heads up: Synology NAS and certified drives - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / general

author: madires
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 19, 2025, 03:59:04 pm
content: It's becoming worse (for new Plus series):- Synology could bring “certified drive” requirements to more NAS devices,https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2025/04/synology-could-bring-certified-drive-requirements-to-more-nas-devices/- Synology requires self-branded drives for some consumer NAS systems, drops full functionality and support for third-party HDDs,https://www.tomshardware.com/pc-components/nas/synology-requires-self-branded-drives-for-some-consumer-nas-systems-drops-full-functionality-and-support-for-third-party-hdds

author: ataradov
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 20, 2025, 12:14:19 am
content: My next NAS was going to be QNAP anyway. Now there is no need to even look into Synology stuff. Plus I guess not I will have to be more careful accepting software updates on it.

author: kripton2035
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 20, 2025, 07:53:16 am
content: QNAP already has a list of "certified" drives for their NAS. distributors are not allowed to sell NAS with not certified drives in italso you will be rejected for support as soon as they see the drives are not certified...for example, last time I checked, toshiba drives, which I had zero problem with in tens of years, are not "allowed"and QNAP also have their own brand for drivesso the last step to QNAP drives only is a small step !

author: BadeBhaiya
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: April 20, 2025, 10:05:17 am
content: Old laptop running debian + USB-to-SATA drivesYes you will be limited to 2.5" drives but you get a built-in UPS.Although with a bit of effort you could use 3.5" drives.

author: madires
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 20, 2025, 11:21:23 am
content: Quote from: kripton2035 on April 20, 2025, 07:53:16 amAFAIK, they are still in 'compatibility list' mode. But yes, I wouldn't bet on that. If Synology's new profit maximization strategy works QNAP might follow suit. If you're looking for an alternative check out TrueNAS (open source).

author: madires
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 20, 2025, 04:57:26 pm
content: Obligatory Rossmann rant:NAS units have DRM now,https://odysee.com/@rossmanngroup:a/nas-units-have-drm-now:2

author: Halcyon
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: April 20, 2025, 11:01:47 pm
content: I can see it from both angles. I agree with manufacturers having a list of parts which are guaranteed to perform as designed, enterprise servers do this all the time.However where I take issue is when manufacturers deliberately lock out "non-genuine" but otherwise compatible parts. By all means, throw up a message on boot or in the log saying "FYI non-genuine part installed", but leave it at that.

author: Kjelt
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 07, 2025, 01:58:49 pm
content: I have four Synology NASses over the years and like the system OS a lot.Also it is pretty fast with 700MB/s susstained write on SSD pools and 500MBs+ on my HDD pools.Forget that with TrueNAS.What I get is that they will not give extended user support if you use your own drives.What I do not get is that they lock this option out.What I totally do not get is that if you have a pool with "uncertified" disks at your current Synology NAS you are allowed to tranfer these to a 2025 Synology NAS and it works BUT you are not allowed to expand it and worse are not allowed to repair it if one disk fails which makes the whole RAID topology completely useless.This realy s*cks and I have to look elsewhere for my hardware from now on.Perhaps if I can hack it with my own compatibility list, I never required support from Synology and don't need it. This is a huge Synology middlefinger to al prosumers that have supported this brand the last 15 years.

author: Halcyon
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: May 08, 2025, 08:38:46 am
content: Quote from: Kjelt on May 07, 2025, 01:58:49 pmWhat do you mean? TrueNAS is *easily* capable of these kinds of speeds (if not higher). You just have to have to design the system properly.

author: Kjelt
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 08, 2025, 03:57:38 pm
content: Friend of mine gets stuck at around 300MB/s but I guess it depends on your configuration so will strike through the remark.

author: Halcyon
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: May 09, 2025, 05:39:47 am
content: Quote from: Kjelt on May 08, 2025, 03:57:38 pmTrueNAS is only as good as the hardware and configuration allows.

author: Halcyon
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: May 11, 2025, 11:32:03 pm
content: Techno Tim actually did a good video on this just yesterday. Tom Lawrence also has a few videos talking about tuning TrueNAS.

author: Uunoctium
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: May 12, 2025, 12:15:45 am
content: tl;drQuoteYep, that overseen step costs me my hassio smarthome installation. Set it up on two new purchased Kioxia M.2 NVME (NOT Synology cert!) as Raid and after the automatically FW-up from 6.xx to 7.xx i've had no longer any access to the drives.Thanks to Synology for nothing!

author: bson
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: May 13, 2025, 10:20:46 pm
content: Synology limits some of the error tracking, probably because few devices reliably report the information they need. My WD Red drives for example have always shown exactly 0 remapped sectors, even when one was failing until I replaced it. Clearly a drive that never reports these types of errors can't have them be actionable. I can totally see some PM go "people keep complaining we never predicted their drive failure, and kept saying it was fine when it was failing and now demand money from us, so as PM I will decree we no longer support any of those features on non-qualified makes and models".If your drives flat out stop working with DSM 7 it's really a problem with the drives.

author: kripton2035
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 14, 2025, 06:16:45 am
content: raid5 and 6 and backups are here to prevent drive failures. and regular smart tests too.don't need to ban drives for that, especially if they are NAS category from their manufacturer ?

author: Messtechniker
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: May 14, 2025, 08:04:18 am
content: This might be of interest to doctor the synology HDD data base.....https://github.com/007revad/Synology_HDD_db

author: Kjelt
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 14, 2025, 03:49:50 pm
content: Quote from: bson on May 13, 2025, 10:20:46 pmNo longer giving support esp with cheap non NAS drives is understandable and ok with me.No longer to be able to use a brand new NAS device with 3rd party even expensive enterprise disks is BS and definitely not OK. If you go that way you should sell completely closed configured NAS systems including the drives only and stop selling NAS devices without harddrives.I think a lot of esp webshop buyers will return their items within the 14 day grace period because it does not work. Amazon and webshops will get tons of returned Synology nasses.

author: bingo600
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 14, 2025, 06:29:42 pm
content: This makes me even happier, that ichoseto build twoTrueNasservers for home usageMy 16TB IronWolfPro's are doing great in those, in a RZ2 setup.

author: Hogwild
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: May 15, 2025, 11:03:35 pm
content: IIRC, the story may be more nuanced than that.Arstechnica has good coverage of it here. The comments are relevant too.ArsTechnica.com: Synology could bring certified drive requirements to more NAS deviceshttps://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2025/04/synology-could-bring-certified-drive-requirements-to-more-nas-devices/

author: Kjelt
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 16, 2025, 03:57:35 pm
content: Quote from: Hogwild on May 15, 2025, 11:03:35 pmYes but as I saw the videos and pre reviews, Synology is not going to do the compatibility testing. They want the drive manufacturers to do the testing and guaranteeing all support and claims resulting from that.That has not been done before.I wonder if we don't get the same story as with the xs+ series.For instance the 1823xs+ out for over two years now, if you look at the compatibility list it is Synology only.So if you want to use non-Synology hdds you have to wait till they are added to their compatibility list, which "NAS compares" states that is going to take at least a year.

author: Hogwild
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: May 16, 2025, 04:25:27 pm
content: I wonder if someone will find out who OEMs each Synology-branded drive. I doubt they're going to go to the trouble of customizing the drive firmware. Then again, if the Syno does a firmware/vendor check, it still might not work.

author: Kjelt
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 16, 2025, 05:18:39 pm
content: Those are Toshiba drives till now with custom firmware.Rumors have it Seagate might also be involved recently.

author: Someone
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 17, 2025, 12:36:28 am
content: Quote from: Hogwild on May 16, 2025, 04:25:27 pmCustom firmware is a likely result for market (price) segmentation, that was routinely used by suppliers for mass market sourced Apple parts with identical hardware but massively different pricing (hard drives and graphics cards).

author: madires
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 02, 2025, 01:51:25 pm
content: Next step:NAS compulsion: Synology charges huge sums for SSDs with outdated technology -https://www.heise.de/en/news/NAS-compulsion-Synology-charges-huge-sums-for-SSDs-with-outdated-technology-10470277.htmlThe only positive is that they come with PLP (Power Loss Protection).

author: Messtechniker
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: July 02, 2025, 06:08:32 pm
content: So the next NAS in the small company I work for as a spare time adminwill not be Synology again, but a PC running Open Media Vault,of which we already have two running for some time now.Sorry to see Synology NAS go because it is now heavily overpriced.Anyway that's life. Simply move on.

author: Kjelt
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 02, 2025, 09:12:57 pm
content: I bought a 1621 the old series, last time buyWhat I find really weird is that the 3rd party drives that are whitelisted on other model Synologies are not automatically whitelisted for the newer models.Think about it. As if the way the newer NAS models run the harddisks will be different then the older models with the exact same DSM OS running on it. That marketing sales BS drives me crazy.

author: bson
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: July 14, 2025, 06:52:37 pm
content: Quote from: Kjelt on May 14, 2025, 03:49:50 pmWhat 3rd party drive is this? I just checked the compatibility list for my DS1821+, and it has almost 200 3rd party drives on it. Sure, it may take a while for them test and update, but there's no shortage of options. My WD Red Pro's are on the list, for example.https://www.synology.com/en-us/compatibility?search_by=drives&model=DS1821%2B&category=hdds_no_ssd_trim&display_brand=other

author: Kjelt
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 15, 2025, 05:10:49 pm
content: Quote from: bson on July 14, 2025, 06:52:37 pmYes the XX21 series are ok, but the XX25 series have zero support for 3rd party disks.Even if you would buy the upcoming DS1825 and you transfer the array of disks 1:1 from your DS1821, yes it will work.At the moment you want to add another disk : no go.As soon as one drive fails and you replace it with exactly the same brand and modelnr to repair the array: no go.Think about what this means and it can take a few years before the support of 3rd parties might trickle in.My point is, why will Synology not whitelist for instance your perfect working WD Red Pro on the DS1821 series for the DS1825 series? Same OS even same HW, it makes 0 sense. And the prosumer market are now dropping them. Such a shame, all the YT experts I saw don't understand it. The only viable explanation is to sell their own expensive hdds or don't want to have any other clients than business users with deep pockets.

author: bson
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: July 17, 2025, 08:41:50 pm
content: The DS1825+ is brand new though (googling seems to suggest it started shipping in May)? Yeah, I also might hold off on buying one until there is a reasonable compatibility list... Or if they take too long, or never actually add any, or I needed something right now, I'd look elsewhere. I wouldn't necessarily read it as they won't support 3rd party drives though, at least not yet.

author: JPortici
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 08, 2025, 09:13:39 am
content: https://www.guru3d.com/story/synology-reverses-policy-banning-thirdparty-hdds-after-nas-sales-plummet/

author: bitwelder
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 08, 2025, 09:49:47 am
content: Quote from: JPortici on October 08, 2025, 09:13:39 amI wonder what are the real numbers of this 'sales plummet'.Anyway, good lesson for them

author: Messtechniker
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: October 08, 2025, 10:04:11 am
content: In Germany we have the saying"Geld regiert die Welt" i.e. Money rulesSo true.... backfired - hard ...I love it

author: Kjelt
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 08, 2025, 12:13:54 pm
content: They tried and failed, now hope they have learned their lesson once for all.

author: JPortici
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 08, 2025, 12:19:28 pm
content: Quote from: Kjelt on October 08, 2025, 12:13:54 pmor until the board gets shuffled around

author: golden_labels
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 08, 2025, 12:57:29 pm
content: Who did learn? What did they learn?Management pulled out of the decision, knowing very well that “idiots will forget in a few months.” A bit of PR oinment here, a dash of marketing there, the sales rebound, everything is back to normal. Synology is going to retry another trick and the only thing learned is to do it more carefully.That’s already assuming good faith, at least regarding their relations with employer. A far more likely situation is? The decision wasn’t even made for the sake of Synology. Somebody saw the correlation between the decision and falling sales, and acted to shield themselves from a accusation of inaction.