Synology

Synology DS1522+ 5-Bay NAS - Diskless

4.7 (8458 reviews)

A scalable 5-bay NAS with fast sequential throughput, 10GbE upgrade options, and expansion up to 15 drives.

$750.94*
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*Price sourced from Amazon.com. Last updated:Jul 14, 2026.Price and availability are subject to change.

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Overview

The Synology DS1522+ is a 5-bay NAS enclosure designed to serve as a centralized storage hub for small to medium businesses, creative professionals, and advanced home users. With sequential read and write throughput reaching up to 736 MB/s and 796 MB/s respectively, it handles everyday file operations — backups, media streaming, shared folder access — with minimal lag. The four built-in 1GbE LAN ports support link aggregation and failover, while an optional 10GbE network card lets you tap into higher bandwidth for video editing workflows or large dataset transfers. The unit ships diskless, giving you full control over drive selection and RAID configuration.

Where the DS1522+ truly distinguishes itself is scalability and software. Two expansion ports accept Synology DX517 units, letting you grow from 5 to 15 total drive bays without migrating data or replacing hardware. On the software side, Synology's DiskStation Manager operating system provides a polished suite of built-in applications — from Synology Photos and Surveillance Station to Active Backup for Business and Virtual Machine Manager. The unit measures 9.17 x 9.06 x 6.54 inches, weighs 10.54 pounds without drives, and is backed by a 3-year manufacturer warranty. It accepts 100–240V input, making it suitable for deployment in any region.

Key Features

Up to 736/796 MB/s sequential read/write throughput makes file operations quick and efficient

Leverage built-in file and photo management, data protection, virtualization, and surveillance solutions

Four 1GbE ports for simple integration into existing environments with optional 10GbE connectivity to tackle more specialized, bandwidth-heavy applications

Add up to 10 extra drive bays with 2 DX517 expansion units for a maximum of 15 storage drives

3-year warranty

Specifications

Brand
Synology
Model
DS1522+
Drive Bays
5 (expandable to 15 with 2x DX517)
Sequential Read/Write
Up to 736/796 MB/s
LAN Ports
4x 1GbE (optional 10GbE via add-in card)
Input Voltage
100–240V AC
Dimensions (D x W x H)
9.17 x 9.06 x 6.54 inches
Weight
10.54 lbs (without drives)
Color
Black
Hard Drive Interface
Serial ATA
Warranty
3 years

Pros & Cons

👍 Pros

  • Sequential read/write speeds up to 736/796 MB/s handle large file transfers efficiently
  • Expandable from 5 to 15 drive bays using DX517 expansion units
  • Built-in Synology DiskStation Manager offers file management, photo organization, surveillance, and virtualization apps
  • Four 1GbE ports with link aggregation support, plus an optional 10GbE upgrade path

👎 Cons

  • Sold diskless, so the total cost of ownership is significantly higher once drives are purchased
  • 10GbE requires an additional network adapter card, adding to the expense
  • The AMD Ryzen R1600 processor may bottleneck under heavy virtualization or simultaneous multi-user workloads
  • No built-in HDMI output for direct media playback

Frequently Asked Questions

No. This is a diskless unit — you purchase and install your own 3.5" SATA hard drives or 2.5" SATA SSDs separately.
Yes. You can connect up to two Synology DX517 expansion units, adding 10 additional drive bays for a maximum of 15 total drives.
The DS1522+ ships with four 1GbE LAN ports. 10GbE connectivity is available as an optional add-in card via the expansion slot.
It supports Synology's SHR and SHR-2 as well as standard RAID 0, 1, 5, 6, 10, and JBOD configurations, using the Btrfs or ext4 file systems.
Synology rates the DS1522+ at approximately 20.7 dB(A) in noise level, making it relatively quiet for an office or home environment, though fan noise will vary with drive load and temperature.