra GbE ports, and support for an additional DX513 expansion chassis (total of two, compared to one in the DS415+). Unlike the 100W external adapter in the DS415+, we have an internal 250W PSU in the DS1815+.

The specifications of the DS1815+ are summarized in the table below.

Synology DS1815+ Specifications
Processor Intel Atom C2538 (4C/4T Silvermont x86 Cores @ 2.40 GHz)
RAM 2 GB DDR3 RAM (+ 4GB max. in 2nd slot)
Drive Bays 8x 3.5"/2.5" SATA II / III HDD / SSD (Hot-Swappable)
Network Links 4x 1 GbE
External I/O Peripherals 4x USB 3.0, 2x eSATA
Expansion Slots None
VGA / Display Out None
Full Specifications Link Synology DS1815+ Specifications
Price £790.80 (Span UK)

Going by the models in the 13+ series, a 5-bay version to complement the 415+ and 1815+ should also be coming soon.

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  • Montago - Tuesday, November 4, 2014 - link

    Yet again Synology is batshit crazy in their price model..

    Just imagine how far you can come with enterprise hardware from HP or DELL.. Or homebrew hardware..

    And in this pricerange you even start to afford a real server operating system..
  • IdBuRnS - Tuesday, November 4, 2014 - link

    Yet, Synologys are almost idiot-proof to setup for a small business or home office environment.
  • Jammrock - Tuesday, November 4, 2014 - link

    This is actually reasonable for a flexible 8-bay solution. Crazy priced is Drobo territory.
  • imaheadcase - Tuesday, November 4, 2014 - link

    The price is not the issue, its ease of use. That is exactly what small business wants and is why SYnology is very popular.
  • mpbrede - Wednesday, November 5, 2014 - link

    I believe a substantial portion of the cost is the DSM software, which are excellent.
  • shelbystripes - Wednesday, November 5, 2014 - link

    I don't consider the price that crazy, but just like with the DS415+, I'm really disappointed they didn't provide ECC RAM, given that the SoC they're using supports it.
  • mpbrede - Wednesday, November 5, 2014 - link

    In this article you mention that the Synology DS415_ can attach one DX513 Expansion chassis.

    Neither the Synology website specifications, nor the actual DS415+ review mention the possibility of an expansion chassis.
  • shelbystripes - Wednesday, November 5, 2014 - link

    Check the Synology page for the DX513 itself. Under specifications, for supported models it says, and I quote:

    "DS415+ (as external storage only)"

    This is consistent with other DS4 or DS2 models which have an eSATA port. You can connect the expansion chassis, but you don't get the full set of features and functionality you get from a DS7/DS15/DS18 model. Most notably, you don't get single volume spanning, which is what was mentioned in the DS415+ review.

    It's not clear if you were being passive aggressive or just being terrible at asking why people think the DS415+ supports the expansion chassis at all. Either way, it does, and people know because Synology says so.
  • mpbrede - Thursday, November 6, 2014 - link

    Perhaps I'm terrible at asking questions. However, attaching the DX513 via eSATA is terrible in terms of functionality or expansion of the capacity of theprimary Synology unit.

    It is also counter-intuitive (at least to me) if I read the specifications of one unit (the DS415+) to have to guess which other units I have to research for external storage if the DS415+ does not mention that it supports additional units - but that's just me having issues with Synology's way of documenting things.
  • State of Affairs - Friday, November 7, 2014 - link

    No option for ECC memory? No file system to prevent bit-rot (e.g., ZFS, btrfs)? At this price level, Synology is completely nutty.

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