The best NAS devices of 2023

Synology DiskStation DS1522+ tech specs: Drive bays: 5 | Max capacity: 90TB | Max w/expansion units: 270TB | RAM: 8GB DDR4 (32GB max) | 1GB Ethernet ports: 4 | 10GB Upgrade: with Gen3 x2 upgrade | USB 3.2 ports: 2 | eSATA ports: 2 | M.2 slots: 2

By far, the standout feature of any Synology NAS is the company's exceptional DiskStation Manager (DSM) software. While the Synology hardware is on-par with many other NAS offerings, it's when that hardware is combined with the DSM software that Synology's offerings become best-in-class.

Also: We test the Synology DiskStation DS1817+ RAID

Synology's DS1522+ ships with built-in enterprise-grade data software and support for dozens of applications, OS and SaaS services. Featuring five hard drive bays by default and expandable up to 15 bays total, the DS1522+ is a compact and economical NAS solution with plenty of room to expand as the user's data storage needs grow.

Running DiskStation Manager 7.1, DS1522+ comes complete with Synology's suite of enterprise backup solutions. This includes Active Backup for Business which allows users to backup Windows PCs, VMs, SaaS applications like Microsoft 365 and more. All licenses and subscriptions are free. Active Backup for Business has a number of useful features baked in, including the ability to restore accidentally deleted instantly or destroyed data.

In fact, CEO Victoria Mendoza chose this model for her company, MediaPeanut.”We chose the DS1522+ for its scalability, allowing us to easily expand storage capacity as our needs grow,” she said. “The Synology DiskStation DS1522+ has been an excellent addition to our storage infrastructure. Its robust features and reliability have significantly enhanced our data management capabilities.”

Also included is Synology's Hyper Backup software which allows you to backup your entire NAS or specific files and folders to most major cloud service providers. This flexible and free backup software gives the user enterprise-grade tools in an easy-to-understand format. This makes setting up a proper 3-2-1 backup environment a breeze, no matter what devices or how many you are responsible for.

“It's like the cool kid in the block that can handle all sorts of data and has a knack for impressing tech enthusiasts and small businesses alike, says user Kacper Rafalski, demand generation team leader at digital acceleration company, Netguru. 

The DS1522+ is also a certified storage devices for VMware and is compatible with most major virtualization platforms, including Windows Server, Microsoft's Hyper-V and Citrix. In addition to being ideal for standard iSCSI storage, DS1621+ also comes with Synology's Snapshot Replication software which gives users the ability to Snapshot specific LUNs or shared folders and replicate them to an offsite Synology device.