Why would you EVER buy a Synology NAS?

Synology NAS devices have worse hardware and cost more than their competitors, so why would you ever buy one?

DISCLAIMER: The information in this video has been self-taught through years of technical tinkering. While we do our best to provide accurate, useful information, we make no guarantee that our viewers will achieve the same level of success. WunderTech does not assume liability nor responsibility to any person or entity with respect to damage caused directly or indirectly from its content or associated media. Use at your own risk.

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0:00 Intro
0:40 What Makes Synology Devices Good?
1:04 What's Important for NAS Hardware?
2:35 DiskStation Manager (DSM) and Why It's Good
5:10 What Other NAS Brands Get Wrong
7:20 Why You Bought a Synology NAS
7:56 DO YOUR OWN RESEARCH

[WunderTechTutorials]

There's been a lot of great discussion here and first, I want to thank you all for watching and commenting. I do think it's important that I clarify something though - there are a lot of comments suggesting that I am implying that Synology > TrueNAS. I'm not. I use TrueNAS and love it. ZFS is great. However, I am specifically NOT talking about these NAS operating systems in this video (Unraid, TrueNAS, OMV, etc). I am talking about the prebuilt NAS devices that generally come with their own proprietary OS installed. If you are capable of configuring your own NAS device, you should. It will be exactly what you want and you won't have to play the game of picking between hardware + OS devices, but a lot of people aren't. In this space, I stand firm that I believe Synology is the best option though it's my opinion and that doesn't make it right. I'm also not saying this because I want you to buy a Synology device - I am just sharing my experiences. As mentioned in the video, you should purchase what you want and what you're comfortable with. What I AM saying however, is that if you are picking a prebuilt NAS device that comes with a proprietary OS simply based on hardware specs, you're not looking at the whole picture.

Either way, I didn't expect NEARLY this many views or comments when I released the video so I appreciate all of you who watched and commented. I think it shines a great light on some of the options consumers have that the video didn't go into, so thank you for sharing!

[OistheOne]

I also agree with the overall point of the video, however, the comment that "Synology doesn't have to innovate" is the attitude that took down many great companies: complacency.

[TheWoodad]

Frank, 100% agree: DSM justifies the cost of Synology over competitors that may have better hardware. Superior hardware means nothing if your data is gone or the NAS tools are janky or unreliable. I would hope that anyone who owns a NAS has good backups. But more importantly, a restore strategy. If your data cannot be restored, backups are useless and so is the NAS. DSM offers many great apps and features OOB. Your pyramid analogy is spot-on, too. Coming from many years of ZFS experience, rock-solid filesystem w/volume management is a must-have. Initially I wasn't keen on Synology's choice to go with btrfs but after more than a year of use I've had no issues and have been very pleased with it and Synology's SHR. FWIW, I'm running a 1522+ with 5 12TB IronWolf drives in SHR-2.

[ryanw]

Steve Jobs once said that Apple was fundamentally a software company. It looks like Synology took a lesson.

[DavidM]

You pretty much nailed it Frank. I own 3 brands of NAS and have installed Proxmox and Unraid on old hardware to test and generally just muck about with. Unless you are a really serious tinkerer and understand networks, sharing, etc, don't even consider Proxmox or Unraid. If I had to give up all but one, I would keep my Synology although QNAP would still be a close 2nd because of the hardware. If you understand networking, shares, etc and you like to deep tinker into your stuff, you may just prefer QNAP. But for the other vast majority who just want their NAS to work day after day and don't care about all of the technical spec's because they don't need the extra performance, buy Synology. If I didn't also have a QNAP, I would likely buy a 2 bay Synology to backup my main 4 bay Synology.

[raycollington]

Thank you Frank. This cleared some of my recent thinking about alternate hardware. Decision made for me.🙏

[pointblank]

Your points in this video echoes a lot of other stuff I've read about in researching on my first NAS: That Synology is expensive, not the best hardware wise, but goddamn it Just Works

As someone who just wants a convenient little box to backup their important files, and doesn't want to spend their weekends tinkering and fiddling over DIY solutions that would probably give me more headaches than solutions, a Synology NAS really sounds like a no brainer

I've seen sponsored shit all over the web of other NAS options, and there's been a proliferation of Chinese NAS devices, but at the end of the day, I want to experience life and not waste time and money on a device that shits the bed on the fundamentals

Thanks for the super easy to understand video. It was very helpful!

[pnhlesb]

Another aspect of using older hardware from an OEM like Synology's point of view is that old hardware is much more thoroughly tested and hopefully the problems have been ironed out fully. You aren't building a gaming rig; with a NAS the idea is longevity, so the choice is a storage box with the best-tested and longest-lasting CPU. And a newer server CPU might have some edge case problem that isn't resolved. Every hardware move from Synology is to remain on a rock-solid footing so their software isn't compromised on any level.

[straineddig]

FIrst was Netgear Stora, providing photography services for my iMac and Canon D6. iMac HDD crashed, Stora Crashed, 15K+ photos lost! Bought a Pegasus R6 in 2010 and currently still run it as a DAS for my Mac Mini M1 unit with 10GBe to the network. Just bought a DS1621+ and am in the process of installation after 1 week of stress testing it for stability. I have to admit, it was difficult justifying 3 y/o hardware for the total $$ spent to install to my specs. But, after 1 week of trying to break it, and failing miserably, i finally finalized the installation and put it into production. Pegasus R6 is now a second backup and another Synology NAS (723+ or similar) will occupy the dedicated backup for the entire system on site. Offsite backups are trio already but tax the network because i run them overnight on schedule. Synology cost = more, images lost = zero, sleep lost = NONE! You get what you pay for. I want reliability. Will pay thousands for reliability.

[VMXGroove]

I totally agree. Synology is the best. I have two 5 bay units. They are basically mirrors. The primary backs up the secondary every night. This seems to work well for me. However, I can't seem to make it a true mirror. I initially wanted to have files immediately write to both independent NAS units. Couldn't make it work. Called Synology, they said it isn't possible. You should make a video about that. Two independent Synology NAS units in a mirror.

[jontakaki]

I use synology but I think, coming from a developer background, it's a rip off. They disabled many features of open source software or make it hard to install, or risky, using 3rd party vendors that aren't audited. For instance they want you to use their own synology surveillance station and pay the expensive licenses fees per camera, when you could spin off your own open source system provided they hadn't disabled many common features found in ffmpeg for instance.

[blcjck]

Completely agree. Best software out there. They're essentially following Apple's playbook. Normally any of this wouldn't bother me. But in recent years since they started with their restrictions on RAM, and especially SSD/HDDs, is definitely the kind of BS that's pissing me off, and makes me want to go elsewhere. Because make no mistake, Synology knows what they're doing, when pulling stunts like this, all the while selling subpar accessories, for double the price or more, and lying to customers about why.

[-someone-.]

Thx for this! Ugreen have been promoting their new kickstarter, so this is really useful info.
👋👊

[JokerTheVlad]

Why I have not yet bought a NAS! I have 10 gig home connection and this company feels like it is stuck in 2013

[nikolaradovic]

Sorry, can someone help me ? I had setup my old laptop for Synology dsm nas server and they work great, but it only about testing environment.Now i have want to make real nas like pc : motherboard with 6 hdd and 2 nvme, ryzen 2600, …, and i dont know does it works (which of these nas synology sever they will be, now on my laptop is some 4021xs ), or i must buy orginaly nas server configuration like synology ds1621+ (but i didint like configuration, it is very weak)
Thanks for reply

[joemc]

Does anyone know if Synology will be releasing new models anytime soon?

[dronemaneuvers]

Got lucky that I found the best deal on facebook. I bought a DS1821+ with 3 pcs 18tb wd and it's working good! another 2 pcs on the way now. Thanks for this video!

[pfitz]

I've been using Synology since 2011 and have found DSM to be rock solid!!! I currently have a DS718.. I'm looking to upgrade to newer hardware with 4 drive bays, but finding Synology current hardware a bit lacking. Hopefully Synology will be release some more capable hardware in the near future.

[RAG]

Love synology. Had it for years. Just bought qnap ts 473a. I really wanted the ram for ai photo mgt.

[BotraxDiaz]

Going PC when my Synology dies. No more proprietary file systems that I can't read elsewhere, no more proprietary hardware.