Synology has limited the use of third-party hard drives in its latest Plus series network attached storage (NAS), citing concern for users. The new storages will work with third-party HDDs, but some functions will be unavailable in this case. The company reported this in the German-language section of its website.
Image source: synology.com
The manufacturer explained its initiative by concern for users – this should ensure “safety, reliability and productivity.” The company kept the profit from the growth of hard drive sales for itself – although it is not their manufacturer, but buys HDDs from others and puts its own brand.
Users who choose to use the drives of their choice with the Synology NAS Plus Series will face some limitations in the features available to them, including limitations on pool creation, volume-level data replication, lifespan analysis, and automatic software updates, as well as limited support from the manufacturer.
The change will affect Synology NAS Plus models released in 2025: the company will offer the full range of features and support only to those using either Synology-branded drives or drives from other brands that are certified according to Synology specifications. For models released up to and including 2024, excluding the XS Plus series and rackmount models, nothing will change; there will also be no restrictions when migrating hard drives from an existing Synology NAS to a new Plus series model.
Synology’s Plus series NAS products are aimed at home users and small and medium businesses – customers who are unlikely to be happy to pay extra for drives to have access to the full feature set. This decision may affect the company’s sales.