Win A Synology DS418 NAS Device

Win A Synology DS418 NAS Device

Are you still buying external hard drives? It's time you consolidated all of your data on a NAS device and today, you can win a Synology DS418 NAS.  

What is a NAS?

Think of "network attached storage" as the ultimate external hard drive. Your data shouldn't be spread out across unnamed internal and external hard drives. Instead, all of your pictures and important files should be housed on a single device. You can then install multiple hard drives into your NAS depending on the amount of storage you need. These hard drives are redundant using RAID to protect your files from a hardware failure locally and, using Synology's software, you can automatically back everything up offsite as well. Lastly, having your data all in one place allows multiple computers to access the same files locally, in your home or office, or remotely via the web. You'll never have to worry about losing a photograph again. 

What can I win?

The Synology DS418 is perfect for individual photographers. It has four hard drive bays which can be filled with 12TB drives. It has a quad-core 1.4GHz processor, 2GB of memory, and dual Ethernet ports on the back that are capable of sending data at over 226 MB/s. Many photographers may choose to use this strictly as an external hard drive, but here at Fstoppers we actually use ours to work from, meaning that we never house any data on our computer's internal drives. Some users may enjoy taking these a step further by using the NAS as a surveillance station, or a 4k multimedia server. 

How do I enter? 

Entering this contest couldn't be easier. Simply comment below or on this Facebook post, and let us know why you could use a NAS device like the DS418. On Friday, November 24th we will choose one random commenter as the winner. 

AND THE WINNER IS...

Congratulations Lucas Fendley! Your comment was randomly chosen as the winner of the DS418. 

Would love to win! I'm a broke artist that is in need of an upgraded storage system. Then I can duplicate last two years of external hard drives into one system to work off of and keep the external HD's as a secondary backup. :)

Synology will be mailing you the unit soon. We hope it will change your workflow for the better. 

Lee Morris's picture

Lee Morris is a professional photographer based in Charleston SC, and is the co-owner of Fstoppers.com

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400 Comments
Previous comments

I‘ve had a Synology but now he‘s broken. I love the synology NAS because they‘re simply and fast. I love it. But mine is broken I need a new one. THX

I'll give it shot!

Yes please! The more TB the better!

I have been using multiple different sized drives to store and backup different projects. I currently have like 8 Gig on 5 drives. This would simplify my setup greatly!

Hello !!! Synology is awesome. I would get rid of my external drive, put 2 hard drive in raid0. On a skill perspective it would be interesting to try to understand how all of this work !
Transfer all my photos and use the app to visualize it. It would be interesting to put the back up of my blog on this too ! ( I would be less stress). Thank for the opportunity !

I would love to win this because I am currently using 2 or 3 or maybe a 4th external hdd's that are scattered across the house and not synced up.

I'm a photography teacher trying to go self employed. Shooting weddings, families, still life adverts and seem to be filling up my hard drives quicker than usual as I'm starting to get lots more work. This would save me a lot of money and help me sleep at night knowing it's all fine and dandy.

Just got a 2 bay and love it. Would love to future proof the system!

My external drive is filling up and this is free.

Just getting started, and I have a terribly ragtag assortment of storage "solutions", this would be a great step forward.

I totally need this! Currently, I am bringing home a backup drive every single day so I make sure everything is backed up. Its a band-aid fix, but this would make a world of difference in my business!

New home, new home studio, new NAS, nuff said.

This would be a life saver for me. I'm currently running around with 8-10 different hard drives for different projects, and I would love to have them all backed up on one location.

WOW ! I really NEED this and I'm not joking.

This would be a great system to provide protection for my images and data files, as well as expand the storage capacity.

The amount of storage I need is getting... unreasonable.

I freaking need this. Currently had a major scare with my external HD the other day, but thankfully was able to recover all my data. The ironic part is that I had just told my partner last week that I needed to seriously upgrade my storage workflow and backup systems because it's currently woefully inadequate. Never again.

Because, BACKUP!

It would be a really nice update of my current NAS configuration.

Winning the Synology DS418 NAS will allow me to have a stand alone system for my maintaining my photography library vs my current system which consist of 5 external HDs.

Cause it's redundant backup

I'm getting older and can't afford to live life on the edge like I used to... I could really benefit from the insurance and peace-of-mind of finally having a reliable backup system!

Looks like a game changer. Would love to have it!

Happy Holidays Everyone! Good luck!

I could use it for my new photography business.

what a relief it would be...

My home built Nas is running Maxtor drives, I may be time to upgrade and get out of the Stone Age. Hopping to upgrade before they fail

I've heard great things about Synology, but could never afford one :( I could use this to replace my random USB drive and actually do a backup of my system.

Dear Lord above, this box of spinny things would make my life so much easier. If there are any beneficent winds blowing in my direction, I'd love it dearly if this were to drop in to my lap...

This could be the answer to my 37 years of images I’m trying to organize.

I need this as a place to sort through all my past backups to external drives.

With the death of Crashplan home this would be very good for backups

In for the win! Happy Thanksgiving to all.

Can I get it if I cover shipment & custom expenses? :)

Would love this as a backup system and home file server!

Never had a backup system of this magnitude. It would be nice to upgrade my poor 3T external hdd :)

backup and file sharing of coz!

Have been on the fence about getting something like this for a while :). Congrats to the fortunate person who gets this!!

Would love to win this and move my family's photos, videos, and files from our 7 different hard drives to one single storage unit accessible to all. This thing looks awesome!

need a more robust system, my 2 bay iomega needs to be decom

Well after backing up and consolidating all my media to a 4tb external drive, cat then trips over usb cable sending the hard drive to corruption on the floor.

Thus, I've been searching for a solid NAS drive to simply store the unit in a safe permanent place away from accidental hits. I believe with today's massive file sizes, usb drives simply don't cut it by the limitations of speeds and gb size over 3tb due to Microsoft windows limitations.

I need a DS418 to solve many issues in my digital storage world, Having one will simplify all my backup needs across all 5 of my computers. I even thought of complete online cloud storage, but technically and financeially that just wont work

It seems my earlier entry was either deleted or not correctly submitted, so i'll jsut try again with this one :) I'd give it a good home, always go out with it, and tell it how much i love it every night before going to sleep XD
Serioulsy though, i'd get rid of most of my usb backup drives and collect all data in this single unit.

What a great idea for home storage and use. We all know how storing pictures can fill a hard drive and this kind of storage appears to be the next big item for home storage with features that make it expandable.

I really need a NAS for a backup of my constantly growing archive!

I’d love to have this NAS to get me out of my awkward manual backup situation with rotating external hard drives.

Would love to own one of these as a backup machine.

Oh YES please! Would love to move from a half dozen drives to one.

I want it!!! Yeah!

I’m a beginner photographer and I’m going to build my own desktop computer from your video using B&H as my supplier. I’m also going to buy a Prograph 1000 printer and a new canon camera.(deciding on 80D or 1DX Markll) I’ve been studying everything for about 4 months now. This would be the best backup system for my new hobby.
Just set up my account with fstoppers.
Thanks for informative video on building a computer. I think I’m going to try it. Looks easy. Mike V.

I live in ethiopia and the tax on electronics is 300 percent ..meaning i cant afford it in my dreams ....if i dont win ill just carry my old 1Tb hard drive aroound :(