Jump to content

Synology: Difference between revisions

From Consumer Rights Wiki
VisualWikitext
Added basic information on Synology/branded HDD requirement.
 
→Consumer-impact summary: Added QNAP and UGreen as competitors
 
(6 intermediate revisions by 4 users not shown)
Line 1: Line 1:
{{InfoboxCompany
{{InfoboxCompany
| Name = {{PAGENAME}}
| Name = {{PAGENAME}}
| Type =
| Type =Private
| Founded =
| Founded =2000
| Industry =
| Industry =Network-attached storage
| Official Website =
| Official Website =https://www.synology.com/
| Logo =
| Logo =Synology Logo.svg
}}Synology is a Taiwanese corporation that specializes in network-attached storage (NAS) appliances.
}}'''[[wikipedia:Synology|Synology]]''' is a Taiwanese corporation that specializes in network-attached storage (NAS) appliances.


For the Plus Series of NAS systems, Synology required the use of their own rebranded hard drives in order to obtain full functionality.[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]
They have built a reputation for using open standards (eg. relying on standard Linux RAID instead of proprietary RAID like QNAP), providing feature and security updates for a very long time (in some cases offering security fixes for 12 year old hardware) and offering replacement parts for a long time and at a reasonable cost.


Hardwareluxx reports that you’ll lose several critical functions, including estimated hard drive health reports, volume-wide deduplication, lifespan analyses, and automatic firmware updates. The company also restricts storage pools and provides limited or zero support for third-party drives.[https://www.hardwareluxx.de/index.php/news/hardware/festplatten/65949-synology-weitet-den-zwang-zur-eignen-oder-zertifizierten-festplatte-auf-die-plus-modelle-aus.html]
Recently the business has had a shift towards blocking third-party drives on their NAS systems.<!-- 3rd party sources needed – this is based on my personal experience -->


The 2024 Synology models and older are not affected by this change. Still, those upgrading to or purchasing the latest Plus Series device, set to be released this year, will have to buy their drives directly from Synology or its certified suppliers to maximize their system. Because of this, you won’t be able to pick from the best hard drives if you get Synology’s latest Plus Series NAS Systems.[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]{{Placeholder box|An introductory paragraph starting with "'''{{PAGENAME}}''' is a ...<ref name":0">ref goes here</ref>"}}
==Consumer-impact summary==


==Consumer-impact summary==
*User freedom: Has revoked ability to use off-brand hard drives from modern NAS models.<ref name=":0" />
{{Placeholder box|Overview of concerns that arise from the company's conduct regarding (if applicable):
*User privacy: Unknown.
* User freedom
*Business model: Selling digital storage devices to consumers.
* User privacy
*Market control: Limited; notable amount of competition from other brands such as QNAP, UGreen, [[Western Digital]], [[Samsung]], and [[SanDisk]].
* Business model
* Market control}}


==Incidents==
==Incidents==
{{Placeholder box|If the company page is short enough and/or the incident is not deserving of its own page, add incidents below in sub-sections (including the points outlined in [[Consumer_Action_Taskforce:Sample/Incident/Help|the incident help page]]) without linking/creating an incident page.
This is a list of all consumer-protection incidents this company is involved in. Any incidents not mentioned here can be found in the [[:Category:{{FULLPAGENAME}}|{{PAGENAME}} category]].


If the company has various incidents listed and/or this page is getting too long, create subsections linking to each incident while linking to the main article and including a short summary. To link to the page use the "Hatnote" or "Main" templates.
===Requiring Synology-branded hard drives for certain features (2025)===
{{Main|Synology requiring proprietary-branded drives to be used with its NAS}}
Further reading: [[Guide: How to circumvent Synology hard drive restrictions]]


If the company has numerous incidents then format them in a table (see [[Amazon]] for an example). }}
For the Plus Series of NAS systems, Synology required the use of their own rebranded hard drives in order to obtain full functionality.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |last=Morales |first=Jowi |date=16 Apr 2025 |title=Synology requires self-branded drives for some consumer NAS systems, drops full functionality and support for third-party HDDs |url=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 |url-status=live |access-date=18 Apr 2025 |website=Tom's Hardware}}</ref>


This is a list of all consumer-protection incidents this company is involved in. Any incidents not mentioned here can be found in the [[:Category:{{FULLPAGENAME}}|{{PAGENAME}} category]].
Reported by Hardwareluxx, using non-Synology-branded hard drives will lose critical functions for the NAS, including estimated hard drive health reports, volume-wide deduplication, lifespan analyses, and automatic firmware updates. The company also restricts storage pools and provides limited or zero support for third-party drives.<ref>{{Cite web |date=16 Apr 2025 |title=Synology weitet Nutzung auf Plus-Modelle aus |url=https://www.hardwareluxx.de/index.php/news/hardware/festplatten/65949-synology-weitet-den-zwang-zur-eignen-oder-zertifizierten-festplatte-auf-die-plus-modelle-aus.html |url-status=live |access-date=18 Apr 2025 |website=www.hardwareluxx.de}}</ref>
===Example incident one (''date'')===
 
{{Main|link to the main article}}
The models manufactured on or before 2024 are not affected by this change. Still, those upgrading to or purchasing the latest Plus Series device, set to be released this year, will have to buy their drives directly from Synology or its certified suppliers to maximize their system. Because of this, you won’t be able to pick from the best hard drives if you get Synology’s latest Plus Series NAS Systems.<ref name=":0" />
Short summary of the incident (could be the same as the summary preceding the article).
 
===Example incident two (''date'')===
This can currently be circumvented at the user's own risk with a hack [https://github.com/007revad/Synology_HDD_db using a script available on Github] that adds the drives in the system to the list of compatible drives. Other solutions use changes to configuration files to disable the checks.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2023 |title=Finally managed to get WD Red Disks working without compatibility issue on DS3622xs+ |url=https://www.reddit.com/r/synology/comments/161w36v/finally_managed_to_get_wd_red_disks_working/ |access-date=2025-04-19 |website=Reddit}}</ref> However, these workarounds may cease to function at any time or have unexpected side effects or consequences.
...
 
===Intel C2000 controversy (2015)===
Some of the 2015 series NAS devices from Synology used an Intel C2000 series processor, which, due to a clock issue on Intel's side, would cease to function after a certain time. Synology did replace affected devices if they failed within the warranty period, but the replacements were identical devices that had the same defect and would again cease to function after a certain amount of time.
 
The issue can be permanently fixed by installing a simple resistor on the main board of the device. This requires basic soldering skills.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Lixandru |first=Marius Bogdan |date=2022-01-05 |title=Synology: How To Fix C2000 Flaw With 100 Ohm Resistor |url=https://mariushosting.com/synology-how-to-fix-c2000-flaw-with-100-ohm-resistor/ |access-date=2025-04-19 |website=Mariushosting}}</ref>
 
===Proprietary bootloader===
Unlike on competing products, It is not easily possible to install a Linux distribution other than the manufacturer's DSM. This makes it difficult to repurpose the devices for other uses or install alternative software when support runs out for the manufacturer's OS. The devices also have no video output, thus limiting other uses.<ref>{{Cite web |last=UN_Synapse |date=2023 |title=Can you install a OS other than DSM on Synology hardware. |url=https://www.reddit.com/r/synology/comments/12cwure/can_you_install_a_os_other_than_dsm_on_synology/ |access-date=2025-04-19 |website=Reddit}}</ref>


==Products==
==Products==
{{Placeholder box|This is a list of the company's product lines '''with articles on this wiki'''.
 
* [[Example product line one]] (release date): Short summary of the product's incidents.
===Network Attached Storage (NAS) / Storage Area Network (SAN):===
* [[Example product line two]] (release date):}}
 
*[[Plus-Series NAS]]: In 2025, new Plus-Series NAS systems can only [[Synology requiring proprietary-branded drives to be used with its NAS|support proprietary hard drives]].
 
===Backup/Recovery===
 
*No relevant products for wiki yet
 
===Surveillance===
 
*No relevant products for wiki yet
 
===Routers===
 
*No relevant products for wiki yet


==See also==
==See also==
Line 44: Line 64:


==References==
==References==
{{reflist}}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
{{reflist}}
[[Category:{{PAGENAME}}]]
[[Category:{{PAGENAME}}]]
[[Category:Articles in need of additional work]]
[[Category:Articles requiring expansion]]
[[Category:Synology]]

Latest revision as of 22:33, 9 May 2025

Synology
Basic information
Founded 2000
Type Private
Industry Network-attached storage
Official website https://www.synology.com/

Synology is a Taiwanese corporation that specializes in network-attached storage (NAS) appliances.

They have built a reputation for using open standards (eg. relying on standard Linux RAID instead of proprietary RAID like QNAP), providing feature and security updates for a very long time (in some cases offering security fixes for 12 year old hardware) and offering replacement parts for a long time and at a reasonable cost.

Recently the business has had a shift towards blocking third-party drives on their NAS systems.

Consumer-impact summary[edit | edit source]

  • User freedom: Has revoked ability to use off-brand hard drives from modern NAS models.[1]
  • User privacy: Unknown.
  • Business model: Selling digital storage devices to consumers.
  • Market control: Limited; notable amount of competition from other brands such as QNAP, UGreen, Western Digital, Samsung, and SanDisk.

Incidents[edit | edit source]

This is a list of all consumer-protection incidents this company is involved in. Any incidents not mentioned here can be found in the Synology category.

Requiring Synology-branded hard drives for certain features (2025)[edit | edit source]

Main article: Synology requiring proprietary-branded drives to be used with its NAS

Further reading: Guide: How to circumvent Synology hard drive restrictions

For the Plus Series of NAS systems, Synology required the use of their own rebranded hard drives in order to obtain full functionality.[1]

Reported by Hardwareluxx, using non-Synology-branded hard drives will lose critical functions for the NAS, including estimated hard drive health reports, volume-wide deduplication, lifespan analyses, and automatic firmware updates. The company also restricts storage pools and provides limited or zero support for third-party drives.[2]

The models manufactured on or before 2024 are not affected by this change. Still, those upgrading to or purchasing the latest Plus Series device, set to be released this year, will have to buy their drives directly from Synology or its certified suppliers to maximize their system. Because of this, you won’t be able to pick from the best hard drives if you get Synology’s latest Plus Series NAS Systems.[1]

This can currently be circumvented at the user's own risk with a hack using a script available on Github that adds the drives in the system to the list of compatible drives. Other solutions use changes to configuration files to disable the checks.[3] However, these workarounds may cease to function at any time or have unexpected side effects or consequences.

Intel C2000 controversy (2015)[edit | edit source]

Some of the 2015 series NAS devices from Synology used an Intel C2000 series processor, which, due to a clock issue on Intel's side, would cease to function after a certain time. Synology did replace affected devices if they failed within the warranty period, but the replacements were identical devices that had the same defect and would again cease to function after a certain amount of time.

The issue can be permanently fixed by installing a simple resistor on the main board of the device. This requires basic soldering skills.[4]

Proprietary bootloader[edit | edit source]

Unlike on competing products, It is not easily possible to install a Linux distribution other than the manufacturer's DSM. This makes it difficult to repurpose the devices for other uses or install alternative software when support runs out for the manufacturer's OS. The devices also have no video output, thus limiting other uses.[5]

Products[edit | edit source]

Network Attached Storage (NAS) / Storage Area Network (SAN):[edit | edit source]

Backup/Recovery[edit | edit source]

  • No relevant products for wiki yet

Surveillance[edit | edit source]

  • No relevant products for wiki yet

Routers[edit | edit source]

  • No relevant products for wiki yet

See also[edit | edit source]

Link to relevant theme articles or companies with similar incidents.

Add your text below this box. Once this section is complete, delete this box by clicking on it and pressing backspace.

References[edit | edit source]

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Morales, Jowi (16 Apr 2025). "Synology requires self-branded drives for some consumer NAS systems, drops full functionality and support for third-party HDDs". Tom's Hardware. Retrieved 18 Apr 2025.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  2. ↑ "Synology weitet Nutzung auf Plus-Modelle aus". www.hardwareluxx.de. 16 Apr 2025. Retrieved 18 Apr 2025.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  3. ↑ "Finally managed to get WD Red Disks working without compatibility issue on DS3622xs+". Reddit. 2023. Retrieved 2025-04-19.
  4. ↑ Lixandru, Marius Bogdan (2022-01-05). "Synology: How To Fix C2000 Flaw With 100 Ohm Resistor". Mariushosting. Retrieved 2025-04-19.
  5. ↑ UN_Synapse (2023). "Can you install a OS other than DSM on Synology hardware". Reddit. Retrieved 2025-04-19.
Retrieved from "https://consumerrights.wiki/index.php?title=Synology&oldid=14227"