ioSafe 1513+ – Performance

So the 1513+ is built to survive the apocalypse and upon Synology’s strong foundations, but does it come together? Unsurprisingly yes.

In our tests both read and write times transferring large files immediately hit the limits of Gigabit Ethernet consistently recording transfer speeds of 112MBps (896Mbps) and 111MBps (888Mbps) respectively.

Switching to Link Aggregation mode can force more data down the pipe, but we find the increase (roughly 10-20%) isn’t worth the vastly more complicated setup, additional (inevitably expensive) switch and the noise that brings. Maxing out Gigabit Ethernet should be more than enough for most, though it is a barrier even midrange NAS – like the Synology DS414 – are also starting to hit. A problem given 10 Gigabit Ethernet (10GE) remains prohibitively expensive.

Given the limits of Gigabit then the more important result comes from our CPU intensive test transferring a 2GB folder of over 2,000 small files. Here the 1513 came out swinging. In these tests speeds obviously fluctuate, but the 1513+ achieved average read and write speeds of 52.9MBps (423.2Mbps) and 43MBps (344Mbps) which make it the fastest NAS we have tested.

There is one big caveat, however, and that is noise. Our test sample came fully populated with five drives and we recorded noise of 59 decibels at just one metre. That is loud enough that you can’t work for long in the same space and while the 1513 is clearly not designed for a living room existence we were taken aback.

Interestingly ioSafe quotes the 1513+ as producing just 25 decibels unpopulated so if you can source compatible quiet drives there may be some room for improvement. That said ioSafe isn’t currently selling the NAS without drives.

Should I buy the ioSafe 1513+?

All of which brings us to the inevitable question and the answer is: you may have no choice.

ioSafe is retailing the 1513+ in two versions: 10TB (5x 2TB drives) for £3,199 and 20TB (5x 4TB drives) for £4,299. These include one year warranties and if you increase it to five years the prices jump to £4,999 and £7,299. By comparison the standard Synology 1513 sells for £599 unpopulated (~£949 with 5x2TB drives) .

This rams home the previous conclusion, namely this is a great NAS and if you need it there’s no arguing about the price because there’s nothing else quite like it. But if your data isn’t highly valuable you’re unlikely to want to make such a big outlay for what is essentially a £949 NAS wrapped in a Challenger tank.

One alternative may be to save money and opt for one of ioSafe’s smaller units, like the 214, and store only your most valuable data on it (you could still fit up to 5TB on it depending what drives you choose) then use a larger non-ruggedised NAS for your day to day data.
 

Verdict

The ioSafe 1513+ is a fine NAS. It built to protect your data through any conceivable disaster, marries that durability with high quality construction and somehow melds it into a reasonably stylish design. The Synology 1513+ as its heart is also a fine choice with super slick setup and UI and blistering performance. That said given ioSafe’s understandably huge price premium means only those who really need the ultimate data protection need apply.

Next, read our ioSafe 214 Review

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