Synology DS723+ Review

With the various bleeding-edge technology that comes out on a year-to-year basis, it’s easy to overlook one of the most underrated but equally as important pieces of tech you can have in your home or in your office — the network-attached storage or NAS.

NAS devices are great options for both home and business settings and for good reason: they offer a much more versatile, convenient, and customizable storage setup that is a big step up from the usual cloud storage or local storage solutions out there.

And if you’re reading this, chances are you are thinking about getting a NAS for whatever storage problem you need fulfilling. With that in mind, we’d like to introduce you to Synology.

For the uninformed, Synology has been one of the go-to brands to look for in the NAS space. We’ve actually had a Synology DS1618+ in the YugaTech studio for around 3 and a half years now and it’s served our purposes more than adequately.

This time, we’re going to check out one of Synology’s newest offerings, the Synology DS723+ NAS device. Compared to the Synology DS223 we featured earlier, the Synology DS723+ has a few more features that make it a more versatile solution than the former.

Before we get into it, we want to share some of the main ways we use a NAS in the YugaTech studio.

How we use our NAS

Here’s a quick overview of how our own Synology NAS fits into our workflow:

• Back-up of all files per department, especially the Video Team
• Real-time syncing with our DropBox Pro account (team DropBox files are synched with Synology NAS)
• Storage for CCTV footage
• Remote access to all archives for video editing (RAW footage, music, SFX collection, final output videos)
• Dump the personal files of each team member
• Serves as a central repository of documents, essential files, and onboarding materials

NAS use cases at home

Meanwhile, NAS devices can also be incredibly handy for home use, given the right use case.

Here are a few:

• Archive and back up all old files from all PCs, laptops, and smartphones
• Storage or backup for every instance you reset a smartphone, reformat a laptop or switch to a new device
• For storage and streaming of video and movies collection
• Remote access to personal files via NAS mobile companion app

If any of these use cases fit your needs, definitely keep reading as we look into the DS723+ in this review.

Synology DS723+

The Synology DS723+ has 2 drive bays with a maximum of 7 drive bays via an expansion unit (with DX517). It has 2 NVMe slots and has drive compatibility for 3.5″ SATA HDDs, 2.5″ SATA SSDs, and M.2 2280 NVMe SSDs.

It runs on an AMD Ryzen R1600 CPU which has a 2.6 GHz clock speed (at base) and 3.1 GHz (on turbo) and features 2GB of DDR4 ECC RAM with a maximum memory capacity of 32 GB (two 16GB).

It supports multiple RAID configurations — Synology Hybrid RAID, Basic, JBOD, RAID 0, RAID 1, RAID 5 (with Expansion Unit), RAID 6 (with Expansion Unit), and RAID 10 (with Expansion Unit).

For I/O you get these ports: two RJ-45 1GbE LAN ports, one USB 3.2 Gen 1 port, one eSATA Port, and one PCIe Gen3 x2 network upgrade slot.

We have to mention that with the amount of storage you’re getting, it’s pretty cool that you can store it all in such a compact case.

While many NAS solutions have indeed adopted smaller form factors, the fact that you have room for 10GbE and dual NVMe drives with the DS723+ is still something to applaud. Theoretically, you can store, organize, and share around 18 TBs of data (SHR RAID type) with the DS723+ — all in this small case that can blend seamlessly into any tech setup.

Being a NAS from Synology, you get their proprietary DiskStation Manager (DSM) software out of the box with the DS723+. We’ve always loved DSM’s intuitive and familiar user interface (as it mimics a normal Windows desktop as seen below) and this is no different here.

Accessing files is convenient and easy to do via DSM and first-time users won’t have much trouble figuring out how to navigate the UI on their own.

Not only that but as a member of the Synology Plus Series, the DS723+ is one of the most compact NAS devices with Active Backup for Business (ABB). ABB allows small businesses to do a full system backup instead of a file-level backup. Small offices will also be able to back up management’s PCs for data protection.

Other features of ABB include the ability to do Incremental Backups, where only added files will be backed up saving overall backup time; and Global Deduplication, where the same files will only be backed up once.

Aside from being user-friendly, DSM allows you to easily add new services and features as needed such as WordPress, Hybrid Share, Apache, and many others. You can view a comprehensive list of possible add-ons here.

We also really appreciate the convenience of Synology’s mobile apps that allow you to manage the NAS remotely from your phone. That’s definitely a plus.

The theoretical speed on the DS723+ maxes out at 471/225MB/s sequential read/write but this will also be dependent on your network setup as well.

Conclusion

Globally, the DS723+ is priced at around USD $449.99 (around Php 24,905) but the suggested retail price in the Philippines is pegged at PHP 33,199. The price in the Philippines is higher because all local stocks offer local warranty. If you’re looking for a better deal, we’ve found the DS723+ listed for around Php 29,299 on Shopee and Lazada.

At this price range, we think the Synology DS723+ is a good mid-range NAS option for those looking into investing in a more nuanced storage solution.

Not only do you get a good amount of storage options with the DS723+ but you also get Synology’s tried and tested DSM NAS software at a reasonable price. If you want a NAS in 2023, the Synology DS723+ is definitely worth a look.

Synology DS723+ specs:
AMD Ryzen R1600 64-bit, dual-core (2.6GHz base / 3.1GHz turbo)
2GB DDR4 ECC Pre-installed (2 extra slots, max 32GB [2 x 16GB])
2 Drive Bays
Maximum 7 drive bays (with DX517)
2 x M.2 NVMe slots
Drive Compatibility
– 3.5″ SATA HDD
– 2.5″ SATA SSD
– M.2 2280 NVMe SSD
Hot Swappable Drive
2 x RJ-45 1GbE LAN Port
1 x USB 3.2 Gen 1 Port
1 x eSATA Port
1 x PCIe Gen3 x2 network upgrade slot
166 mm x 106 mm x 223 mm (dimensions)
1.51 kg (weight)

Synology offers a 3-year hardware warranty that’s extendable to 5 years with their Extended Warranty Plus program.