Synology Cube Station CS407 - Do-It-Yourself NAS

Product Performance Summary:
During testing the CubeStation CS407 performed admirably, offering a strong combination of both network throughput and drive I/O performance.  Our build-out consisted of a RAID 1 volume for redundancy, which is a very common usage model.  In this configuration, the CS407 was even able to compete with our workstation reference system over a Gigabit Ethernet connection, even though that system had significantly more processor and memory resources, in addition to a faster hard drive configuration.  Comparitively, to our generic storage server test system, which was connected via a 100Mb connection, the CubeStation CS407 offered roughly 2X the performance with its Gig-E connectivity and dedicated storage processor.  Finally, the performance of the CS407 was punctuated by its near-silent acoustic profile and extremely modest maximum power consumption of 33 Watts during testing and a miserly 10.6 Watts at idle with its drives spun-down.

The Synology CubeStation CS407 is a model example of how far SOHO NAS products have come over the years.  This system was extremely easy to setup and configure, even for the novice user.  Synology's suite of installation and setup wizards fully automate everything from volume management, to access privileges and even network drive mapping on client machines.  In addition, enhanced features with utilities like the system's PhotoStation2, iTunes Server, Download Redirector and Data Replicator backup software add just about any functionality the Home or Small Office user could wish for.  The only item on our wish-list for future version of the Synology CubeStation family, would be hot-swap hard drive capability.  Though the CS407 was a millimeter away from capturing our coveted Editor's Choice award, the addition of a hot-swap drive cage would definitely have tipped the scale towards a firm EC rating.  Other products on the market in its class have this feature and we're hopeful Synology will follow suit in the future.

A quick scan of our HotHardware PriceGrabber search engine shows the CS407 retails currently at around $649, with its lower-end sibling, the CS407e, with 64MB of RAM and a slower Freescale processor, dropping in at $539.   Though the system is definitely on the pricey side, its performance, features and functionality are impressive to be sure.

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