The new Synology DS223 is the NAS for those who are primarily looking for network storage with extras. With a faster ARM SoC and a price of around 285 euros, it is preferable to the DS218 and does a flawless job. If you need more functions, you still need an x86 NAS and wait for the DS223+.
Table of contents
- 1 The NAS for the standard user
- The technology in the DS223
- DSM 7.1 with btrfs
- 2 transfer rates and USB backup
- Seagate IronWolf Pro 20 TB for more performance
- File transfer
- Encryption
- USB backup
- 3 Volume, power consumption and conclusion
- Volume & Power consumption
- Price comparison
- Conclusion
The Synology DS223 is already the third new NAS from Synology from the new generation and inherits the now five-year-old DS218 (test), for which there was no direct successor until now. Like the Synology DS723+, the NAS offers space for up to two drives.
The Synology DS223 is available today at a recommended retail price of EUR 284.40. It is therefore significantly cheaper than the recently released DS723+ (test) and the DS923+ (test), which are aimed at more enthusiastic users with more powerful hardware in the form of an AMD Ryzen and upgrade options, but prices of 520 euros (DS723+) and 630 euros ( DS923+).
In addition to the NAS, Synology includes an external 60-watt power supply, a LAN cable, a quick start guide and screws for attaching 2.5-inch drives to the DS223. As usual, drives are not part of the scope of delivery, but retailers offer corresponding bundles.
Is the Synology DS223 the new NAS for “the little man”, the “average user” or all those who are looking for a local network storage on which they can set up backups and save photos and videos, or the NAS anyway only use it alone in the home office?
The technology in the DS223
New SoC with 1.7 GHz
The Realtek RTD1296 in the DS218 is followed by the DS223 of the Realtek RTD1619B. The most obvious change is the clock jump of the still 4 cores from 1.4 GHz to a maximum of 1.7 GHz. Both SoC offer 64-bit and rely on the ARMv8 architecture. Finding differences requires trying to find out more about the cores used, which turns out to be more difficult than expected. While the Realtek RTD1296 has four Cortex-A53 cores, the Realtek RTD1619B uses four Cortex-A55 cores. Both are manufactured in 12 nm, but the RTD1619B can theoretically be clocked between 1.1 and 1.7 GHz, while the RTD1296 is fixed at 1.4 GHz. It is not yet known whether Synology uses this option.
The change from Cortex-A53 to Cortex-A55 promises more performance. Even if a dual-issue design with an eight-stage in-order pipeline is still used, there are many changes in the backend that ensure that separate execution units for read and write operations now allow these tasks to be executed in parallel in the SoC . Compared to the Cortex-A53, the Cortex-A55 is therefore around 18 percent faster for integer and 38 percent faster for float calculations.
TDP drops from 13 to 5 watts
The TDP of the Realtek RTD1619B is 5 watts, which is particularly interesting since the TDP of the RTD1296 is still 13 watts. In terms of power consumption, there could be improvements with the new model, although the Cortex-A55 cores actually have a slightly higher TDP than the Cortex-A53 cores with the same clock. Due to the higher performance, the Cortex-A55 is 15 percent more efficient.
Further with 2 GB DDR4 (Non-ECC)
In addition, the RTD1619B supports a maximum of 4 GB of memory, while the RTD1296 has an official maximum of 2 GB. However, Synology continues to use 2 GB DDR4 (Non-ECC) for the DS223, as it did five years ago for the DS218, which cannot be upgraded by the user either.
A gigabit networkconnection
As a NAS from Synology's Value series, the DS223 relies on a single network connection with a maximum speed of 1 Gbit/s. Although the DS223 could probably also benefit from a faster LAN connection from time to time, the use of the 1 GbE port on this NAS is still tolerable, as its purpose is far less ambitious and therefore better than the network speed most commonly found in private households fits.
Synology DS223 Synology DS218 Synology DS220+ SoC: Realtek RTD1619B
ARMv8
1.70 GHz, 4 core(s), 4 thread(s) Realtek RTD1296
ARMv8
1.40 GHz, 4 core( e), 4 thread(s) Intel Celeron J4025
x86
2.00 GHz, 2 core(s), 2 thread(s) RAM: 2,048 MB Hard disk bays: 2 S-ATA standard: I/II /III HDD format: 2.5" & 3.5″ RAID levels: Single drive, JBOD, RAID 0, RAID 1 M.2 ports for SSD cache: – I/O ports: 1 × 1Gb LAN
3 × USB 3.0 1 × 1Gb LAN
1 × USB 2.0, 2 × USB 3.0 2 × 1 Gbit LAN
2 × USB 3.0 Wake on LAN: Yes Encryption: AES-256 (folder based) AES-256 (folder and drive based) Fans: 1 × 92 × 92 × 25 mm
(not decoupled) 1 × 92 × 92 × 25 mm Power supply: ? (external) 60 watts (external) Dimensions (H×W×D): 165.0 × 108.0 × 232.7 mm 165.0 × 108.0 × 233.2 mm 165.0 × 108.0 × 232 .2 mm Empty weight: 1.28 kg 1.30 kg Price: €284.40 from €259 from €324
No upgrade options to 10GbE or with M.2
While the DS723+ and DS923+ have a proprietary PCIe expansion slot that accepts the RJ-45 network upgrade module Synology E10G22-T1-Mini can be installed, the DS223 does not offer such extras. The DS223 also does not have M.2 slots on the bottom of the NAS to set up an SSD cache or even an SSD storage pool with two NVMe SSDs.
Three USB and one copy button
While the DS723+ only has one USB port left, the DS223 has a total of three USB-A sockets (USB 3.2 Gen 1). Two are placed at the back, one at the front. For the USB port on the front, the well-known copy button is also represented on the DS223. When a storage medium is connected to the front USB port, predefined backup operations can be triggered via the copy button in DiskStation Manager.
A rattling fan
Even if Synology shows minimally different dimensions between the DS223 and DS218, the DS223 relies on the housing of the DS218 with dimensions of 165.0 × 108.0 × 232.7 mm. The weight is also almost identical at 1.28 kg. On the front of the NAS, in addition to the LEDs for the status of the system and the drives, are the on/off switch, a USB port and the copy button.
The system and drives are cooled by a single rear fan measuring 92 × 92 × 25 mm. However, it was noticed negatively in the test that this fan rattles slightly regardless of its speed. This is audible and annoying in quiet environments and in close proximity to the NAS. It is not clear whether this is an isolated case. If you want to use the NAS on the desk at work, you should keep this point in mind.
Tool-less Mount the drives
The DS223 is equipped with two pull-out drive frames, which again allow tool-free and screw-free installation of 3.5-inch drives via plastic retaining brackets. Screws only have to be used for 2.5-inch drives. Unlike the NAS models of the + series, such as the new DS923+ and DS723+, the drive frames are not the front of the NAS at the same time. Instead, the DS223 has an additional cover plate in front that is held in place by rubber buffers. The DS223 also does not have the rudimentary option of securing the drives against being pulled out quickly with a key.
The official maximum memory expansion is 36 TB, i.e. two 18 TB drives. In the test, however, two 20 TB drives in the form of the Seagate IronWolf Pro 20 TB did not pose a problem and worked without restrictions.
DSM 7.1 with btrfs
Nothing has changed on the DiskStation Manager (DSM) 7.1 operating system of the Synology DS223 since the test of the DS723+ or DS923+, which is why reference is made to the relevant section in the test of the DS923+ at this point. For years, Synology has also been able to use btrfs with ARM NAS systems, so this is not an innovation for the DS223, but the DS218 can also do this since DSM 6.2. Alternatively, ext4 can be used for the internal drives. For external data carriers it is possible to use btrfs, ext4, ext3, FAT32, NTFS, HFS+ or exFAT. DSM 7.1.1-42962 Update 3 is used in the test. The drive configurations available when using two drives are Basic, JBOD, RAID 0 and RAID 1. RAID 5, 6 and 10 are not possible with two drives unlike the DS923+ with four drives.
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Figure 1 of 5
Software packages in DSM 7.1 for the DS223
Fewer software packages on ARM
It should be noted, however, that the DS223 with ARM can use fewer software packages than a Synology x86-based NAS. Applications such as Plex or even the Virtual Machine Manager and virtualization of other operating systems are not available on the DS223. However, many will painfully miss Docker in particular, in order to be able to run containers on the NAS – for smart home control, for example. Nevertheless, the options offered by the DS223 are diverse.
The DS223 is primarily intended for home users. With Synology Photos, the manufacturer offers this user group a central storage location for photos and videos from smartphones and other sources, so that photos can also be automatically saved to the NAS via an app. Sorting and search functions as well as sharing options allow you to share selected content directly from the DiskStation with friends or family.
The DS223 can also be used in common cloud storage services such as Google Drive , Dropbox and Microsoft OneDrive to automatically sync files to and from cloud services away from the “private cloud” on the NAS itself.
The DS223 supports You can also use Synology Surveillance Station to set up a “Network Video Recorder” (NVR) with network cameras.
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Transfer rates and USB backup