Synology DS418 NAS Device Review
9/10 (Expert Score)
- Sequential throughput performance at over 226 MB/s reading and 170 MB/s writing
- Dual 1GbE ports with failover and Link Aggregation support
- Compatible Drive Type-3.5 inch SATA HDD, 2.5 inch SATA HDD, 2.5 inch SATA SSD. "Compatible drive type" indicates drives that have been tested to be compatible with Synology products. This term does not indicate the maximum connection speed of each drive bay
$453.59
Description
The Synology DS418 NAS is perfect for small businesses or home users who want to set up a centralized storage solution. It offers high performance and reliability, making it ideal for hosting files, photos, music, and videos. The DS418 comes with 4GB of internal storage and two 2TB hard drives for added storage space. It also has a web-based interface that makes setting up and using the NAS easy.
Design
The Synology DS418 NAS was designed with versatility in mind. It’s a four-bay NAS that adds tons of storage space to the DSx18 series already huge selection of apps, 4K video streaming, music, backups, and file synchronization features. At first glance, the DS418 looks a little like a small fire safe until you see the blinking green LED status lights along the right side. Most safes don’t have a USB port or On/Off switch either. The front contains 4 removable drive sleds that lock in place with a key. The drive bays are completely tool-less meaning you don’t have to worry about digging up a tiny screwdriver before doing minor surgery on your NAS. In the back is another USB 3.0 port and 2 1GB Ethernet ports that support link aggregation. Link aggregation allows you to combine 2 1GB ports into a single 2GB port. The extra Ethernet port can also be for fail-over in case one connection goes down for some reason.
Synology DS418 NAS Features
Massive storage space is not all the DS418 offers. It’s well-equipped for file sharing, playing multimedia files, and running Synology’s many “packages” with a 1.4GHZ quad-core processor and 2GB of upgradeable DDR4 RAM. The 10-bit 4K H.265 hardware transcoding engine delivers 4K Ultra HD video transcoding on the fly. This means it’s great for video and multimedia streaming even the largest files. (Max resolution: 4096 X 2160) The DS418 can also be used as a multimedia hub with native support for Smart TV’s, Roku, Chromecast, and even Apple TV. DNLA support allows streaming to all your mobile devices. The Synology Quick Connect feature is designed to allow you to access your files from anywhere but leaves something to be desired. It works but it’s slow and buggy. Signing up for a Plex account and setting up Plex on your NAS makes the process of accessing multimedia files on remote PCs and mobile devices amazingly seamless by comparison. The DS418 supports RAID 1,0, 5,6, 10, and JBOD (Just a bunch of disks.) Synology has is own flavor of RAID called Synology Hybrid RAID or SHR for short. SHR is great for beginners who don’t have a lot of experience with configuring RAID volumes etc. My free eBook goes into great detail about how RAID works and how to set it up on a Synology NAS 
Performance
In file transfer tests the Synology DS418 NAS was not quite as fast as its big brother the Synology DS710+ but considerably faster than the Asustor AS1004T. Keep in mind your NAS is basically a hard drive on steroids. Your NAS file transfer speeds will be directly related to the speed of the hard drives you use. Yes, the DS418 works with SSD drives.
Synology DS418 NAS Setup
Once your drives are inserted into your NAS, it’s plugged in, turned on, and connected to your network simply type in http://find.synology.com into a browser on a computer on your home network. It will immediately track down your NAS and get you started with the setup wizard. The setup wizard allows you to name your NAS, set up an admin password, and select the apps you want to be installed. The NAS will download and install the DMS Operating System and reboot. Once it reboots it’s time to set up your drives. When configuring RAID the best bet is to use the Storage Manager utility to configure your drives for SHR-1. This is the simplest and most user-friendly way to get started. For more details on this see my free eBook. Once you’ve made your RAID selections your NAS will begin its configuration process. This can take several hours. You’ll be able to use your NAS during the process but it will be extremely laggy. Best to go out for dinner or a movie and return to a fully configured NAS. 
Synology DS418 NAS – Video
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Conclusion
The Synology DS418 NAS is more of a SOHO NAS. It may be slight overkill for home users. For a small home office, it offers the right combination of performance, security, and storage space. User permissions and policies can be set up and its built-in encryption features, antivirus, and custom SSL can make it an ideal business NAS and a favorite toy of most IT pros.
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Synology DS418 NAS Device Review Videos
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