Network your storage: Synology NAS for sharing files, videos & photos at home

In this connected world, we’re using devices in every room of the home, we’re independently creating our own collection of photos, videos and files yet we’re still struggling to find ways to simply share them with family or even work colleagues – ask yourself when you last emailed someone a file, and that someone was just on the other side of the room or office.

This is not a first of its kind, nor is it the only such product on the market.  I’ve used and seen many Network Attached Storage devices (NAS) in my time, but there’s something that stood out for me from this Synology product – simplicity and familiarity.

The DS716+II at $619 may seem expensive, and you’ve got to add two storage drives to that price (around $200-$500 more depending on size), but lets look at what you get.  

You get a mini computer, constantly connected to your network, offering up all the files, photos and videos you have to any connected device in the home, plus remote access like your own personal cloud when you’re out and about.

The DS716 has two network connections, allowing you to double down on speed, meaning file transfers are fast, and even with lots of people accessing it you won’t get any issues.

This is in fact ideal for a small business, just starting to expand, a business with two or more computers set up wondering how best to setup shared folders and file sharing.

At home, it’s the perfect place to store your photos and videos, as well as PC backups.

File sharing is great, but in reality the photo and video storage is ideal – meaning all your photos are accessible from all your devices.

I mentioned simplicity and familiarity – the real benefit of this Synology NAS to me is that it didn’t feel like a super nerdy thing to setup.

Others I’ve used almost require some system administrator training.  This one – it’s like a version of Windows running on it.

Settings boxes pop up in their own windows, there’s an app store for a range of services like video and photo sharing as well as backups and much more.

I even found an IP Camera app which could connect easily to my IP cameras to store recorded content.

I’ve only scratched the surface, but without question it’s easy to setup, and maintains a strong consistent network connection.

On a Mac I’ve found other NAS systems disconnect, I lose my folder share shortcuts, and permissions disappear and need re-entering.  This hasn’t happened to me yet.

I’ve begun operating almost entirely off this device, so all my working files are stored here, meaning I can be on any computer in the home and I can see all my work.

The Synology DS716+II NAS is ideal for a home with lots of kids and lots of photos and videos to be shared.  It’s also ideal for a growing small business.

Of course, Synology also offer a range of larger NAS devices, allowing more hard drives, more space, and more disk redundancy – but for many, the +II is all you’ll need.

[schema type=”review” rev_name=”Synology DS716+II Network Storage (NAS)” rev_body=”A small, easy to setup, easy to use system for creating a central location for all your files and photos shared across your home or office” author=”Trevor Long” pubdate=”2016-08-31″ user_review=”5″ min_review=”0″ max_review=”5″ ]