Conclusion and Final Thoughts
Once again Synology produced a fine product. DS 1819+ is a network attached storage device which has the ability to support not only a home office but also small to mid-size businesses. This little scalable storage server will store all of your business files and if needed offload them into the cloud for backup retention. This and other features are all available from the Package Center. Numerous applications are offered free of charge in the Package Center however there are some applications which you might need to purchase if you looking to unlock a full functionality or a special feature. This is true for all NAS products that Synology offers with DiskStation Manager (DSM).
The Synology DS 1819+ is powered by Intel Atom C3538 64-bit CPU. This CPU is a quad-core chip that has a clock of 2.1Ghz. This comes in handy if you plan to run virtual machines directly from the NAS. DS 1819+ comes with 4Gb DDR4 RAM that could be upgraded up to 32Gb but prepare to pay a premium price for the 32Gb kit. Currently, a single supported 16Gb RAM module by Synology costs a whopping 333$. It is worth mentioning that 16Gb modules support ECC (Error Correction Code).
One of the best features of this NAS is the expansion slot which supports PCIe based network cards. DS 1819+ has built-in 4 port 1Gbps however if you are planning to use this in a multi-user environment, I highly recommend looking at 10GbE solutions for this NAS.
In my testing of the Synology DS 1819+, I looked at both 1GbE and 10GbE performance data of the device. For the 1GbE benchmarks, the NAS performed up to par with what I would expect from a gigabit connected device. When 10GbE benchmarks were performed I saw real-life metrics which showed the ability of the NAS to sustain write speed in the upper 700s MB/s and read speed of mid 800s MB/s. Essentially, I was getting SSD speeds over the network. With a large capacity storage device such as DS 1819+, you want to be able to supplement the storage with good transfer speeds.
I found no issues with the hardware or the software of DS 1819+. The ease of use of DiskStation Manager and Virtual Machine Manager (downloadable through Package Center) you can easily set up a small Virtual Server environment. The only problem I saw with this NAS is the number of the CPU cores. If you are planning to use this NAS as a storage device the CPU cores (4) is plenty of horsepower to go around, however, if you looking to spin up multiple virtual machines your options are limited to 4 vCPUs. The maximum amount of RAM is also limited. Maximum supported RAM to be used in DS 1819+ is 32Gb.
Overall the device is very well built. I love the internal based power supply, it really gives that server/appliance look and feel. Price of DS 1819+ I found to be a little bit on the high side. Right now, Synology DS 1819+ retails for $ 949 USD (at the time of the review. Some of Synology’s competitors that offer 8 bay NAS devices sell their products about 100-120$ less. I also find that the price of RAM upgrade is high as well.
If you are looking for a storage solution that offers scalability and gradual growth in storage then DS 1819+ is the one to consider. When we look for NAS devices we usually have a set of criteria that we look for. Synology DS 1819+ has pretty much everything that I would want for my small-medium business. Features in DS 1819+ are endless and too many to list in this review but if you are looking for a file storage repository with advances shared features, this is it.
