SynologyDX517 5 Bay Desktop Network Attached Storage Expansion Enclosure, Black

A solid and sturdy chunk of engineering. Very well packaged, no instructions to speak of but then it is the Synology way to rely 100% on web based documentation. It took literally five minutes to mount five 3.5" disks into the screwless mounting trays (screws are provided in the event you have older/nonstandard disks). I connected it to my DS918+ using a very secure screwed eSATA cable - this short cable assumes you will site the DX517 extension bay next to the DS. I was unsure from the Synology site that the DX517 was compatible with the DS918+ so contacted the retailer, box.co.uk who supplied this via Amazon, for confirmation and they replied within a few hours in the affirmative which was great. This DS is still configuring the disks which I think will take about 20 hours. The image is of the DX 517 adjacent to the DS. Overall I'm very pleased with this product.

Received this it to little box within 24 hours on a free (not Prime) delivery, good service..Got it unpacked after a small panic as the sata lead wasn’t in the box with all the other pits, but found it taped to the enclosures foam wrap, located whilst unboxing.Easily fitted the 2 x 12 TB HD’s (Seagate Iron Wolf) and then hit the design problem.Putting this and the DX918 together is too wide for a comms rack, thought it was the actual rack in use, so changed it for a simpler design, still require a shoe horn and soft mallet (not really) to persuade them to go in. Then the brain wave, turn the shelf upside down, in doing so removing the side supports so the units can be put on the same rack but with a couple of mm going behind the uprights.It doesn’t look shabby, I’m a person who likes to have a tidy comms cabinet, after working in a few which I was worried about just putting my hand into the enclosure.When I eventually got to a PC I was going to use with this I found that the drives had been already configured by the NAS but all directories were duplicated (with the new drives having _1) and it had identified all the data as well, no problem just deleted it all, can’t do much about the directories, yet (as I stated when I reviewed the NAS, this time is very much a bit of a learning experience instead of just taking the easy way).So now (using the Synology Raid config) I have nearly 45TB of storage with the option of adding 3 more drives, I just wonder how long it will take me to fill the lot.

Expensive but cheapest way to get a 9 bay Synology NAS when added to a DS918+... Some reviews say get a 9 bay unit & avoid expansion units... but there honestly are no real world drawbacks.

The DX517 arrived sooner than expected which given the time of year, is remarkable. The product is exactly what it says on the tin.

Exactly as expected and worked straight out of the box.

I bought this to attached to my ds920 plus. Where I’m fitting it is really dark at the back of the computer desk. First all it wouldn’t power on, I found I’d put the kettle cable in the wrong way. I thought it was in but it wasn’t. I couldn’t get the ds 920 plus to see the drives. It took me ages to work out what the problem was. It was the included esata cable. It screws into the ds 920 at the back and it looked like it was secure. The screws in the sata cable always seem to be out so it was difficult to get it into the drive properly. I used a torch the whole time to see that everything was 100% lined up. After this the lights came on the drive and it was connected. Synology need to change the included esata cable either a spare one that’s easier to fit or change the design of the current one. I am not a newby at connecting cables up, but that was a nightmare.With everything set up it was working fine. The device has a metal case so it is stronger than the plastic ds 920 case. The ds 920 is now on top of the drive. The other thing I thought I’d be able to do with this is use two of the bays as additional backup drives for the ds 920 drives. This way I have 2 backups and not 1, just in case of drive failure. It recommends you not do this as with being over esata if anything goes wrong you may have to rebuild the volume again. So the 5 bays are just for the drives installed in this. Apart from the esata cable I am very pleased with the purchase.EDIT: 2 years down the line I've not had any problems. Yesterday it was making a noise and one of the fans was on its way out (I did clean this). I bought 2 80mmx80mm Noctua fans and that sorted the problem out. I thought the fans would last longer and my 3 year old 920+ fans are still going strong.

I was thinking about replacing my HDDs to have more capacity. But for a fraction you can get this and add more drives. At the end is a solution that will help for the future as well

Simple and quick way to grow capacity on on Synology NAS. Took 10 minutes to install disks and get running. Has doubled my capacity for very little effort.