Good value for a lower, mid-range NAS server
344668
We resell NAS as an optional add-on with special purpose servers.  We did extensive testing and evaluation of a wide range on NAS servers.  After testing and evaluation we settled on this box for our lower mid-range offering.  It is not perfect, but it is not sold as a high end NAS, nor is it priced that way.  Over the past few years we have sold and installed 40-50 of these.  They have been highly reliable.  We configure them in a RAID10 with four Western Digital 2TB Red drives.  One factor for us using this NAS is if a drive fails we can ship the customer a replacement HD and it can be replaced by a non-technical customer with no tools.  We consider this NAS to be a good value.
4618140
The Seagate Business Storage Windows Server 4-Bay NAS 8TB (STDM8000100) is a great device that can have small workgroups up and going with a solid storage device in quickly and easily.  It's packed with plenty of storage and power, comes with a solid operating system, and is simple to implement.

As someone that has implemented storage devices in main offices, but also branch offices, I can see where this device would fill the bill in several scenarios.  If you have Active Directory in place, this connects right up.  On the other hand, I can see this being implemented by non-IT professionals.  While the initial setup offers plenty of storage, it's expandable so that it can grow with your needs.  Expanding is also made easier by utilizing Storage Spaces, allowing you to pool drives.

The performance of the Seagate Business Storage Server was on or above par.  Transfer speeds were quick and while I did not have the option to let 50 users hit it, I can say that it held up well in testing.  The overall footprint of the device was pretty small, so it's easy to relocate to other locations/offices when needed.  The sound output was average.  You can hear it, but it can be easily used in a small space without being a hassle.

The server comes with Windows Storage Server 2012 Workgroup Edition.  It's more than adequate for workgroups up to 50 users that need to manage mass storage.  The Standard edition offers VM support, BranchCache, Data Deduplication, Failover Clustering, and networking infrastructure.  But the Workgroup Edition is more than sufficient for most setups and easy to setup and manage.  It also integrates well into organizations that have an existing Windows infrastructure.
4812170
Great Server/Workstation
Best Bang For The Buck!!!!!!
65686
Awesome NAS server. Expensive but just what I needed to replace two pcs, with room to expand. Set up is a bit technical but wow what a difference from running multiple PCs.
3812016
Works just fine for a small home media server.  I have it operating in mirror mode (RAID 1).  The only issue I've seen with it is that it lost it's IP address after a power failure, on 2 separate occasions.  Other than that, it's worked well.
731789
Got this to replace a Windows Server 2008 R2 box I made a while ago.

The Windows Server had 8 hard drives, but I frequently found myself using just 2 of them. I wanted to save on power consumption so I decided to replace it with this NAS. I have it set up using two 1TB WD Green drives in single disk mode after using wdidle3.

Here are my impressions so far:

The NAS will format the hard drives you put in it automatically. Be aware of this.

The Windows Server transfers at about 60-80 Mbps.
The Qnap TS-212P transfers at about 15-40 Mbps. Yes, sometimes it's slow to transfer files.

Plex Server works to stream to the Roku boxes, as long as it doesn't need to transcode. I converted all my video files to x264 in mp4/m4v formats with AAC stereo and AC3 surround sound using Handbrake. Plex on Roku works great after I re-encoded the video files.
However, I neglected to tick the "Web Optimized" option in Handbrake for some of the video files. Those files won't play on Plex Web because Plex needs to transcode.

Updates the DNS to a No-IP account without any problems.

OpenVPN works great in conjunction with Squid. This allows me to use an insecure Wi-Fi (such as in a coffee shop) and create a VPN tunnel to the NAS at home. Then I can surf the web in relative security. I use this when I want to purchase something online at a coffee shop. OpenVPN also works with iPhone 5s, so that's a bonus.

I don't use it with anything else, so I can't comment on other apps. I turned off all of the apps I don't use, such as Download Station, Music Station, Photo Station, and Multimedia Station.

The reason for 4 instead of 5 stars is transfer speed. It's unpredictable. 15-40 Mbps is a huge gap. It's not too bad most of the time, so I would give it 4.5 stars if Amazon allowed half ratings.

Just be aware of my problems with slow transfer speed if you decide to get this. I might have gotten a defective unit, or it could be the WD Green drives I use (they're technically not compatible with this NAS).

Hope this helps.
2647843
The IX2 wasn't the easiest to set up, but for the price I paid it seems to be a great find. The interface could use some work and the fact that when it's powered on, the HDD's don't stop spinning will cause drive failure sooner than expected, but if you turn it off when not in use, this isn't a problem at all. Overall, a great bargain for about $140. Can't touch any other NAS with that storage for that price.
87568
Quiet, compact, great for media server and headless server
2992057
The D-Link DNS-321 is among the least expensive dual-disk RAID NAS systems currently on the market. This small device offers an impressive array of features such as FTP, Samba, NFS, iTunes, DHCP, HTTP and UPnP servers, user and group access management, several RAID levels, a well-designed Web interface and gigabit network support. It is this last feature that I would like to discuss in some depth.

Those of you who are not computer experts need to understand this: the DNS-321 is not just a small black box with two hard drives but an actual computer that has it's own CPU, memory and operating system. If, looking at the DNS-321's small size and low price, you were to imagine that it is not a very powerful computer, you would be absolutely correct. And there lies this gadget's only major flaw.

When originally designed, DNS-321's predecessor was intended for wireless or 100Mbps networks. The device's CPU and other system resources were precisely scaled to cope with 100Mbps (12.5 Megabytes per second) data transfer rate. This was necessary to provide the desired performance and features, while keeping the device as affordable as possible.

As time went on and gigabit (125 Megabytes per second) networks became more common in small offices and homes, D-Link's marketing folks must have felt an unbearable urge to include gigabit support in their low-end NAS products. The hardware was upgraded to include a new integrated gigabit network interface.

If you connect the DNS-321 to a gigabit network, true to the claim on it's packaging, the gadget will establish a gigabit link to your network. Unfortunately, painting racing stripes on your old rusty Ford Tempo does not turn it into a supercar. Running FTP, NFS, Samba, UPnP and other services supported by DNS-321 requires processing power and a certain amount of memory. These requirements grow with the rate of data transfer.

Unfortunately, DNS-321 has just enough resources to comfortably handle up to about 14.5 MB/s, which is a long way from the maximum transfer rate of a gigabit network. Thus, D-Link DNS-321 is a NAS system capable of establishing a gigabit network connection but not capable of using it. What do they say about having your cake and eating it? Not for a hundred bucks, my friends.

If you already own the DNS-321 and would like to get the most performance out of it, there are a couple of things you can do. First, you will need to upgrade the firmware to the latest version. Most DNS-321 units shipped without NFS server functionality, which has been added in the later firmware version. The upgrade is performed via the Web interface and the entire process was quick and painless. Turn off services you are not going to use, such as DHCP and UPnP, for example. Doing so will free up some valuable system resources and will slightly boost data transfer speed. Avoid using Samba - it is a resource hog. You will get at least 20% faster transfer rate using FTP or NFS instead of Samba. Unfortunately, there is no way to disable the Samba server. The speed offered by the DNS-321 is entirely adequate for playing uncompressed videos in 1080p resolution with a DTS 5.1 audio track. I've been streaming a 40GB MKV file via NFS to an XBMC player without any issues. However, as a file backup solution the DNS-321 is just too slow for my liking.
1805663
"This server is not powerful enough to convert video." is what Plex displays when  I try to play some of my movies. This is a decent NAS for storage, backups, etc. But it isn't powerful enough for being a media server, which is unfortunately what I bought it for.
4218319
This server has easily been able to perform multiple tasks and handle simultaneous uploads and downloads thanks to the speedy ssd cache drives and I have yet to reach this NAS's performance limit. I am currently using the following drives: WD Red Pro 6TB NAS Desktop Hard Disk Drive - Intellipower SATA 6 Gb/s 128 MB Cache 3.5 Inch - WD6001FFWX
2977388
Great inexpensive server for SOHO use.  I purchased this to run XenServer in my home, along with 16GB memory (for 20GB total) and a 1TB HD.  It sits under my desk and is quiet enough for this purpose.  Plenty of expansion room for more drives for a smaller factor.
4524638
I love the NAS itself much more than I like QTS. To a power user it's a bit too restrictive and is buggy/cheapy. Dual OS is great though. Definitely far ahead from its competition (synology etc) and very solid hardware.
3614294
Ok guys. Depending on what you want a NAS for, this may (or may not) be the NAS for you.
Want just flexible storage with 2 drive redundancy cheap: Go Drobo5N2.
Want 2 drive redundancy with MUCH more flexibility: Go DS1515+
You get things like:
Use 2.5" HDDs with no special adapters.
Dual Fan.
4 eth ports.
Better implementation of SSD Cache (write cache is mirrored)
More expandability.
iSCSI.
Hypervisor Support.
Better support for Apps on the NAS

A word of caution: Synology is hit and miss with SW updates. An update a few months ago distabilized SMB (random brief disconects) thorough the day on both Mac and PC (but more anoying on the mac). The next update (applied yesterday) did not resolve it.

My sugestion: Configure to apply all updates inmediately (when you take it out of the box, it will get to the latests and greatest SW release). As soon as you get an update which works 100% ok in your environment, revert the settings to get ONLY security patches, and stay there as long as you can, then lather-rinse-repeat.

Also: expand the memory off the bat from the 2GB shipped (synology officialy supports only 6GB, buth tutorial abound to get it to 16GB).
Install the antivirus.
Install the securith assesment tool.
Install and use HyperBackup, with external drives and an off-site setup (mine has 1 onsite + 1 off-site external disks).
Do not be afraid to experiment with the supported apps.

Adendum:

This NAS used the (in)famous Atom C2000 series chips (namely the C2538) which is, allegedly, failing early.

Synology has publicly stated in a press release that their units do not exhibit the alleged failure. And, on top of that, extended the Warranties of said units 1 full year. So, your warranty would be 4 years instead of 3 (check with amazon and synology first!!!). However you interpret it, that's another issue.
3103408
Good budget desktop for day to day use or for using as a network server for file sharing external drives, printers, or for hosting lightweight game servers (may need a RAM upgrade to 8GB for comfort).

I plan to use it as a print and file share server for my home network because of its USB 3.0 drives and low power draw.
1629172
Works great as a little home server. Fair price.
1839619
This is my 3rd Synology NAS. I am using it as a music and video streaming server inside our home. I had a 4-bay 412+ which I still have for my personal files and photos.

The performance of this one is great! I expanded its RAM memory to the maximum 6GB supported since the day I installed it for the first time. I have no baseline to compare it with the initial 2GB that come with it. I can stream HD content using Plex and stream music to phone using the iTunes service and also copy files to it at the same time. It handles very well the multitasking and the performance is really good.

I would recommend (I have in fact already done it several times) this product to my friends and colleagues.

On the technical side, I am using 5 x 5TB WD red model WD50EFRX hard drives on this NAS. They are performing as expected. The expansion memory that I bought is not from Synology, I bought a 204-Pin SO-DIMM DDR3 1600 from Kingston (Model KVR16S11S8/4) for less than half the price - ASIN: B008CP5R8K