Synology CS407 four bay NAS device review

Almost a month ago, we carried out Elite Bastards' first ever review of a NAS (Network Attached Storage) device, in the form of a single drive bay affair from Thecus.  While we were mightily impressed by their offering, and rightly so, such a device isn't for everyone.  What if a single disk isn't enough to satiate all your storage needs, even with 1 Terabyte drives now on the market?  Perhaps more importantly, what if your data is sufficiently important to require some kind of redundancy?  If either of those issues are a concern to you, then read on.

The subject of today's review is at the opposite end of the scale to our previous Thecus N1200 piece, as we take in a four bay NAS device courtesy of Synology, the CS407.  While both the functionality and price of this unit arguably aims it more towards small businesses looking for reliable and safe mass storage for their company, it also has plenty to offer the enthusiast or home user with the need to store large amounts of data while also ensuring its safety from loss in the event of a drive failure.  Indeed, the inspiration for our recent branching out to examine Network Attached Storage devices was down to the need for both increased capacity and protection against data loss while working on articles for this very site, making the hunt for a stable and well-featured NAS device a somewhat more personal quest.  Can Synology's CS407 fit the bill?