Synology makes the best Plex NAS servers, and I’ve used its merchandise for over a decade now. Whereas the model does not have class-leading {hardware}, its software program suite continues to be the very best within the trade, and its NAS servers have been dependable. At the moment, I take advantage of the DiskStation DS1823xs+ as my main NAS, housing over 140TB of knowledge, and I’ve a DS1621xs+ as a secondary NAS containing over 80TB of knowledge.
Synology had a quiet 2024, however the model is gearing as much as launch its 2025 portfolio quickly. However when the brand new Plus sequence fashions come out, there will probably be a major limitation: these DiskStation fashions will probably be suitable with Synology’s first-party drives, and never the best NAS HDDs from Seagate and Western Digital.
Synology began imposing this on its business-centric NAS fashions again in 2021 — which is by the way when it launched its personal drives — nevertheless it talked about on the time that the transfer wouldn’t affect the consumer DiskStation series. However on the similar time, the model considerably lowered the variety of eligible third-party IronWolf and WD Purple fashions, and now it’s completely strolling again earlier claims and limiting its DiskStation Plus sequence to its personal drives.
From the press release (in German): “For customers, which means that beginning with the Plus sequence fashions launched in 2025, solely Synology’s personal exhausting drives and third-party exhausting drives licensed in line with Synology’s specs will probably be suitable and supply the total vary of capabilities and assist.”
The model notes that that is solely legitimate with Plus fashions debuting in 2025 and later, so the present portfolio consisting of the DiskStation DS923+, DS224+, DS723+, and all different fashions are unaffected. Synology additionally famous that migrating drives from an current NAS to a 2025 Plus server will not incur any restrictions: “There will probably be no modifications for Plus fashions launched as much as and together with 2024 (excluding the XS Plus sequence and rack fashions). Moreover, migrating exhausting drives from current Synology NAS to a brand new Plus mannequin will proceed to be attainable with out restrictions.”
Mainly, for those who use something aside from a Synology-branded exhausting drive within the 2025 DiskStation Plus fashions, you will not have the ability to use key options like volume-wide deduplication, lifespan evaluation, and automated exhausting drive firmware updates. Synology says it’s making this modification to “cut back compatibility points and enhance system reliability,” however the actual purpose has to do with cash — the model would quite you purchase its personal drives as an alternative of Seagate and WD’s merchandise.
In a press release, Synology mentioned that it performed 7,000 hours of rigorous testing with its personal exhausting drives along with the upcoming DiskStation Plus fashions, and that normally it noticed a “20% discount in assist tickets associated to storage and drive points when utilizing Synology’s HDDs.”
It’s comprehensible that the model is making an attempt to offer a tighter integration between its drives and NAS servers, however the selection ought to in the end be made by the consumer. As somebody who makes use of Seagate’s IronWolf and Exos drives extensively alongside Toshiba and WD Purple HDDs, I do not wish to be shoehorned into deciding on only one drive.
I’ve at all times really useful Synology NAS servers for his or her sturdy feature-set and ease of use, however this deliberate user-hostile transfer has me rethinking that call. I will await judgement till I get my palms on the Plus fashions (they’re debuting shortly), however as an fanatic, I am unable to assist however really feel that Synology is abandoning its loyal userbase simply to eke out extra earnings.
