Product Comparison: Synology DS216+II vs Synology DS218+

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Synology DS216+II NAS DiskStation

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Synology DS218+ 2 bay NAS DiskStation (Diskless)

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General Specifications

Brand

Synology

Model

DS216+II

DS218+

Origin

Taiwan

About the Product

Powered by a hardware-accelerated transcoding engine, DS216+II allows you to transcode H.264 4K videos to 1080p and stream them to high-definition TVs, digital media players, mobile handsets, and computers in the required format, making it easy to watch videos without having to install a 3rd party player.

Equipped with a dual-core processor and AES-NI hardware encryption engine, DS218+ delivers exceptional file transfer speeds. Supporting real-time 4K video streaming, DS218+ is ideal not only for protecting critical data but for storing ultra-high definition media contents as well.

Key Specs

Hard Drive Capacity

20 TB

24 TB

Number Of Slots

2 -bay

Storage Drive Type

2.5”, 3.5”

Number Of Slots
Hard Drive Capacity

What customers say about "Key Specs"

Synology DS216+II NAS DiskStation

Overall, set up was easy, I’m not a novice but not a super expert. There were guides and menus along the way to help folks new to setting up a NAS and the Synology boards are very active for research.
I’ll add an update later if I have anything significant regarding performance or experience, but so far it does what it says and am happy with the unit.
So sweet. I upgraded from a 411j. Used for Video-Photo-back-up etc. The setup really couldn’t be easier. I love the quickconnectid which alleviates the need to port forward for the most part.
Menus and artwork loaded way faster on the client side. At this point, I decided it should index not only my movies and TV shows, but also my home videos, photos and music.
I also was able to watch movies from it from my mobile phone at work. It was easily trans-coding on the fly movies done in 1080p. I need to test with 4K next.
Slow as molasses. I'm not sure if I'm criticizing the unit or Synology's customer support. I purchased the DS718+ and set up a share which I mounted on a Mac through GigE. It went exceedingly smooth.
Unless you have an application that can tolerate transfers at that rate, look at another solution.

Synology DS218+ 2 bay NAS DiskStation (Diskless)

I have always been a fan of Synology. I had their DS211j since 2012. At the time, it did everything that I needed. However, today there are more things I require from a NAS and I found the DS218+ to be the savior.
The DS218+ was a huge step up even though I'm not taking advantage of all the different applications that are available for it. Great number of slots.
I mostly use it as shared file storage and as the destination for backing up various computers on the LAN. I now use my home-built NAS as the destination for backing up the DS218+
Lots of good things to say. It loses a star because the main reason I bought this was to administer backups, and that's the hardest thing to do on this sucker.
It loses one star because it took a good bit of internet searching to figure out how to set up custom backups correctly.

Size & Weight

Color

Black

Height

4.25 in.

9.1 in.

Width

6.5 in.

4.2 in.

Depth

9.18 in.

6.5 in.

Weight

2.76 lbs.

2.87 lbs.

Features

CPU

Intel Celeron N3060

Intel Celeron J3355

RAM

1 GB

2 GB

RAID Support

Synology Hybrid RAID, Basic, RAID 0, RAID 1

Extras

24/7 Security Solution, Integrate Into Your Business Enviroment, Centralized Media Hub, Advanced File Management, Cost-efficient Cloud Storage, Terabytes of Data in Your Pocket

Compact yet powerful storage solution, 4K Multimedia Server, Digital asset protection, Easy file access with QuickConnect

Included Software

Synology Web Assistant, Cloud Station Drive, Cloud Station Backup, Cloud Sync Decryption Tool, Evidence Integrity Authenticator, Photo Station Uploader, Snapshot Manager for VMware, Snapshot Manager for Windows, NFS Plug-in for VMware VAAI

NFS Plug-in for VMware VAAI, Snapshot Manager for Windows, Snapshot Manager for VMware, Cloud Sync Decryption Tool, Cloud Station Backup, Cloud Station Drive, Evidence Integrity Authenticator, Photo Station Uploader, Cloud Station, Synology Assistant, Synology Web Assistant

What customers say about "Features"

Synology DS216+II NAS DiskStation

You'll be prompted to create an account and install DiskStation Manager. SO, after you order, go ahead and download your PDFs and the DS Manager from Synology and have it ready to go.
The admin website interface is a very nice desktop OS like navigation. You can install apps from Package Center, there is a Control Panel and a File Navigator inside the ‘shell’ to start you off. But first you’ll go to Storage Manager to set up your drives.
Right now you need to install the Plex app manually, which is easy. You download the Synology package from the Plex website, Intel - 64-bit (DSM +6.0), and then select manual install in the package manager on Synology and choose the package you downloaded.
It's black, as opposed to my white DS211j.
I had to manually setup the Connect.to and dynamic DNS again to point to this new box, but recognized that I had a new box and removed the old one from the record. YMMV, but very straightforward.
I had to re-install Plex because the version I had was old, unsupported and worked only with ARM CPUs. It re-used my existing database and it was many, many times faster.

Synology DS218+ 2 bay NAS DiskStation (Diskless)

There are a few bits of info you need to track down to make it work, in general and with Plex, but it works.
I mainly stream 480p content and have never experienced any problems with transcoding to Roku.
The Hyper Backup application does a nice job of interfacing with a Linux-based NAS, while File Station and Cloud Station satisfy my file sharing needs.
Syslog server is great. Really handy if your router or firewall can send logs.
I believe the official Plex site claims no support for this specific model, and Plex is not listed in the official Synology apps, but if you "manually" install Plex it seems to work with no problems.
To start off out of the box the L2TP VPN never worked.

Interfaces

LAN Speed

1000 Mbps

Number of LAN

Number of USB

eSATA

Yes

HDMI

What customers say about "Interfaces"

Synology DS216+II NAS DiskStation

I pulled the drives out of the 216+II and put them straight into the 218+ and it fired right into a migration tool. No data or user account loss.
Their migration instructions and tools were great. I was able to migrate 2 x 2TB hard drives to the new NAS with ease. I think I spent more time doing backups than migrating. Everything was working after migration.
Faster hardware encryption as I need this for encrypting my important documents (I have a paperless office thing going).
This is a powerful little box that does just about everything you could ever need.
My one gripe is the loss of a USB port vs prior model. With power supply monitor and USB backup you’re already out. As mentioned, it’s hard to beat DSM and that’s what really shines for me.

Synology DS218+ 2 bay NAS DiskStation (Diskless)

I've had this NAS for a few weeks now and I can say that it is everything I was looking for. It is incredibly powerful yet it has a simple and easy to use web interface.
Don't be fooled by it's simplicity though. The advanced user will be pleased with all of the options that can be tweaked.
The Cloud Sync package makes syncing certain files with Google Drive, Microsoft OneDrive, Dropbox, etc. easy.
Very satisfied with this purchase. Software is of excellent quality - - beats throwing a Linux solution together, myself. Security patches have been seamless. Great docker integration.
My first swim in the NAS pool, and I couldn't be happier with this product. It's bulletproof and takes care of itself without daily interaction from humanoids.
AWS Glacier backups are working out. Ideal solution! I only wish I'd opted for a 4-bay, dual-NIC.
I powered it off to reroute some cables and that was it. Dead. I called Synology (after hunting down a number so I could speak to a human) and they are sending me a new unit.

Warranty / Certifications

Manufacturer Warranty

2 year(s)

Certifications

FCC, CE, BSMI

FCC, CE

Other Information

Manual

Download

Manufacturer

Link