The Best NAS Devices of 2024

Synology Diskstation DS1522+ specifications: Drive Bay: 5 | Maximum capacity: 108TB | With maximum number of expansion units: 270TB | Memory: 8GB DDR4 (max 32GB) | 1GB Ethernet port: 4 | 10GB upgrade: Upgrading with Gen3 x2 | USB 3.2 port: 2 | eSATA port: 2 | M.2 slot: 2

By far the standout feature of any Synology NAS is the company’s excellent Diskstation Manager (DSM) software. While the Synology hardware is comparable to many other NAS products, it’s only when the hardware is combined with the DSM software that Synology’s products truly become noteworthy.

also: We test Synology DiskStation DS1817+ RAID

Synology’s DS1522+ comes with built-in enterprise-class data software and supports dozens of applications, operating systems and SaaS services. DS1522+ comes with 5 hard drive bays by default and can be expanded to 15 bays in total. It is an economical NAS solution with ample room for expansion as users’ data storage needs grow.

This NAS option runs Diskstation Manager and comes with Synology’s suite of enterprise backup solutions. These include Active Backup for Business, which allows users to back up Windows PCs, virtual machines, Microsoft 365 and other SaaS applications.

Also included is Synology’s Hyper Backup software, which lets you back up your entire NAS or specific files and folders to most major cloud providers. This flexible and free backup software provides users with enterprise-grade tools in an easy-to-understand format. This makes setting up a proper 3-2-1 backup environment a breeze, no matter what or how many devices you are responsible for.

“It’s like the cool kid on the block, it can crunch all kinds of data and has a knack for impressing tech enthusiasts and small businesses,” said user Kacper Rafalski, who leads the demand generation team at digital acceleration company Netguru.

The DS1522+ is also a VMware-certified storage device and is compatible with most major virtualization platforms, including Windows Server, Microsoft Hyper-V and Citrix.