Synology Will Only Allow Its Own Hard Drives

A striking announcement from NAS manufacturer Synology: starting with the 2025 Plus models, only Synology-branded drives will be permitted.

Traditionally, users have been free to install hard drives and SSDs of their choice in any NAS, regardless of brand or model. That’s why numerous drive manufacturers offer NAS-optimized models in their line-ups. But Synology is now taking a very different approach. From this year’s Plus-series models onward, only Synology drives will be accepted in their NAS units. This follows the path already taken with RAM modules—only Synology’s own (often expensive) RAM is allowed, and the system checks for it.

Using non-Synology drives? Prepare for severely limited functionality as a punishment!

The NAS will actively verify the drive brand, and if it isn’t a Synology model, key functionality will be disabled. That includes essential features like drive health monitoring, creating storage pools (!), and automatic firmware updates. Even more notably: the Taiwanese will no longer offer support for systems using non-Synology drives, regardless of how much you paid for the hardware. For now, this restriction only applies to 2025 models and beyond—older models remain unaffected (for the time being).

Shooting themselves in the foot?

Whether this policy even complies with EU regulations remains to be seen, but it’s likely to seriously backfire. Customer goodwill—both from new and existing users—is expected to plummet, and discontent is already spreading across online forums and social media. Competing brands like QNAP do not impose these kinds of restrictions, giving consumers a compelling reason to switch. So, if you’re still considering Synology, you might want to pick up an older model from 2024 or earlier—or look into alternatives—while you still can.