Synology has backtracked on one of its most unpopular decisions in years. After seeing NAS sales plummet in 2025, the company has decided to lift restrictions that forced users to buy its own Synology hard drives.
I was just at it-sa where Synology had a booth and they put the news that certified drives are no longer required on a screen next to certified drives. I was somewhat surprised this requirement ever existed. I guess that happens when you think you’re more important than you actually are.
God I hope they go bankrupt from this stupid greed. Certified drives for an expensive consumer grade stack. When I wanted a NAS and liked at their options, I always found them to be either overpriced or functionally lacking compared to an old PC of mine. Finally switched to an Odroid H4 Plus in the end. Not paying premium for a fancy case where the manufacturer decides which drives you can put into…
I think Synology forgot that NAS devices are used exclusively by power users and the NAS segment is extremely competitive (I’ve been using various Raspberry Pi SBCs and a pair of 7TB external HDDs since ~2018).
Synology does not have anywhere near the market power and propaganda resources of Apple/Google/Amazon etc.
They are overpriced for just the hardware but the software convenience made up for it. The drive policy change completely broke that value proposition by making everyone not trust them anymore
I was just at it-sa where Synology had a booth and they put the news that certified drives are no longer required on a screen next to certified drives. I was somewhat surprised this requirement ever existed. I guess that happens when you think you’re more important than you actually are.
God I hope they go bankrupt from this stupid greed. Certified drives for an expensive consumer grade stack. When I wanted a NAS and liked at their options, I always found them to be either overpriced or functionally lacking compared to an old PC of mine. Finally switched to an Odroid H4 Plus in the end. Not paying premium for a fancy case where the manufacturer decides which drives you can put into…
I think Synology forgot that NAS devices are used exclusively by power users and the NAS segment is extremely competitive (I’ve been using various Raspberry Pi SBCs and a pair of 7TB external HDDs since ~2018).
Synology does not have anywhere near the market power and propaganda resources of Apple/Google/Amazon etc.
They are overpriced for just the hardware but the software convenience made up for it. The drive policy change completely broke that value proposition by making everyone not trust them anymore