Synology has backtracked on one of its most unpopular decisions in years. After seeing NAS sales plummet in 2025, the company has decided to lift restrictions that forced users to buy its own Synology hard drives.
Look for a used Gen 8 HP microserver. 4 3.5 bays, replaceable cpus from celeron to some xeons. Upgradeable ram. An extra slim CD bay that can be reourposed for an SSD, power sippy, pretty nice looking, not super silent, but replaceable fans,
I really like mine, and it’s running Xpenology, essentially Synology OS
Look for a used Gen 8 HP microserver. 4 3.5 bays, replaceable cpus from celeron to some xeons. Upgradeable ram. An extra slim CD bay that can be reourposed for an SSD, power sippy, pretty nice looking, not super silent, but replaceable fans,
I really like mine, and it’s running Xpenology, essentially Synology OS
I think it will be a custom build next time. I’ll still use the old one just for backing up photos from my phone.
Do want something that’s quiet and sips power when idle, but can easily transcode any content when needed.