eSIM Studios
Earlier this year Synology announced that you'd need to use Synology-branded hard drives in its 2025 line of "Plus" branded network-attached storage devices if you wanted full functionality. While you could theoretically use a non-Synology drive with the Synology DiskStation DS225+, DS425+, DS925+ and other models, you'd be unable to create data storage pools, or use volume deduplication.
The move was not popular, and half a year later Synology is reversing course. The company has released an updated version of the Linux-based operating system that powers its NAS hardware and while the release announcement includes nods to security, collaboration, and AI features, perhaps the biggest change is that the company is bringing back full support for using third-party hard drives.
Synology DiskStation DS425+When Synology first announced its restrictions, the company said it was part of an effort to ensure that customers were using hardware that had been fully tested for reliability and performance as a way to reduce customer support requests, among other things.
But since Synology-branded hard drives were basically third-party drives with the Synology brand slapped on top, many observers figured this was little more than a cash grab and/or a way to lock users into the Synology ecosystem. Synology, for its part, does insist that its drives are different. But since folks have been using third-party drives with Synology hardware for decades, many folks remain skeptical that those difference matter in any significant way.
While the release announcement for DiskStation Manager (DSM) 7.3 makes no mention of customer backlash, it does explain that the software "will support installation and storage pool creation with third-party drives." That only appears to apply to hard drives though.
If you want to use M.2 SSDs for your storage pool and cache, then you still need to use a Synology-certified SSD (which doesn't necessarily mean that it needs to be Synology branded, just tested and certified).
It also looks like Synology may not be walking back another important change – while previous-gen NAS systems from the company included support for hardware-accelerated transcoding of H.264 and HEVC video, the 2025 "Plus" lineup lacks the kernel graphics driver support for that feature. T here does appear to be a workaround, but it took independent developers months to come up with.
All of which is to say that while it's nice to see Synology walking back at least one unpopular decision, the company appears to have a long way to go to rebuild trust among users. And that's a shame, because for many years Synology was the go-to brand for folks looking to buy a NAS that just worked out of the box, while offering features for power users looking for more flexibility.
In recent years we've seen a growing number of entries in the consumer-off-the-shelf (COTS) NAS space, including many models that offer better hardware at lower prices than Synology. But most have lagged behind Synology (and rivals QNAP, Asustor, and Terramaster) when it comes to the out-of-the-box software experience. So it's a shame to see an industry leader making user-hostile moves like removing features and using DRM-like methods to prevent users from installing third-party drives.
via Guru3D, Hacker News, NAS Compares,
Liliputing's primary sources of revenue are advertising and affiliate links (if you click the "Shop" button at the top of the page and buy something on Amazon, for example, we'll get a small commission).
But there are several ways you can support the site directly even if you're using an ad blocker* and hate online shopping.
Contribute to our Patreon campaignor...
Contribute via PayPal * If you are using an ad blocker like uBlock Origin and seeing a pop-up message at the bottom of the screen, we have a guide that may help you disable it. Join 9,538 other subscribers
No comments