NAS Reviews

Introduction

At a Glance
Product	Synology Cube Station CS407 / CS407e
Summary	Four drive BYOD SATA NAS with eight built-in server functions
Pros	• Gigabit Ethernet with jumbo frame support • Simple setup • Easy access to drives for replacement • Built-in servers for Web, FTP, iTunes, Printer, UPnP AV, Photo sharing, Backup, and Bit Torrent download • Mac/PC Compatible with support for legacy Macs • NT Domain/ADS support
Cons	• Default configuration doesn't provide optimum RAID 5 performance • Limited alert options • Cold-swappable drives • Very limited documentation for using built-in web server/MySQL

Last fall, Bill Meade reviewed Synology's then top of the line CS406 and really liked it. It was easy to use and easy to set up. But now it's time to say goodbye to the CS406—it's been replaced by this year's new models, the CS407 and the CS407e.

As with the introduction of new models of cars each year, the new CS407 represents an evolutionary, not a revolutionary step. The "e" model is a lower cost version of the CS407. It has all of the same features of the CS407, but has less memory and uses a different processor to achieve its lower price point.

The CS407 is based on the Marvell 5281/500 processor and has 128MB of RAM and 4MB flash. While a Freescale MPC8241/266 processor with 64MB RAM and 4MB flash powers the CS407e.

Both of the new models feature upgrades in the installed software packages, an iTunes server (something that Bill complained that the CS406 was missing), Vista compliance, and improved performance.