WTF?! Synology not too long ago launched a brand new compatibility coverage governing the drives that prospects can set up in a few of its network-attached storage home equipment. Choose NAS merchandise now solely assist particular Synology-branded drives, and the corporate seems wanting to seize vital revenue margins on what are, in lots of circumstances, comparatively low-spec elements.
Synology not too long ago began promoting a brand new line of branded NVMe SSDs designed to “supercharge” its newest DiskStation Supervisor NAS fashions. The SNV5420 sequence is available in three capacities, with the 1.6TB mannequin presently listed at a hefty $535. Regardless of the worth, the SSD’s specs are considerably outdated, although Synology claims the drives are optimized for data-intensive environments.
The SNV5420 affords sequential learn speeds of as much as 3,000 MB/s and “sustained” sequential write speeds of as much as 1,000 MB/s. These are commonplace PCIe 3.0 speeds – unimpressive in a market that’s quickly shifting towards PCIe 5.0. Much more regarding is the 1.6TB mannequin’s endurance ranking: simply 2,900 TBW and three million hours MTBF, which falls quick in comparison with many cheaper, higher-performance SSDs in the marketplace.
Synology states that the SNV5420 sequence has undergone intensive validation to be used in DSM NAS home equipment. The drives’ firmware and elements have been tightly managed, stress-tested, and vetted to satisfy the “excessive” high quality and reliability requirements set by the corporate.
Earlier this yr, Synology started requiring prospects to make use of its branded HDDs and SSDs in choose NAS fashions, claiming the change would ship improved efficiency, reliability, and compatibility. Nonetheless, the newly launched SNV5420 SSD sequence reinforces criticism that the corporate is making an attempt to overcharge customers by promoting older {hardware} with more and more outdated specs.
Fortuitously, prospects nonetheless have alternate options. Most different NAS producers don’t impose such restrictions on the kinds of drives customers can set up. Even Synology’s personal newest DSM items might be configured to simply accept “non-compatible” drives, as detailed by German tech web site ComputerBase.
Drive compatibility in Synology NAS methods is enforced through a regionally saved database. Customers can bypass this restriction by working an open-source script that permits them to whitelist unsupported drives. The script additionally affords further options reminiscent of disabling computerized database updates and suppressing compatibility warnings for older WD drives.
Whereas Synology insists that prospects ought to now depend on its proprietary ecosystem of licensed storage media, the corporate doesn’t manufacture these drives itself. As a substitute, it rebrands merchandise sourced from established third-party distributors like Toshiba and Seagate.
