Sky
Regular Contributor
In reality it's not quite like that. They will fully support the NAS, but if an issue comes down to one or more of the drives themselves, they back away. That makes sense since the drive-proper support needs to come from the drive vendor/manufacturer.I'm looking to replace my NAS, while keeping the old one around for backups. At the top of my list was the DS1520+, which seemed the one to buy until I heard the DS1522+ is expected this year. Then, I thought the latter would be better -- two years' more software maintenance -- but looking at the spec sheet, Synology will fully support it only with Synology hard drives. This seems to be a gouging move, as they are priced at about twice the reputable competition (WD Gold, WD Red Pro, Seagate Ironwolf Pro). So now, I'm thinking (especially as I have drives on hand), I'd be better off with the older model.
Thoughts? Comments? Am I missing anything? What do other Synology users think about this money grab?
Thanks!
You can use third-party drives and not sacrifice any support if you buy drives off of their compatibility list. Those drive-firmware-NAS combinations have been tested and shown reliable. You have to be careful here. What was tested and shown compatible in say a DS918+, is not necessarily compatible with a DS920+, and vice versa. Also, just because drive brand-model-fw 123.123 is compatible with the NAS you are using, does not mean drive brand-model-fw 123.125 is going to be compatible. <<— really important!
*If* you spend the extra $ to buy their drives, then they support the drives, they ensure the firmware updates work, and … drumroll … they will ship you replacement gear up front and await the return of your bad gear. Advance shipping on RMA's is no small thing. So yes, their drives are expensive, but they include a lot of value-add.
Sky
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