Hands-on: Synology DiskStation DS620Slim Digital storage and management manufacturer Synology recently announced a new 6-bay Network Attached Storage enclosure in its Slim range that is designed to be compact and lightweight while still offering good performance.
The DS620Slim accepts 2. 5" SSD or HDD media – with its six bays filled with 5TB drives it can provide a total of 30TB of storage.
Key specs:
6 bays w/ 30TB max storage (5TB per port)
Accepts 2. 5" media (SSD or HDD)
2GB of DDR3L internal memory (expandable to 6GB)
220 MB/sec read speed
190 MB/sec write speed
Dual-core processor up to 2. 5 GHz
Twin USB 3 ports
Twin Ethernet ports
1. 4kg / 3. 1lbs
121 x 151 x 175mm / 4. 7 x 5. 9 x 6. 9in
$449
The DS620Slim is in the same family as the 4-bay DS419Slim that was launched last month, but as well as the extra 2 bays, the new enclosure has better write speeds, more processing power, more memory options and a wider range of choices for RAID configuration.
Supported RAID types are: Synology Hybrid RAID (SHR), Basic, JBOD, RAID 0, RAID 1, RAID 5, RAID 6, RAID 10. The maximum single volume size is 108TB, compared to the 16TB maximum of the DS419Slim.
Internal memory can be expanded from 2GB to 6GB
The device comes with 2GB of DDR3L memory but that can be expanded to 6GB reasonably cheaply if you need it, taking the total RAM well beyond that of the DS419Slim’s 512MB limit. The system’s read speed is ‘over’ 220 MB/sec, which is the same as that of the DS419Slim, but at 190 MB/sec it writes faster than the smaller unit’s 94 MB/sec. By comparison the larger/higher-end Disk Station units, such as the new $740 6-bay DS1618+, can read at 2,090 MB/sec, write at 620 MB/sec, and comes with 4GB of DDR4 RAM that can be expanded to 32GB.
The DS620Slim uses an Intel Celeron J3355 dual-core 2. 0 GHz processor with burst speeds of up to 2. 5 GHz, which supports dual-channel H. 265/H. 264 4K video transcoding on the fly.
Accepts 2. 5" SSD or HDD media
Like the DS419Slim, the DS620Slim takes 2. 5" drives, and can be loaded with SSD or HDD media. Using these smaller drives allows the company to make the whole package smaller, but the downside is that drives tend to have lower capacity and to be a little more expensive.
The benefit of using SSD’s though is that they run silently and they use less power. Although in general SSD’s allow much faster read/write times than HDD media does, the extra speed won’t really be very noticeable in this unit as the read/write speeds are limited to those achievable by spinning disks anyway.
Set up an SSD cache for faster data access
My unit came with two 480GB Seagate IronWolf 110 Enterprise-Class SSD drives that have read/write speeds of over 500 MB/sec. These will make the most of what the NAS can do and ensure it performs at its highest level, but they won’t allow the DS620Slim to exceed its approx. 200 MB/sec maximum speeds.
A good reason for using SSDs though is that it will allow you to set-up an SSD cache to help improve the time in which data can be accessed in the NAS.
As the DS620Slim doesn’t offer the PCle slot that some of the more advanced models do for this purpose, its ability to create SSD cache using the installed SSD storage in two of the bays will be useful to some users. Doing this reduces the time taken to find data and to start read/write processes, but it doesn’t improve read/write rates once the data is found and is being transferred. So, it will help find a giant video file but won’t help to move it more quickly.
You can dedicate two of the bays to run the SSD cache and then fill the other four with HDD media.
Two USB ports to attach additional drives
Two USB 3 ports also allow the attachment of additional external drives. Attaching external drives via the USB ports allows new shared folders to be created using the external drive, but doesn’t create capacity that can be used in a RAID set-up. The shared folder will disappear once the external drive is unplugged. The system recognizes: Btrfs, ext3, ext4, FAT, FAT32, exFAT, HFS, HFS Plus, and NTFS formats. It is also possible to use the NAS as a print server, so that multiple machines can access a single printer attached to the NAS.
Twin Ethernet ports for more stable network connections
On the back of the enclosure you can see twin 1GbE ports that offer link aggregation for more stable and efficient use of network connections. In some models these ports allow users to connect to expansion units to increase the total capacity of the storage, but that isn't the case with the DS620Slim.
Set-up is a joy as it is so much easier than I always expect it should be. The device runs from the same Disk Station Manager that other Synology NAS units use, and we are taken step-by-step through the process while options are explained. The whole collection of applications is available to DS620Slim users, including Synology’s Active Backup suite that will allow back up of any operating system on a desktop or laptop computer. It will also back up Office 365 and Google’s G Suite, and is capable of restoring servers as well as individual files.
The 'console port' is used for manufacturer repairs
This is the console port cover that's positioned on the base of the unit. It is a bit unusual to have the console port visible on the outside of one of these NAS units but I suppose it saves taking the body apart for diagnostics when something goes wrong. Marked in the manual 'Manufacturer Use Only' this port allows repair centers to plug-in to the NAS to identify, and fix, issues.
Sizing the DS620Slim up
For scale, here is the DS620Slim piggy backing on the top of the DS1019+. The lower NAS is pretty big and is certainly heavy, while you can see that the DS620Slim is small and I can vouch for its light weight.
This new model weighs 1. 4kg / 3. 1lbs, and measures 121 x 151x 175mm / 4. 7 x 5. 9 x 6. 9in - unloaded. The lower NAS is definitely office-based while the Slim model can easily by packed into a bag and taken on the road.
The wrap up
While the DS620Slim ultimately performs below the levels of the best full-sized Synology NAS enclosures it still offers more than enough speed and processing power for most photographers shooting still and video images, and will make a very good primary storage system for most of us.
As it is also so small and light it is ideal to take away for longer jobs when you need to create a network or share work with multiple individuals either to deliver finished results or to allow others to work on a project with you.
Filled with 5TB drives it will provide plenty of space even with the most cautious RAID configuration and for the $449 price tag it offers pretty good value for money. The value is not only in the actual enclosure, its lightweight and compact size, and the hardware included, but also in Synology’s excellent collection of applications that make getting to most out of its NAS units much easier.
The Synology DS620Slim is available now and costs $449. For more information see the Synology website.
. dpreview.com2019-8-6 16:00