Conclusion:

Going in to this review I was excited about the potential of a 5-bay NAS server with four Gigabit network connections, but was unsure of what to expect from a processor I knew little about. What I knew was that an Amazon.com company called Annapurna Labs was responsible for the Alpine AL-314 quad core 1.4GHz CPU that powered the Synology DiskStation DS1515. Would it compare favorably to some of the Intel Atom based servers we had checked out recently? Or would it be underpowered and seem like it was powered by a mobile phone?

In the end, I have to say that the processor is clearly just fine for this application and it has not let me down so far. The unit is capable of very fast data transfers - even without link aggregation enabled - and your access to the device for sharing files is not impacted even when it is tasked with handling plenty of other operations. This is the first time I had really tested Surveillance Station, and thanks to Synology's CMS, I was able to get up and running with four IP cameras, all being managed by the DS1515. With Surveillance Station set to handle the motion detection of all four camera, push notifications based on triggers, and with all the cameras set to record 24/7, the device was still very responsive for sharing files on the local network, and using apps like DS Audio / DS Cam / DS Video.



After proving that the DS1515 was able to handle all the tasks I had in mind for it, I was obviously also very pleased with the every day usage of the device. It is very easy to setup physically, and Synology continues to do a great job with their DSM interface, which makes this far more than just a network attached storage server. With plenty of business and personal applications readily available, the possibilities are really quite expansive for such a device. I have always been fond of the multimedia applications, but with this review I have an appreciation for some of their other applications, including Surveillance Station, Cloud Station, and Central Management Station. As described in the review, these three are also great features to have, and are just some of the great value added options available.

My main complaint for this review, although not directly tied to the DS1515, is the lacking support for the Surveillance Station web browser interface. You need a plugin in order for it to work, but both Edge and Chrome will not allow it, while Firefox will. I got it working in Internet Explorer after reading up on plenty of forum discussions on the topic, and it worked just long enough for me to get my cameras set up. Unfortunately it reverted back to unusable state, and I am hoping Synology can make an official update to resolve this quickly! My main wish list item for this device is that it had at least one USB 3.0 port up front. I occasionally connect a portable drive for file sharing on the go, but with the ports all on the back, i have to slide the unit off the shelf a bit in order to get connected.

Shopping around for the DS1515 finds at plenty of popular online locations for about $642, including B&H Photo and Video. That price is without hard drives, and while it may seem like quite a good chunk of change, it is only $40-something dollars more than the DS415+. The DS415+ offers different features and hardware specifications, but they are comparably priced and can offer similar performance while transferring data. If you are in the market for a full featured NAS server that can currently handle 30TB+, the Synology DiskStation DS1515 is definitely worth considering.

For its performance, capabilities, and ease of use, the Synology DiskStation DS1515 5-Bay NAS server earns the Bigbruin.com "Highly Recommended" award.



Pros:

» Fast read and write speeds
» Powered by a quad core processor and 2GB of memory
» Four Gigabit network connections can be used for fail over or aggregation
» Low noise and relatively low power consumption
» DSM user interface somehow keeps getting even better

Cons:

» A front panel USB 3.0 port would be nice
» Surveillance Station browser support is outdated:
   » Works with Firefox, not well with Internet Explorer, and not at all with Chrome and Edge
   » Applies to all Disk Stations, not just this one

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