The Basics:

Below we see the Synology DiskStation DS411+ NAS out of the packaging. Like the specifications state, it can hold up to four 2.5" or 3.5" SATA hard drives. Although just a cosmetic difference between the DS411+ and DS410, I like the gold lettering and gold power button. It may look like there are buttons for Status, LAN, HDD1-HDD4 on the front of the housing, they are just labels with status LEDs. The only button is the Power button in the middle. In comparison with the DS409slim, I do miss the Copy button for quick data transfer from a USB drive.



The rear of the DS411+ sports dual 80mm fans. I would prefer to see one large fan that would move more air and use less power. On the lower section of the back panel you can see the connections: Power, Ethernet, two USB, and one eSATA. There are four thumbscrews holding the back plate to the chassis. Remove those and you can install hard drives.



If you want you can remove the black case cover and get into the motherboard area a bit better, although I do not foresee any reason to do so unless there is a major issue that needs some replacement parts. You could disassemble the unit by removing a bunch of screws, if you were so inclined.



Below you can see some more detail inside the DS411+. Removing all four hard drive trays you can see the SATA riser board in the back. Below the hard drive mounting area is the motherboard. You can see a small heatsink/fan for the CPU, and a SODIMM memory module. I am surprised that the CPU needs active cooling, as the DS409slim only had passive cooling; but this CPU does have more power (1.2GHz vs 1.67GHz Dual Core).



The very bottom of the unit has nothing exciting except for a bunch of fingerprints. There are also four rubber feet and a sticker with model information in the middle.