Anyone that reads 9to5Mac often knows that we are big fans of Synology’s DiskStation network attached server products. On top of making a selection of well priced storage options under its DiskStation brand (a couple of which we’ve reviewed), Synology’s big draw for us has always been its web interface and ecosystem of apps that goes well beyond Time Capsule and your average NAS. Today, things are about to get even better for DiskStation users as the company announces the public beta release of the latest DiskStation Manager operating system, DSM 4.3, alongside revamped iOS apps and tons of new features.
In addition to revamped Cloud Station, Photo Station, and Video Station web apps, we’re most excited about the brand new mobile apps for iOS (and Android) that include a new UI with sliding menus, enhanced searching using tags, collections, and filters, and support for creating playlists on the go. The new DS Photos+ app, which acts an the iOS companion photo viewer for images storage in your DiskStation, is pictured above.
A couple of the iOS apps that have already received the refresh alongside today’s public beta release include the DS Photo+ app and the DS audio app. Here’s some details on the updates to the DSM web apps:
With the new Cloud Station, the private cloud has gotten even better. Cloud Station, in DSM 4.3 beta, lets you choose which documents and/or file types you want to keep synched across devices. Additionally, Linux users now get a Cloud Station client as well. Photo Station has been upgraded to version 6. Photo Station now allows photos to be viewed in a variety of dynamic ways, whether that be the mosaic-like wall format, or grouped via date; the photos in your library are front and center to the new Photo Station experience. Synology’s Video Station has been updated too. In addition to support for Roku TV, videos now have more granular control; as well as definable permissions.
The DSM 4.3 beta is available now for those that want to give it a try ahead of its gold master release. There are also lots of server improvements and new features for business users that you can check out here.
Other new features available starting with today’s public beta release:
Offload Data Transfer (ODX) – Increases iSCSI storage performance when used with Windows 2012 Servers
SSD caching from any tray in XS and XS+ models – Expand the pool of fast access data by using spare bays for SSD caching.
Full Link Aggregation Support with Synology High Availability (SHA) – Enables significantly faster communication between SHA clusters.
Now Cloud Station backup saves the portion of a file that has been changed, making for more efficient use of your storage
Folder level link sharing. Generate a direct download link for individual files or whole folders.
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