Table of Contents
Performance –
As a dedicated file server, the DS918+ does pretty well. If you choose an RAID5 configuration of four 3TB WD Red drives, you should expect read speeds of around 148MB/s, and write speeds of 112MB/s. These numbers get a boost when you enable the SSD read/write cache by installing two M.2 SSDs into the bottom of the unit. Once installed, you can create a cache with just a few clicks, and once the check has completed the DS918+ handles the rest.
One of the best uses of DS918+ is surveillance. if you’ve got compatible IP cameras on your network, they can easily be added to Synology’s Surveillance Station app so you can monitor them and save any required footage. The DS918+ can also be set up as a media server and can transcode various media formats quite easily.
Synology claims that you can stream 4K content through the DS918+, but we found that its not exactly the most promising of claims. Another aspect we tested was that of VMs. The DS918+ does support the installation and use of VMs, but when you start piling on the complexity, the DS918+ starts to sweat. However, if you are using the VM in a very minimal capacity, you should expect some silky-smooth performance.
