Synology introduces the DS925+. This NAS brings some minor improvements, but in many cases doesn’t seem to be a real step forward compared to its predecessor.
Synology introduces the DiskStation DS925+. This 4-bay NAS succeeds the DS923+ and looks identical from the outside. The new DS925+ stands out mainly for what it cannot do. Synology has removed the NAS’s compatibility with HDDs from external manufacturers. From now on, you can only use hard drives issued by Synology itself in the NAS, unless you’re upgrading from an old system with existing drives.
Vendor Lock-in Included
Synology provides a compatibility list that exclusively consists of its own drives. All ‘plus’ NAS systems from now on will be restricted in terms of drive compatibility. Currently, there’s no place for NAS drives like the Seagate Ironwolf series or Western Digital Red. If you insert a different drive into the NAS, the system goes into warning mode, artificially denies access to certain functions, and provides no support.
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Synology to Artificially Restrict HDD Compatibility for Plus Models
The Taiwanese manufacturer justifies this choice by arguing that it could offer better support. The locking down of the ecosystem is not well-received by users, who have been massively expressing their dissatisfaction on forums for weeks about what they see as a customer-unfriendly strategy.
In a poll among users on Reddit with 1,193 respondents, an overwhelming majority (935 people) indicate that Synology’s walled garden approach will steer them towards another manufacturer when purchasing a new NAS.
Old CPU but with 2.5 GbE
The DS925+ has the dubious honor of being the standard-bearer for the new strategy. Yet Synology does little to justify the new approach in terms of hardware. The DS925+ doesn’t differ much from its predecessor. Synology replaces the old AMD Ryzen R1600 (introduced in 2019) with an even older AMD Ryzen V1500B (launched in 2019).
In all fairness, we must note that the Ryzen V1500B is the better chip. The quad-core processor has multithreading on board and has a lower TDP (16 watts vs. 25 watts). On the other hand, the clock speed per core is slightly lower (2.2 GHz vs. 2.6 GHz).
While competitors like Qnap equip their latest NAS systems with somewhat recent processors, Synology stubbornly sticks to older CPUs. With this NAS, the manufacturer finally makes the leap to 2.5 GbE as standard, years after the competition. Two 2.5 GbE connections are standard.
Synology further delivers the NAS with 4 GB RAM (DDR4, given the old processor), although you can expand the memory yourself up to 32 GB. Two M.2 NVMe slots for SSDs are available. For these SSDs too, you must compulsorily turn to Synology’s own shop: despite the wide range of enterprise-worthy hardware available on the market, Synology again limits compatibility.
Focus on DSM
Synology relies on the quality of its excellent DiskStation Manager (DSM) operating system to compensate for the modest hardware and compatibility hassles. The manufacturer is indeed ahead of the rest in this respect, with a powerful yet user-friendly operating system, although its functionality has also been diminishing a bit lately.
Along with the new NAS, Synology also launches a new expansion unit: the DX525. It has space for five extra (Synology) drives.
Synology has not yet shared local prices or availability for the NAS. Based on the pricing strategy for previous models, we expect a recommended price of about 600 euros including VAT. Details for the expansion unit are also still awaited.