The Basics

Both models of the Synology CS407 are BYOD NASes that accommodate up to four 750 GB SATA drives for a total 3 TB of maximum raw capacity. The case design is virtually identical to its predecessor, the CS406. Whereas the CS407 has a black case, its less powerful sibling, the CS407e, is housed in a white case—like the CS406. The front panel has LEDs for Status, Link/activity and four individual lights for each of the four drives. A large blue-backlit power switch is centered between the LEDs.

Both NASes measure 230 X 168 X 184 mm (9.0 X 6.6 X 7.2 in), weigh in at 11.2 Lbs with four drives loaded, and support RAID 0, 1, and 5.

Synology markets the CS407/e as an 8-in-1 server. In addition to being a file server, the CS407 has seven other server functions built in: Printer, Download, Web/PHP/MySQL, UPnP multimedia, Backup, iTunes, and FTP.

Like its predecessor, the CS407 has vents on the top and the bottom of the front case for flow through ventilation provided by the 80mm fan. The CS407 is a very quiet office mate. You can barely hear the fan, yet it seems fairly efficient at keeping the internal drives cool. In my office, which on a June day approached 90 degrees, the highest individual drive temperature was 123 degrees (Figure 1).

Figure 1: CS407 Status page showing drive temperature

Figure 2: CS407 Rear Panel

The rear panel (Figure 2) has a power connector, 2 USB ports that can be used to expand storage with USB drives or to support a USB printer, a 10/100/1000 Mbps Ethernet port, and, located in the upper right corner, a security slot for attaching a security cable. Power comes from an external, inline "brick" power supply. As you might suspect, to support four drives, it's a fairly large brick that measures 6.5" X 2.5" X 1.5" and is rated at 12VDC @ 8.33 amps. Power consumption was measured at 47W active and 15W when the hard drive spin-down featured kicked in.

The CS407 was designed for easy access. Just remove the four screws on the rear panel, and the top of the rear panel (above the USB/Ethernet ports) hinges open to reveal the four drive bays (Figure 3).

Figure 3: CS407 with case open

Tags: NAS, RAID, Synology,

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