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Construction & Design

Here we take a look at what the package contains and develop a first impression before testing.

Package contents

- DS209+II NAS
- Installation CD
- Welcome folder
- Screw driver and screw kit for installation of hard drive(s)
- Power supply
- Power cable
- 2 Meter RJ-45 LAN cable
- 2 stk. Sata data cables for hard drives
- 2 stk. Sata power cables for hard drives



Synology ship this NAS in a good, sturdy box without any pictures or other things you do not need, just a limited amount of text and a hinge with which to carry it out of the store.



Here we see the front of the device, sporting six diodes so you do not have to check the computer to see if it works. There are also two buttons: one for backup and one to turn the device on/off. In addition there are 2 ports, eSATA and USB such that you can easily connect it when you need to back up data.



The side is quite plain, sporting only a Synology logo in the middle.



At the rear you can see ventilation for the fan, 2 USB 2.0 ports, 1 RJ-45 Ethernet port, along with the DC-in jack for power. There is also a reset button for when you forget your password or the setup gets messed up.

The two screws at the right side need to be unscrewed if you want to take the device apart.



Here we have opened up the unit so you can see the fan, hard drive mount and a glimpse the logic board at the rear.



We could not refrain from taking the entire device apart, so here we have the logic board. It is actually not that different from the ARM-based boards you can buy on the market, although it has been shaped to fit the casing.

The RAM module is not fixed, so you could always change it and get 2GB if you want, although that will void the warranty.

The most exciting thing about the logic board, however, is the passive cooling. The only way for it to expel heat is a small pad at the rear that transfers heat to the aluminium plate which collects it all.



Here we mounted the two drives to use for the test. There are no problems with mounting the drives, just four screws in each and plug them in, and you are done!