So Synology recently released their more price conscious 4 bays models, the DS423 and DS423+. DS423+ is the more powerful of the 2 option, it's CPU floating points is almost double than that in the DS423. It is essentially the same with DS920+ but with lesser RAM and without the expansion port. The price is cheaper by about 30% than the DS920+. DS423+ price also just few hundreds Ringgit more than DS423. If you considering between these models and your data growth after some years would still not need to have more than 4 drives, in my opinion DS423+ is the better option than the other two.

This is the review of DS423+ and I also going to set it as a remote off-site backup, or vault as Synology named it, at my relatives house and they also will use it as their cloud storage and also connect back to my DS1522+ as their remote off-site backup. If you and someone else also using Synology NAS, both of you can use each other storage space as off-site backup and there's also security in place that will not let the other party from accessing your data without the password that you set for the backup. It is also an incremental backup so only the new changes made will need to upload into the off-site vault, no need to upload the entire backup every time. Remember, having your data that can be edited or deleted is not a backup, that's a storage. A proper backup strategy is such as 3-2-1 backup rules, in addition to your storage data you also have other 2 backup copies and one of it is stored off-site.


HARDWARE


As usual with Synology packaging, it comes in brown box and the white sticker indicating the model. On the side there are printed information of this NAS hardware and the package content. Inside, beside the NAS itself, there's power adapter and it's cable, 2 CAT5e cables, screws, keys to lock drive tray and Quick Installation Guide. Same stuff with most of their other NAS.


The NAS itself, it's look exactly the same with their other plus series 4 bays models, the only indicator is the model number below the power button. Also below each drive tray there's number indicating the drive slot, easy to miss as it was rather inconspicuous. There's a USB port in the front for easy file transfer with external drive. On the right cutout at the Synology name, can see the motherboard inside, such design will give good airflow.

At the back, 2 LAN ports with Gigabit speed each, additional USB port, power in and Kensington lock. The difference with DS920+ is there's no eSATA port that is used to connect to expansion unit.


Inside the NAS, same design with other 4 bays model, there's SATA port with power, single empty DDR4 slot for expandability, the other 2GB RAM is soldered. Bottom of the NAS there's 2 slots for adding m.2 NVME SSD. As with DS923+ model, the m.2 SSD not only limited for use as cache, it can also be used as storage pool now. But I'm not sure if it's still only accept Synology own m.2 SSD for storage pool. It also can't store the OS in m.2 pool, it need to have at least 1 SATA HDD/SSD drive to install the OS and boot from it.


The power adapter output is slightly lower than the one that comes with DS920+, 90w vs 100w. Compared to DS920+, there's no eSATA port and the USB port placement is different. For now in goes the 2 4TB HDD that I will configure to use as SHR RAID, giving me 4TB of space with redundancy. In future by adding 2 more 4TB HDD, it will have a total of 12TB space with redundancy and no need to change the RAID type next time. Whereas if I use RAID-1 now, in future when I add 2 more 4TB HDD and want to have 12TB space, I need to wipe the RAID-1 and all the data in it before can create RAID-5 with the 4 HDD.


INITIALIZING


Once the NAS has boot up and connected to the network, I find it by going to https://finds.synology.com and the browser will detect the new NAS. Press Connect and it will ask to automatically download and install the latest DSM or manually upload from computer. I choose download option and in few minutes it finish download and start the installation process. It took about 10 minutes lo complete the whole process of installing and initializing the new OS and it's apps.


Once completed, it will show the welcome screen. First thing to do is give a name for the NAS and create an admin account with strong password that at least 14 characters. By creating the account it will disable the default admin account in DSM that is named "admin". It will also ask to choose what to do once there are DSM and packages updates available. For better security, at least choose the recommended setting, automatically install important DSM and package updates.


It will then ask to create a Synology account or sign in if you already have it. This is different than the admin account that was created for the NAS, this is for connecting to Synology server for some online functions. Bear in mind that if you want to use Secure SignIn or QuickConnect or Active Insight, you need to have a Synology account. It will also backup the NAS settings to Synology server if you have Synology account.

Once completed, it will load the dashboard, or the home screen. As with any newly initialize NAS, it don't have storage pool and volume configured yet so that's the first thing to do.


Going into the Storage Manager, I'll create SHR type of RAID as in future when need to add more HDD and expand the RAID, no need to wipe the current RAID. For now since I'm using two 4TB HDD, SHR will set it as mirror of each HDD, just like RAID-1. When next time more HDD being added to the pool, SHR will arrange it to be more like a RAID-5.

For volume, you can allocate less than the maximum if want to create more than 1 volume.

For file system, better to use the recommended BTRFS as it can do snapshots and replication, think of it like an undo button but this is for the files in NAS. It also will perform data integrity checking every time it read any file. It also can perform auto self-heal for any data corruption if the pool have 2 or more drives and also using SHR or RAID 1/5/6.


The first photo above show Package Centre, here is the place to manage installed apps and also to install new app. Newly initialized DS423+ have very little apps installed, 9 to be exact. Secure SignIn Service is an important service for the NAS security. You can use it for passwordless sign-in to NAS by installing the app on your phone, when want to sign-in the app will prompt for approval. When some hackers or bots try to sign-in the prompt serve as warning that your NAS are being targeted. If don't want to use passwordless sign-in, Secure SignIn app can also be used as 2-Factor Authentication (2FA) for approval or generate 6 digits OTP, after sign-in with password then the app will prompt for approval or generate 6 digits OTP. Secure SignIn Service need QuickQonnect service to be enabled because the app need to contact back the NAS to inform about the approval.

Other apps to install that might be useful for starting your own personal cloud service are Drive, Photos, Calendar, Contacts and Note Station. With your own personal cloud server, your data all saved locally and don't need to worry some big corporate use your data for machine learning or profiling. Plus all these apps are totally free to use. If you want to go more further also can set own mail server, chat server, WebDAV server and many more. There's also open source and apps that maintained by third party developers.

Coming back to what I want to accomplish as a remote off-site backup, the apps I need to install are Hyper Backup and Hyper Backup Vault. Hyper Backup is for creating and managing the backup while Hyper Backup Vault is for handling data from other Synology NAS. If the NAS only upload the backup to remote off-site and not act as vault then no need to install Hyper Backup Vault. For my case, both NAS will upload and also act as vault so I need to install both apps.


For the off-site backup purpose, I will create a user account that will be used to sign-in remotely into the DS423+ and it can only access the folder for saving the vault, the account will not have access to other folders. By default DSM didn't enabled user home service, if you want all the user to have their own Home folder, you need to enable it at Advance settings in User & Group. As for my off-site backup, I'll create a shared folder for the vault.

Next, I'll create a user account in DS423+ that will be used by DS1522+ to access the vault. With DSM 7, Synology also have added the function to generate random password but as you can see in the image above, it only generate 8 characters as that's the default minimal password length. To make it longer, you need to change the minimal length in User & Group > Advance. National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) recommend to have at least 12 to 14 characters length but if can go for longer will be even better. The password should be mix of uppercase and lowercase letters, numbers and special symbols. It should also not have memorable keyboard paths, not based on your personal information and is different than any other passwords that you use.

Beside limiting the folders that each user can access, it can also set the quota limit that each user can use for each shared folder. This is useful when you don't want a user hogging more data space than he/she is allowed. The image above is after I already done the backup, I set the limit to 1TB quota and the account have used 222.82GB of space.

Another thing to note, by default DSM doesn't enable Firewall. You can enable it at Control Panel > Security > Firewall. You can customize it such as block IP not from Malaysia. Auto Block is auto enable and the default block is after 10 attempts in 5 minutes, you can change it to suit your preference. Below it there's option to enable Denial-of-Service (DoS) Protection.

In the Main Menu, which is something similar to Start button in Windows or all apps in Android, there's an app called Security Advisor. Open the app and choose type of security then click scan. It will check for many things, from malware to system to account and network to make sure all settings is fully secure. If there's any setting that not passed the security, it will give failed status, choosing the failed setting and click on View will explain the danger of it and how to change it.


One more thing to highlight is on the app Active Backup for Business. With this app you can do system backup if you have other Synology NAS, Windows or Mac computer, server and virtual machine. In here you can check when the last all your devices made backup, the storage usage for each type of device and logs.


Additionally, after I install bunch of apps that will be used for personal cloud service, it still have plenty of available RAM. Cached RAM is also free RAM. If planned to run more apps or Docker images then 2GB might not be enough but the NAS still have 1 more available RAM slot for expansion. Also can add m.2 NVME SSD for caching frequently accessed files so that the RAM is free from being used as file cache.


BACKING UP


Now on to creating the backup, this will be done on the NAS with the data that need backup. For my case is the DS1522+. After open the Hyper Backup app, click the + sign on top-left of the app and choose Remote NAS Device, then click next.

In the Backup Destination Settings, I need to specify the IP address or URL for the DS423+. 1 thing need to clarify on this, the DS423+ need to have Dynamic DNS (DDNS) and port forwarded for Hyper Backup then only DS1522+ can find the NAS. Luckily Synology also provided the service, to set it up go to Control Panel > External Access >DDNS. You can't use QuickConnect for remote backup to another NAS. If you can't do port forwarding because of some reasons such as behind CGNAT then the other option will be to use Tailscale, which is also available in the Package Centre. Both NAS need to install the Tailscale and both need to sign in the same account. With DSM 7 also need to do the steps mentioned in the link as it have tighter restriction on what each app are allowed to do:
Enabling Synology Outbound Connections

After establishing the connection, add the sign-in info into it by using the the log-in button. Then choose the folder where the backup will be placed and give a name for the backup file, in my case I name it simply as "backup". After clicking Next, can set the schedule which date and time the backup will run, also have option to check the backup integrity, don't want the important backup turned out to be corrupt when want to restore right?


After that it will ask to tick for the directory in my DS1522+ that I want to perform backup. Can also create file filters list if want to exclude some files from being backup. In addition to files and folders being backup, it can also backup installed apps and it's settings so in case of the NAS have to factory reset or being replaced, can simply restore all the apps without the need to redo their settings.


After clicking Next, give the task it's name and there's some other settings that can be chosen. Here also the option to add password to the backup, since this is an off-site backup where someone else can access it so it's better to have it password protected. It will also create an encryption key in case forgot the password. Without the password or encryption key, the backup will not able to be decrypted so make sure to remember the password and remember where the encryption key is stored.

For files that is edited or deleted after the backup has been performed, the original files will still be kept in old retention while new retention only show the edited or without the deleted files. This way the old files still can be recovered in the event the edit or delete was a mistake. But doing so will make the backup becoming more bigger with files that probably not needed. To automate the number of retention is by using backup rotation. Can specify the max number of retention, or customize yourself for the setting. Synology also have implement their smart recycle method where it retain more changes from the recent hours and gradually less retention for days, months and years. This is a good strategy to avoid from keeping too many edited and deleted files.


Once done, it will ask if want to start the first backup. After I click Yes, it will start the backup process and also it will show the progress status. As seen earlier, my backup size is 222GB and it would take very long time to upload those data over the internet. So what I do for the first time backup is to have both NAS in the same local network. After done the backup then only I'll move the DS423+ to my relatives house. Afterward, only new changes need to be uploaded to the backup, the sizes would not be big so it won't take long time over the internet.


On the DS423+, by checking the Hyper Backup Vault app I can see the progress status for receiving the backup. In the shared folder I also can see the backup file with the extension .hbk, this is a backup extension that Synology use for their backup format.


If I try to open the backup.hbk file, it will ask to key-in the password or open the encryption key to decrypt the content. This ensure only the people that know the password or have the encryption key will be able to access the backup.


I also can open Backup Explorer from the Hyper Backup app, it will ask for the backup password. Once entered I can check the folders that has been backed up and the timeline of each backup. If I have do backup for some time and suddenly I realized the file that I deleted or edited last week should not be changed, I can go back to the time before I delete or edit it and restore the file. I can also download the file.

And that complete this DS423+ review and guide on setting up remote off-site backup. I hope this will be useful for those that want to setup their off-site backup. Always practice good backup strategy to ensure your data won't be lost forever.

Hi,

After extensive research regarding Synology spec for Plex Media Server - I decided to take DS423+

Would like to ask sir, this is from a review on another website

https://mariushosting.com/?s=ds423%2B

“The most important thing to know about the model is that it comes with an outdated Intel Celeron J4125 CPU without AVX support which can limit your Docker container options.”

“Even though it is intended for home use, this NAS model should be avoided because, if you want to run Docker containers that require AVX support, you will not be able to do so on the DS423+.”

If planning to make a NAS for only Plex Media Server and torrent download remotely via rutorrent - is the lacking AVX support will hinder my Plex Media Server?

This post has been edited by inidupeaccount: Jul 4 2023, 06:46 PM

Plex not using AVX so it doesn't affect your planned usage. Only some docker containers that use AVX such as MongoDB.

You been using Plex now or after getting the NAS that will be your first time to use? From what I read need Plex Pass to enable hardware transcoding, I'm not using Plex so can't confirm it. Another media server you can consider is Jellyfin, it's open source and free.

I have a Plex lifetime account. So far, if there is no movie from streaming services, I usually download it, turn on my PC as plex media server then stream to my TV via local network.

I’ll will google about MongoDB and Jellyfin, also what is actually AVX. 😅

Thanks for replying 🙂

Hi sir,

I already bought my 1st NAS and it is a DS423+ model. Thanks so much for your input and review in this thread, really helping me a lot.

I tested with a WD Red Plus 2TB HDD and it working great as a Plex Media Server and the download station is awesome which can be controlled with an unofficial apps on my iPhone and iPad.

The setup is working great and really follow what I imagine my NAS would be.

I have further questions though.

1. As I tested with my 2TB HDD, it working well. Now my 14TB HDD already arrive (WD Red Plus too) - can I combine with my 2TB HDD and become a total storage of 16TB? How may I do that? I went to my NAS, it mention regarding SHR and SHR 2, which I not totally understand. Can different storage size of the same model add up together?




2. What kind of RAM can fit into DS423+ instead of Synology brand? I read somewhere and were mentioned that DS423+ can be add up to ˜18gb (16 SODIMM + 2 soldered) but I bought a Crucial RAM and it won’t work.



Hope can here from you soon.

Thanks in advance.

This post has been edited by inidupeaccount: Jul 12 2023, 07:44 PM

Yes, you can combine it to make as 16TB storage space, create a pool with the 2 HDD. See this image below to understand about storage pool from HDD


When you create a new pool, select both HDD and choose JBOD. This is assuming you don't need to have any protection from HDD failing in future for your data.

For the RAM, if you not getting official Synology RAM then you need to search online for others that have success with what brand and model of the RAM. This is important as not all RAM can be used by DS423+
See the link below for some RAM that tested to be working
https://nascompares.com/guide/synology-ds42...abrent-modules/
https://nascompares.com/ram/synology-ds423-...le-ram-upgrade/

This post has been edited by xxboxx: Jul 12 2023, 11:41 PM

Hi, been using my DS423+ as PMS and it is everything that like imagine and I like it. Recently, I put an OCPC RAM 16gb - luckily DS423+ able to boot up and can accept the RAM.

Just wonder will 3rd party RAM will lost it compatibility if we update DSM in future? Hopefully not.

Anyway, I need and advice for NVME sir. Can I put any NVME inside DS423+ or only Synology brand will work?

Is it adviceable if I put 4TB x 2 NVME for caching in this unit - and can explain more, in layman term about nvme caching at what it actually do?

Thank so much in advance sir.

I think won't lose the compatibility even after update.

If NVME for caching, can get any brand. But if for storage, only Synology brand NVME will work.

Caching is as it's name, it cache the frequently accessed data from the HDD into the NVME. HDD seek time and files load time is slow, caching help to makes the files faster send to your device. If put 2 NVME and set as RAID 1, it also can do write caching, instead of directly write new or edited files to HDD, it will write to NVME first. But this also a risk, if both NVME data not accessible (such as both fail at same time or remove the NVME without eject it in the DSM) can cause the data in HDD corrupted.

Hi,

Can DS423+ use any 2.5G ethernet-USBA/C adaptor like ASUS USB-C2500

Thinking wanna try this method DSM driver for realtek RTL8152/RTL8153/RTL8156 based USB Ethernet adapters

This post has been edited by inidupeaccount: Aug 16 2023, 11:27 PM

Never tried any Ethernet adapter but in this thread someone said manage to use it
https://www.reddit.com/r/synology/comments/...le_on_my_ds920/

Yes it works, got the same model too but I am on the older DS720+ with the same CPU as DS423+.

But, no guarantee future DSM update will break it or not

Yup, just done mine today. Now I can utilize full speed of 2gbps download and 1gbps upload speed directly lol. Over juiced DS423+

Are you rocking NVME cache now or still purely on HDD?

I am only using my NAS for storage, TimeMachine, Plex and some stuffs on Docker. Not really sure if it will benefit me.

If you always do operation of reading and writing few MBs or smaller files, having the cache will helps. If only reading and writing big file sizes then no use.

The only benefit I can imagine is uploading small files will be much faster due to the much faster IOPS on SSD

That will be useful for my TimeMachine backup and restore scenario

If the backup daily is just tens of MBs, the NAS's RAM is enough to cache first. Only frequently accessible files will be cached, if restore scenario likely not from cache as the files not frequently accessed.

Having cache I feel more useful when browsing photos, it caches the photos since I frequently scrolling. If have many users also will be useful.