Synology DS1825+ vs DS1821+ NAS – Which Should You Buy?

Synology DS1825+ vs DS1821+ NAS Comparison – Get It Right, FIRST TIME!

When Synology releases a new NAS in its “Plus” lineup, users often expect a blend of practical improvements, long-term support, and a reasonable upgrade path from the previous generation. The Synology DS1825+ arrives in 2025 as the official successor to the 2020/2021-released DS1821+, carrying over much of the same core design while introducing selective enhancements—and a few contentious changes. Both are 8-bay desktop NAS systems targeted at advanced home users, small businesses, and content creators who need multi-user access, flexible RAID configurations, and extensive app support. However, while the DS1821+ was praised for its broad compatibility and modular connectivity, the DS1825+ adopts a more tightly controlled hardware ecosystem. In this comparison, we break down the key differences across hardware, ports, storage capabilities, DSM software features, and drive compatibility so you can decide which model truly fits your long-term needs—without second-guessing your choice later.

Synology DS1825+ vs DS1821+ NAS Comparison – Internal Hardware

At the center of both the Synology DS1821+ and DS1825+ is the AMD Ryzen V1500B processor, a 4-core, 8-thread embedded SoC with a 64-bit architecture and a base frequency of 2.2 GHz. This chip, built on the Zen architecture, offers a balance of power efficiency and multi-threaded performance suited for environments with simultaneous multi-user file access, virtual machines, and complex RAID configurations. Synology’s decision to retain the same processor in the DS1825+ reflects confidence in its reliability and capability. However, for users hoping for a jump to Zen 2 or Zen 3-based hardware, the lack of a CPU upgrade could be a disappointment—especially considering that competing vendors have started adopting newer architectures for their mid-range systems. Still, for typical NAS tasks that do not involve on-the-fly 4K video transcoding or GPU-heavy operations, the V1500B remains a stable and effective platform with AES-NI encryption support and virtualization compatibility across VMware, Hyper-V, and Docker workloads.

Component Synology DS1821+

Synology DS1825+

CPU AMD Ryzen V1500B, 4-core, 8-thread, 2.2 GHz AMD Ryzen V1500B, 4-core, 8-thread, 2.2 GHz
CPU Architecture 64-bit (Zen) 64-bit (Zen)
Hardware Encryption AES-NI AES-NI
Memory (Pre-installed) 4 GB DDR4 ECC SODIMM 8 GB DDR4 ECC SODIMM
Memory Slots 2 × SODIMM 2 × SODIMM
Max Memory Supported 32 GB (2 × 16 GB) 32 GB (2 × 16 GB)
ECC Memory Support Yes Yes
System Fans 2 × 120mm 2 × 120mm
Power Supply 250W Internal PSU 250W Internal PSU
Power Consumption (Active) 59.8W 60.1W
Power Consumption (HDD Hibernation) 26.18W 18.34W
Noise Level (Idle) 22.2 dB(A) 23.8 dB(A)
Dimensions (H × W × D) 166 × 343 × 243 mm 166 × 343 × 243 mm
Weight 6.0 kg 6.0 kg

Thermal and power characteristics between the two systems remain largely consistent, with both featuring dual 120mm fans and an internal 250W PSU that can handle full drive loads with expansion units attached. The DS1821+ and DS1825+ are also nearly identical in physical size and structure, though the newer model has a slightly higher idle noise level—23.8 dB(A) versus 22.2 dB(A)—due to denser internal configuration and possibly fan speed curve adjustments. From an operational standpoint, the DS1825+ is marginally more power-efficient in idle states, consuming just 18.34W during HDD hibernation compared to 26.18W in the DS1821+. These marginal differences suggest a refinement in system tuning, although not a radical redesign. Overall, while the DS1825+ doesn’t revolutionize internal hardware, its doubled memory and subtle optimizations give it the edge for users planning to push DSM with multiple services or those who prefer an upgrade-free deployment experience.

Synology DS1825+ vs DS1821+ NAS Comparison – Ports and Connections

One of the most tangible areas of differentiation between the DS1821+ and DS1825+ lies in their external connectivity. The older DS1821+ is equipped with four 1GbE RJ-45 LAN ports, a familiar configuration that supports link aggregation and network redundancy. This setup was common in Synology’s mid-range lineup during its 2020–2022 releases, offering a total aggregated bandwidth of up to 4Gbps—assuming your switch infrastructure supports it. For many small business users, this array of ports provided simple flexibility: you could dedicate individual ports for different services or bond them for faster file transfers. However, in practice, 1GbE is increasingly becoming a limiting factor for modern workloads, especially in environments with large raw video files, database access, or multiple users performing high-speed backups.

Port / Expansion Feature Synology DS1821+

Synology DS1825+

RJ-45 LAN Ports 4 × 1GbE 2 × 2.5GbE
Link Aggregation / Failover Yes Yes
USB Ports 4 × USB 3.2 Gen 1 3 × USB 3.2 Gen 1
Expansion Ports 2 × eSATA (for DX517) 2 × USB Type-C (for DX525)
PCIe Slot 1 × PCIe Gen3 x8 (x4 link) 1 × PCIe Gen3 x8 (x4 link)
NVMe M.2 Slots 2 × M.2 2280 (Cache only) 2 × M.2 2280 (Cache or Storage Pool, Synology-only)
Hot-swappable Drive Bays 8 × 3.5″/2.5″ SATA (Hot-swappable) 8 × 3.5″/2.5″ SATA (Hot-swappable)
Max Drive Bays (with Expansion) 18 (with 2 × DX517 via eSATA) 18 (with 2 × DX525 via USB-C)

Beyond networking, the DS1825+ introduces a notable change in expansion port design. The DS1821+ includes two eSATA ports for attaching Synology DX517 expansion units, which align with legacy expansion practices. In contrast, the DS1825+ replaces these with two USB-C-based expansion ports, designed specifically for use with the newer DX525 expansion units. While this doesn’t directly affect day-to-day operations, it signals a move toward a USB-based proprietary interface for future expansion, likely with more streamlined cabling and higher throughput potential. Additionally, the DS1825+ trims down from four USB 3.2 Gen 1 ports to three, a minor trade-off that may impact users with multiple USB-connected devices such as UPS units or backup drives. Still, for most users, the improved network and expansion standards make the DS1825+ more forward-looking, even if it reduces legacy connectivity options found on the DS1821+.

Synology DS1825+ vs DS1821+ NAS Comparison – Storage

Both the DS1821+ and DS1825+ offer eight front-facing SATA drive bays, supporting 3.5″ HDDs and 2.5″ SSDs, with hot-swappable trays for easy maintenance and upgrades. On the surface, storage capacity and configuration appear nearly identical: both models can scale up to 18 total drives using two Synology expansion units and support RAID levels including SHR, RAID 5, 6, and 10. This makes either system a viable choice for users with large datasets, whether for media, surveillance, or business-critical file hosting. However, subtle distinctions in how storage can be configured and expanded in each model make a significant difference over time.

Storage Feature Synology DS1821+

Synology DS1825+

Drive Bays 8 × 3.5″/2.5″ SATA (hot-swappable) 8 × 3.5″/2.5″ SATA (hot-swappable)
Max Drive Bays (with Expansion) 18 (via 2 × DX517) 18 (via 2 × DX525)
M.2 NVMe Slots 2 × M.2 2280 (cache only, 3rd-party SSDs allowed) 2 × M.2 2280 (cache or storage pools, Synology-only SSDs)
Max Single Volume Size 108 TB 200 TB (requires 32 GB RAM)
Max Internal Volumes 64 32
Supported RAID Types SHR, JBOD, RAID 0, 1, 5, 6, 10 SHR, JBOD, RAID 0, 1, 5, 6, 10
Third-Party HDD/SSD Support ✅ Fully supported (with warnings) ❌ Blocked at install/init if not verified
Storage Pool Creation with Unverified Drives ✅ Allowed ❌ Blocked
Storage Pool Expansion (Unverified Drives) ✅ Supported ❌ Blocked
RAID Recovery with Unverified Drives ✅ Supported ❌ Blocked
Hot Spare (Unverified Drives) ✅ Supported ❌ Blocked
Storage Manager Behavior (Unverified Drives) Warnings shown, but system fully functional Persistent alerts, some functions disabled

This tightening of compatibility extends into pool expansion, RAID rebuilds, and even hot spare assignments. In the DS1821+, users could freely mix third-party drives and expand pools over time using available or similarly specced HDDs—even those not on the official compatibility list. The DS1825+ takes a stricter approach: attempts to initialize DSM with unverified HDDs will fail, and pool expansion or RAID recovery with unsupported drives is outright blocked. While existing volumes from older NAS systems can still be migrated and booted, they will trigger persistent compatibility warnings in DSM, often with degraded system health indicators. This shift may offer Synology more control over performance validation and support consistency, but it limits flexibility for users relying on diverse or existing storage media—making the DS1821+ a better option for those with a mix-and-match approach, and the DS1825+ more suitable for fully standardized Synology deployments.

Synology DS1825+ vs DS1821+ NAS Comparison – DSM Capabilities

Both the DS1821+ and DS1825+ are powered by Synology’s DiskStation Manager (DSM) 7.2 operating system, offering access to a rich suite of applications for file management, backup, surveillance, virtualization, and cloud syncing. Core tools such as Synology Drive and Synology Photos provide a private cloud alternative to services like Google Drive or Dropbox, while packages like Hyper Backup and Active Backup for Business enable full-system and client-based data protection strategies. These services run similarly on both systems, but hardware differences can influence practical performance. For example, the DS1825+ ships with 8 GB of ECC memory by default, making it more responsive when running multiple DSM apps in parallel—such as Snapshot Replication combined with Virtual Machine Manager and Drive Client Sync. In contrast, the DS1821+ ships with 4 GB of memory, which may require an upgrade before achieving similar multitasking fluidity, especially in environments with more than a few simultaneous users.

DSM Feature / Capability Synology DS1821+

Synology DS1825+

DSM Version DSM 7.2+ DSM 7.2+
Max Internal Volumes 64 32 ▼ Reduced
Max Single Volume Size 108 TB 200 TB (requires 32 GB RAM) ▲ Increased
Snapshot Replication 256 per shared folder / 4,096 total system snapshots 256 per shared folder / 4,096 total system snapshots
Virtual Machine Manager (VMM) Up to 8 VM / Virtual DSM instances Up to 8 VM / Virtual DSM instances
Surveillance Station Up to 40 cameras / 4K / 1,200 FPS (H.265) Up to 40 cameras / 4K / 1,200 FPS (H.265)
Synology Drive Users Up to 110 users ▲ Higher Up to 100 users ▼ Lower
Synology Office Users Up to 110 concurrent users ▲ Higher Up to 100 concurrent users ▼ Lower
Hybrid Share Folder Support 10 10
High Availability Support Yes Yes
RAID Recovery (with unverified drives) ✅ Supported ❌ Blocked
Hot Spare / Expansion (unverified drives) ✅ Supported ❌ Blocked
Storage Manager (Unverified Drives) Warnings only, system fully functional Persistent alerts, functions blocked
M.2 NVMe Storage Pools ❌ Not supported ✅ Supported (Synology NVMe SSDs only)
M.2 NVMe Caching with 3rd-party SSDs ✅ Supported ❌ Blocked
Protocols Supported SMB1/2/3, NFSv3/v4, FTP, WebDAV, Rsync, iSCSI, HTTP/HTTPS, LDAP SMB1/2/3, NFSv3/v4, FTP, WebDAV, Rsync, iSCSI, HTTP/HTTPS, LDAP

Service limits within DSM also subtly differentiate the two models. The DS1821+ is rated for up to 110 concurrent users in Synology Drive and Office, whereas the DS1825+ recommends a slightly lower threshold of 100 users. While the difference is marginal, it may reflect the DS1825+’s tighter memory tuning or more restrictive compatibility model, which now relies on verified Synology storage media for optimal performance. For example, in environments running Synology Office with real-time collaborative editing—paired with Drive, MailPlus, and external file sharing through WebDAV—the DS1821+ might offer more flexibility when loaded with third-party high-performance SSDs for caching. The DS1825+, restricted to Synology’s own SNV3400/3410 NVMe drives, demands tighter ecosystem compliance, which could affect responsiveness if storage performance becomes a bottleneck. Nonetheless, both models offer full support for advanced DSM modules like Synology High Availability, SAN Manager, and Hybrid Share, ensuring that users deploying in mission-critical environments still have access to the high-availability and hybrid cloud features that define Synology’s enterprise-ready platform.

Although DSM 7.2 offers the same interface and core functionality across both the DS1821+ and DS1825+, the user experience diverges notably during storage migration, particularly when using older or unverified hard drives. Users migrating existing volumes from earlier Synology systems—such as the DS918+, DS1819+, or DS920+—will find that the DS1821+ accepts those drives with minimal friction. DSM will boot normally, recognize the existing array, and issue only minor warnings in Storage Manager regarding drive verification, which are generally dismissible and do not affect functionality. RAID recovery, pool expansion, and the addition of hot spare drives all remain fully accessible, even when using third-party or previously unsupported drives. In contrast, the DS1825+ enforces stricter hardware validation: while it will mount migrated volumes, the system interface becomes saturated with persistent warning banners, amber and red health statuses, and limited drive information if the drives are not officially verified. These warnings cannot be dismissed, and attempts to rebuild RAID, add new drives to existing pools, or assign hot spares using unverified media will be blocked entirely. As a result, while both systems technically support migration, the DS1821+ offers a far more tolerant and practical transition path for users with legacy or mixed-brand storage configuration.

Synology DS1825+ vs DS1821+ NAS Comparison – Conclusion

Choosing between the Synology DS1825+ and DS1821+ comes down to whether you prioritize modern hardware refinements or broader long-term flexibility. The DS1825+ introduces subtle but meaningful upgrades: faster 2.5GbE connectivity, double the base memory, and NVMe storage pool support—features that clearly position it as the more forward-thinking choice for users committed to staying within the Synology ecosystem. However, these improvements come with tighter restrictions, most notably in its rigid drive compatibility policy. DSM cannot be installed unless only Synology-verified drives are used, and the system actively blocks unverified drives from being used in storage pools, RAID rebuilds, or even hot spare configurations. In contrast, the DS1821+ offers more freedom—supporting a wider range of HDDs and SSDs, allowing RAID recovery and expansion with non-Synology drives, and presenting a cleaner, less obstructive DSM experience when migrating from older hardware. While it may lack the newer model’s out-of-the-box performance gains, its open-ended architecture gives users—especially those with legacy drives or mixed environments—more breathing room. For users building a NAS from scratch and willing to adopt Synology’s closed hardware ecosystem, the DS1825+ is a capable and streamlined solution. But for those looking to extend the life of existing hardware or retain control over their storage media choices, the DS1821+ remains the more versatile and user-friendly option.

Aspect Synology DS1821+

Synology DS1825+

✅ Pros – Full support for 3rd-party drives (HDDs & SSDs) – Higher default RAM (8 GB ECC pre-installed)
– Supports RAID recovery, expansion, and hot spares with unverified drives – 2.5GbE networking (faster out-of-the-box performance)
– More flexible for DIY and legacy system migrations – NVMe storage pool support (Synology SSDs only)
– Supports more internal volumes (up to 64) – USB-C expansion ports with newer DX525 units
– Better choice for mixed-brand or cost-conscious deployments – Improved volume scaling (up to 200TB per volume with RAM upgrade)
❌ Cons – Older network setup (1GbE x4, slower unless aggregated) – Strict drive compatibility enforcement (Synology-only drives required)
– No NVMe storage pool support – Blocks DSM install with unverified drives
– Lower default memory (4 GB, upgrade likely needed for advanced workloads) – Fewer internal volumes supported (32 max)
– Persistent system warnings when migrating existing arrays with non-Synology drives
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      384 thoughts on “Synology DS1825+ vs DS1821+ NAS – Which Should You Buy?

      1. This basically kills off the feasibility of upgrading from an old model if currently using third party drives.

        A) It means that even if a third party drive is under warranty, a replacement would be rendered useless.
        B) If you have to replace a third party drive, you’ll end up with an array with different brands, which is something Synology seems to be against now, after years of it being one of their great selling points.

        I hope my six year old DS418Play lasts a good long time. I had been planning on upgrading, but its eventual replacement will not be Synology unless they undo these ridiculous changes.

        I’m having a hard time figuring out Synology’s logic here, but It’s my guess that they predict not being able to stop the loss of SOHO customers to the likes of UGREEN and won’t reduce their prices to counter that, so have decided to drop that sector and gouge the corporate realm.
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      2. Synology will achieve its goal of fewer support calls with this strategy. When no one buys the product they won’t call for support. I will never upgrade to one of these new NAS.
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      3. Wow, still making excuses for this scumbag company. There is zero reason for them not to have other drivers verified before releasing. They are the worst anti consumer pile of crap company. At this point, there is nothing that Synology can do to get back as customer. I do not know what brand NAS my replacement for my DS1815+ will be but regardless what anti consumer pile of crap Synology those it will not be a Synology drive. They have proved that they will screw over the customer. That coming from some that had a Synology router. Has deployed Synology NAS at work. Has recommended Synology as a company for years. I cannot believe you’re still making excuses for this pile of crap company. There is zero reason to release a new NAS and not test any driver but their own before launch, other than to milk the customer for as much cash as possible.
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      4. Appreciate the work. Was already convinced I was leaving but now I have new concerns about what to do if an older Synology dies and the drives need to go into a newer unit. That’s data loss territory! Exactly what your NAS vendor should NOT EVER be baking in. Screw ‘em. Bye.
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      5. Thank you very much for another unbiased video.

        It seems that many tech companies have recently lost their way. Is it the system of shareholders? Is it incompetence?

        I no longer offer a few established names to my customers. Synology is one of them,
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      6. Good bye Synology. I’ve used your products both personally and professionally in my own personal business, I’ve deployed them to TONS of customer sites, and I use them currently in my daily profession in Public Safety. After your recent anti-consumer policies and unsupported 3rd party hardware I am going to migrate ALL of my products and services to pfSense and TrueNAS and my own hardware.

        R.I.P. Synology. It’s been real, it’s been fun, but a HUGE mistake on your part and it’s going to cost you thousands of customers most likely more.
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      7. They seem to have bigger agenda with this. They want us home and SOHO users to be mad and leave ship so they can stop making home NAS boxes and focus solely on the enterprise market.
        After 15 years I’m fed up with their policy and moving away to Qnap and QuTS Hero.
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      8. Thank you for such an in-depth overview of the scenarios, very useful indeed. As a reseller of Synology devices this was disappointing news, I have been selling Synology NAS’s for years and are my go-to NAS, for now I will not be recommending the newer models and stick with the older series which do support 3rd party drives, while they are still available. Hopefully Synology will work with the 3rd parties such as WD and Seagate to make their products certified in the future. Otherwise there are other NAS vendors that their customers will move to and their sales and reputation will undoubtedly suffer.
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      9. Synology warns users that Kingston, Samsung, WD, Seagate, and SK Hynix are at risk. This is a direct confrontation between Synology’s own brand value and the above storage device manufacturers.
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      10. Here’s a disturbing thought…. Blocking non-validated drives is based on a ‘whitelist’ of ‘validated’ drives. That automatically means that somewhere on the NAS there’s a file that contains that list. What if that file gets corrupted? What if some Synology employee makes a booboo and puts a typo in there? What if there’s a ‘soon to be ex-Synology employee with a grudge’ who does that on purpose? And those corrupt files slip through QA? Things like that happen, and no matter how hard Synology is going to say it won’t I know it can, and probably will happen at some point. That might render your NAS unusable, or at ‘best’ cause you to have all these non validated drive issues with drives that might be perfectly validated and otherwise good. Artificial blocking in such ways is a recipe for disaster.

        Mind you, I totally understand validation of hardware for vendors of NASes, and such. I have absolutely NO problem with them doing that. They have to keep their support costs under control (or charge the customers with the difference, which will make them much more expensive, etc). But this is just a stupid implementation of this policy.
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      11. so some nutbar who doesn’t understand the concept of a tech reviewer and how said reviewers pay bills has decided to start tagging anyone who comments on your and probably other channels videos in ways that aren’t completely derogatory, and then gets extra salty and insulting when you tell them not to tag you.

        really seems to have an active grudge against plex as well. i mean, i dislike the direction they moved, and there’s better free options out there, but i’m not going to plant my flag on a hill to defend that ridiculously like this one seems to be doing.
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      12. Since Synology does NOT manufacture any hard disks, what’s the reason for being forced to adopt “Synology “ drives? The fancy label? The executives’ wages?
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      13. Thank God I didn’t get into synology when I decided to acquire my first NAS. All these companies seem to go down this route, when they got you into their walled garden, they start blackmailing you for more and more money, because line must go up
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      14. Nope. It’s not for me, so I’ve just bought an old DS1812+ from eBay with 44TB in it for £600. Yeah it’s old and slow but it’ll be enough for my media storage and family backups. And it was cheap enough so I can upgrade some of the drives to larger ones.
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      15. Took my drives out of my older 4 bay synology and placed them along eith 3 others in a brand new unraid machine… I was waiting forever for this 1825+, but then the news came about the HD situation… I have 2 other Synology’s up and running until they fail. Its really too bad, I really like synology (at least the software side). Bye forever Synology.
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      16. One big YAWN ????! They have made no compelling reason for existing users to upgrade. I feel like I’ll get more out of my DS1821+ with 32GB ECC RAM and a 10GbE NIC. Maybe they will catch a few new NAS users who won’t know any better, but bottom line bang for your buck has steadily been reducing.
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      17. Never buying any Synology product again. They’re overpriced, their hardware spec is way outdated, and now they’re practising enshittification by locking in users to their ecosystem of products.
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      18. When I first discovered the NAS Compares channel over a year ago my thought was once I’d made my NAS purchase I’d not have a need for the channel anymore. I was wrong! Thanks for keeping us in the know.
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      19. who will use andorid or iphone? our symbian os is so greate…. So sinology was good, probably the best, but time goes forward not backwards. this year they will have drop of sale for sweating of some higher up guys, next year they will be in panic mode. And funny things is there is no going back. Too late to do anything….
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      20. thanks synology, finally 2.5gbit network by default. old cpu and no support for ddr5 memory. and only synology hardware support. and worst tech support. still dsm doesnot have dark theme. No more synology. Recently Synology is no longer in my compatibility list. I am done.
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      21. Synology could at least limit support to only enterprise drives. I think everyone understands shucked drives from inexpensive USB enclosures are prone to fail. But sheesh, there are plenty of enterprise drives that are still less expensive than Synology drives.
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      22. There aren’t many reviews of the N100 ugreen NAS’s, most are for the other CPUs and the idle power consumption is a big turn off for those for me and I’d guess a lot of users. I was looking at a zima blade 2 but the 2 bay ugreen offers a lot more I think for most users and could end up being cheaper after import duties… I think a review of those models would do well!
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      23. QNAP should launch a migration program. Before Synology was far ahead in terms of Easy to use, they still are but the difference is no longer relevant for most users.
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      24. Synology doesn’t even explicitly state that an HDD is mandatory. It’s just mentioned in the footnotes.: “Kompatible Laufwerke sind obligatorisch. Bitte konsultieren Sie unsere Kompatibilitätsliste, bevor Sie Festplatten kaufen. Für weitere Details lesen Sie bitte diesen Artikel.”
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      25. I was wondering if that script that adds your drives to the “compatible list” works on the ’25 units, and if that’d be a way around the migrated pool and a drive failure/adding same disk test?
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      26. This is the one I was waiting to buy as my first NAS for over 3 years. I’ll keep my windows 10 PC with its 8x24Tb ironwolf pro as my main Plex server and storage location. They just saved me thousands of Can$.

        Synology peut ben s’étouffer avec leurs limitations de drives à marde. ????????

        Comme si un NAS drive professionnel de WD ou Seagate, les deux plus grands manufacturiers de Hdd au monde n’étaient pas assez bon / fiable pour leur NAS. This is BS.
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      27. If Synology will not let me use my own WD Data Center drives then I will have to ditch Synology! I will not be locked into their product hemisphere!
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      28. At this point, checking the compatibility lists, here is a question: When will synology starts to sell their own UPSes? 😀 😀
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      29. I’m so happy with my DS1821+. I can see those waiting for a new 8-bay From Synology deciding to go with the older model and saving some cash too.

        I have concerns with regard the 1825+ using USB-C to connect the optional DX525 expansion units rather than the prior ESATA method. I’ve found that connecting to an external drive via USB, instead of ESATA, prevents the S.M.A.R.T info from being read.

        Also, Synology wouldn’t go so far as to replace four 1GbE ports with 4 2.5GbE ports as it would negate the need for their 10GbE expansion card.
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      30. Yikes!! Whoever pushed and shoved this decision through at Synology is probably doing a lot of “short selling” (or buying some major “put options”) in anticipation of the Synology stock tanking and taking a nose dive in price. Not so crazy, actually, Brilliant! Although, Really bad for the corporation. Oh yeah, and the consumer. Or at least what’s left of them. Major opportunities for other NAS competitors. And NASCompares.
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      31. Stop trying to flog a dead horse Robbie, people are deserting Synology in their droves, and rightly so. I speak as a long term Synology user.
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      32. Is there even a point with 25gbe (and how expensive will that be..)For the 1621+ , there is basically no point with 10gbe since the cpu is a bottleneck. But does not matter, i will not buy a NAS with HDD lock.
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      33. Drive HCL makes this a non-starter for me. Was hoping to get one to upgrade my DS1817+. Now, I’m looking at competitor options.

        Dug into the specs more. So let me get this straight… the DS1825+ is literally just the DS1821+ with:

        – the same 5-year-old CPU,
        – locked-down drive compatibility,
        – half the LAN ports (but hey, now they’re 2.5GbE, wow),
        – NVMe slots you can’t actually use unless you buy Synology-branded SSDs,
        – and the privilege of paying the same price.

        It does now use USB-C for expansion, instead of ancient eSATA. That’s a … win? I guess? 2025? Sure, let’s call that one a “win” Why not? Gotta put something positive here, it may as well be that.

        This isn’t innovation. This is SKU recycling with extra vendor lock-in. At this point, Synology’s Plus series should come with handcuffs in the box. Hard pass.
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      34. This is great news because very little has changed from my DS1821+ that hopefully means I will get software updates as long as the DS1825+ does hopefully but without the stupid Drive-Lock
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      35. Synology would like to thank you for being a loyal customer for years. So now when your Nas dies, you can purchase a new updated Synology NAS and all your hard drives all over again. You are welcome, its the least Synology can do to show you how important you are to them.
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      36. if you want/need as much storage possible – in the US the 20tb synology drive is currently 2x ironwolf pro 20tb. (not currently supported on older devices either)

        I am def not spending extra $3k just to use synology drive. no thanks @synology — guess ill just stick w my 2019 model for a while.
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      37. I wound like to thank ASUSTor and UGreen for listening to their customers, If you guys are listening. I will be upgrading my DS920+ soon. I’ll be checking out your offerings.
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      38. My1821+ and my DVA3221 will be my last new Synology devices ever. Since I won’t be selling them in my shop no more, I can not justify using them personally any more. I only feel sad and nostalgic, cause i think i been using them for several decades. But they made the choice for me. So I can’t cry about it.
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      39. Hardly a hardware upgrade over the 1821, which was already comically underpowered when the 1821 came out. And then there’s the nonsense drive compatibility lockout. This thing is dead to me.
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      40. I have 8GB ECC in the 1819+ for almost 5 years and it’s been flawless. Plus 10GBE Card. 18 TB drives. I was considering this upgrade, but there is no path forward for me. Even if I wanted to migrate I could never replace a drive that fails because Synology does not offer 18 TB drives. To be honest, I think the 1821+ is a much better upgrade.
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      41. I have DS1821+ for years in many locations. 1821+ also has ECC RAM, same CPU. Differance? I can easily put Mellanox MCX311A-XCAT and connect with my switch via Ubiquiti DAC. Works like charm. I test such configuration in many productions servers and never failed (i only change thermal pasta under heatsink). Additionally Mellanox card are very stamina and we can buy it for fraction of Synology cards.

        I had one synology card – E10G18-T1. Worst piece of crap which i saw. First card was DOA, second occasionally drop link. It took me few days before i found out that problem is with card. Synology said that card is fine. I put Mellanox which i had in decommsioned server and working for 2 years without issue. Addtionally E10G18-T1 in DS server getting crazy hot due to lack of vetilation and airflow.

        If we will add to this problems with HDD i need to say “BRAVO Synology, great tactic”. I bought recently QNAP TS-1273AU-RP-8G. Zero problems with adding RAM, Mellanox card and Exos drives. Software is diffrent but i can make such deal.
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      42. Great. Been waiting for this, been waiting. Due to crippling it I won’t purchase. As such it’s a 1821+ if I were going to do anything, but more likely extend what I have at the moment with DX unit to eak out a few more years so the home market NAS suppliers can catch up and I will jump ship. No external drives, no purchase for me.
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      43. Its an interesting approach . . .
        Synology has enabled other NAS companies to increase their sales and increase their market share.
        However competing NAS companies will not just take a few extra sales . . . they will also want more ????
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      44. just received latest synology newsletter today, and I quote “Compatible drives are mandatory”. reducing 4 network ports to 2 is yet another sign of penny pinching 🙁
        – yep, for this device and above, drive compatibility is potentially useful, however a price point always above the same manufacturer drives is taking the pee.
        – just to say again, many thanks for the videos over the years, I’m having a lot of fun putting together a Jonsbo N4 with an ITX board & AMD 4650GE & m.2 to sata with TrueNAS as a replacement to my DS1019+
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      45. Is it worth to upgrade from 1819+ to 1825+? I use my NAS localy as file backup only and sharing data with friends online. I don’t transfer files often, nor need high bandwith at all. Thank you community.
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      46. Robbie, as always, thanks for the fantastic video. That said, this morning, having lost faith in the universe, I bit the bullet buying a FOUR YEARS OLD DS1821+ with 10GbE for $100 MORE than I paid 3 years ago. I don’t curse… EXCEPT FOR WHEN SYNOLOGY BREAKS MY BRAIN!!! I cursed a LOT while clicking on this purchase. But it is the ONLY way I can preserve my 100+ TB of data on a DS1813+ with 20+ TB drives. Am I wrong that, given the SAME CPU, there is NO REASON to Buy a DS1825+ and that EVERYONE [unless happy with 2.5 GbE] should just buy 1821+ as a FAR better short and long-term solution ? What are your words of wisdom on that? Inquiring Beer Vloggers need to know

        – Eric ZORK Alan & Sweetie [ ????Professional????Poets & Bed ???? & Beer???? Vloggers ]

        P.S. Of course, this purchase is meant to allow me to WAIT 1-2 years and THEN [probably] jump to 2027 U-Green NAS unless Synology decides to take their brain out of Steve Martin’s 2-brained jars and put it back in their head.

        PPS. I DO hope that Synology can RE-ANIMATE their brain with actual brain cells from some spare ones Herbert West has RE-ANIMATED. I will spend the rest of the year APOLOGIZING to all my clients I told Synology was the best since sliced bread. Now I can only say they are marginally better than sliced brains. In the words of ASH… this whole mess is NOT “GrOOOOOvy”!!!!
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      47. I held off years for this, But until I know for sure about the drive policy I won’t buy it.
        Need support for WD red’s that are in my 5 bay DS1019+, Sure they say you can migrate over but what do I fill the other 3 bays with later on?
        And then down the line if I buy an expansion unit can I add WD’s to that as well?
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      48. In a NAS with this number of drives I’d want a greater choice of drives, drive suppliers and want to be able to get my hands on them quickly. That’s why IMHO Synology is no longer a good option for enthusiasts or enterprise. I’ve had to wait for Dell, NetApp or HP certified and branded drives before, no fun.
        Also I take the view that if it’s not a rack mount unit it’s pro-Sumer at best so shouldn’t be hamstrung by requiring certified drives. I’m leaving Synology
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      49. Probably will just pick up a 1821+ at this point to replace my 1812+. While 2.5gb would be preferred for the same price, not willing to risk dealing with Synology drive incompatibilities. Otherwise I would just pick up a used 2422.
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      50. Synology really have gone to town to ensure their products are worse than their previous ones. Less ethernet ports is beyond me. They have completely lost their home user market share and likely smb too
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      51. As much as I do believe DSM is great, I am not buying another Synology until they revert back their drive lock-ins policy and allow me to use whatever hard drives and storage I want.
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      52. ARC loader is the only way how to use DSM efficiently – all HW unlocked. One other option could be to buy only 2-bay model and mount using NFS/iSCSI your big fat TrueNAS storage and use it directly in DSM. There is NO WAY we will continue selling this shill to our customers – mainly manufacturing factories. Synology is DEAD for us, same as for Linus – anticonsumer practices should be met with resistance.
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      53. if you cant use your own drives with it , F Em … did a Jansbo N5 /w a HBA as soon as it was out that they intented to F over Non-business consumers.
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      54. I have been holding off for this (sort of.. it has been clear it would be a non-upgrade.) Synology has many strengths, but first off, until they “verify” a bunch of more “normal/normie” drives such as IronWolf/Red Plus I won’t consider them. But overall, Synology is working very hard to make me consider their competitors before I’d pick up this unit.
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      55. Passing on this due to drive lock. My 1819+ is doing well with the pcie 10gb/nvme expansion card. When it comes time to upgrade, aside from the concerns about being made in china (being able to install your own OS somewhat assuages that fear) I think UGreen looks awfully tempting. Or the QNap ‘tank’ 855x if memory serves on product name.
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      56. I love your optimism Robbie, but everytime you ask the community what they think of a x25-series NAS, I think you know the answer beforehand.
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      57. it’s sad… I had planned on possible buying a couple of these to refresh my aging synology nas units i have. but with the hdd lock down crap… it’s a hard pass. hope you read this synology. you shot yourself in the foot. way too many other options that dont’ do stupid DRM crap that can get my money. and the HW specs in this really not all that impressive.
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      58. These mediocre improvements are also 9 months late, and this is because Synology is clearly focused on massive scale processing and surveillance systems and not consumer hobbyist data storage. Your trip to Taiwan expo last year showed where their priorities are. Time to move on.
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      59. What you can do…
        Give a wide berth to a company that insults the customers who have been loyal to it for years and have brought it sales.
        Anyone who pulls this kind of crap has no future in the market.
        One could surmise that the swings of the decision makers were a little close to the nearest wall.
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      60. Thank you for the clear and thoughtful coverage of this important topic. I guess my old Drobo 5N will have to keep going for a little while longer while I consider other options.
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      61. DIY’ed my own nas for about 150 or so euros extra: 8c16t cpu, 64gb memory, no drive limitations, titanium rated psu, cilverstone case… Everything replaceable, no weard or locked components… am i ever a happy customer after seeing this saga unfoald…
        yeah sure, no ecc ram… but would I really need that anyway since main purpose is to keep everything neatly backed up…?
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      62. Junk, stay away from this, and please stop telling people that the price is the same, with lock in drives the price changes dramatically, is part of the scam.
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      63. Happy to had bought 1821+ not long ago and not waited for this, the only fear is now if I ever have to migrate to a new unit or to an entire new solution, because those DriveLocks are not fun at all
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      64. Not being able to recovery from a degraded array with a like drive should make 100% of people looking to upgrade completely stay away from these systems. The other scenarios people can grumble about but this on is a dick move.
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      65. Next step : you only can connect to internet if you use an RJ45 cable fom Synology, they’re trying to become Apple’s NASes, so sad
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      66. Wow. This really sucks. We need an open source software that does SHR. Drobo’s had something similar and I went to Synology because they also allowed mis-matched drive sizes in a NAS form. Unraid and Hexos does not do a variation of SHR which is sad.
        I hope my 10 year old synologies last another 10 years!
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      67. Thanks for putting this video up. This is so disappointing by synology.. I researched and bought on in 2019 and wow happy with it. Will definitely find a new company somewhere else/
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      68. Why go with a device/company that has a target on it’s back when it comes to hackers. Wouldnt touch them with an electric cattle prod.
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      69. The 2025 Synology series is unfortunately Dead to Me. I have a DS423+ (Plex user here) and there is zero reason to ‘upgrade’ to the 2025 models regardless given the HW specs. This is a pity as the DSM 7.2 version I’m on (before they removed Video Station) looks to be the version I’ll be staying on as long as I can (baring some significant security issue).
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      70. I’ve been a loyal Synology user, and this is my third unit, but it will also be my last. It feels like Synology has forgotten who their core customers are. Casual users generally don’t care about NAS, while power users, who set everything up for their families, care a lot about flexibility and choice. Forcing users to buy only their drives is where I draw the line. I’ve always used IronWolf drives and have been completely satisfied with them. I’m not going to switch just to comply with Synology’s new restrictions.
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      71. Stability is great. But let me choose. If you want to verify drives which guarantees me a certain level of stability, great. It’s my device though so if I want to put in different drives and don’t give a shit about your verification, then I should be able to.
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      72. We’ve had an eight unit Synology NAS in our office for several years and have been waiting on the release of the 2025 model to upgrade this. The company’s decisionn to force users to buy their rebranded drives has sent me looking to their competitors.
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      73. LOL. @Synology, get over yourselves. You’re not even close to enterprise class devices, stop LARPing. I was looking at replacing my fleet of aging Netgear ReadyNAS 4, 6 and 8 bay enclosures and @Synology you WERE on the list. Now, you’re #1 on the “Hard no” list, as I don’t/can’t trust you, even if you roll back this greedy decision.
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      74. They should’ve just raised the price instead of lock it. They want to fight HDD prices falling locking you in and tap into HDD sales. I was looking for a 10 bay and due to lock in I’m passing. I need to be able to move old RAID designed drives over not buy 10 new ones. This also forces you to buy bigger drives up front. I will not be buying one of their products. I have 86TB and will be growing 24TB a year. So who is this product for?
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      75. I have worked the industry an I can understand the idea behind Synology’s decision to ban drives that are not on the HCT list. I can understand, but I don’t think they did it the right way. The right way would be to expressly state that if you are using drives that are not on the HCT list Synology will not accept any warranty claims in case of disk failure, array failure or data corruption.

        The reason I say this is because I have built a lot of storage servers and run into disk compatibility problems. In one case WD shipped over 200 drives so we could swap out the drives that failed in the servers a customer bought. Thing is these drives were actually on the compatibility list, but then using an older firmware. Once the firmware was upgraded the disks were no longer compatible. In another case I had to sit at a customer and update the firmware of about 100 drives as the R6 arrays had failed. This customer had all error mail messages sent to an employee who never looked at them. Had he even just looked at the servers once he got an email he would have seen the error LED on the failed drives and the array failures could have been prevented. As it was the drives failed, the arrays were degraded, the standby drives were used to rebuild the array and another drive failed and the second standby replaced it only for two more drives to fail and the arrays were dead. This is when they called about the problem. Seagate and the controller manufacturer went through the logs from the controllers and Seagate provided a new firmware that solved the failures. These are things you don’t have to deal with if the drives are tested, certified and the drives you buy has the correct firmware. And to get the kind of service we got from drive manufacturers it helps if you are talking about several hundred drives at a time. It’s harder to get prompt service if you are a end user and have four or eight drives that cause a problem.
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      76. I’m so upset with this, literally bought an upgrade to my old unit 10days ago, while I was searching for new drivers I discovered this news about the drivers, I really don’t like this idea of no freedom, so I will be returning the unit for refund and i will search other company , they don’t deserve my data
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      77. Imagine you migrated an 18tb disk pool ..and can’t even replace with synology drives cause of size ????
        Good bye synology
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      78. Very logical testing, maybe I missed 1 scenario. Any issues found trying to reintroduce a migrate drive back to the original Synology NAS?
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      79. What about older non-Synology drives?!
        I have an old DS414 that I’d love to replace but was waiting for 2.5Gb network. Now I’m just a home user, I don’t have a big budget, so if I replaced my NAS, I would want to use my existing old (but working perfectly) drives, preferably with a clean install after backing up the data. I’ve no idea if these old drives are on any recent compatibility list even if Synology were to open up the allowed list a bit.

        And these NAS units aren’t cheap, there’s no way I can afford a new NAS and 4 new drives all in one go, and then what happens to my existing perfectly working drives?

        I just can’t see how I can buy a new Synology NAS now.
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      80. While it’s unofficial fixes, i would really appreciate it if you could test some of the HDD compatibility scripts (hacks), which replaces/expands the file which contains the compatibility list on the Synology NAS and whether or not it works.

        Just Google “Synology_HDD_db”

        EDIT: In fact, they just released a guide an hour ago to even get the new Synology NAS’es to allow you to install DSM with unverified HDDs.
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      81. There are already scripts created that can add any disks to the Synology approved list or allow DSM to be installed on new disks. It remains to be seen if Synology will make changes to block them but for now, unverified disks can be used very easily.
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      82. There is no incompatibility with ‘unverified’ drives but aggravated obsession for customers money. Synology wants to make money out of thin air. Because most of Synology hardware was overpriced outdated trash 5 years ago and surprisingly it is now. But from now on company decided to do a quantum leap into degeneration and bankruptcy by enforcing usage of outdated and overpriced Toshiba drives relabeled. This would mostly hit home users, creators and some small businesses

        Whatever this company did it won’t revert the accumulated negative effect. So it’s time to say “bye-bye overpriced trash”!
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      83. Have anyone tested copying first blocks of unverified, but working disk (from DS923+) to new, but unverified disk? Something like “dd if=/dev/sda bs=512 count=1 of=/dev/sdb bs=512 count=1” ?
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      84. F0 Synology!!! You lost a loyal client and reseller for good after 14 years!!!

        Thank you very much to this great channel for the always complete reviews!
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      85. What does a verified disk mean? Every 20 year old computer needs drivers and the thing will work, with all types of memory media. So they just don’t want the drivers to load for stable operation. petty????
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      86. Curious if when a drive fails, if you can shutdown the DS925+, pull the good drive out, clone it to the replacement disk to get the synology partitions on it, place the original good drive back in and boot, then when running add in the cloned replacement disk to see if it will allow raid repair. Might have a similar situation as when replugging in the hot pulled disk.
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      87. All those years of getting r&ped up the wallet and telling ourselves we’re ok with mediocre hardware because THeiR sOFTwaRe is SO aaWSome…well 1)it’s not, I’ve used all their own apps now, many don’t really work. and 2)this is what our premium dollars have paid for, a deliberate sabotage at the software level creating artificial problems…that’s right artificial problems put there by Synology.
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      88. That is really a shame, hope they do add 3rd party to the compatibility list. Actually the Synology drives are not compatible in a lower version of DSM like 6.x while the 3rd party are, so overall they are the least compatible drives on the market! What concerns me also is if the Synology drives are compatible on other brand NAS’s ? So you can save your investment if you want to switch.
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      89. I am a migrating buyer

        I planned to purchase a DS1825

        I’ve had (2) 20 TB Seagate EXOS drives sitting in my desk waiting for a new unit

        This was the final straw, I purchased a Terramaster F6-424 Max

        So far, I’m happy
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      90. This is so f*cking stupid I don’t even know where to start. For f*ck sake Synology, how can you be this turned away from reality?!
        This is ensh*tification at its finest really. I could’ve bought it if buying your drives would’ve unlocked something extra and it was 100% optional, but this.. I can’t believe than I’m from now on is going to suggest QNAP to people who want to buy a turnkey solution…
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      91. It is completely UNACCEPTABLE and DANGEROUS for Synology to block recovery of an array with non-Synology branded drives. That is a completely artificial restriction that they have chosen to implement and puts their customers’ data at risk. That is COMPLETELY UNACCEPTABLE behavior from Synology!
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      92. I’ve got a dead DS1817+ and I’ve been waiting for 18 months to replace it; I’m fairly convinced that it’s the motherboard that has died. It has 8 * 8TB WD Reds in it. I want to transfer this pool to a new NAS. I’m hoping that I can move my current pool to a new DS1825+ then one by one replace my WD Reds with something like 16TB HAT3310s The cost will be prohibitive but I might be able to do this over an 18 month period… hopefully I will then be in a ‘safe’ position…
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      93. I’ve been thinking about this verification nonsense from Synology, and it occurred to me that it is a brand lock-in, nothing more. Think about it, for years Synology have had NAS certified drives from Seagate, Toshiba and WD on their compatibility list, a list that they have claimed has been validated thoroughly. If this is so, and those drives from Seagate, WD and Toshiba have been fully verified for years, what’s changed? Why are those drives suddenly unverified now?

        How can drives previously on Sinology’s much vaunted compatibility list be unverified? It makes no sense to me. I believe Synology are appeasing their user base by saying third-party drives are/will be verified in future without seriously wanting to do this. This exercise is being done to evaluate user pushback. If most users shrug, grumble a bit and accept this new situation, Synology may quietly forget about verifying thirdparty drives. If, however, the reaction from the Synology community is comprehensively negative, they will miraculously include the third-party drives they’ve always had on their compatibility list in short order.
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      94. This is a huge showstopper for me and many. I have 918+ running and will most likely be looking for a way out of Synology ecosystem if they stay on this path. The hard part is replacing some of the apps that I use, like Photos (Immich?) and Drive (Nextcloud is the closest but bloated) and Surveillance station (???). If you are not using these apps then getting out of Synology should be pretty simple.
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      95. Synology going this route of trying to lock in their overpriced rebadged Toshiba hard drives is a Rubicon that cannot be uncrossed. The trust is gone. Even if they claim they will loosen the restrictions on non-approved drives, why should I trust they won’t simply reverse course in a few years? It’s time to move on from Synology.
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      96. I wonder if there would be market for hacking WD drives to identify themselves as valid verified drives 🙂 Most likely the firmware change they have made to the drives is very minimal and could be quite easily replicated/emulated on other drives.
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      97. That rebuild thing is a big problem, you should always be able to rebuild a RAID if drive fails, dataloss is worse than possible unstable behaviour that might occur. And if that really is a big issue, then just allow rebuild but keep the RAID in slow degraded mode where it really cannot be used until you rebuild it with verified drive, but in the mean time all the data will be safe as the RAID has been rebuilt and there is parity data.
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      98. Pathetic. to let you migrate non-standard drives and hten not repair a failed RAID??? Regardless if they “fix that”, it shows you their brain-dead strategy–those were the requirements for developers!
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      99. Excellent presentation. Thank you. You are doing some really amazing reporting on this situation. I try to repurpose just about all of my drives, memory and whatnot as best I can when bringing in new home lab equipment. All my stuff is enterprise grade as I just dont buy “cheap stuff” for my lab. The thought that I could never any of it, not one bit, in a brand new premium NAS just makes want to vomit. It kind of reminds me what what MSFT is doing with TPM and what Broadcom has done with VMware. Of course Apple does this same crap with their computers, phones and everything else. I have really high hopes for the new Minisform NAS and their OS. Really hope the Minisform NAS OS can be virtualized under Proxmox either on their new NAS hardware or the MS-A2.
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      100. So synology is using Non-standard hard drives because all other drives than synology are not working normally.
        Do not explain me that… In my opinion all people should fill whole internet with simillar sentence in comments and reviews to force synology to explain themself more and that will show that they are just lying about true intentions
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      101. I wouldn’t normally comment on a YouTube video, but wow. I’ve been a Synology NAS customer for longer than I can remember. I currently own six units with a total of 32 drives across them. I heard about the drama, but I was waiting for some actual tests to see how bad things were. I would say this is disaster territory. I simply can’t trust Synology with my data going forward. It’s a real shame, I’ve loved the OS over the years, and I have boxes that have been powered on for something like 10 years non-stop. I have always recommended them as the go-to solution. Time to move on. Thank you for doing these tests, and for the great videos over the years. I look forward to finding out the best new options as they appear.
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      102. Just say it outright: Synology can’t be recommended anymore. This policy is idiotic and most of the disabled features have absolutely nothing to do with drive “compatibility”. If their software is so finicky, it’s shit software and you wouldn’t want to use it anyways. This is just a money grab, plain and simple, and coming at the worst of times where nearly every other manufacturers hardware is better than the Synology oldtimers.
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      103. They will hopefully learn their lesson soon or go bankrupt. I for myself will never use Synology ever again and do my datndest to not let them into the corps i work for.

        Damage is done ….
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      104. At first I thought I would just quit if they bs spec lock. Now I need to advise other against their bs scamming. Remember this ‘once they start bs any business practice, they will do it again and again. NEVER EVER TRUST OR GIVE IN TO THEIR LIARS’
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      105. Wow, looks like I may be looking at HexOS now and my own hardware solution or perhaps one that comes without an OS. I really do love Synology, but this huge change is a deal breaker for sure.
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      106. Many thanks for the video . To be absolutely clear . . . . another vote for UGREEN + TrueNAS
        Synology face sales loss from people/SME who start with a low end product and later upgrade to several higher end products.
        It would make sense if Synology modelled their likely sales loss based on these comments . . . do they care?
        Surely Synology must realise that a very small percentage of the population buy NAS units
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      107. Nope. I own Synology NAS devices at home and for my employer (Government – Police, Fire, EMS). I’m out. This is a deal breaker for me. I will not be buying any more Synology hardware while they are vendor locked on the drives. Hard drives all meet standards. We put them in RAID arrays to protect against those rare failures. Artificially raising the price is asinine. Get your head out of your asinine Synology!
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      108. …and don’t forget, what you might be able to do today will properly be turned off in a DSM update when they get aware of the loopholes found by the users ????
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      109. Their decision is so stupid that it would even make more sense to stop accepting sata drives and create a new Synology type of drives…
        They will regret it but probably it is already too late.
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      110. One of the most absurd thing about all this story is that the Synology drives I see listed on Amazon (at least here in Italy) are obviously either Seagate or HGST manufactured WD (that btw for some funny reason have the sticker flipped upside down compared to the OEM drives), so there is no reason for not allowing other drives of those brands to function inside the NAS.
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      111. Good information. My opinion is to stay away from Synology for now. Even if you pay more and purchase all compatible drives today, it does not mean they will be on the list for your next replacement system. Sadly, as a home user, I like the SHR. Does any other manufacturer allow mixing drives.
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      112. After exchanging emails with synology the official answer is “drives that do not meet the new compatibility policy WILL NOT WORK”. I can forward the email to you if you want or you can ask for details from them.

        RIP Synology. It was a nice trip.
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      113. What about repairing RAID consisting of unverified HDDs with new verified HDD, that should work , right ?
        Also F Synology, greedy bastards.
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      114. I’m not yet sure if I have to replace my current NAS with another one, but this crap rules out any chance for a Synology. They have begun the route down this path, and I don’t believe they will reverse it.
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      115. You could potentially try “initialize” the drive in the older nas to try to use it as replacement for degraded RAID.
        If you migrate the older box is usually kept as the backup so it may be kind of the workaround foe those who must upgrade.
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      116. Thanks for your detailed and scientific approach to NAS videos. I have been watching about 6 months. I don’t own a NAS yet, I like to do a LOT of research before purchases like that. I’m glad now I didn’t purchase a Synology system recently.
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      117. For a dominant NAS vendor like Synology, I can’t believe this product release was a marketing blunder. They’ve had plenty of time to verify 3rd party drives so the fact they have launched with a retricted compatibiity list speaks volumes for their mindset. Even if they add a few 3rd paty drives over the next few months, I think the writing is on the wall. Ultimately Synology will be a closed ecosystem and I’m certainly not going to validate their position with a purchase.
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      118. You do realize how Synology “works” with WD and Seagate. Just trying to squeeze money out of them for “verification”. Because their NAS disks are already absolutely compatible for the reason that no special compatibility is needed. They just need to meet industry standards.
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      119. I have a random crazy theory. I don’t know if it would work. Lets say you have four drives from an older system. You migrate them to a new NAS. They work! Now, one of those drives goes bad. You replace it with a new blank drive of the same model. The NAS rejects it. Just pull one of the working drives, put it in a system and do a sector by sector clone to the blank drive. The New NAS will recognize the new drive as being Synology and let you rebuild the system using it.
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      120. 2:08 this part of the video testing unverified drive information is good enough for me,because i prefer seagate brand. Currently own ds920+ with 4x8TB seagate,plan want to buy 5 bays but i guess i’ll pass.
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      121. Yeaaaaaaaa, that’ll be a big ol’ NOPE from me. “They’re looking into compatibility with WD & Seagate”!?! Well, Synology, the damage is DONE. Shoulda ‘looked into’ it prior to launch. Your company will never recover from this backlash.
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      122. So, I was going to update my 1817+ to a 25+ model. Not anymore. I have Seagate enterprise drives in it with several purchased spares (all on the compatibility list for that model). I can migrate but have to use Synology drives going forward for expansion/spares?! Um, no thanks. I’ll be going with a different brand. Why do companies get greedy and then stupid?
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      123. Consider me riled ????
        At this stage, I’d consider it a risk to migrate a storage pool from an older model.

        I would be tempted to say that they should only offer the Migration Assistant method to move data from an older model to the ds925+ having Synology branded disks. At least this way there would be no confusion about which scenarios my data is safe.
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      124. 12m – attempt to be balanced … it has only just been launched … they may add further drives down the line….

        Never buy something on a promise or assumption; buy on what it is now (especially at this price point)
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      125. So this isn’t an issue with an existing Synology + series of NASes? does that mean firmware/upgrade support of old devices is going away? Since ultimately this is a software lock it seems.
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      126. I take it (excuse if dumb statement) none of this matters if you’re running anything other than DSM ?? ie Truenas, unraid etc etc?
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      127. Was ready to upgrade later this year but at this point we are going to remove all Synology drives out of our business it’s a waste now being forced into certain hardware.
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      128. Thanks Robbie. Great video as always. I had ONE more thought, but I totally understand if you don’t revisit. If you have a migrated pool & volume, you remove a “bad” drive, and you install a “new” unverified drive… that you first setup as a “blank” single drive in a DS923+ or whatever… would THAT allow you to use the single unverified to repair? Using an older NAS to “prep” drives to use in the DS925+ doesn’t make much sense, but if it works… well, that’s something. Again, thanks for all you do, and have a great day!!!
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      129. Synology is dead to me. I replaced my 920+ and relegated it to a backup system until it dies and at work where we had 6 1820+ systems that we had already started migrating off of before this latest BS they announced. Outdated / limited hardware, removing features from software, and competitors catching up and surpassing them on the hardware side while options like TrueNAS, UNraid, and others are filling the gap on the software side without vendor lock in.

        The value proposition Synology once had been already trending down, with the new release it is gone.
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      130. Really hope Synology watching your videos and reading comments. I wanted to upgrade to a 925+, and wanted to buy another unit for my parents house.
        Now i wont, and i will switch to ugreen or qnap.
        Hope you make a good amount on your rebranded drives synology.
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      131. Synology is dead to me now. What folks should do — what I have done — is acquired a small Plus-series drive from the recent past that can run Active Backup for Business. Use that machine as an appliance for the sole purpose of network backup. Use larger devices from other vendors as the target of your backups and for all other purposes.
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      132. All of this wouldn’t be an issue if Synology drives were readily available in the sizes in we want for a reasonable price, similar to the existing WD/Seagate offerings. But if I need to wait a week and pay anywhere between 10-50% more for essentially the same thing, then that’s what makes me extremely annoyed at this situation.

        IF you have a Synology system, maybe they should offer existing users a discount or something to buy Synology drives. They need to offer some incentive at least. However who knows how long that will last. Maybe a year down the road once we are locked into our 925+, they can decide at any point to significantly increase the price of the drives or stop selling certain sizes that meet our existing budget. Who knows.

        There are too many unknowns here and for that reason, it’s obvious we need to look elsewhere.
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      133. If they planned the compatible list they would have at least some drives on it when announcing the units , they just wanted to wait if there would be a backlash. I skip synology for a while, will buy the unas and backup my old synology to that.
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      134. I bought a Synology NAS last year. As long as they do not mess with being able to do the basics I will continue to use it until I need to upgrade. But, when I need to upgrade based upon what is being reported by nearly all, Synology will not be part of my next purchase. I think they have made it very clear that DIY is not their focus going forward. If the other manufactures go the same way there is always TruNAS.
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      135. Dear Robbie, Thank you SOOOOO much. You’re the first to cover RAID FAILURE and REBUILD of Migrated systems [8:25 into your video: Test 8: RAID recovery fails with identical unverified HDD]. As soon as they announced they would allow MIGRATION, that INSTANTLY became the one CRITICAL QUESTION. You are the very first to answer. As a Mac and Synology consultant for 10+ years [and I PERSONALLY OWN 5 8 Bay Synology 18XX+ series servers]. This is the MOST IMPORTANT THING. And an ABSOLUTE DEAL BREAKER. Obviously NASs are about 2 things
        – PROTECTING your data from Drive Failure
        – Understanding that the drives in theses systems ABSOLUTELY [eventually] will fail
        – Allow ing you to RELACE Drives when they do fail.

        Since ALL my Synology servers [and ALL my clients] have AT LEAST 1 20 to 24 TB drive in EVERY unit they own, this is INFURIATING… and ABSOLUTELY UNACCEPTABLE. Either Synology has to:
        – STOP ALLOWING MIGRATION
        – Allow Migration and Replacement with UNVERIFIED DRIVE
        – SHIP reasonable price “PLUS” [NOT Enterprise] 18, 20 and 24 TB drives.

        They HAVE to comply with the above, I NEVER get mad, I’m a 1984 Mac Consultant who smiles and laughs all the time. I’m a professional poet & beer vlogger.. I do NOT get angry.. almost NEVER. I am ABSOLUTELY FURIOUS and this thing you have discovered of NOT ALLOW FOR a RAID to be REPAIRED when a drive fails.

        Thanks for discovering this.

        – Eric ZORK Alan & Sweetie [ ????Professional????Poets & Bed ???? & Beer???? Vloggers ]
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      136. Well, if you’re a home user especially, why even try and deal with all the verified current and future compatibility issues that may come up? There are just too many other options available to keep jumping through the Synology hoops, and they are better and usually cheaper. For the home and small business user, look elsewhere, which is jus what Synology wants those users to do anyway.
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      137. all this because they don’t care about their core base and want to focus more on enterprise. when I don’t see why any enterprise would choose them over a JBOD + controller
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      138. when you got your glasses on your head, we know you been busy. Seriously though, thanks for reaching out on Reddit and confirming your strategy and taking on feedback for additional tests. All of this is incredible. And some of folks learned what BOSH means.
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      139. something important: the “unverified” status will override drives that have isues too, so if a disk is in critical status it will say “unverified” instead, very hard to actually know which drive it is, only indicator is the orange light, since the usual “disk critical” popup also didnt show for me.
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      140. Someone was obviously bored up at $ynology HQ and thought, “how do we get the new rigs out there but pay less for advertising”
        I bet you they switch back to how it was up to a point.
        Tenner says they do????

        But even without all that. Why would you go from a 920 or 923 with all the perks that come with them?????
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      141. I am happy to say that late last year (having got fed up of waiting for a newer version) I purchased a DS1522+ and migrated the 6tb drives from my aging DS1415. No problem . I added a 16tb Ironwolf & then have since replaced 2 of the drives with 16tb Ironwolf, all no problem. Had I hung on for a 5 bay 2025 model I’d clearly be stuck with no choice but Synology drives. I’ve always used Ironwolf or Toshiba NAS srives and never had an issue.
        The cyncic in me says that Synolgy want all my money not sust some of it ????
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      142. Instead of all this work, why you just don´t ask, you still trust Synology? That is the main issue because all of this can change at short notice dependent on theirs greediness mode.
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      143. You haven’t been able to mix HDD and SSD in a pool for a long time now. My guess is the unsupported SSD thing will change when the new slim model comes out.
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      144. HAHAHA you can not repair your migrated raid pool after a disk failuare? That’s the final nail on the coffin. Bye bye $ynology. LOL.
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      145. Worth noting too that RAID recovery would be impossible if you’re migrating say 24TB drives of which Synology doesn’t have such higher capacities. I’d be very interested to see how they might reply to this
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      146. You won’t ‘bin it’ within 24 months. Unless it’s a TerraMaster which claimed to have a 10GB port, when in fact it seems to have been nothing more than a hole in the case labeled as if it were a port ( yes I tried their support, however that proved fruitless).That’s what happened to me, and yes I binned it. I now have an Asustor and couldn’t be happier. It’s 2.5gb port works as it should.
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      147. I found even if you dont have fast internet over 1gig getting a router that supports 2.5gbe and getting as many devices on to that on a busy network can help reduce traffic on the local network, large families and small business can benefit from a cheap upgrade to 2.5gbe as most existing Ethernet installs can be upgraded pretty easy buy buying new hardware.
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      148. Try as hard as I like, I can’t saturate my 2.5 gig network. I also have a 5GB fiber connection and, well… even with torrents and usenet running on NVMEs on separate router connections I’ve managed 3GB. For about 30 seconds.

        I’ve got a lot of Linux ISOs now, though.
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      149. When I bought a laptop a few years ago, I saw that WiFi 6e was available. I bought a 6e Intel card, only to learn that my HP laptop BIOS only whitelisted certain cards.
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      150. 1GbE will eventually go the way as single core processors. I have 10GbE in my NAS servers with 16TB of NVMe and I still can’t saturate what a 2.5GbE connection would give me.
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      151. I am going for RJ45 10G straight.
        Where are the 2,5gb models from synology??? People got to help themselfs with RJ45 to USB dongle workarounds…
        Come on Synology….
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      152. Honestly, if you have a NAS and are using it in any serious way, 2.5Gb should be a minimum at this point. In fact, I’ve found some reasonably priced gear that’s mostly 2.5GbE, with some 10Gb SFP+ ports as well, and will probably run fibre for 10Gb connections to major switches in my house, then the 2.5Gb connections to each individual device. Is fibre overkill? YES, but I WANTED Cat6A years ago and was told “Cat5 is plenty” only to now be unable to do 10Gb. So for that magical future proofing, fibre is going in, and that should basically do the job forever, since the fibre itself can do 400Gb+ it’s just the hardware at each end that would need upgrading. Do I think I’ll ever use 400Gb… no, but 40Gb would be nice, and maybe one day I might want 100Gb, this way we never have to re-run the cables (yes conduit is amazing, and even MORE future proof than fibre, but it’s not viable in an old, existing house like ours without basically moving out for a month).
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      153. Amother chap’s youtube NAS channel says that besides upgrading devices, for 10 gbe you’ll need to upgrade to CAT6 cabling as well – and THAT is a BIG consideration, unless it’s original construction!
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      154. Great video. I am looking to replace my 5 year old Netgear ReadyNAS 204 with a new Synology 923+ or 1522+. I am primarily using it as a file server but in the future I would probably also use at for automatic backup of our 3 desktop PC’s and 2 laptops.

        hould I consider anything other than these 2?

        It will be connected to a 10 BGit network.
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      155. I purchasted the Nimbuster NAS from you in 2020 to set up my home network and it’s super slow when connected to a Netgear gigabit switch and trying to save and get files from my Mac or PC. I’ve tried to aggregate the connection from the NAS to the switch but it’s still super slow. I guess the bottleneck is in the gigabit Netgear switch. Would I have to buy a 2-5gbe switch? If so how should it be connected and set up? Many thanks for any advice .
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      156. I keep looking at the Synology option, but the drive compatibility aspect just make me go meh. So still on QNAP using WD Red Pro and Red NVME. DS1621+ of interest.
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      157. I understand why they would limit the HDD’s/SSD’s compatibility to avoid misuse but they could at least allow CMR NAS and Enterprise WD and Seagate drives. Btw starting and shutting down a nas everyday what does it do to the disks? Does it prolong the life of the components? Even though they are designed to run 24/7
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      158. o/ from the US. I recently purchased a ASUS GT-11000 pro (on sale) which has 1 x 10g and 1×2.5g ports. My WAN port on my modem is a 2.5g. I connected my 10g port to my Dlink DMS-106xt. I have my dlink connected to a simple unmanaged cisco switch in my living room that connects to my xbox, ps5, TV, and apple TV, none of which support 2.5gb only 1gb. Then I have my dlink connected to a asus GT6 that supports a 2.5g port and 3x 1gb ports. I learned that I should have bought the Zen wifi pro since it supports two 2.5gb ports. Why this matters to me? My pc supports 2.5gb and 1gb on the mobo. Now I’m not going to lose any sleep over it but since I am designing a network that suits my needs I didn’t account for that error in my budget. After buying all these things I didn’t fully think my network setup thoroughly because now I have to buy another multigig 10G port switch that likely cost 300$ USD to fix my error. I just dont have enough 10g ports now. Problems for future me.
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      159. Be clear on the SSD storage pools, its not that other units do not support it, they do… Rather, this is just fleecing customers – Synology don’t want to enable on other models, as they want you to believe its “unique” to certain models an encourage you to buy the newer model, and throw the old one out (Yeah, great environmentally-friendly move there!
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      160. Thank you for this video, when I renovated my place with Cat 6A cables I moved to a2 gigabit internet connection just this year, however only recently I have purchased USB 2.5 gb singles to upgrade my connections and it has been amazing, thank you for your video it was informative and helped me make the right decision to wait for a year and then move up
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      161. Synology Hyper Backup doesn’t even support OneDrive natively. DSM and Synology apps seem consistent, but there also seems to be a walled garden that limits what you can do with a Synology NAS.
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      162. Umm I hate to say it but your wrong on both accounts of BTRFS and encryption. I just got their lowest end current model the ds223j and i have both of these options. I however didnt enable encryption as it will make transfering data slower and im not worried about my NAS getting stolen.
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      163. Thanks for the video. I am using Exos 14TB hdd in my new DS1522+ system hope that’s okay. I got that incompatibility warning as well but ignored it.
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      164. I have a Synology DS918+, but the way I’ve always tried to use it is to basically make my setup idempotent as it were. What I mean is everything I host on there, I just host it with Docker using Docker Compose, so if I ever got another NAS, or built my own server – whether it was Unraid, TrueNAS Scale, or just plain Debian, I ought to be able to just install Docker on it, then copy my docker folder over to it (which contains the docker-compose.yml and all the persistent storage for my containers), then run: docker-compose up -d, and all my stuff should basically just work, without being dependent on a particular operating system or vendor.

        The only “first party” Synology things I use tend to be monitoring and backup. I do use Hyper Backup to backup my important stuff to Backblaze B2, but I’m wondering if Hyper Backup makes a backup that only a Synology NAS could read. If my NAS died would be be able to recover my data without buying another Synology NAS?
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      165. Great overview mate. My only gripe, as always, is no DTS support on video station. I have to transcode my videos before putting them up on the Nas. Why don’t they simply charge the user a fee for a license to which I am willing to pay? Being I don’t use Plex, does Plex play DTS videos on a Synology NAS? Thanx Robbie & G’day! ????????????????????
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      166. I’m somewhat of a novice and this may be a dumb question, but HDDs seem like plug and play hardware, why would some drives not be compatible with Synology NASes?
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      167. We don’t need discuss 2.5 GbE, 1 GbE has effectively been the standard for LANs at the edge for over a decade. Thanks to Moore’s Law, computer power doubles, every 18 months (or less), so very quickly LAN speeds need to improve by an order of magnitude (x 10) to be significant.
        What few (none?) of the network companies have realised is that computers now come equipped with Thunderbolt 4/USB4 ports and Thunderbolt Hubs. Over our PANs we are already doing 40 GbE. We need switches with TB4 ports, Fairly predictably, network equipment brands have fallen into the trap of treating 2.5 GbE as the new normal.
        The new normal is 40 GbE.
        We can do 7+ Gb over 5G mobile networks.
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      168. 2.5g isn’t futureproofing. 10g has been around for much longer than 2.5g or 5g… if you’re going to use cat5/6 cables, just go to 10g. the only reason I can think of that companies are feeding us 2.5 and 5g right now is in attempt to segregate a market that started and should be homogeneous. 10g is the way of things right now, today. but even that’s not futureproofing. if you want to futureproof, you should get 10g sfp+ switches and nics and use om3 fiber and/or dac cables to make your connections. the reason for this is that sfp+ is 10g, uses less power, and if you use fiber connections, that fiber will later be able to run 25g, 50g, and 100g (and probably more later on) via bonding multiple frequencies of laser communications together in a single strand of fiber. if you’re building a house today, put om3 in the walls and be happy. worst case scenario, you want to use one or more rj45 based network devices and you buy a 3-5 port sfp+ switch and use sfp+ to 10g ethernet modules for the devices you want to use. the biggest reasons to go with 10g: copying large files (such as videos you’ve got today with your nice video camera), photos from a dslr camera, high resolution audio recordings, backups to and from your NAS. virtual machine migrations for high availability or automatic resource re balancing for homelabbing and/or hosting of services from your home such as nextcloud, video game servers, plex server so you can store your dvd and blu-ray collection on your NAS and distribute that content to every computer, tv, phone, and tablet in your home and outside of your home when you travel, etc. and now that residential fiber is FINALLY gaining traction (I live in rural ct (I can literally walk to cows) and was just offered symmetrical 5 gigabit fiber (I took them up on the symmetrical 2g fiber because it was the same $110 I was spending on 600/25 from charter spectrum cable)), and in some other places, you can get up to symmetrical 10g now.
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      169. My ISP model is 2.5GbE, most recent motherboards are 2.5GbE, NAS more often come with the red 2.5GbE socket now. It’s a no-brainer to just get a 2.5g switch and be done with it. gigabit network is basically slowly dissapearing with the current hardware being sold.
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      170. will you notice or need 2.5 times better throughput for local file transfers vs 1gig? if you don’t do much transfers, and you are not running a time critical business(or personal req) that requires it, then probably not.

        but where it may matter is for the upcoming wifi 7 stuff will will benefit from multigig (without it, you will simply be bottlenecked. if you are going to get wifi7, get multi gig networking gear to go with it, e.g. switches, nics etc)

        homelab networking enthusiasts may also appreciate more than the standard 1gig.

        Also in 2023, a lot of motherboards nowadays have 2.5gbe. You would have to go out of your way to go for the cheapest possible motherboard to get a 1gbe port.
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      171. The issue with 2.5G is the switches… If you poke around, you can get 10GbE for the same or less than 2.5G, especially if you like old Enterprise gear as I do. I can set up 10gig for way less than I can for 2.5gig, as Enterprise skipped 2.5Gig thus it’s not around in the used market. If you need managed switches, like I do, then 2.5G actually costs more than 10gig. Since regular cat6 cables can handle 10gig speeds over shorter cable lengths, it’s less of an issue than you make it out to be.
        2.5G may be on a lot of new devices, but if the supporting hardware is more expensive than 10gig, it’s pointless.
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      172. Your talk about futureproofing really hit me. Its one of the reasons (having GbE FTTP WAN/Internet already) I was determined that when I finally paid a decent chunk for a new router, it MUST have at least 2.5GbE WAN and LAN, rather than the 2.5Gbe WAN OR LAN which seems common, and rather defeats the point IMO, as you’ve got an instant bottleneck.

        I am looking to upgrade the backhaul around my house fairly soon, as it will mean even if my NAS is still only running 1GBps, I will have full capability to max out the internet AND NAS at the same time across the network, or. if its via a machine with 2.5GbE, maximise the internet AND NAS usage at the same time, all the whilst having overhead so other devices on the network can still communicate with each other. Also means I will not be instantly having to run to upgrade equipment if I 1.8/2/2.5Gb FTTP becomes available.

        Im not expecting all of this to happen now. But it may well in the next few years, and will also give additional overhead room for shared bandwidth on the network if multiple machines are heavily active at a given time. Again, not designing around whats capable now,. but what may happen in the next few years.

        The only thing delaying the upgrade is the cost of 2,5GbE switches at the moment, multiple machines around my house already have 2.5GbE NICs, but whereas I can get GbE NICs for pennies, a 2.5GbE Switch is still over £100.
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      173. .900 Gigabit/s= 112.5 MegaBytes/s = a single spinning rust slow sata hard drive speed
        1.1 Gigabit/s= 137.5 MegaBytes/s = a single spinning rust fast sata hard drive speed
        2.3 Gigabit/s= 287.5 MegaBytes/s = generic 2.5Gbit/s Linux data rate
        4.4 Gigabit/s= 550 MegaBytes/s = a good sata ssd
        60 Gigabit/s= 7500 MegaBytes/s = some Gen 4 NVMe PCIe SSDs capable of 7500 MB/s
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      174. 10 GB network is expensive and only makes sense with fiber optic cable. 2.5GB Ethernet can use old CAT5e, CAT6 cables. It also uses less power than 10GB copper Ethernet. Unfortunately, 10GB SFP can not switch to 2.5 GB but then fall back to 1GB.
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      175. I work in business and small datacenter networking, and anything between 1 and 10 Gbps does not exist. SFP, sure, they’re 1, 10, 25, 40, 100 Gbps.

        Even in my home use, I’d rather get everything on 10 Gbps than pay the barely supported premium for 2.5 or 5 Gbps, especially on managed devices.
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      176. I think at this point it’s pretty safe to say that for most non enterprise applications 2.5Gbe is the horse that is firmly in the lead over 5 and 10
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      177. I took your advice and went 2.5gbe and also bought a Asustor AS6702T Nas with NVME storage, I am having the easiest of times setting up the Nas it is so simple. Watching Blu-ray files from the Nas is super fast. Thanks for all your help. Looks like I’m planning for 10gbe in the near future.
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      178. Workstations have 10gbit on almost every port now USB etc. Except for the one you use the most, your network interface port. It is not overkill, it’s falling behind in my opinion. A lot of people rather have wifi for network connections nowadays cause it is surpassing their cabled network speeds and it is more convenient. If you still care to put a cable through the ceiling you better have something that makes it worth it! Large capacity NAS at the read and write speed of local SSDs.
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      179. I have 2.5GBe right now. no switch either. just added an extra 2.5g nic in my server and desktop, and have them as an additional direct NIC. updated hosts file on my server and voila, my server can be accessed at 2.5g for $50.
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      180. Hi m8, watched a good few videos regarding NAS, are you interested in a video tutorial setting up a semi cheap NAS setup with semi total noob build. I Have the parts etc, but cache disk, OS and RAID setup are still total nightmares for someone like myself still surfing channels to find a definitive answer to my questions?
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      181. I belive wifi ratings include the overhead and payload of packets, where ethernet speeds are just the payload, something to keep in mind
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      182. I have 2.5G fiber (upgraded from 1G a couple months ago) in my house. I’m still waiting for a router with multiple 2.5G ports. Most only have it on the WAN or the LAN, but not both. Really frustrating. Hopefully that changes with the upcoming Wifi 7 routers.
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      183. Only the newest 10GbE equipment will negotiate down to 2.5 or 5 gigabit. Those speeds were not available until 2016, when 10 GbE had already been around for a decade.
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      184. I picked up a QNAP TS453D not long back to replace an older Qnap with the dreaded bad firmware update. It’s got twin 2.5Gbe ports on it but the trouble I’ve found is there’s limited routers and network switches currently available to actually utilise this feature. I even decided to update to a wifi 6 router (as I’ve got a wifi 6 laptop). While the routers got link aggregation, they’re still only 1Gbe ports. The only router that did have 2.5Gbe (ASUS) was considerably more pricey and didn’t have link aggregation either – so barely worse off having twin 1Gbe ports.
        Besides, the features only useful IF the laptop had 2.5Gbe capability too. But still OK if you’re running a few devices concurrently sending data (at least the transfer speeds aren’t bottle necked).
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      185. Wish 2.5GbE would become standard, 1GbE is way to slow these days.
        My pc has 2.5GbE, My Router has 2.5GbE, My Synology 5 bay NAS has 1GbE 🙁
        Network is only as good as the weakest link.
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      186. You touched on it, but to expand:
        You are only going to get a maximum speed equal to the weakest link in the chain.
        If your Internet and router is 2.5gbps, but your switch is 1gbps and your old laptop’s network card is 100mbps, then you will never get performance from that laptop faster than 100mbps.
        I have 300mbps ethernet and 1 PC with 1gbps LAN, and 2 PC sticks with 100mbps LAN.
        The PC sticks will only ever send/receive at a max of 100mbps to either the internet, the other PC stick, or the PC.
        The PC will only get internet of 300mbps and the communication between the PC and the sticks will be 100mbps max.
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      187. I don’t really need 2.5g everywhere , but I would like it on my core connections. sadly I cannot find a cheap 4 or 8 port switch (unmanaged) with a 2.5g uplink port and the rest as 1GB ports . If anyone knows of one , comment below.
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      188. Fun future-proofing story – built my house over 20 years ago. The town had no cable internet yet, but I still had every phone plate box run with 2 Cat 5 cables. First, wired for multiple phone lines, then DSL came. When real ISP came, 4 wires got me 100Mb speed. As we didn’t need the phone lines for dial up, over time I rewired each port to have full 8 wire 1Gb connectivity.

        At 2.5Gb, it’s only one room that needs this. My home office with multiple computers and NAS. Exactly right that 2.5 is pretty cheap to add, and my spinning drives aren’t saturating that. Unless I change to a RAID configuration on the desktop, this setup will work for quite a while.
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      189. 95% of homes have cat5e, so there’s no question of 10GbE without ripping the walls, which isn’t a problem at 2.5GbE. 95% of WiFi6 APs have 1 GbE LAN, so how do you want to use the full WiFi6 bandwidth, between laptop and NAS, laptop and internet etc. If you want to take full advantage of WIFi 6, you have to buy the most expensive AP which has, guess what… 2.5GbE LAN.
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      190. Yes but only if you buy basic nas’s, 10gbe is better , you can buy 10gbe 2nd hand switches and nics so cheaply now and often only need a switch with 2 x10 for your main pc and nas.

        1100mps is what your nas can do in a raid or with m.2 on 10gbe.

        280mps is good for budget nas’s where you have max 2 drives mech models or cheap Sata SSD’s its good to see entry level at 2.5gbe
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      191. Synology is sadly missing the Boat. I have 1 2.5 Gb Network on almost all the workstations Server, 2.5GBe I will have Fiber connect soon. Qnap and many other have Nas have 2.5Gbe , I have talked to Synology Tech Support no word on any 2.5GBe sadly Nas box after 2.5GB Fiber, will be the slowest device in the Network , Does anyone have and info on 2.5GBe from Synology
        Qnap has had it for years
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      192. Nice! Would like to see a 2.5gb video showing a setup. Maybe with connectivty to NAS devices that don’t have a 2.5gb adapter (usb or card added) and a more modern one. What Cables do i need? Virutalization station concerns? Port binding? that sort of thing.
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      193. Don’t forget to check your specs. Many early 10Gbe chipsets don’t support 2.5Gbe and 5Gbe. Buying cheaper switches may leave you stuck at 1Gbps if they don’t support the middle speeds.
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      194. I went with 2.5Gbe on my 4 bay NAS. It’s an older Asustor unit. Several computers need to access it at the same time. My Plex Server saves all DVR files there and my Transcoding setup transfers files off and back on. It really helped with congestion when streaming from Plex. I’d go up to 10Gbe with my next NAS.
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      195. I really love your videos! You explain things in such clarity just one thing, why are they so long?
        I noticed that in one of your videos you repeated the same thing 4 times (different examples) before getting to the heart of the issue.
        Can you please try to make your videos shorter?

        Thanks!
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      196. Want full 2.5/10Gb speed? Full DATA PATH upgrade is always required 🙂

        2.5Gb should be an entry data speed standard. 1Gb is to just slow for current performance of internal devices. Also 2.5Gb might be last standard that can be thermally manageable in laptops or SFF/Thin clients. 5 and 10 are just too hot. Also 5 and 10Gb are fast but use of external USB/Thunderbolt devices is not what you would call stable…
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      197. Thank you for putting this out, practical thinking is hard to do when speed is the topic. Time to stay grounded and avoiding distractions is the way for me. Lol. Cheers.
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      198. Ese atuendo me vuelve loco fukada-jpp.monster loco contigo y tienes ese cuerpo curvilíneo, hiciste un buen trabajo modelándolo también. También me gusta el último atuendo. Me encantac cómo los cinturones de liga se.
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      199. Firstly, I am impressed by your ability to count by 2.5. I have a new PC arriving today that has 2.5GbE built in. Luckily, it also has 10GbE built in. (It’s a Core i9 Intel NUC 12 Extreme.) I’ve been 10GbE in my home lab for nearly a decade, starting with a Netgear switch, progressing to as used Arista Networks switch and finally installing a Ubiquiti aggregation switch a few months ago. The Ubiquiti switch has four 25GbE ports as well, so I’ve gone an upgraded my two Dell PowerEdge servers to 25GbE with Mellanox fibre cards. I’ve upgraded my two big Synology NASes as well. The Synologys support the Mellanox cards out of the box. I consider the 2.5GbE standard a “feature” aimed at consumers to get them to buy hardware (again). 10GbE is and has been an enterprise solution for a very long time now. It’s too bad vendors have been so slow to get on the 10GbE bandwagon. A 10GbE NIC or switch shouldn’t have to cost more than a 1GbE or 2.5GbE NIC or switch.
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      200. For a home/SOHO network, being able to transfer files at around 280MB/s is a big upgrade from just 105MB/s. That reason alone is enough to use 2.5GbE.
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      201. for me convient. faster than 1 GB, cheap, works fine and none of my Hardware is bottlenecking it. Did i think about 10gig…yes, but this would have caused such an upgrade cascade….
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