Synology 4-Bay DiskStation DS923+ (Diskless)

What can I say, we all know why we consider Synology. They are basically the "Apple" of the NAS space.Positives:-User friendly interface-Robust options for safety nets (notice how I said how it's not a backup)-A large userbase with many helpful resources to guide through some of the few nuances.-Optional NVME SSD expansion for caching-Optional RAM upgrade-Optional 2x 5 Bay enclosure (should only be used as it's own, separate volume) for a total of 15 drives of storage.I love the features of BTRFS and SHR1, which are flexible "safety nets" that help protect you from losing all of your data from either a ransomware/crypto attack (BTRFS Snapshots), or a failed drive (SHR1 providing parity data). The advantage of SHR1 vs other RAID configurations is that you are not bound to replacing ALL drives in order to acquire more space. You can simply replace 2 drives with larger capacity drives, to start progressing into more space. These swaps into higher capacity must be done one at a time if using SHR1. Look into Synology RAID calculator if you need more info on how SHR works. Many of the integrations the Synology DSM software brings to the user are also nice (but could be improved on still, such as their Cloud sync application).Negatives:-I wish it had natively faster than 1gb ethernet connections, but it has the option for a 10gb expansion NIC.-If you are looking for a Plex server, this isn't the one you want, because there isn't integrated graphics. I believe the best one right now from Synology is the DS920+ but I have no intention of going this route so I did limited research on it.Do I recommend Synology? AbsolutelyDo I recommend this unit? If it suits your needs, absolutely. There are many options, which cater to different users/needs, so take your time and do your homework.I honestly couldn't be happier so far. If you want to learn more about this unit, I recommend a couple of channels on YT, which I watched for a couple of months leading up to my purchase.SpaceRex and NAScomparesGood luck!---------------------------------------------------------------------------------Just to elaborate on some of the features I am using as it pertains to my specific use case, this is not really part of the review, but more so for people interested in knowing how I use my Synology and why.System specs:i9-9900k 5ghz OC32GB DDR4 3200 RAMRTX 2070 SUPER 8GB1x M.2 NVME 2TB2x SSD 2TBDS1522+ with 5x 8TB HGST Ultrastar He8, using BTRFS and a LUN (2TB allocated)I am using it to sync my Photography company's Dropbox files, create Lr catalog files from the files, and then store our active (not yet approved) client files. The Cloud Sync isn't as flexible as the Dropbox application in terms of visibility of "Only online" files. Your files can only be syncd as "Available offline" or in other words, stored locally. You do have 3 options of syncing, one way sync (either way) and two way sync. I didn't like being unable to view my "Only online" files and then choosing to sync them through my windows file explorer like I would have liked. This made me instead create a LUN through DSM, which created a drive that appears as local on my windows file explorer, so that I could set it as a target location for the Dropbox desktop application. My workflow is as follows:-Once dropbox is placed on a LUN, I syncd our entire photography file system to the LUN in Online Only mode. This took a while, since there were about 1.6 million files for just our photos.-I select which clients I want to sync that need to be built into a catalog, and download the files to the Synology LUN-Once they are downloaded, I copy these locally stored files to my M.2 NVME local storage (May not be necessary once I upgrade the Synology to have the 10Gb NIC), import the images to my master catalog file on Lightroom Classic, and build them into a seperate Catalog with Smart Previews.-I assign the catalog + smart previews to an editor by simply copying the zipped smart previews and catalog to the Dropbox folder assigned to the editor.-The editor then begins their edits to the catalog directly from their folder which syncs to me, and if they are not currently working on it with Lightroom running (which I know when they are clocked in or not), I can open the catalog and see their progress or make corrections if they are needing to be made, the next time they clock in, they see the changes I made to it.-Once the catalog is done I pull it from the syncd folder, open my master catalog file, import from another catalog (the one that was just turned in), and then export as JPEG.-Once this is done, I then move all of the RAW image files, off my M.2 NVME drive, to a home folder (accessible on Windows explorer using SMB share) on the Synology, then set the Dropbox files that they originated from, back to Online Only status.-In my master catalog file, I relocate the missing folder that was just moved from my local storage, to the Synology home folder (which is still viewable from Lr), and now I have access to all those RAW files in Lr still, without the need to keep them on my M.2 NVME local drive.-If during review from one of my admins, certain images are needing to be replaced due to a poor cull,I can still pull up the catalog, make the necessary changes, and export as a JPEG while the RAW exist on the Synology SMB Share folder.That is where I am at now.This is where I want go next in due time, and it highlights just a couple features that the Synology offers to improve my workflow efficiency, and save money.Once I upgrade the Synology with the Expansion slot for 10Gb ethernet, and add a PCI NIC for at least 5Gb (maybe I'll also go 10Gb there too), I may not even need to move anything onto my local NVME, since I will be able to access everything from the Synology at a fast enough speed that I'll be bottle necked by my CPU rather than the disk read/write. This will need to be tested once I acquire those 2 pieces of hardware.Another improvement I can make, is instead of syncing my editors catalog files and smart previews through Dropbox, I could do it through Synology Drive, which is their version of Dropbox. What's the advantage? My editors will not require a Dropbox account to be able to use the Dropbox application sync feature. I could save some of them a monthly subscription (or save ourselves that money for the veteran editors on our team), by just using my NAS as the cloud provider for the editors. I have not gone this route yet because I have not yet had the time to research the best way to open my Synology up to the internet in that way. This is one of the few things that (from my understanding) Synology seems to be doing the best with in comparison to other NAS solutions, but it's a risk that I am not willing to take without educating myself fully on the best approach.Who knows what other optimizations I will discover as I use the Synology more.

So far I do like it. Overall the product is what I expected and meets our household needs. It's fairly easy to set up and deploy, so I have no negative comments there. I do wish the directions and assorted videos were a bit more easier to follow and Synology realised not all users have the background or terminology to understand everything. If you're looking to buy a NAS (and I would 100% suggest this model for basic household use because of price, etc.), I hope my following suggestions help:1. Organize, organize, organize! My biggest headache was that my digital data and digital artifacts (files, pictures, videos, etc.) were spread across a combination of drives and flashdrives i.e. external hard drives, disks, flashdrives, etc. accumulated over a good 20 year period. I started copying files and ran into issues like where my cords were (apparently I forgot over the years different devices had different power sources, cords, etc.)2. Patience young grasshopper! Many of my files over the years started with weird characters, periods, dashes, in some cases the entire first sentence of a document. File extensions that looked like might have come from an old word processor I once had in the 90s. Definitely some file extensions that were from various Nintendo handheld devices, PDAs, etc. So there seemed to be a bunch of pop-up warnings when transferring. Overall, I think the NAS captured all the important stuff, but like I said, I had 3 different WD and ioSafe 2TB external devices, and I didn't bother to check if everything went over.3. Where do I put things? I was a bit confused about the whole Shared Folder vs. Folders that seemed to already populate (photos, music) Synology Photos, Music apps, etc. I still really haven't figured that part out so I just created a folder, then basically dumped all my device files into it. Like I said, this is for the house, nothing I need to worry about other household members accessing, so i went the easiest way. Share and share alike, I guess.4. The wireless/hardwired ethernet stuff was easy to set-up. Synology pretty much does everything for you. But it is so SLOW! My mistake was that I believed because I was using an ethernet cable from my laptop to my Netgear router and a cable from Synology to Netgear router this would be the fastest way. It wasn't until I remembered that you can create a network on your laptop and that seriously sped things up. It was a bit more complicated to set up though. Now I have a "drive" all I do is connect to and it acts like any other external hard drive I've used in the past.5. Hardware: Definitely decide what you want. I went with 2 4tb drives. I wish now I saved up and went with 2 6 or 8tb drives. 4tb filled up super fast! I went with the Iron Wolf and Synology 4TB HDD models. THey work great.6. Upgrade that RAM before you start. I upgraded to TimeTec 4gb because of price and reviews. It did make a difference. I think it's more than enough for what I need.7. Watch a bunch of YouTube videos! Some are really good, some are too advanced, so just look for some that meet your needs.8. I highly recommend this product or at least a NAS type set up. it's easy to use. So far we love it. Organizing videos and photos has been really fun for us in the evenings. Watching the children from birth to now age 20+ makes for nice memories in the kitchen, plus there's no good shows on TV to stream anyway.Hope this helps.