Accessories:
Included with the DS409slim is an AC power adapter, an AC power cord, a network cable, hard drive tray screws, four numbers to label the trays, a CD, and minimal paperwork to get you started. The welcome booklet is done in 15 languages and basically says to look at the PDFs on the CD. But when you look at the CD, there are a total of 76 PDFs; it took me a few minutes to find the ones I wanted, English QIG (quick installation guide) and User's Guide. These files are also available on Synology's website, and I would recommend that method to searching on the CD.
In Use:
It takes about a minute for the
Synology Disk Station DS409slim to fully boot up; after you hear a beep confirming that it is ready for action. Overall the noise level is very low, I can't really hear the fan and the hard drives make a little bit of noise while accessing data.
Synology has recently released a beta firmware that you can download for free from their website which includes a ton of upgrades and even some new features. So instead of reviewing the older (but stable) firmware I wanted to get DSM 2.2 installed. Feel free to take a look at the full list of new features and updates on the
Synology BETA webpage. The final version is due out in September.
On my first boot the unit grabbed a DHCP lease from my router. This is a great feature that will aid in novice users getting setup quickly. I put in the CD and installed the Assistant program and found the IP address of the DS409slim, shown in the image below. From here you can Connect to the AJAX web interface, Map a Drive, or Add a Printer. There are copies on the CD of the Synology Assistant for Linux and MAC as well; I did test the Linux version, but it is not as functional as the Windows version. The Linux version can only search for the DS409slim and give you the IP address (which you need to enter into your browser).
Two other applications bundled with the product are the Synology Download Redirector and Data Replicator 3. I installed these other programs on Windows (these are not available for Linux, and only the Download Redirector is available on MAC). The Download Redirector is a neat program that you can redirect files to the
Synology Disk Station DS409slim you would normally just download to your computer. This is helpful for large downloads, you do not need to leave your computer on overnight to download; just let your low energy NAS download it for you. The Data Replicator 3 is a backup/restore/sync program. It can be set to backup files to your liking immediately or on a schedule.
On my first login I went directly to the firmware page and upgraded to the new firmware. (Note: The firmware version is not downgradeable. The applied firmware must be newer than the current one). With the new firmware installed I was ready to start playing with the unit.
