WTF?! Synology just lately launched a brand new compatibility coverage governing the drives that clients can set up in a few of its network-attached storage home equipment. Choose NAS merchandise now solely help particular Synology-branded drives, and the corporate seems wanting to seize vital revenue margins on what are, in lots of instances, comparatively low-spec parts.
Synology just lately 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 Regardless of the value, the SSD’s specs are considerably outdated, although Synology claims the drives are optimized for data-intensive environments.
The SNV5420 provides 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 normal 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 in depth validation to be used in DSM NAS home equipment. The drives’ firmware and parts 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 clients 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that the corporate is making an attempt to overcharge customers by promoting older {hardware} with more and more outdated specs.
Happily, clients nonetheless have options. Most different NAS producers don’t impose such restrictions on the sorts of drives customers can set up. Even Synology’s personal newest DSM models may be configured to simply accept “non-compatible” drives, as detailed by German tech website ComputerBase.
Drive compatibility in Synology NAS techniques is enforced by way of a regionally saved database. Customers can bypass this restriction by operating an open-source script that permits them to whitelist unsupported drives. The script additionally provides further options equivalent to disabling automated database updates and suppressing compatibility warnings for older WD drives.
Whereas Synology insists that clients ought to now depend on its proprietary ecosystem of licensed storage media, the corporate doesn’t manufacture these drives itself. As an alternative, it rebrands merchandise sourced from established third-party distributors like Toshiba and Seagate.
