Dhruv Bhutani / Android Authority
After months of silence and community frustration, Synology has finally decided to loosen the grip it tightened on its rather loyal following of NAS users. And I, for one, couldn’t be happier. Starting with DSM 7.3, available today, the company is reopening its NAS systems to third-party drives on its 2025 models.
The latest DSM 7.3 update restores third-party drive compatibility with some limitations.
On paper, it sounds like a simple technical update to fix a simple problem — which, let’s be honest, shouldn’t have even existed. In reality, it’s a full-blown course correction. Synology is once again allowing 3.5-inch HDDs and 2.5-inch SSDs from third-party brands to be used freely in its 2025 range of NAS devices. The company says this change comes after working with drive makers to expand its certification list, promising greater flexibility without compromising reliability.
However, as much as I’m happy about Synology realizing the impact of its folly, it’s hard not to feel disillusioned by the stance of the brand. You see, the announcement is arriving in a very different tech landscape. While Synology was the de facto choice in 2015, 2025 offers a plethora of alternatives. More specifically, it’s a tech landscape where trust is harder to earn, and competition is more capable than ever. And with Synology’s shenanigans with consumer freedom, I’m not sure how forgiving it’s core userbase is going to be.
Does Synology's updated hard drive policy change your opinion of the brand? 142 votes Yes, I'm open to buying new Synology hardware as long as it supports third-party drives. 27 % No, I don't trust Synology to stick to the policy. 55 % I run my own mini-PC already and am not interested in a pre-built NAS. 18 %
How Synology boxed itself in
Dhruv Bhutani / Android Authority
For years, Synology was the name you recommended when someone asked which NAS to buy. Its systems were reliable, the software was polished, and you could mix and match drives however you wanted. That combination made it the go-to choice for both beginners and seasoned home lab builders.
Then, earlier this year, came the hard drive restrictions. Synology began limiting compatibility to its own drives or a small set of “approved” third-party models. The company argued it was about quality control and reliability but from a user’s perspective, it felt like an unnecessary lock-in strategy. Suddenly, drives that worked fine in older systems were blocked from creating new storage pools on newer ones.
A company shouldn't have control over hardware I've purchased, more so when it comes to prosumer hardware.
This wasn’t a minor inconvenience either. The move cut right into what made Synology popular in the first place. Enthusiasts who built systems around affordable Seagate or Western Digital drives found themselves backed into a corner. Shucking drives is a common practice among users looking to save a few hundred dollars on drives, and none of those would be compatible with Synology’s 2025 range. Elsewhere, small businesses that had standardized on certain models faced unexpected upgrade costs.
It wasn’t just the restriction itself that frustrated users. It was also the philosophy behind it. A company should have no control over the hardware I’ve purchased. A NAS is supposed to be an open system, and Synology shouldn’t get to dictate what drives I can or cannot use in it as long as they meet minimum hardware requirements. Synology built its reputation on trust, but the whitelist sent a very different message that the company didn’t trust its users to make their own choices.
Of course, the very vocal Synology community didn’t take it quietly. Forum threads have been extremely critical of the move, and loyal users have started exploring other options. I myself have written enough on the topic calling out Synology for its decision. For most of 2025, Synology felt like it had gone from a brand built for enthusiasts to one that seemed more interested in protecting its own ecosystem.
Synology’s stance reversal and what it really means
Dhruv Bhutani / Android Authority
Today’s announcement marks a clear reversal of that policy. DSM 7.3 brings back the freedom to use third-party drives on 2025 models, along with full support for creating storage pools. Synology frames it as part of an ongoing partnership with drive manufacturers to expand the range of tested and certified options.
It’s a welcome change which makes system upgrades easier, restores flexibility for custom builds, and saves users from being locked into Synology’s pricier in-house drives. In a way, it feels like Synology finally remembered what made people fall in love with its products in the first place.
Months of consumer pushback and ample competition — old and new — have led to this update.
But there’s also no ignoring the timing. The company isn’t reversing this policy from a position of strength. If it wasn’t obvious, it’s doing it after months of public pushback and visible customer drift. During that time, competitors haven’t just caught on, they’ve leaped beyond Synology’s offerings. And while the update brings back drive support, it’s not a full reset. Synology is keeping some limitations in place. Its own drives will still have deeper system integration for things like automatic firmware updates, enhanced diagnostics, and tighter health monitoring. Those are fair advantages, but they also reinforce the divide between “supported” and “allowed.”
While it’s clear that Synology’s reversal comes hot on the heels of changing business and market dynamics, the bigger question for me and many others like me is – can Synology restore user confidence?
The market moved full steam ahead while Synology stood still
Robert Triggs / Android Authority
Synology used to define what a good NAS looked like. It’s why I’ve stuck to the brand ever since I bought my first NAS in 2011 and have a stack of Synology boxes with hundreds of terabytes in volume strewn across my apartment. But as any enthusiast will tell you, here’s the truth. While Synology was doubling down on validation programs and drive policies, the rest of the industry kept evolving.
QNAP, Asustor, and TerraMaster have greatly expanded their lineups with better processors, more memory, and built-in 2.5GbE or even 10GbE networking. They offer PCIe slots, flexible expansion bays, and full drive compatibility without extra conditions. These brands gave users the speed, openness, and choice that Synology didn’t.
And that’s just the older players. New entrants have also started to appear. Ugreen, best known for accessories, launched a line of surprisingly capable NAS units with clean software and strong specs. Ubiquiti, too, has tied its NAS devices into its UniFi ecosystem, letting users manage networking and storage from one place. For prosumer users like me, these affordable rack-mount solutions are extremely appealing.
Good software is important, but not critical anymore.
By the time Synology seemed to realize that it needed to loosen its policies, its rivals have already built compelling ecosystems of their own. The advantage that DSM once gave Synology is shrinking because others have finally caught up in software experience too. It’s not quite there yet, but DSM doesn’t have the edge it once had.
Then there’s the self-hosting boom. Thanks to affordable mini PCs, efficient processors, and NAS software like TrueNAS, Unraid, and Proxmox, enthusiasts are building their own servers from scratch. They can run containers, virtual machines, and automation tools without being attached to a proprietary system. In fact, with Docker installed on my Synology NAS, I rarely dabble in the company’s first-party apps anymore. Open-source alternatives give me better features and support.
The appeal of that approach is obvious. You’re not tied to a brand’s hardware decisions or firmware limitations. If something breaks, you replace the part, not the whole setup. It’s the kind of freedom that users expect in 2025, something Synology temporarily forgot about.
Synology still has one big strength
Dhruv Bhutani / Android Authority
Despite its hardware missteps, there’s one area where Synology continues to lead — software. DSM remains the most polished, approachable NAS operating system you can buy. It’s stable, easy to navigate, and packed with features that just work. For anyone who doesn’t want to spend weekends debugging Docker containers or editing configuration files, DSM still offers unmatched simplicity. That’s why, even at its lowest points, Synology never completely lost its following. Features like Active Backup are also integral parts of SMB workflows, making migration hard but not impossible.
Like it or not, a NAS is an appliance, not a smartphone-like accessory.
But software alone isn’t enough anymore. As workloads become heavier with AI processing, large media libraries, and multi-user setups becoming commonplace, hardware matters more than ever. Many of Synology’s systems still rely on low-power CPUs and limited I/O. Features like native 2.5GbE, NVMe caching across all bays, and expandable RAM should be standard by now, not reserved for a handful of models. Nor should upgrades be sold piecemeal. For example, I bought a pricey 10GbE expansion card for my DS923+, which the latest DS925+ model doesn’t support. In fact, it doesn’t let you upgrade beyond 2.5GbE networking at all. That makes no sense to me.
If Synology wants to win back the crowd it alienated, it can’t just lean on DSM. It needs to prove that its hardware can keep up with both the competition and the expectations of modern users. That means faster upgrades, transparent roadmaps, and systems designed as long-term investments instead of safe, incremental updates. Like it or not, a NAS is an appliance, not a smartphone-like accessory.
Winning back trust will be the hardest part
Dhruv Bhutani / Android Authority
Synology’s biggest challenge isn’t technical. The people who’ve walked away from the platform weren’t casual users. These were the enthusiasts, evangelists, and small business owners who championed the brand for years. People like me. These users have filled forums, written guides, blog posts, and wholeheartedly recommended Synology to friends and colleagues. I know I’ve lost count of the number of times I’ve recommended the brand to creative friends with large media storage needs.
But once trust breaks in a community that values openness, it’s not easily repaired. To rebuild that relationship, Synology will need to do more than reverse a policy. It has to prove that it’s listening, consistently and transparently. That means documenting compatibility clearly, communicating future plans early, and avoiding another surprise that undermines user confidence and modern essential needs.
Once trust breaks in a community that values openness, it’s not easily repaired.
It also means shipping bold, future-ready hardware. It doesn’t need to be cutting edge, but it absolutely needs to be competitive — not just a safe update. The NAS market is shifting toward performance-driven designs, and users now expect their systems to do far more than store files. They want edge compute, virtualized environments, and scalable network speeds.
If Synology can match its software excellence with modern, flexible hardware, it could start to rebuild the goodwill it lost. But that requires more than marketing and wavering policies.
A move worth appreciating, even if it’s late Synology’s decision to restore third-party drive support is the right one. It shows self-awareness and a willingness to listen, even if it took longer than anyone wanted and potentially cost some consumer revenue. But the world around Synology has changed. Users are more independent, competitors are more capable, and the definition of a NAS has evolved. The fact that we here at Android Authority cover self-hosted applications regularly speaks to the popularity of the hobby and the direction consumer expectations are heading.
The company can’t simply return to where it left off. Instead, it has to prove that it can lead again. For now, this reversal is a positive step in that direction. It removes a major roadblock, sends the right message, and gives users back control. But regaining lost trust will take more than an update.
Synology built its reputation by empowering users to take control of their data, and it’ll need more than a press release to convince the people who moved on that it still stands by that ethos. In 2025, users aren’t just looking for reliable storage, they’re looking for companies that trust them as much as they trust the product. And Synology has its work cut out for it.
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