Synology DS224+ Review: Is It Right for a Home Office or Small Business?
Excellent software on hardware that's been discontinued — and now sometimes priced above its own successor.
By John Hall — TechODash | Last updated: July 2026
Quick Verdict
Important context before you buy: Synology has placed the DS224+ on its end-of-life list, with the DS225+ named as the successor. End-of-life means production has stopped, not that the unit stops working or loses software support tomorrow — but it does change the value math, covered below.
A two-bay NAS like the DS224+ sits on your network as a single, always-on place for the data currently scattered across a laptop, a USB drive, and a phone camera roll. It holds two drives that mirror each other, backs up your computers automatically, and serves shared folders to everyone in the house or office — all on hardware you own, with no monthly bill for the storage itself. The reason the DS224+ has been recommended so widely is DiskStation Manager, Synology's operating system. The hardware is ordinary; the software is what makes network storage approachable for people who've never configured a share in their life. That software case is as strong as ever. The hardware case, at 2026 pricing, no longer holds up on its own.
Why This Product Matters
Most home offices end up with data scattered across a laptop, an external USB drive, a phone camera roll, and two or three cloud accounts. That works until a drive fails, a laptop is stolen, or a subscription renewal arrives at a price you didn't plan for. A two-bay NAS like the DS224+ sits on your network as a single, always-on place for that data. It holds two drives that mirror each other, so one drive failure doesn't lose your files. It backs up your computers automatically. It serves shared folders to everyone in the house or the office. And it does all of this on hardware you own, without a monthly bill for the storage itself. In a SOHO network, the DS224+ typically plugs into your router or switch and stays on around the clock. It is not a replacement for offsite backup, and it is not a replacement for a proper router or firewall. It's the local storage and backup layer that sits between your devices and whatever offsite copy you keep.
Who It's Best For
- Households replacing Google Photos or iCloud with something they control, using Synology Photos
- Freelancers and consultants who need one reliable place for client files, with versioning and snapshots
- Small offices of roughly two to eight people sharing documents over SMB
- Anyone who wants automatic, hands-off backups of Windows and Mac machines using Active Backup for Business
- Families running a Plex or Jellyfin library — the Celeron J4125 handles transcoding well for a device in this class
- Very small camera setups: Surveillance Station includes two perpetual camera licenses that never expire
- Buyers who value mature, well-documented software over spec-sheet wins
Who Should Skip It
- Anyone with a 2.5GbE or faster network — the DS224+ has two 1GbE ports and no faster option, capping around 110–118 MB/s per connection
- Video editors who want to work directly off network storage — there are no M.2 slots and no SSD cache support
- Anyone planning heavy Docker, VM, or multi-service workloads — the 2GB base memory is the real constraint, with a 6GB ceiling
- Teams expecting to grow past two drives — no expansion unit and no RAID 5 path, just RAID 1 or Synology Hybrid RAID across two disks
- Buyers who want the longest possible support runway — given the EOL status, a current-generation model buys more years for a comparable outlay
- Anyone who assumes a NAS is a backup — it is one copy; you still need a second one somewhere else
Key Features That Matter
Two bays with mirroring: two 3.5" SATA drives or 2.5" SATA SSDs, running RAID 1 or Synology Hybrid RAID; volumes are expandable up to 108 TB, though realistically you're limited by two drives. Btrfs and snapshots: the underrated feature for small businesses — point-in-time snapshots of shared folders mean that if someone deletes a folder or a file gets encrypted, you roll back in minutes rather than restoring from backup. Active Backup for Business: included at no extra cost, handling bare-metal backups of Windows PCs, Macs, file servers, and Microsoft 365 or Google Workspace accounts — for a small business, this alone can justify the price difference over cheaper hardware. Synology Drive and Synology Photos: self-hosted file sync and a photo library with facial and subject recognition — direct replacements for Dropbox and Google Photos. Two 1GbE ports with link aggregation: not faster for a single transfer, but useful for failover or splitting load across multiple users. Hyper Backup: sends a second copy of your data offsite — to another NAS, a USB drive, or cloud targets including Synology C2, Backblaze B2, and S3-compatible services. Surveillance Station: two free perpetual camera licenses, with additional licenses sold in one-time packs rather than subscriptions. Quiet, low-power operation: rated at 22 dB(A) and roughly 14.7W under access, 4.4W with drives hibernating — your drives will make more noise than the chassis.
Performance and Reliability
The realistic picture: this device is fast enough to saturate a gigabit connection and no faster. Independent testing found sustained sequential throughput hovering around 118 MB/s, with the memory upgrade making performance more consistent at lower queue depths rather than raising the ceiling — that's the 1GbE limit, not a drive limit. For everyday SOHO work — opening documents, syncing folders, running overnight backups, streaming media — that's genuinely adequate. Where you'll feel it is moving large project folders, initial backup seeding, or working with video files directly off the share. The Celeron J4125 is a 2019-era part and it shows in CPU-heavy work: photo indexing on a large library takes a while, and multiple Docker containers on 2GB of memory will feel cramped. Plex transcoding is the one area where the integrated graphics punch above their weight — a legitimate strength over ARM-based competitors at similar prices. Reliability is where Synology has earned its reputation: the platform is stable, the update cadence is disciplined, and the failure modes are well documented with a large community behind them. Physically the unit is quiet and cool, with a single 92mm fan and a 2-year warranty extendable to 4 years. One piece of good news: the restrictive drive compatibility policy that caused concern in 2025 applies to models released in 2025 and later, not the DS224+, and Synology subsequently relaxed that policy anyway — use whatever WD, Seagate, or Toshiba NAS drives you prefer.
Security Review
DSM includes a genuinely useful security stack out of the box: a built-in firewall with per-service rules, auto-block for repeated failed logins, two-factor authentication through Secure SignIn, a Security Advisor that audits your configuration and flags weak settings, and shared-folder and drive encryption. Synology's patching record is a real strength — the company reported over 50 security updates in the year leading up to DSM 7.3 and now uses KEV, EPSS, and LEV risk indicators to prioritize fixes. DSM 7.3 also added the ability to delay critical auto-updates by up to 28 days, useful if you need a change window. Snapshots deserve a second mention here: immutable, scheduled Btrfs snapshots are one of the more practical ransomware defenses available to a small office, letting you recover without paying anyone and without waiting on a full restore. Where the limits are: the DS224+ uses non-ECC memory — fine for a home office, but a real gap for anything where silent bit-level corruption would be costly, and one reason higher-tier models exist. The bigger risk with any NAS is not the device — it's the configuration. NAS platforms as a category have been targeted repeatedly by automated attacks that scan for internet-exposed admin panels. If you forward ports to your NAS, use default account names, skip two-factor, or run outdated packages, no amount of built-in security saves you. Keep it off the open internet and reach it through Synology's QuickConnect relay or a VPN instead. DSM 7.3 is the current long-term support release, reaching end of maintenance in October 2027 and end of extended life in October 2028, with DSM 7.4 arriving June 2026 — the DS224+ is a 2023 model well within the supported window today, but the runway is shorter than it would be on a current-generation unit.
First Settings I Would Change
- Create a non-admin account for daily use and disable the default admin account — give your working account administrator rights if needed, but don't leave a predictably named account active.
- Turn on two-factor authentication for every account — Secure SignIn supports app-based approval and hardware keys; do this before anything else touches the network.
- Enable the firewall and auto-block — allow only what you actually use (SMB on your local subnet, DSM's web interface) and set auto-block to lock out an IP after a handful of failed attempts.
- Do not port-forward DSM to the internet — use QuickConnect or, better, a VPN back into your home or office network.
- Set up a snapshot schedule on every important shared folder — hourly or daily retention with sensible pruning; this is the setting people most regret skipping.
- Configure Hyper Backup to a second destination immediately — a USB drive kept in a drawer counts, cloud counts, two copies on the same NAS does not.
- Enable automatic DSM and package updates, with the delay window if you want a buffer.
- Add the 4GB memory module if you plan to run more than file sharing — going from 2GB to 6GB measurably improves sustained transfer consistency and is close to mandatory for Docker or several simultaneous packages.
Setup Difficulty
Rating: Beginner to Intermediate — getting the unit running is genuinely beginner-friendly: drive trays are tool-less, the web installer walks you through DSM setup, and creating your first shared folder takes a few clicks. The intermediate part is everything after: deciding on a RAID and volume layout, setting permissions correctly for multiple users, configuring backup jobs, and hardening remote access. None of it is difficult, but it's the difference between a NAS that protects you and a NAS that just holds files. Budget an afternoon, not ten minutes.
Pros
- Best-in-class software — DSM is the most polished and best-documented NAS operating system available, and the included apps replace several paid subscriptions
- Active Backup for Business is included, not an add-on — for a small business this alone can justify the price difference over cheaper hardware
- Btrfs snapshots give fast, practical recovery from accidental deletion and ransomware
- Strong security defaults plus a consistent patching record
- Genuinely quiet and low-power for always-on operation
- Capable Plex and Jellyfin transcoding thanks to Intel integrated graphics
- Two perpetual Surveillance Station licenses with no subscription attached
- No drive lock-in — third-party NAS drives work normally on this model
- Huge community and support base, which matters when something goes wrong at 11pm
Cons
- End-of-life status — Synology lists the DS225+ as the replacement, affecting long-term availability and support runway
- 1GbE only — competitors at the same price have offered 2.5GbE for years
- 2GB base memory, 6GB maximum — restrictive for containers and multiple services
- No M.2 slots and no SSD cache support
- 2023-era Celeron CPU showing its age for anything beyond file serving and media
- Two bays means RAID 1 only, with no expansion path
- Current street pricing in 2026 often exceeds the original $299.99 MSRP, which weakens the value case considerably
- Drives are sold separately and typically add $200–$500 to the real cost
Best Alternatives
| Alternative | Why Consider It |
|---|---|
| Synology DS225+ | Anyone who wants DSM and is buying new today — same J4125 CPU and 6GB memory ceiling, but adds a 2.5GbE port and a current-generation support runway |
| UGREEN NASync DXP2800 | Technically confident users who prioritize hardware — N100 CPU, 8GB DDR5, 2.5GbE, two M.2 slots, HDMI, though UGOS Pro is noticeably less mature than DSM (~$349.99) |
| TerraMaster F2-425 | Budget-focused media and backup use — cheapest x86 route to 2.5GbE and hardware transcoding, though TOS software has rough edges (~$249–$319) |
| QNAP TS-264 | Users who want expandability and SSD caching — 8GB memory, dual 2.5GbE, two M.2 PCIe slots, HDMI, at a higher price (~$489) |
| Synology DS425+ / DS925+ | Small businesses that expect their data to grow — four bays enable RAID 5, better capacity efficiency, and a real growth path, but larger, louder, and more expensive |
Final Verdict: Consider Carefully
If you already own a DS224+, keep it — it's a good machine, well supported today, and nothing here suggests replacing it. If you're buying new in 2026, the calculation has changed. The DS224+ earned its reputation as the default two-bay recommendation on the strength of $299 pricing plus excellent software. Today it's discontinued, frequently priced above its original MSRP, and sitting next to a direct successor that adds 2.5GbE and several more years of support life for a comparable outlay. The software case is as strong as ever — DSM, Active Backup, Btrfs snapshots, and Synology's patching discipline are all genuinely worth paying for. The hardware case no longer holds up on its own. If you find a DS224+ at a real discount, well under $300 diskless, it's still a sound purchase and a very capable first NAS. At or above the DS225+'s price, buy the DS225+ instead.
FAQ
Do I need a subscription to use the DS224+?
No. DSM and its core applications — Synology Drive, Synology Photos, Active Backup for Business, Hyper Backup, and Surveillance Station with two camera licenses — are included at no additional cost. Subscriptions only apply if you choose Synology's C2 cloud services for offsite backup.
Can I use any hard drives, or do I have to buy Synology-branded ones?
Any standard NAS drive works. The stricter compatibility policy applies only to models released in 2025 and later, not the DS224+, and Synology relaxed that policy again in DSM 7.3. WD Red Plus, Seagate IronWolf, and Toshiba N300 are all common choices.
Is a NAS a backup?
No, and this is the most important thing to understand. RAID 1 protects against one drive failing. It does not protect against theft, fire, flood, ransomware, or someone deleting the wrong folder. Treat the NAS as your primary storage and set up Hyper Backup to a second location on day one.
Will the DS224+ stop getting updates because it's end-of-life?
Not immediately. End-of-life means Synology has stopped manufacturing it. DSM 7.3 is a long-term support release with maintenance running to October 2027 and extended life to October 2028, and Synology has historically supported hardware for years past discontinuation.
How much memory do I actually need?
If you're only sharing files and running scheduled backups, the stock 2GB is workable. If you plan to run Docker containers, Synology Photos on a large library, Surveillance Station, and file sharing at the same time, add the 4GB module for a 6GB total — an inexpensive, two-minute upgrade that's the single best improvement you can make to this unit.
Where to Go From Here
Want the full picture on securing your home office network? SOHO 2026 covers it end to end.
Get SOHO 2026 →This review is part of the TechODash SOHO Reviews series, built for home offices, remote workers, creators, and small businesses that want practical protection without enterprise complexity.