When I first got into the IT game the storage needs of even large companies could be maintained in less space than what typically fits on a CD-ROM. In fact all of the applications that we used in the shop fit onto 20 3.25-inch 720KB floppy disks! Now you would be hard pressed to store one or two Word documents on even one of those floppies. Fortunately as our storage requirements have grown so have the devices we keep all that data on. For most home users simply dropping in a 1 or 2 Terabyte hard drive will be enough, but for businesses, prosumers and enthusiasts might need a bit more. For this there are products that can be attached to a normal home or office network that offer extra storage (and many other functions) to meet these needs. Synology is a maker of NAS (Network Attached Storage) devices. The idea of the NAS is not new, nor is it a business only product. There have been multiple consumer level NAS devices. The one we have in from Synology is a little outside the normal home environment. This is the Disk Station 1512+ it is a 5-Bay, Dual-Lan, Network Storage device that has some great hardware and software features in store of anyone picking this product up. We will be taking a look at the hardware used inside, the build and some of the basic features in this part of our coverage. So let’s get started.
The Box and Goodies -
The box that the DS 1512+ arrived in was very plain. It was not colored except for black lettering and a single color sticker on the side of the box. Inside the box we found the DS 1512+ secured between two stiff Styrofoam frames. Also in the box was a small package containing the accessories that Synology has included; a power cord, two CAT5 Cables, assorted screws for mounting disk drives into the five available bays. 
Inside a small Ziplock bag was a CD-ROM that contains a full user guide, a setup and configuration utility as well as Data Replicator 3 an application to allow you to back up your PC to the DS 1512+. As you will see in our intro video there is not much more than this to the box and accessories for the DS 1512+.
