The Synology DS220J – The Home Cloud Server You’ve Always Wanted

So a couple of weeks back I got the Synology DS220J  from Synology Inc., a Taiwanese corporation that specializes in Network-attached storage appliances.) and I’ve used it for a couple of weeks.  You can do a lot of things with this from basic media sharing to even hosting a full website or mobile app by using the IP assigned to the Synology DS220J . So goodbye to using localhost, you can now test your project on a dedicated private IP.  It also comes with a 2 year warranty

Before  I get into the review of this device, let me explain what Network Attached Storage devices are. I know  lot of you all are looking at this post and saying

So cool your horses and let me explain. 

What Is A Network Attached Storage

NAS enables users to collaborate and share data in a network. It basically serves a server (pun intended). So yeah, you can store files and access them from anywhere. Here’s a diagram that explains better

 

What’s In The Box?

The model I got was a review unit so what would be in the box of a normal customer might be slightly different.

• The Synology DS220J 

• An Ethernet Cable

• A Charger & Power Pack

• A setup guide

• Set of screws and HDD Bracket

So that’s basically all that came in the box.  

 

Synology DS220J Specifications

• Hard Drive Type – 3.5’/2.5′ SATA ( 2 slots)
• External Ports – USB 3.0 (2 Slots)
• LAN Port – 1GbE (R-J45) 1 slot
• Size -165 x 100 x 225.5
• Weight- 0.88Kg

 

How To Set Up The Synology DS220J Properly

Now the unit that was shipped to me didn’t come with a hard drive and a RAM of 512MB which isn’t that bad but I would recommend upgrading before you use it for any intensive work load. So in order to set up the Synology DS220J properly, here’s what you need.

• A Router with stable internet connection
• Electricity 
• An ethernet cable
• A working hard disk drive
• Synology Assistant

The setup guide that comes with the device provides an easy set of instructions to actually screw everything together in properly but I didn’t have a software setup guide so I had to figure out some things myself. I want to make two important notes here

1. If you are going to use a hard drive on the Synology NAS, use one that you don’t have files you want to lose because it’ll have to wipe everything to install the files required to run it on the hard drive and it would be really stressful if you have finished screwing everything together and you literally have to start over again, unscrewing everything.
2.  Always use a router with good internet connection or you’ll keep getting errors when you’re trying to set it up. I tried a workaround I’m sure most people would try but It didn’t work. I tethered my phones internet via USB to my laptop and shared the internet connection to the Synology DS220J and I got it to work but some important functions like file sharing wasn’t working and I couldn’t get it to work till I connected it properly. The proper way to connect is this – Turn on your router, connect it to the NAS with the Ethernet cable the connect your laptop to the router’s network via Wifi.

Once you have all of that connected properly you can head over to https://find.synology.com or you can simply use the synology setup assistant to get it up and running.

Once you’ve done that you’ll get to a screen  that let’s you connect to the device

 

After this you’ll be prompted to accept the terms and conditions and install the required files, continue to install then wait for the installation to complete. Once it’s done you’ll be able to access the administrator account

Here you can set up your server name , user name and password, ensure you use something you can remember as you’ll use the details to login to your NAS.

Once you’re done with this head over to Synology.com to create an account, once you’ve done that, return to the quick connect screen. Quickconnect is the main feature that helps you access the DS220J remotely from anywhere.

You can login with your Synology account to create a quick connect ID for your device. After that you should be able to access the user interface for managing the NAS. when you’re logged in you can access the package manager to download packages you wish to use

 

There are tons of packages here from development packages to security and media sharing packages.

Final Thoughts

When it comes to the DS220J among all other synology products, I believe this was specially built for home use and it perfoms quite solidly and the installation process is quite easy with multiple packages in their app catalog. The Synology DS220J goes for anout $169 that’s about N65,000. I’ll touch more about this device on my review video.