When comparing Synology DS216+II vs Western Digital My Cloud EX2 Ultra, the Slant community recommends Synology DS216+II for most people. In the question“What are the best NAS enclosures under $300?” Synology DS216+II is ranked 1st while Western Digital My Cloud EX2 Ultra is ranked 3rd. The most important reason people chose Synology DS216+II is:
This function is called USBCopy. You just need to attach your media to the front, press the Copy button (labeled C on this version) and wait untill it's done (no need to have it attached to any PC and no need to login to the NAS as well). By default, the backups get compressed to a single archive per backup and are named after their device name and timestamp attached (changeable within the settings). Older/other versions also had an SD-Card reader, this one doesn't (but it seems to have an eSATA port) so you might search for an alternative if you need the SD-Card reader.
Specs
Ranked in these QuestionsQuestion Ranking
Pros
Pro Single-button press backup functionality (ports and button on the front)
This function is called USBCopy. You just need to attach your media to the front, press the Copy button (labeled C on this version) and wait untill it's done (no need to have it attached to any PC and no need to login to the NAS as well). By default, the backups get compressed to a single archive per backup and are named after their device name and timestamp attached (changeable within the settings). Older/other versions also had an SD-Card reader, this one doesn't (but it seems to have an eSATA port) so you might search for an alternative if you need the SD-Card reader.
Pro DiskStation Manager OS is rock solid
DiskStation Manager OS is by far the best commercial NAS-OS out there when it comes to expandability, usability, and stability. No other system comes close, unless you build one yourself and use an Open-Source NAS-OS that you fine-tune to your needs.
Pro Synology has by far the best LTS of any comparable manufacturer
Even 10-year-old NAS storages still get updates for their OS (called DSM). The only thing that limits you is the hardware.
Pro Full flegged x86 CPU
See this for tech-spec.
Pro AES-NI hardware encryption engine
Encryption performance at over 113.01 MB/s reading, 111.66 MB/s writing.
Pro Company-level advanced BTRFS file system with built-in data integrity check
See further details on Synology's page
Pro Usability (WebOS)
Product and software work seamlessly with any operating system (since it's a WebOS running in the browser). Product software has easy to follow icons and GUI that allow users to use it as a VPN, time machine, media server, etc.
Pro Very affordable for a two-bay device
At $159, this two-bay NAS device offers great value. It's virtually impossible to find another solution close to this price with such a good performance.
Pro More than capable of managing typical home use
This two-bay unit has a 1.3GHz dual-core Marvell CPU and 1GB of DDR3 RAM. This is more than enough for typical home use, such as web browsing or movie watching. Media transcoding also works great with this device - Full HD videos have a nice and smooth playback.
Pro Simple set-up process
Setting up this NAS is as straightforward as it can get. You can get it running within a couple of minutes, even if you have no previous experience. Inserting the hard disks, plugging it in and filling out a form on mycloud.com is all that it takes.
Pro Save money by choosing one of the pre-populated versions
You can buy this device pre populated with Western Digital hard drives. You can choose between 4TB, 8TB, 12TB or 16TB storage space. This options is more convenient and cheaper than purchasing the hard drives separately.
Pro Users can choose between safety and storage maximization
This unit has two hard disk bays which can support RAID0 and RAID1 configurations. This gives you the choice of maximizing available storage, or halving your storage space in exchange for single-drive failure security.
Cons
Con Too many variants, pricing is not always logical
With, without an SD-Card reader; with, without a copy button and front ports. Model numbers also don't seem to follow any logic so you have to be careful when buying here. Also with some, you can switch the RAM model yourself while on many others it's soldered to the mainboard. You don't need the latest model. Be careful selecting one to fit your needs and pocket when buying (they're pretty good even when they're used - just use new HDDs and you're fine).
Con Not made for 4K streaming addicts (PLEX)
Yet so are typical other NAS from other manufacturers unless they are tailored for the purpose. Synology calls these NAS boxes "play" e. g. DS216play. They often have other drawbacks.
You have to spend more to get hardware level support for proper media-streaming. This is, however, not the usual task for a NAS and is only interesting if you need to stream 4K files (most often other bottlenecks are in-place like a slow network connection anyway). For streaming 1080p this NAS should be fine.
If you need serious streaming look elsewhere.
Con Requires a bit of work if you want to get the most out of it
It's clearly not made for people that want to buy a device and just use it but those that take some time to set it up. Once you're done, it runs, and runs, and runs (till you want to do more, which you can since it has Package-Management built in that enables you to download new packages and extend the functionality of your simple NAS).
Con Expensive
While the cost is not as high as some, there are similar storage size options for cheaper prices. This price tag, like most, is for branding and the high quality product you get from Synology.
Con Slow support
Technical support is not the go to option for a solution, with long wait times, and open cases taking up to weeks to resolve (that is with persistent follow up).
Con No offline storage or data migration via USB
Most NAS units typically come with USB ports for connecting storage. However, this unit does not offer USB connectivity, which would have been useful for offline storage or data migration.
Con Official documentation is incomplete and unclear
Key aspects such as power consumption or read/write speeds are not available on the official documentation. On top of that, the list of features is unclear and not explained well.
Con Not as many third-party apps as those found for more well established NAS brands
Western Digital is quite new to the NAS market, so it doesn’t have as many third party applications as other brands. Key applications like Plex Media Server, ARCUS and Dropbox are supported, but you may want to check app availability first before buying this unit.