A Closer Look at the Synology DS418play
Entire DS418play shell is constructed from ABS plastic. This particular version of plastic is not easily marred and very rugged. DS418play has 4 bays and capable of host four 12Tb Hard Drives. (Total capacity varies with RAID protection). Dimensions of DS418play are 166 mm x 199 mm x 223 mm and weights roughly 4Lb or 2Kg without drives.
Entire enclosure is actively cooled via two 92mm fans in the rear. On the front panel there are 5 LEDS that provide status of the enclosure and the HDDs, USB 3.0 connector and a power button. In the rear DS418play has dual Gigabit Ethernet ports along with one USB 3.0 and power connectors. Physical security is provided via included keys and Kensington Security Slot. If you forgot the password for the device, DS418play credentials could be reset via small pin hole on the back of the device.
The Hard Drive sleds are easily removable and made from ABS plastic as well. These sleds offer a unique installation for the 3.5″ and 2.5″ HDDs.
Both sides of DS418play have “Synology” embossed that help with cooling of the internal components. Majority of the intake air is being pulled from the front of the enclosure.
Support of the DS418play is based on four rubber glued feet. The feet have enough grip to keep this device in place on flat surfaces.
Internal motherboard is protected by a metal cover. This cover screws in to the motherboard while providing grounding to the motherboard. The 92mm fans are not PWM enabled and spin at relatively low speeds by default. Fan speed could be controlled trough the OS(Full Speed, Cool Mode, Quiet Mode).
Fans are designed by Y.S. Tech FD129225LL-N and have maximum RPM or 1900. They deliver 36.3 CFM with only 23 dB.
The motherboard is well designed however I did found a few spots where flux residue was left. On the inner side you can see two RAM slots (one being used with DDR3L 2Gb module). On the outer side I found passively cooled CPU and other components.
Daughter board is actually borrowed from DS417+ model and is very much similar in the designs we saw in the past.
DS418play comes with stock ram RAM1866DDR3lSO-2G 2 GB DDR3L 1866 (Expandable up to 6 GB). Additional RAM modules could be purchased through Synology or Amazon.
Dual Gigabit Ethernet is provided by Realtek 8111HS and supports speeds 10/100/1000 Mbps. No 10Gbe here, yet.
Communications with flash is being handled by Flash Micro-controller PIC16F1829SS.
Front Facing LEDS that provide status of the enclosure and drives is handled by RGB White LED Driver by Texas Instruments 3943SQ.
Serial Flash memory is provided by Winbond W25Q128FWSQ. This chip was extremely hard to find info on and as it seems, was custom made for Synology.
As I keep on digging deeper I have noticed more flux residue on the IC board. They do not interfere with the operation of components in any way that I can tell.
On board flash is provided by SPANSION S34ML01G200TF100.
Voltage requirement and regulations are being controlled by Altera (5m80z) module.
CPU of DS418play is by Intel SR2Z8. This CPU is clocked at 2GHz and is able to burst up to 2.5Ghz on demand. This processor from Celeron family and offers 64 bit architecture.
Hard Drive installation in DS418play is rather simple. For the 3.5″ Hard Drives all you have to do is remove enclosed rails, place the Hard Drive in to the sled and re-attach the rails. The rails snap in place and keep the drive nice and secure. If you are planning to use SSD or 2.5″ drives, mounting them would require screws which Synology was so kind to include.
