Synology has a new 2025 NAS drive compatibility policy that will limit what drives you can use. Here is what you need to know about what changed, and what it means for existing Synology users.
Updated @ 2025-05-02 : Added tables of HDD and SSD compatibility policies, and other changes
Originally posted @ 2025-04-30
Synology Introduces New NAS Drive Compatibility Policy
With the introduction of the 25 Series of network-attached storage (NAS) systems, Synology is introducing a new drive compatibility policy that will limit what drives you can use.
According to Synology, this new NAS drive compatibility policy is meant to ensure “better compatibility, reducing issues users face”. Here is its official statement on this new policy (with our emphasis in bold):
Following the success of the High-Performance series, the company is now increasingly relying on Synology’s own storage media for the Plus series models, which will be released starting in 2025. Users will thus benefit from higher performance, increased reliability, and more efficient support.
“With our proprietary hard drive solution, we have already seen significant benefits for our customers in a variety of deployment scenarios,” said Chad Chiang, Managing Director of Synology GmbH and Synology UK. “By expanding our integrated ecosystem to the Plus series, we aim to provide all users—from home users to small businesses—with the highest levels of security and performance, while also offering significantly more efficient support.”
For users, this means that starting with the Plus series models released in 2025, only Synology’s own hard drives and third-party hard drives certified according to Synology’s specifications will be compatible and offer the full range of functions and support.
There will be no changes for Plus models released up to and including 2024 (excluding the XS Plus series and rack models). Furthermore, migrating hard drives from existing Synology NAS to a new Plus model will continue to be possible without restrictions.
The use of compatible and unlisted hard drives will be subject to certain restrictions in the future, such as pool creation and support for issues and failures caused by the use of incompatible storage media. Volume-wide deduplication, lifespan analysis, and automatic hard drive firmware updates will only be available for Synology hard drives in the future.
Tight integration of Synology NAS systems and hard drives reduces compatibility issues and increases system reliability and performance. At the same time, firmware updates and security patches can be deployed more efficiently, ensuring a high level of data security and more efficient support for Synology customers.
That sure sounds ominous, doesn’t it? So let me summarise what you need to know about this new Synology policy governing “drive compatibility” for its NAS systems.
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2025 Synology NAS Drive Compatibility Policy Explained
What the new drive compatibility policy basically means is that, starting from the 25 Series onwards, Synology will only support the use of Synology-branded or -certified drives for its Plus Series of NAS systems.
Currently, the compatibility list for 25 Series models will mostly consist of Synology-branded drives, with the exception of SAS and NAS-grade SSDs. But even that is due to “their current unavailability from Synology“.
It appears that the strategy is to get users to populate their future Synology NAS systems with Synology-branded hard disk drives, and eventually – solid state drives as well. So for now, there will be some allowances.
Drive compatibility policy does not apply to Value / J-Series
For now, the Synology Drive Compatibility Policy is limited to the Plus Series models and above. It will not apply to lower-end models, like the Value or J-Series models.
At the moment, here is the drive compatibility policy for hard disk drives (HDDs):
| Synology Storage Series | HDD Compatibility Policy |
| FS, HD, SA, UC, XS+, XS, Plus, DVA/NVR, DP |
Only compatible HDDs supported Migration of incompatible HDDs allowed |
| Value, J | No limitation |
And here is the drive compatibility policy for solid state drives (SSDs):
| Synology Storage Series | SSD Compatibility Policy |
| FS, HD, SA, UC, XS+, XS, DVA/NVR, DP |
Only compatible SSDs supported Migration of incompatible SSDs allowed |
| Plus | Incompatible SSDs will be usable, but appear as Unverified |
| Value, J | No limitation |
Drive compatibility policy will not apply retroactively
The new drive compatibility policy will only apply to models launched in 2025 and beyond. It will not apply retroactively to systems that have already been launched.
The policy is only being enforced for HDDs for Plus Series
Synology is only enforcing the Drive Compatibility Policy for hard disk drives (HDDs) for the Plus series, but not solid state drives (SSDs). However, if you choose to use third-party SSDs that are not in the compatibility list, you will get “warning messages“.
This policy is set to change in the future, and will only last “as long as the Synology SSD lineup remains limited“.
DSM upgrades won’t enforce new drive compatibility policy
The drive compatibility policy is tied to the system, and not the DSM (DiskStation Manager) software. So you can upgrade to the latest DSM, without worrying about the new drive compatibility policy being enforced.
You can migrate “incompatible” drives
You will be allowed to migrate “incompatible” drives to a new Synology NAS, and continue to use them. However, you cannot expand the storage pool, or create new ones, on the old drives.
What drives are compatible?
Synology has not yet released a list of compatible drives for the new 25 Series NAS systems. But you can check out the latest compatibility list of Synology-branded and third-party drives here.
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