Synology NAS: Which Models Fully Support, Partially Support, or Block Third-Party Drives

Synology has increasingly been promoting its own line of hard drives ( HAT53xx enterprise and HAT33xx Plus) . They have strict compatibility enforcement on many models, limiting support for third-party drives. This article helps you quickly identify which Synology NAS models allow third-party disks and which ones require Synology-branded drives, so you can make an informed decision before buying.

So based on the level of third party drive compatibility- Synology NAS models can now be broadly divided into three categories as follows

Category 1 : Full Compatibility of 3rd Party drives (Up to 16TB)

The following models support third-party HDDs and SSDs up to 16TB. You can confidently use your preferred brands like WD, Seagate, or Toshiba without facing compatibility issues:

• DS224+, DS723+, DS423, DS423+, DS923+
• RS422+, RS822+, RS822RP+, RS1619xs+, DS1522+
• DS620slim, DS1621+, DS1821+
• RS1221+, RS1221RP+, RS3618xs
• SA3200D, UC3200

Category 2 : Partial Compatibility of Third party drives

Some models allow only limited capacity or specific drive types:

• UC3400 – Third-party drives supported up to 10TB
• FS2500 / FS3600 – Only third-party SSD drives supported up to 3.84TB
• DS124, DS223j, DS223, FS6400 – Third-party drive support confirmed without explicit capacity limitations
• SA3400D, SA3410, SA3610 - SA series only support third-party SAS SSDs. Since Synology does not offer SAS SSDs in their own product lineup, it is understandable that third-party SAS drives remain supported on these models. In SATA SSDs where Synology has an offering, only Synology drives are allowed
• RS3621RPxs, RS3621xs+, RS2821RP+, RS4021xs+, DS2422+, DS3622xs+ : In third party hard drives, they only accept 4TB Ultrastar or Exos drives. For all the higher capacities they only allow synology drives

Category 3 : No Third-Party Drive Support

For these models, only Synology-branded drives are officially supported. Third-party HDDs or SSDs may either be blocked entirely or operate in degraded/unreliable states:

• DS1823xs+, RS2423+, RS2423RP+, SA6400, FS3410, HD6500, DS925+

Why This Matters

Synology has been steadily tightening control over which drives can be used in their NAS systems—particularly in enterprise and high-performance models. This impacts scalability, costs, and long-term flexibility. It’s essential to purchase your NAS with a clear understanding of the approved drive options, so you can make an informed decision.

At PNP, we guide you in selecting the right NAS model based on your workload and budget, offering transparent advice on drive compatibility. When you purchase both the NAS and drives from us, we also provide free pre-configuration and burn-in testing to ensure your system is ready to perform from day one.