Whenever we talk about Synology, its top consumer NAS enclosures usually comes to mind. While hardware plays an important role in network storage, it’s the software that defines your experience. And Synology’s DiskStation Manager (DSM) is among the most feature-rich NAS operating systems out there. After its major revamp last year, DSM 7.2 is the next big update, packed with features users have been asking for for a long time. Here you will find everything you need to know about DSM 7.2.
Everything new in Synology DSM 7.2 and other feature updates
With the upcoming DSM 7.2 update, Synology is adding a much-sought-after feature: Full Volume Encryption. This is a major improvement over current shared folder-level encryption, allowing complete protection of your NAS data. With the new encryption system in place, there won’t be any file path limits either, which is a limitation at the moment if you have a lot of nested folders. Even with encryption applied to the entire volume, Synology promises a significant performance boost over what we have now.
The company is also doing your alternative to google drive, Synology Drive, a much more lucrative option for those with large teams. Administrators will have the option to remotely wipe a computer that has been compromised or stolen to prevent data theft. End users will see faster file indexing when doing bulk transfers. The current implementation can take hours depending on the amount of data, but Synology claims that the update will make things 10 times faster. That’s an impressive claim, but we’ll have to do some testing on our end to see if it holds true.
Mac users will get a native Synology Active Backup app just like Windows ones, allowing them to easily perform full system backups to their NAS. Compared with Time Machine, Synology’s backup solution is more useful for administrators of large teams who manage backup of multiple devices remotely and manage everything from a central dashboard.
Another feature that is targeted at the enterprise is the addition of Write once, read many – or WORM for short – in DSM 7.2. Allows file sharing with many people while making files tamper-proof to maintain data integrity. Synology has additional options to allow businesses to adjust retention settings to comply with local record keeping ordinances.
Continuing Synology’s emphasis on data security in its 2023 outlook, Active Insight, the company’s NAS health management tool, will soon be able to identify a ransomware attack and perform a set of automated actions until an administrator can intervene manually. Similarly, Hyper Backup will gain the ability to perform a full backup of your NAS. This will come in handy when you need to restore your NAS and all its data to the original state after a multi-drive failure or failure.
There are plenty of new features and updates coming to Synology NAS enclosures. Power users have been asking for many of these utilities for a while and will finally have access to everything discussed here and more when DSM 7.2 is released sometime in Q1 2023.
Synology’s new line of hardware
In addition to all the software changes, Synology also unveiled its new DiskStation DS923+ at its event in New Delhi last week. The new model looks exactly like its predecessor, the super-popular DS920+, but it features a lot of changes on the inside. Notably, it now comes with an AMD Ryzen 1600 processor and a massive new 32GB RAM upgrade option. It also has an expansion slot for upgrading the LAN port to a 10GbE connection, like what we saw recently in the DS1522+.
Among all that has changed in the DS923+, the choice of processor stands out. While quite capable, the Ryzen 1600 chip lacks an integrated GPU, making it far worse at transcoding video on the fly than the DS920+, which is the NAS to get to set up a Plex server. Synology is clearly positioning its new mid-tier NAS for businesses and small teams, while Plex streaming is largely a consumer affair.
To be clear, the DS923+ can still stream your movies and shows without a problem, unless the video files need to be transcoded beforehand.
Synology is also entering the surveillance camera market with two new offerings coming soon. These 500-series 5MP cameras are designed to work with Synology Surveillance Station and include some smart features, such as the option to select activity zones. The best part is that you won’t need to purchase additional licenses to use these cameras with your NAS.
On top of that, a new mid-range WRX560 Wi-Fi 6 router is also available. It runs the same software as the more expensive RT6600ax.
While the new router is already available for purchase, the rest of these products are expected to launch sometime in the first half of 2023, along with all the major updates that come with DSM 7.2. Every Synology NAS running more than DSM 7.1 should be updated to the newest software when it comes out next year. giving you even more reasons to get a Synology NAS if you’re an Android user.
