The company’s attempt to restrict third-party drive support in 2025 faced user criticism, leading to a partial reversal and highlighting ongoing concerns over hardware flexibility and trust.
Synology built its reputation on a simple proposition: buy the enclosure, choose the drives and scale the system as needed. That appeal is central to why many enthusiasts have treated its NAS products as long-term infrastructure rather than disposable appliances. But the company’s attempt in 2025 to narrow hard drive compatibility cut against that expectation, turning what had been a flexible platform into one that many users now see as more closed and less predictable.
In April 2025, Synology confirmed that its Plus-series NAS models would reserve full functionality for Synology-branded drives or approved third-party units. According to TechRadar Pro and Tom’s Hardware, the change meant that non-certified HDDs and SSDs could still be installed, but users risked losing features such as drive health reporting, lifespan analysis and some automatic management tools. The company said the policy was intended to improve reliability and reduce compatibility problems, but the reaction from users was sharply negative.
That criticism appears to have mattered. Tom’s Hardware reported in October 2025 that Synology reversed course with DiskStation Manager 7.3, restoring support for third-party 3.5-inch hard drives and 2.5-inch SATA SSDs on 2025 Plus models such as the DS925+ and DS1525+. The update left M.2 drives subject to certification requirements, but it marked a clear retreat from the company’s earlier effort to push users towards a narrower hardware ecosystem. Synology also used the software release to add other features, including data tiering, native exFAT support, better security controls and new collaboration tools.
Even with that rollback, the broader concern remains that Synology has shown a willingness to alter the rules after customers have already bought the hardware. Its compatibility list still makes clear that support for drives outside the tested pool is limited and that the company can change that list at any time. For long-time users, that uncertainty matters as much as the policy itself. A NAS is usually purchased for years of service, and drive choice is part of the value proposition. Once that flexibility is questioned, the purchase begins to look less like ownership and more like participation in someone else’s terms.
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