There is big news in the prosumer NAS market with Synology making the announcement they will be locking down the hard drives that you can use with the “plus” series and “enterprise” series NAS devices released in 2025 moving forward. No longer will we be able to just throw in any brand of hard drive into an empty Synology NAS of these model lines. What does this mean? How will this affect the home lab community? Let’s talk about the announcement and what it means and how it may impact your decision to purchase a home lab NAS in 2025.
Written blog post on this topic: https://www.virtualizationhowto.com/2025/04/synology-just-locked-down-your-nas-drives-heres-what-to-use-instead/
Synology alternative, Terramaster F4-424 NAS: https://amzn.to/44CwacL (affiliate link where I earn a small commission)
Synology alternative, UGREEN NASync DXP4800 Plus: https://amzn.to/4iz0CrA (affiliate link where I earn a small commission)
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Introduction to the news that Synology is locking down drives – 0:00
Covering the details of the news with Synology lock in – 1:50
What are the implications? 3:45
Thoughts about why they are doing this – 4:23
Conclusion about the intent and purpose? 5:36
Thoughts on Synology in general – 6:25
Best Synology alternatives in 2025 – 6:59
Terramaster – 7:07
uGREEN NAS – 7:35
Minisforum upcoming N5 Pro NAS – 8:03
Open source alternatives – 8:50
TrueNAS SCALE or Core – 9:12
Unraid 9:23
OpenMediaVault – 9:34
DSM software on your own hardware – 9:47
What if you already own a Synology? 9:59
Wrapping up – 10:37
