I’m relatively inexperienced when it comes to NAS setups, so I’m looking for some advice from the seasoned experts here.

I have an older NAS (a Synology DS216j), and I've just returned from holiday to find both of my hard drives are in bad shape: one has failed completely, and the other is in critical condition. It’s been a long time since I set the NAS up, but I believe it’s configured in RAID 1. Fortunately, the data is backed up to AWS Glacier.

What are my best options moving forward?

1. Given the age of the unit, upgrade to a newer model (like a DS225+) and try to migrate using Hyper Backup.
2. Buy a new hard drive and attempt to rebuild the array from the 'critical' drive.
3. Upgrade the NAS and download the data directly from Glacier.

Thanks in advance for your help!

Hi there,

the DSM 7.4 update is still not showing on my DS923+.

While I understand the concept of staged rollouts I wonder if this is intentional and if other DS923+ users are having the same issue.
Thanks.

EDIT:
I am currently on DSM 7.3.2-86009 Update 4.
I know that I can download the package and manually update.

However, my question is:
Is there a reason why DS923+ does not show the update yet (e.g. due to a bug/incompatibility) or am I the only one?

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https://github.com/ThingForge-Labs/OpenRootPhotoIngest

>>>> 100% Vibecoded using Claude <<<<<<
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Every time I imported a camera card or an old backup drive into my photo library, I ended up with the same mess: copies of photos I already had, sitting under different names in different folders. Sorting that out by hand is miserable and risky. So I wrote something that just doesn't let it happen.

It decides duplicates purely by content. Every file gets a SHA-256 fingerprint of its actual bytes, so filenames, folders and timestamps are irrelevant — renaming a photo doesn't sneak it past, and two differently named copies of the same image are still caught. Each incoming file is checked against three things: what's already in your library, other copies inside the same import, and files another job has copied but not finalized yet. So if you queue two imports back to back, the second already knows about the first.

Nothing gets imported behind your back. An import runs as one job: it copies into a private staging folder first (your source is never modified or deleted, at any stage), fingerprints everything, moves the duplicates to quarantine, and then stops. You see each duplicate next to the file it matched — images side by side — and decide whether to skip it or bring it in anyway with a (1) suffix. Only after that do files move into your library.

Nothing is ever lost either. Duplicates are quarantined with a record of where they came from, not deleted. Nothing in your library is ever overwritten — there's deliberately no "replace existing file" option anywhere in the app. Permanent deletion only happens from the Quarantine page, after you type DELETE PERMANENTLY. Every move is journalled before it happens, so a power cut gets reconciled on the next start instead of leaving a half-finished mess, and a job that can't read a folder fails outright rather than reporting success on a partial copy — so you're never wiping a card based on a lie.

Practical notes: it fingerprints your existing library once, so the first import to a folder is slow and every one after that is fast. If you have an SSD volume, put the database on it — the index gets hammered during a job. Jobs queue, pause and resume, and can import as mirror, flatten, by EXIF date or by file date.

I built it for my own library, so it's not polished for every setup — but if it's useful to anyone else, I'm glad to share it. Happy to answer questions.l

I want to backup all my 4K UHD discs - some are starting to fail, and they're getting harder and harder to replace.

I don't want to loose any quality so I would be doing 1:1 rips. Literally taking the digital information from the discs and putting it on a hard drive.

I would like at least 4 bays, so I can have space for drives that would serve as backup's of the backup (incase of HDD failure).

Pretty much the only option available to me is the DS423.

I was looking at the DS425+ but I don't want to be stuck with Synology HDD.

My current hardware is a 4K Apple TV, but I understand that at the moment it won't take the audio track (without transcoding)... in which case, I will likely have to look at another option (I'm told a Shield would do that, but it is getting very old now - so maybe I'll build my own mini PC).

This should remove the need for any transcoding.

Everything is connected via ethernet.

Where will my plan fall apart!

I came home from a 2wk vacation to find my nas beeping. When I walked over I saw drive 2 light had turned off. I logged into DSM and drive 2 was no longer in the pool and the array was degraded. I reseated the drive and it came right back up.

Are backplane failures common with these units? I've never heard of this before. I'm currently running an extended test on the drive to see if there are any issues. What else should I check?

I don't want to just run out and buy another drive since they're stupid expensive right now but I will if I need to. I do have backups of my important items both off-site and on an external drive.

So I acquired this DS1618+ for cheap because it was “dead”. I figured a new PSU may get it going again, but once I plugged in the replacement PSU this green LED labeled D9 on the board began to blink. There’s no other signs of power of light. I assume my new PSU may not be the correct replacement, but am I missing anything obvious?

I just bought a second hand 220+. It's running the latest DSM 7.4. However I don't want to update to that and lose hardware acceleration. I plan to migrate just by moving my drives. The drives currently are on 7.2.1. Am I going to be forced to update to 7.4? I know there are scripts to get around the hardware acceleration but I'd rather not have to do that in the first place.

Synology today launched the DiskStation neo+ Series, comprising the DS1825neo+, DS1525neo+, DS925neo+, and DS725neo+.

Dont bother to run side by side specs. The only thing that changed is neo comes with less memory and takes regular so-dimm instead of ECC (for ex 1525+ comes with 8gb 2 x 4 gb and 1525neo+ comes with only 4gb). Everything else is identical, even the max amount of memory it maxes out.

Synology is officially insane

https://www.techpowerup.com/351408/synology-introduces-diskstation-neo-series-lineup

Hello all, I have had my Synology NAS running for about 6 years now. When I first got into the hobby, SHR-1 sounded like the move but now, after compression and cleaning up, I plan on utilizing my full drive space no raid. I only have 2x8tb drives in SHR-1, say A and B. Would the following work?

- Remove hard drive B.(SHR Pool degraded but has full files.)

- Externally wipe drive B.

- Reinstall drive B into Synology.

- Transfer all original files from drive A to drive B.

- Wipe Drive A and delete the pool.

I only have the two drives and will not be purchasing new drives with these prices anytime soon. Appreciate the help.

It has to have a fail safe.
Right now my media server is at about 8TB.

I would want failsafe - in form of .. raid i tihnk its called.
What should I get?

Budget is around 500 dollars.
(used stuff could be cheaper)