Introduction

Just a few days ago we took a deep dive into Synology's new Diskstation Manager software, version 4.1. Given the increasing complexity of NAS products the software plays a significant role, but without the hardware, you only have slices of code.

Today we're looking at the Synology DS412+, a quad bay NAS designed to fill the needs of small office environments. With an increasing number of home users, without an office, learning about the benefits of NAS products, the DS412+ could also fill the gap between personal desktop storage and lightly secured cloud services. The new 4.1 software layer even offers its own cloud based storage for when you're mobile and way from the NAS.

Of course the primary reason to have a NAS is redundant data storage, but the Synology DS412+ has progressed well past that function. Given the vast amount of features, it's easy to overlook what has now become a standard we all take for granted.

Let's take a look at the advanced features offered by Synology on the DS412+ and then circle back and test the network performance.