How is Synology's Legacy Support?

[castlefox]

I have been looking for buying the DS213 for the last 6months but I just looked up my Amazon account and the DS213+ is also listed for 299.00 right now! While I realize they are coming out with the new 14 generation hardware right now since it is 100 bucks off right now.

I was wondering how Synology's track record was on supporting their older hardware? I am strongly thinking of buying the DS213+ in the next couple days but I was wondering if anyone had opinions on how well Synology supports previous hardware generations?

 

[PrivateJoker]

I have been looking for buying the DS213 for the last 6months but I just looked up my Amazon account and the DS213+ is also listed for 299.00 right now! While I realize they are coming out with the new 14 generation hardware right now since it is 100 bucks off right now.

I was wondering how Synology's track record was on supporting their older hardware? I am strongly thinking of buying the DS213+ in the next couple days but I was wondering if anyone had opinions on how well Synology supports previous hardware generations?

It's excellent, the backward compatibility on the the older models with new versions of DSM OS is always pretty good. I've had a 212+ for over a year and it's been updated through a few iterations of DSM (4.1, 4.2, 4.3) and there are substantial improvements in each rev to both the OS, the packages, and under the hood improvements.

You can look at their site on this page and go through older models and see the new DSM versions that will still work on them:

http://www.synology.com/support/download.php?lang=us

Obviously, the processors keep getting faster every year, and new features like USB 3.0, etc., but they certainly don't replace old hardware and sunset it and only focus on new stuff, IMHO.

 

[stevech]

If I recall correctly, you can find a notice on their web site or forum that DSM version 4.3 or some such does not support for certain low-end (like 2-bay) products of 2009 and older. I think they have 2 or so releases per year. So the ones from 2009 must have seen 8 or so versions.

I and others skip versions and don't take new releases until months have gone by. No early adopter, me. Kind of typical for high-tech.

 

[jalyst]

Is Synology generally notably better than QNAP in this area?

 

[stevech]

best to inquire on this via the user forum for QNAP.

 

[jalyst]

Ask QNAP users/affiliates/employees if it's better (or as good) in this respect?
I doubt that's a good idea, not exactly a impartial 3rd-party source, like this site.