At Computex 2024, we had the opportunity to tour the Synology showcase, and interview Jason Sin about the new ActiveProtect and AI Console, as well as other forthcoming products!
Synology Computex 2024 Showcase!
At Computex 2024, Synology gave us an exclusive tour of their new ActiveProtect appliance, as well as other current and upcoming products!
At 0:36, we started with Synology’s upcoming scale-out file and object storage solution – the GS6200. Powered by GirdStation Manager (GSM), the Synology GS6200 supports between 3 to 96 nodes per cluster, offering up to 20 petabytes of raw capacity per cluster.
A full 96-node Synology GS6200 cluster is capable of supporting up to 150,000 simultaneous uploads and downloads. At 4:56, you can see the actual GS6200 cluster of six nodes in action. They also showed us what it looks like inside of a Synology HC6500 node at 8:36, which has 60 drive bays.
At 10:19, we had an in-depth look at the new Synology ActiveProtect appliance – what it does, and how does it accomplish its objectives. You can also see how easy it is for IT administrators to manage backups using the ActiveProtect Manager software.
At 17:00, Synology showcased its Office Suite of productivity apps, which will soon be enhanced by artificial intelligence. Those AI features will be managed and controlled through Synology AI Console, which will not only verify the API keys for your preferred generative AI services, it will also monitor AI usage, and perform de-identification – filtering out sensitive data in AI requests.
Synology also demoed its BeeStation NAS at 23:12, its Synology Photos app at 27:51, and its BeeDrive portable storage solution at 30:58. Finally, Synology showed us its latest surveillance systems at 33:23.
Synology Computex 2024 Interview With Jason Sin!
After the showcase t our, we had the opportunity to sit down with Jason Sin, the Sales Account Manager of Synology to talk about what Synology announced during Computex 2024.
Here are some quick points we gathered from our interview session:
one SKU (DP7400) offering 140TB of storage capacity will be available in Q4 2024.
it achieves 99% reduction in data transmission through source deduplication.
it also speeds up backups through its integrated SSD cache.
while he was not able to share (at that time) the size of the SSD cache, Synology late revealed that the DP7400 appliance will use two 4TB SSDs in RAID 1.
it can keep costs low by automatically transferring “cold data” to cheaper archiving servers, while maintaining “hot data” in its local storage.
this is a scale-out file and object storage solution
it can support up to 150,000 concurrent transfers (uploads / downloads) per cluster
Synology Surveillance Systems
Synology provides AI features like AI analytics, human detection, facial recognition, people counting, etc.
Synology will be releasing two new cameras – a fisheye camera, and a zoomable camera which is designed for licence plate recognition, both with some AI features.
Synology Surveillance System centralises all cameras, and simplifies the job of the IT administrator.
Synology designs its own cameras, which are manufactured by a partner company.
They will launch a new camera that will upload all footage to the cloud, and will be subscription-based.
These cameras can be used with any NVRs, but if they are paired with Synology NVRs, they will support end-to-end encryption.
Synology AI Console
It will support key AI models like ChatGPT, Azure AI, and Gemini.
Synology is already using its own generative AI model for customer support service.
Synology is planning to eventually release its own generative AI model.
Synology AI Console will debut with DSM 7.2.2
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Support my work through a bank transfer / PayPal / credit card!
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Dr. Adrian Wong has been writing about tech and science since 1997, even publishing a book with Prentice Hall called Breaking Through The BIOS Barrier (ISBN 978-0131455368) while in medical school.
He continues to devote countless hours every day writing about tech, medicine and science, in his pursuit of facts in a post-truth world.
Synology just unveiled new ActiveProtect data protection appliances with a highly-scalable architecture! Here is what you need to know…
Synology Unveils ActiveProtect Data Protection Appliances!
On 5 June 2024, Synology unveiled new ActiveProtect appliances during Computex 2024, starting with the ActiveProtect DP7400!
ActiveProtect is a new series of purpose-built data protection appliances that combine centralised management, with a highly-scalable architecture, to offer up to 2X faster backups, 2:1 deduplication, and up to 99% lower data transmission.
Quick Deployments
It takes less than 10 minutes to deploy the Synology ActiveProtect appliance, and just 15 minutes to start protecting your data.
IT teams can quickly deploy ActiveProtect appliances in minutes and create comprehensive data protection plans via global policies using a centralized console. ActiveProtect is designed to be intuitive, significantly reducing operational overhead.
Role-Based Access Control
Maintain control over data by granting access permissions such as workload restoration, and data viewing rights.
Protect Against Ransomware
Secure your data with flexible immutable backups. Instead of a fixed lock period of repository, Synology ActiveProtect offers a flexible lock period for your immutable backups.
You can also isolate your data with air-gapped backups – ActiveProtect supports physical and logical air-gapping through the firewall, by disabling network ports, as well as a shutdown schedule.
Scale your data with ease to meet changing business requirements, to support up to 2,500 sites and backup servers, and up to 150,000 endpoint devices and cloud accounts.
Each ActiveProtect appliance can operate in standalone or cluster-managed modes. Storage capacity can be tiered with Synology NAS/SAN storage solutions, C2 Object Storage, and other ActiveProtect appliances in the cluster.
Additionally, existing Synology Active Backup for Business deployments are manageable from the unified interface, providing high deployment flexibility.
Recover With Confidence
Leverage bare-metal or file-level restoration, or perform P2V (physical to virtual) or V2V (virtual to virtual) restoration to instantly recover data.
Guaranteed Data Backup
Detect and restore corrupt data, verify backups, and test your disaster recovery strategy in a sandboxed environment with a built-in hypervisor.
Fast And Efficient
Purpose-built ActiveProtect appliances leverage incremental backups with source-side, global, and crosssite deduplication to ensure fast backups and replication with minimal bandwidth usage. ActiveProtect is up to 7 times faster at backing up with a typical deduplication ratio of over 2:1, significantly reducing operating costs.
“The launch of ActiveProtect reflects Synology’s unceasing commitment to empowering our users with the tools to manage their most valuable asset—data,” said Philip Wong, Chairman and CEO of Synology. “In today’s rapidly evolving digital landscape, businesses face unprecedented challenges in safeguarding their data. With the new ActiveProtect offering, we aim to empower organizations of all sizes to address cybersecurity challenges head-on.”
ActiveProtect centralizes organization-wide data protection policies, tasks, and appliances to offer a unified management and control plane. Comprehensive coverage for endpoints, servers, hypervisors, storage systems, databases, and Microsoft 365 and Google Workspace services dramatically reduce IT blind spots and the necessity of operating multiple data protection solutions.
“Organizations are tasked with maintaining overly complex and costly data protection strategies, and we aim to solve all the challenges at once with ActiveProtect,” stated Jia-Yu Liu, Executive Vice President at Synology. “ActiveProtect is the culmination of extensive research, development, and experience working with our customers. We are confident in delivering a solution that will exceed modern businesses’ expectations.”
Synology ActiveProtect : Models + Specifications
At Computex 2024, Synology only officially unveiled one ActiveProtect model – the DP7400, which is a 2U rackmount appliance.
However, Synology also revealed to us that DP7400 will be followed by two other ActiveProtect appliances – a 2U all-flash array appliance, as well as a thinner 1U rackmount appliance.
The Synology ActiveProtect DP7400 will be available for deployment in Q4 2024. There is no timeline for the other two unnamed ActiveProtect models.
Synology will offer a simplified storage-based licence for the ActiveProtect appliance:
only hardware cost for the first year, with free software licence
only software cost for the second year onwards.
While Synology did not reveal the price of the ActiveProtect DP7400, the line-up is expected to provide up to 90% in annual savings over its competitors.
Please Support My Work!
Support my work through a bank transfer / PayPal / credit card!
Name : Adrian Wong Bank Transfer : CIMB 7064555917 (Swift Code : CIBBMYKL)
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Dr. Adrian Wong has been writing about tech and science since 1997, even publishing a book with Prentice Hall called Breaking Through The BIOS Barrier (ISBN 978-0131455368) while in medical school.
He continues to devote countless hours every day writing about tech, medicine and science, in his pursuit of facts in a post-truth world.
Ahead of World Backup Day on March 31, Synology held an exclusive briefing and demo of its cutting-edge data management, and security features! Watch the video, and find out what Synology demonstrated!
Synology World Backup Day 2024 Briefing + Demo!
On 21 March 2024, Jason Sin, Country Manager at Synology Malaysia, gave an exclusive briefing and demo of its latest data management, and security features, in Kuala Lumpur.
The live session showcased Synology’s exclusive backup features like Active Backup Suite, and Snapshot Replication; highlighting practical use cases against malicious access, accidental deletion, and ransomware threats.
Jason Sin also emphasised the importance of data integrity, and data recovery in the face of virus or ransomware attacks.
During his presentation, he showcased three critical phases of a robust data protection process using Synology solutions:
Prevention of Ransomware Attacks
Synology demonstrated Secure SignIn, a secure login framework designed to enhance account security of Synology DiskStation Manager (DSM), the operating system that powers every Synology NAS.
This feature verifies sign-ins using multiple methods, including approved sign-ins, verification codes (OTP), and hardware security keys. This allows users and businesses to significantly reduce the risk of unauthorised access and potential ransomware attacks.
Centralised Data Protection
Active Backup for Business is Synology’s all-in-one data protection solution. Synology highlighted its ability to centralise protection across diverse IT environments, including virtualised environments, physical servers, file servers, and personal computers.
In the demo session, Synology showcased how administrators can efficiently deploy and manage data protection strategies through a centralised admin console, ensuring comprehensive backup coverage and seamless continuity of operations.
Synology demonstrated how Snapshot Replication efficiently streamlined data recovery, providing backup capabilities against threats like accidental deletion and viruses. Synology also simulated a ransomware attack by encrypting a file, followed by a swift data recovery conducted through Snapshot Replication.
This showcased its effectiveness in restoring systems to a previous state and emphasized that only a rapid, comprehensive data solution is effective for both end users and enterprises. Administrators can configure scheduled snapshots and retention settings, ensuring efficient data management and recovery, even in scenarios where ransomware attacks occur.
Selected Synology NAS Drives
If you are interested in purchasing Synology NAS drives, here are some highly-rated options you can buy online.
Please note that Tech ARP may receive a referral fee through these and other purchase links.
Please Support My Work!
Support my work through a bank transfer / PayPal / credit card!
Name : Adrian Wong Bank Transfer : CIMB 7064555917 (Swift Code : CIBBMYKL)
Credit Card / Paypal : https://paypal.me/techarp
Dr. Adrian Wong has been writing about tech and science since 1997, even publishing a book with Prentice Hall called Breaking Through The BIOS Barrier (ISBN 978-0131455368) while in medical school.
He continues to devote countless hours every day writing about tech, medicine and science, in his pursuit of facts in a post-truth world.
In this review, we are going to take a close look at the Synology DiskStation DS223j – its latest 2-bay NAS system, and find out how well it performs!
Synology J Series NAS Systems
The Synology J Series are its entry-level NAS systems – offering an affordable way to get networked storage for backup, or personal storage. They also have a more consumer look, with a white chassis.
The Synology J series comes in below the Value series, and lacks hot-swappable drives, and front USB ports. However, it has most of its key features, including support for the Btrfs file system.
Synology currently has two J series models – the 2-bay DS223j, and the single-bay DS120j.
Synology DiskStation DS223j Price
As its entry-level 2-bay NAS system, the Synology DiskStation DS223J comes at an affordable price point.
It has a suggested retail price of US$189.99 (diskless), but you can get some pretty good deals online, with or without bundled drives:
100 V to 240 V DC power input
50/60 Hz, single phase
Operating Temperature
0°C to 40°C (32°F to 104°F)
Storage Temperature
-20°C to 60°C (-5°F to 140°F)
Size
165 mm high
100 mm wide
225.5 mm deep
Weight
0.88 grams
Warranty
2 Year Hardware Warranty
Synology DiskStation DS223j Box Contents
The Synology DiskStation DS223j comes in a large cardboard box, with a label to let you know exactly what’s inside the box. On opening the box, you will find the following items:
However, when it comes to writing files to the NAS, the number of bays, and the drive speeds are what counts.
The 4-bay MyCloud EX4100 is far ahead, because it’s able to write to two drives at the same time (in RAID 1).
The faster 4TB Synology Plus drives used in the DS223j allowed it to pull ahead of the DS214+ by 16%.
Small Files Read Speed
This is quite a surprising result. For some reason, the Synology DS214+ did very well in this test, beating even the 4-bay MyCloud EX4100 by almost 30%!
And the Synology DS223j, which is much faster in every way, delivered a much lower speed of just under 48 MB/s.
Small Files Write Speed
That’s completely flipped when it came to write speed – copying small files to the NAS systems.
Again, the 4-bay MyCloud EX4100 has the advantage here, because it can write to two drives at the same time.
But the Synology DS223j did very well here, coming within 23% of the MyCloud EX4100. This is likely due to its faster 4TB Synology Plus drives.
The Synology DiskStation DS223j is a cheap but solid 2-bay NAS system. Its plastic chassis feels cheap, but it packs all of the key features most home users would need.
You get an affordable RAID 1 backup solution, with fast Gigabit LAN connectivity, and two USB 3.0 (rebranded as USB 3.2 Gen 1) ports at the back for when you need to copy files to or from a USB flash drive or portable HDD.
It also gives you access to the excellent Synology DiskStation Manager operating system, as well as hundreds of add-on packages which you can use to add capabilities to your NAS.
Synology updates its DiskStation Manager regularly, which is great, because it fixes bugs that may cause considerable grief. For example, when I started testing the DS223j, I encountered a problem accessing it on macOS with a VPN enabled.
No matter what I did, the Mac computer simply could not “see” or “locate” the DiskStation on the network. The only way was to disable the VPN. Fortunately, the problem “magically” went away a few updates later. *
Mac users will also be happy to know that it supports Time Machine backup. While it requires some simple setting up, it works perfectly… which is not something I can say about the MyCloud EX4100!
Prosumers might want to spend a bit extra to upgrade to the non-J version – the DiskStation DS223 from the Value series. Not only does it come with a front USB port (for more convenient use), it allows you to hot swap drives.
If any drive fails on the DS223j, you will need to power it down and open it up to swap out the drive. On the non-J version, you can simply slide out the old drive and replace it with a new one without even powering down the DS223 NAS. But of course – this is a nice feature that most home users probably won’t need.
Performance-wise – the DS223j runs on the same Realtek RTD1619B process as the non-J model. Its four Arm Cortex-A55 cores is more than fast enough for transferring files. Its CPU usage is usually less than 50%. Even when I ran data scrubbing, its CPU usage was around 15% on average.
And if you are wondering about whether you can live with just 1 GB of RAM on the DS223j, yes, you can. The RAM usage is usually less than 20% on our DS223j.
Generally, if you want something cheap and good from Synology, you can’t go wrong with the DiskStation DS223j. For these reasons, we think it deserves our Reviewer’s Choice Award!
* It would have lost the award if Synology did not manage to fix the accessibility problem for macOS.
Synology DiskStation DS223j : Where To Buy?
As its entry-level 2-bay NAS system, the Synology DiskStation DS223J comes at an affordable price point.
It has a suggested retail price of US$189.99 (diskless), but you can get some pretty good deals online, with or without bundled drives:
Support my work through a bank transfer / PayPal / credit card!
Name : Adrian Wong Bank Transfer : CIMB 7064555917 (Swift Code : CIBBMYKL)
Credit Card / Paypal : https://paypal.me/techarp
Dr. Adrian Wong has been writing about tech and science since 1997, even publishing a book with Prentice Hall called Breaking Through The BIOS Barrier (ISBN 978-0131455368) while in medical school.
He continues to devote countless hours every day writing about tech, medicine and science, in his pursuit of facts in a post-truth world.
In this review, we are going to take a close look at the 4TB Synology Plus (HAT3300-4T) hard disk drive, and find out how well it performs!
Updated @ 2023-11-09 : Updated with operating temperature results, and minor changes. Originally posted @ 2023-10-05
Synology Plus Series (HAT3300) NAS Drives
The Synology Plus Series (HAT3300) hard disk drives are designed to populate their Network-Attach Storage (NAS) systems for homes and small businesses.
These Synology Plus Series drives are designed for light-to-intermediate use. Based on the Conventional Magnetic Recording (CMR) technology, they are similar to the WD Red and Seagate Iron Wolf range of NAS drives, with a 1 million hour MTBF and 180 TB per year workload rating.
The main advantage of these drives is that their firmware can be automatically updated using the DiskStation Manager (DSM) in Synology NAS systems.
4TB Synology Plus (HAT3300-4T) Price
The 4TB Synology Plus (HAT3300-4T) hard disk drive commands a slight premium over comparable drives like the 4TB WD Red (Price Check) and the 4TB Seagate IronWolf (Price Check).
Retailing at about $90 as of 3 October 2023, it works out to a cost of $22.50 per TB. Here are some online purchase options:
The Synology Plus series offers storage capacities of 4TB, 6TB, 8TB and 12TB. With the exception of the 12TB model, all drives in this family are air-filled, and have a 5,400 RPM spindle speed.
The baby of this family, which we are reviewing today, is the 4TB Synology Plus drive, which has a model number of HAT3300-4T. Here are its key specifications:
Specifications
4 TB Synology Plus
Model
HAT3300-4T
Capacity
4 Terabytes
Form Factor
3.5-inch
Drive Design
Air
Recording Technology
Conventional Magnetic Recording (CMR)
Interface
SATA 6 Gb/s
Cache
256 MB
Rotational Speed
5,400 RPM
Max. Data Transfer Speed
202 MB/s
Mean Time Between Failure (MTBF)
1,000,000 hours
Workload Rating
180 TB / year
Power Consumption
Idle : 3.96 W
Random Read : 4.85 W
Random Write : 4.85 W
Operating Temperature
0°C to 65°C
32°F to 149°F
Non-Operating Temperature
-40°C to 70°C
-40°F to 158°F
Operating Shock
80 Gs (2 ms duration)
Non-Operating Shock
300 Gs (2 ms duration)
Operating Vibration
10 Hz to 22 Hz: 0.25 Gs, Limited displacement
22 Hz to 350 Hz: 0.50 Gs
350 Hz to 500 Hz: 0.25 Gs
Non-Operating Vibration
5 Hz to 22 Hz: 3.0 Gs
22 Hz to 350 Hz: 3.0 Gs
350 Hz to 500 Hz: 3.0 Gs
Acoustics
Idle : 23 dBA
Seek : 27 dBA
Size
20.20 mm high
101.85 mm wide
147 mm long
Weight
490 g
Warranty
3 Years
4TB Synology Plus HDD Unboxing + Hands-On
The 4TB Synology Plus (HAT3300-4T) hard disk drive comes in a large cardboard box, with a window to let you peek inside.
On opening the box, you will see that the drive is well-protected. It’s sealed in an anti-static bag, placed within a plastic enclosure, and further protected from shock and vibration by two large foam inserts.
The 4TB Synology Plus (HAT3300-4T) hard disk drive is designed for the light-to-intermediate usage requirements of personal and SMB (small and medium business) NAS systems. Here are its key features:
Manufactured By Seagate
Synology does not make this hard disk drive, which was manufactured by Seagate. Think of this as a Seagate IronWolf hard disk drive that was customised to Synology’s requirements, and with custom firmware for Synology.
Under The PCB
In the following video, we took a look under its PCB, and here was what we found:
The 4TB Synology Plus (HAT3300-4T) comes with a large 256 MB SDRAM cache, courtesy of a Samsung K4B2G1646F memory chip. This is a DDR3-1866 SDRAM chip with 16 memory banks, and a peak transfer rate of about 466 MB/s.
It also uses a Seagate Dillon motor drive controller, which features ST Microelectronics’ proprietary Smooth Drive pseudo-sinusoidal digital drive technology. The drive controller itself has a thermal pad to help keep cool, by transferring heat to the drive chassis.
Finally, this NAS drive has two sensors on its PCB, which allow it to better detect shock and vibration events, and dynamically adjust the flying height of the read/write heads to avoid head crashes.
The 4TB Synology Plus is backed by a million hour MTBF (Mean Time Before Failure) rating, and is rated for a workload of 180 TB per year.
That works out to 15 terabytes per month, and is about par for the course for consumer-grade NAS drives.
Easy Firmware Updates
Unlike third-party NAS drives from Western Digital or Seagate, you can easily update the firmware of the 4TB Synology Plus hard disk drive using DiskStation Manager (DSM) in Synology NAS systems.
This is a convenient feature for those who use Synology NAS systems – you won’t need to remove the drive, or use a separate computer, to update its firmware.
Low Power Consumption
Power consumption is pretty low, at just under 5 watts. Even if you run this drive 24/7, it will only consume 42.5 kW per year.
Real world usage will be significantly lower, since NAS systems are designed to power down drives during periods of inactivity.
4TB Synology Plus Operating Temperature
We monitored the surface temperature of the three hard disk drives while idle, and during their benchmarks. The following chart shows their operating temperature range, from idle to maximum load.
Please note that instead of giving you the absolute numbers, we are showing the temperature delta, which is the difference between the actual temperature and the ambient room temperature.
The 4TB Synology Plus (HAT3300-4T) appears to run slightly hotter than the 4TB WD Red, but significantly cooler than the 6TB WD Red. This is good news, because it can get really hot inside the NAS enclosure!
4TB Synology Plus CrystalDiskMark Performance Results
Let’s take a look at the 4TB Synology Plus hard disk drive’s sequential read and write performance, compared to the 4TB WD Red, and the 6TB WD Red drives.
Sequential Read Performance
With a queue depth of 1, the 4TB Synology Plus (HAT3300-4T) delivered a maximum sequential read speed of 215 MB/s.
This is about 6% over its rated transfer rate of 202 MB/s, and puts it 20% ahead of the 6TB WD Red drive, and 39% ahead of the 4TB WD Red.
When queue depth increased to 8, the 4TB Synology Plus (HAT3300-4T) delivered a maximum sequential read speed of just under 217 MB/s.
This is about 7% over its rated transfer rate of 202 MB/s, and puts it 20% ahead of the 6TB WD Red drive, and 38% ahead of the 4TB WD Red.
Sequential Write Performance
With a queue depth of 1, the 4TB Synology Plus (HAT3300-4T) delivered a maximum sequential write speed of 214 MB/s.
This is about 6% over its rated transfer rate of 202 MB/s, and puts it 29% ahead of the 6TB WD Red drive, and 42% ahead of the 4TB WD Red.
When queue depth increased to 8, the 4TB Synology Plus (HAT3300-4T) delivered a maximum sequential write speed of just over 214 MB/s.
This is about 6% over its rated transfer rate of 202 MB/s, and puts it 24% ahead of the 6TB WD Red drive, and 42% ahead of the 4TB WD Red.
Now, let’s take a look at the 4TB Synology Plus hard disk drive’s random read and write performance, compared to the 4TB WD Red, and the 6TB WD Red drives.
Random Read Performance
With a queue depth of 1, the 4TB Synology Plus (HAT3300-4T) delivered a maximum random read speed of 670 KB/s.
That puts it 6% ahead of the 6TB WD Red drive, and 15.5% ahead of the 4TB WD Red.
When queue depth increased to 32, the 4TB Synology Plus (HAT3300-4T) delivered a maximum random read speed of 2.08 MB/s.
That puts it on par with the 6TB WD Red drive, and just 4% ahead of the 4TB WD Red.
Random Write Performance
With a queue depth of 1, the 4TB Synology Plus (HAT3300-4T) delivered a maximum random write speed of 1.85 MB/s.
That puts it 23% behind the 6TB WD Red drive, but 44.5% ahead of the 4TB WD Red.
When queue depth increased to 32, the 4TB Synology Plus (HAT3300-4T) delivered a maximum random write speed of just over 1.8 MB/s.
That puts it 24% behind the 6TB WD Red drive, but 43% ahead of the 4TB WD Red.
4TB Synology Plus ATTO Benchmark Performance Results
Let’s take a look at the 4TB Synology Plus hard disk drive’s peak read and write speeds, compared to the 4TB WD Red, and the 6TB WD Red drives.
Peak Read Performance
The ATTO Benchmark shows that the 4TB Synology Plus drive delivered a peak read speed of just under 205 MB/s, putting it 12% ahead of the 6TB WD Red, and 36% ahead of the 4TB WD Red.
Peak Write Performance
The ATTO Benchmark shows that the 4TB Synology Plus drive delivered a peak write speed of just over 205 MB/s, putting it 25% ahead of the 6TB WD Red, and 48% ahead of the 4TB WD Red.
Peak Read IOPS
The ATTO Benchmark shows that the 4TB Synology Plus drive delivered a peak read IOPS of just under 64.75K, putting it 50% ahead of the 6TB WD Red, and 65% ahead of the 4TB WD Red.
Peak Write IOPS
The ATTO Benchmark shows that the 4TB Synology Plus drive delivered a peak write IOPS of just over 61.25K, putting it 46% ahead of the 6TB WD Red, and an incredible 81% ahead of the 4TB WD Red.
4 TB Synology Plus Review Conclusion
The 4TB Synology Plus (HAT3300-4T) is, without doubt, a fast NAS hard disk drive. Our benchmark results show that it consistently outperforms the 4TB and 6TB Western Digital Red drives.
It may be sold at a slight price premium, but its better performance and the ability to conveniently upgrade its firmware (rare as that may be) directly using the DiskStation Manager (DSM) makes it a no-brainer choice for Synology NAS users.
If you are planning to use a Synology NAS system for your home or SMB use, you would be well-served to purchase the Synology Plus drive to populate it. We definitely think it deserves our Reviewer’s Choice Award!
4 TB Synology Plus : Where To Buy?
The 4TB Synology Plus (HAT3300-4T) hard disk drive retails at about $89.90 as of 3 October 2023, it works out to a cost of $22.50 per TB. Here are some online purchase options:
The 4TB Synology Plus (HAT3300-4T) drive also comes bundled with certain Synology NAS systems.
Please Support My Work!
Support my work through a bank transfer / PayPal / credit card!
Name : Adrian Wong Bank Transfer : CIMB 7064555917 (Swift Code : CIBBMYKL)
Credit Card / Paypal : https://paypal.me/techarp
Dr. Adrian Wong has been writing about tech and science since 1997, even publishing a book with Prentice Hall called Breaking Through The BIOS Barrier (ISBN 978-0131455368) while in medical school.
He continues to devote countless hours every day writing about tech, medicine and science, in his pursuit of facts in a post-truth world.
Synology have released an update with several important enhancements for the DSM 6.0. It is available for download on your DSM: Control Panel > Update & Restore. It is always recommended that you install the latest update to obtain an even smoother user experience. Should you encounter any issues, please do not hesitate to contact their expert support team.
If you haven’t upgraded to DSM 6.0.1-7393, it can be found at our Download Center
Please skip this message if your Synology NAS is not DSM 6.0 compatible or if you have already installed the latest update.
DSM 6.0.1-7393-1
Fixed Issues
Improved system stability when Synology NAS serves as a VPN server.
Fixed several security vulnerabilities regarding NTP module (CVE-2016-4957, CVE-2016-4953, CVE-2016-4954, CVE-2016-4955, and CVE-2016-4956).
Fixed an issue where DSM user interface might become unresponsive under normal operation.
Fixed an issue where shared links created by LDAP users in DSM 5.2 might be unavailable after upgrading to DSM 6.0.
Fixed an issue where folders cannot be uploaded to File Station.
Fixed an issue where encrypted replication tasks cannot be resumed or completed when the sync process has been interrupted.
Fixed an issue where log files could not be rotated on the passive server in the HA cluster, which could cause the upgrade failure on the passive server.
Enhanced the process of shared folder encryption.
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Support Tech ARP!
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Synology has just released an update with several important enhancements for the DSM 6.0. It is available for download on your DSM: Control Panel > Update & Restore. It is always recommended that you install the latest update to obtain an even smoother user experience. Should you encounter any issues, please do not hesitate to contact our expert support team.
If you haven’t upgraded to DSM 6.0-7321, it can be found at our Download Center
Please skip this message if your Synology NAS is not DSM 6.0 compatible or if you have already installed the latest update.
DSM 6.0.1-7393
What’s New
1. This update includes all bug fixes as well as security fixes in the previously released updates since DSM 6.0-7321.
2. EDS14 can now be upgraded to DSM 6.0.1.
3. SSD TRIM is now supported on DS715, DS1515, and DS2015xs.
4. File Station
The sorting algorithm has been changed from sorting by name to natural sort order.
Changed the filter function to the search function to locate files efficiently.
Supports search history.
5. High Availability Manager
Added the quorum server settings to reduce split-brain error occurrences.
Proxy servers are supported.
Supports customized DSM ports and HTTPS connection.
Reduced by 60% the average time for detecting disconnected networks before automatic failover.
Improved HA cluster stability during upgrade.
Supports installing DSM on RC18015xs+ in network environments without a DHCP server.
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Fixed Issues
Fixed an issue where an ext2 external storage device could not be mounted.
Fixed an issue where shared folders on NTFS external storage devices could not be remotely mounted to some models via NFS.
Reduced memory usage for writing data to an NTFS external storage device.
Fixed an issue where Microsoft Excel files in an encrypted shared folder on some models could not be correctly accessed via Windows File Service.
Fixed a security vulnerability regarding the p7zip module (CVE-2016-2335).
Fixed an issue where files might not appear in search results if their file types were not specified for file indexing.
Fixed an issue where backup tasks could not complete when the remote destination was encrypted.
Fixed an issue where IPv6 link-local authentication might fail for rsync.
Fixed an issue where backup tasks in Time Backup might not run after system upgrade.
Fixed an issue where system monitoring processes might demand system memory on RS10613xs+, RS18016xs+, and RC18015xs+.
Applied the workaround to mitigate a security vulnerability of ImageMagick module (CVE-2016-5118).
Minor bug fixes.
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Synology have released an update with several important enhancements for the DiskStation Manager (DSM) 6.0. It is available for download on your DSM: Control Panel > Update & Restore. It is always recommended that you install the latest update to obtain an even smoother user experience. Should you encounter any issues, please do not hesitate to contact our expert support team.
If you haven’t upgraded to DSM 6.0-7321, it can be found at the Synology Download Center.
Version 6.0-7321 Update 5
Fixed Issues
Upgraded NTP to 4.2.8p7 to address multiple vulnerabilities (CVE-2016-1547, CVE-2016-1548, CVE-2016-1549, CVE-2016-1550, CVE-2016-1551, CVE-2016-2516, CVE-2016-2517, CVE-2016-2518, CVE-2016-2519).
Upgraded OpenSSL to 1.0.2h to address multiple vulnerabilities (CVE-2016-2105, CVE-2016-2106, CVE-2016-2107, CVE-2016-2108, CVE-2016-2109, CVE-2016-2176).
Enhanced the compatibility of Synology NAS with Hyper-V exports.
Fixed an issue where adding ACL permissions or changing file owner would fail in Windows via SMB.
Fixed an issue where iSCSI ACL could not access LUNs properly.
Fixed an issue where editing shared folders would fail when shared folder netlogn/sysvol existed.
Fixed an issue where channel scan could not be performed on entry Marvell models with certain DVB-T dongles.
Fixed an issue where LUNs could not be backed up to an external SATA device.
Fixed an issue where iSCSI service might cause a system crash in a VMware environment under heavy load.
Before the official patch is released, workaround is applied to mitigate multiple vulnerabilities of ImageMagick module (CVE-2016-3714, CVE-2016-3715, CVE-2016-3716, CVE-2016-3717, CVE-2016-3718).
Version:6.0-7321 Update 6
Fixed Issues
Applied the enhanced official workaround to mitigate multiple vulnerabilities of ImageMagick module (CVE-2016-3714, CVE-2016-3715, CVE-2016-3716, CVE-2016-3717, CVE-2016-3718).
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Support Tech ARP!
If you like our work, you can help support our work by visiting our sponsors, participate in the Tech ARP Forums, or even donate to our fund. Any help you can render is greatly appreciated!
Synology has released an update with several important enhancements for the DiskStation Manager (DSM) 6.0. It is available for download on your DSM: Control Panel > Update & Restore. It is always recommended that you install the latest update to obtain an even smoother user experience. Should you encounter any issues, please do not hesitate to contact our expert support team.
Synology DSM 6.0 Update
If you haven’t upgraded to DSM 6.0-7321, it can be found at our Download Center
Fixed Issues
Fixed multiple issues that might cause the iSCSI service to hang under heavy loading and performing VMware commands.
Fixed an issue where the file created time was not correctly set.
Fixed an issue where LUN backup tasks of Hyper Backup could not be completed due to insufficient disk space after upgrade to DSM 6.0.
Fixed an issue where changing the VLAN configurations might cause certain packages to operate abnormally.
Fixed an issue where configurations at Control Panel > Network > Network Interface could not be edited if IPv6 was configured before upgrade to DSM 6.0 from DSM 5.2.
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Support Tech ARP!
If you like our work, you can help support our work by visiting our sponsors, participate in the Tech ARP Forums, or even donate to our fund. Any help you can render is greatly appreciated!
Synology has just released an update with several important enhancements for the DiskStation Manager (DSM) 5.2.
It is available for download on your DSM: Control Panel > Update & Restore. It is always recommended that you install the latest update to obtain an even smoother user experience.
If you haven’t upgraded to DSM 5.2-5644, it can be found at their Download Center.
Please skip this message if your Synology NAS is not DSM 5.2 compatible or if you have already installed the latest update.
Synology DSM Version 5.2-5644 Update 5
Fixed Issues
1. Updated Firewall filter policy to address a security vulnerability caused by stack-based buffer overflow (CVE-2015-7547). This fix may impact read/write performance on a number of entry models by no more than 15%, for which Synology is working on an enhancement in the future release.
For more detailed information, please go to Security Advisory.
Support Tech ARP!
If you like our work, you can help support out work by visiting our sponsors, participate in the Tech ARP Forums, or even donate to our fund. Any help you can render is greatly appreciated!
