I bought this to replace an old 1-bay NAS that had not received updates for a while and was in urgent need of replacement. This is my first Synology, I have already been able to experiment with Synology elsewhere. I immediately opted for a model from the plus series, so that I wouldn't run into any limits in such a short time. With the plus series you can run Docker containers (but add some RAM), who knows, I might experiment with that. With a 2-bay NAS you reduce the risk of data loss in the event of a crashed drive, provided you choose the correct RAID setting during installation. Naturally, this halves the effective available storage space: You then have the capacity of one disk available.
The DSM operating system on which the NAS runs is quite extensive. For a non-IT person it will not be easy to get everything set up correctly, but once set up it is almost set-and-forget. I have been able to cancel all kinds of cloud subscriptions, I have sufficient storage in the Synology and it can also be reached safely from outside via QuickConnect. You can also encrypt the data on your drives. If someone ever steals your Synology, the data will be unreadable without an encryption key.
Synology Photos is a full-fledged replacement for Google Photos. A little less bells and whistles, but you keep your photos completely in your own hands. Although I know that there really are no men at Google sifting through all your photos, I find it more pleasant to manage my data myself. In addition to the entry cost (purchase of Synology + drives) and power consumption, there are no additional costs in terms of subscriptions and the like.
The same applies to Synology Drive, where you have the option of syncing (à la OneDrive and others) or backing up. Unless you need all kinds of Sharepoint-like bells and whistles, this is more than sufficient for home and other use. And here again: You have your data in your own hands.
Will I no longer use the cloud services for anything? Yes: With CloudSync you can backup your Synology to the well-known cloud services (OneDrive, Google drive, ...). Files are optionally encrypted locally before being backed up in the cloud. (this is different from the disk encryption mentioned above) This way you always have a backup even if your house including Synology burns down. (although provided you keep your encryption key somewhere outside the home!) An alternative is to place a second Synology with family and let the two sync with each other, that is also possible.
Furthermore, the thing looks like a standard NAS: A black box in which you can place two drives, but there is not much more to say about that. Place drives specifically suitable for a NAS, which are more resistant to vibrations and long-term use. The noise production mainly depends on the type of disks used, but in any case you will be faced with rattling when the NAS is working, so a bedroom is not exactly the ideal location. The installation and basic settings are easy to complete. If you want to set up the thing properly, you do not have to be an IT professional, but you do have quite a bit of knowledge. If necessary, have it done by someone who knows how to do it.
At the time of writing, the DS224+ is brand new, so you are guaranteed years of updates. That is the reason to choose this over the slightly cheaper but older DS220+, otherwise they are almost identical on the outside and on the inside.
