Our largest Synology NAS, a DS1819+, is equipped with a PCIe 3.0 x8 expansion slot (electrically connected with four lanes), which, along with its eight 3.5-inch hard drive bays, was one of the reasons we chose this specific model at the time. We purchased our unit right after its release in mid-2019. That was almost seven years ago.

Since then, the RAM has been upgraded from the factory configuration of a single 4 GB DDR4-2133 module to 2 x 8 GB DDR4-2133* modules for a total of 16 GB of memory and dual-channel operation and the storage configuration has been changed several times. Currently, eight 18 TB drives from Western Digital* are installed, which originally came from external 3.5″ WD Elements* hard drives.

By chance, I’ve finally carried out the long-overdue network upgrade:
The original plan was to use one of the compatible Intel network cards as an alternative to the very overpriced Synology-rebranded cards, since these are inexpensive and widely available in used condition. Typical candidates with 10 Gbps over RJ45 (copper) would be the X540-T2* with two ports or the X540-T1* with just one port, or the significantly better but also more expensive X550-T2* or X550-T1*. Both have the well-known issue of running warm to hot. With the X540, instability and crashes are not uncommon without active cooling, especially since it only supports 10, 100, 1,000, or 10,000 Mbps; 2,500 and 5,000 Mbps are missing. The chip is too old for that (these intermediate speeds were only introduced later).

Given these circumstances and the fact that more than 1 Gbit is currently more of a “nice-to-have” than an absolute necessity for us, I have postponed the network upgrade indefinitely.

Until a few days ago, when I spotted the Synology “E10G18-T1*” network card at the bottom of Mindfactorys “Mindstars” section, a single unit for €99 including shipping (Review). Since I’d also had a €50 Mindfactory gift card sitting around for a while, it was clear: €99 for a network card guaranteed to be compatible without any tinkering or issues isn’t a bad deal; the standard price for this model has hovered around €150 since it hit the market. The fact that I ended up paying €49 for it instead made the deal even more irresistible to me. So off I went and bought the card.

It arrived today, fast as expected in its original packaging:

This card is based on the “AQC107” from Aquantia (a networking equipment manufacturer that has since been acquired by Marvell). Compared to older Intel chips, this is a very energy-efficient network controller (~6 watts). However, an even more energy-efficient successor from the same manufacturer is already available: the “AQC113” (~3.5 watts).

100 / 1,000 / 2,500 / 5,000, and 10,000 Mbit are supported, everything you could possibly want.

Overview and RAM

Fully equipped, the DiskStation 1819+ weighs a few pounds, so it’s a good idea to remove the hard drive bays (which are almost prohibitively expensive right now) along with the drives. I combined the upgrade with a cleaning since NAS devices run continuously, they tend to get dusty quickly, and it was time to do it again:

To access the RAM (in my case, for cleaning), you need to turn the DS1819+ upside down. Then, remove two PH2 Phillips-head screws to open the compartment:

Install the expansion card

To access the PCIe slot, the metal cover must be removed. To do this, remove all the PH2 Phillips-head screws circled in red; then slide the metal cover toward the back to unhook and carefully remove it. The Phillips-head screw circled in blue secures the card/slot bracket:

Now the card can be installed very easily:

Finished?

Yes, that’s all there is to it. Now just put everything back together in reverse order, and there you go:

In the network configuration, the additional RJ45 port is now correctly displayed as “LAN 5.” That is the strength of the expansion options offered by Synology itself: plug and play. As an alternative to the model I installed, there are also other options:

Der Beitrag Synology: Upgrade the DS1819+ to 10 Gbps over copper – E10G18-T1 erschien zuerst auf flohs blog.

This “rack-mounted switch for small businesses” from Linksys (then still a Cisco subsidiary) will initially be used temporarily in our home until the network is fully set up. But even later, 48 ports with a maximum of 1 GbE* each will still be useful for a large number of devices. Fortunately, the technical data can still be found at Cisco (archive.org). The user manual is elsewhere also available.

First, the device had to be reset, cleaned, serviced, and reconfigured, as it came from a company liquidation and had been lying around for years (condition unknown). This model series is equipped with “WebView” which allows for convenient configuration via a web browser. Unfortunately, this only works in older browser versions – but at least it works.

Condition

The black plastic front panel is cracked on both sides (this should be easy to repair with superglue*) and the fan(s) have audible bearing damage. After testing all 48 RJ-45 ports, they all seem to work fine with both 100 Mbit and 1 Gbit. I did not test the four SFP ports on the right-hand side due to a lack of modules but these can also “only” handle GbE and share their bandwidth with specific RJ-45 ports as labeled, so they are of little interest at the moment. I have sealed them with 3D-printed PLA caps to protect them from dust (model from Thingiverse by jbanion):

Apart from dirt and scratches, the rest of the device is in relatively good condition; there is no visible corrosion or mechanical damage to the relevant components.

Hardware

Open the device

First, the switch must be opened: this is not as easy as it sounds. The rack mounts are each secured with four PH2 screws on each side and must be unscrewed. Then, using a soft, flat tool such as a guitar pick*, the front panel must be loosened; it is pushed on all around and clipped in place. Next, use a spatula* or a similarly thin but harder tool to gently pry open the gap in the metal housing on one side first; both parts of the housing are held together with metal clips. Work carefully, as the brackets are fragile.

Once the gap has widened, you can work your way across until the entire width is detached. Then do the same on the opposite side, but this is much easier because you can push and press. Finally, pull the upper part of the housing out of the rear plastic cover. It is quite tightly fitted.

Remove the fans

The fans are clamped into special brackets using bent metal: To remove them, it is advisable to use a flathead screwdriver to gently bend up the flat side of the construction (at the edge of the lower part of the housing) and remove the respective fan by tilting it sideways toward the circuit boards.

Unfortunately, all three of the bearings in the installed fans are defective and are not standard components: 40 x 40 mm size with a depth of 20 mm, 5 volts DC with 0.4 watts power consumption, not speed controlled. The OEM manufacturer is Sunon, but the specific model was too expensive for me because it is hardly available and officially only for commercial customers:

As an alternative to the built-in model “KDE0504PKV3”* I used the slightly quieter and significantly cheaper model “MF40200V3-1000U-A99”* also from Sunon. Other fans with these dimensions and specifications are available from Delta Electronics, for example, or from no-name suppliers (not a good idea, as a switch is a 24/7 device!). The replacement I used does not come with a plug, so I simply cut off the plugs from the original fans, soldered them to the new ones, and insulated them (heat shrink tubing*). Here is a comparison of the technical characteristics:

Remove and clean the motherboard

To remove the motherboard, the ribbon cable for console access and the power supply connector (caution: potential residual voltage!) must be removed. Then the three spacers and the remaining PH2 screws must be unscrewed. Now you can remove the circuit board from the lower part of the housing. Here, all components have already been cleaned and are ready for reassembly:

The sticker on the flash chip suggests that this unit was already shipped with the latest firmware version (v1.2.2d) and therefore no update will be necessary.

Configuration?

I connected the SRW2048 via a power cable* to power and to our home network via a network cable* connected to port 1. After several attempts, the switch was not assigned an IP address. I suspected that the integrated HTTP/HTTPS server, which should provide the WebView configuration, was disabled.

This leaves access via the serial console port on the rear panel. This is where the next problem arises: I don’t have the double female DB9 cable (null modem*) that was originally supplied. However, I do have several console cables for newer Cisco switches, which are designed as female DB9 serial to RJ-45. Using an RJ-45 coupler*, I then put together a double female cable:

Next, you need a computer with a serial port (or a serial-to-USB adapter, which I don’t have). The docking stations for the HP EliteBook 8540p have one, so I used mine and installed PuTTY and Tftpd64 (for a possible firmware update that doesn’t exist) on it.

The correct settings are:

Here is a screenshot of PuTTY (only the correct speed needs to be entered):

The initial contact

If the switch is already running and you only establish the connection then, you will initially only see an empty terminal. However, after pressing “Return” you will see that everything is correct and a response will appear:

To access the boot menu and configuration, leave the serial connection as it is and power cycle the switch, i.e., briefly disconnect and reconnect the power. After all LEDs light up briefly as with every boot, you can now watch the firmware POST live and interrupt it with “ESC” to enter the boot menu. This is particularly important if you do not know the access data and want to reset it, or if you are trying to solve other problems:

Once the boot process is complete, you will be greeted with this login screen. By default, the username is “admin” and the password is either blank or also “admin” . In my case, I was able to log in with a blank password field:

Finally, access!

For documentation purposes, I took lots of screenshots of everything, divided into menu categories. Maybe these will help someone in the future figure out what works and what doesn’t. As mentioned before, the latest firmware version v1.2.2d is installed.

System Configuration Menu

System Information

Management Settings

User & Password Settings

This is what it looks like with the default settings.

Security Settings

IP Configuration

Here, “DHCP client” and “HTTP” and/or “HTTPS” must be set to “ENABLE” otherwise no IP address will be assigned for WebView or it will not be available!

File Management

Port Status

You can use the arrow keys to cycle through all available ports.

Port Configuration

Here, too, you can navigate using the arrow keys.

System Mode

Help

Configuration options via WebView

After configuring everything as desired, I restarted the system using the menu option. And lo and behold: the switch now receives an IP address from the router in the network as configured and can also be accessed on this address. However, nothing works in the latest version of Firefox on Windows 11 and the view is very unusable, but in general, “WebView” should now work.

So I booted up the EliteBook with Windows XP and everything works as it should in Internet Explorer 8:

I have also documented the possibilities of WebView below:

Login

Setup

Port Management

VLAN Management

Statistics

ACL

Security

QoS

Spanning Tree

Multicast

SNMP

Admin

LogOut

This should ensure that every configuration option is documented in detail.

Der Beitrag Recommissioning of a 19″ GbE switch: Linksys SRW2048 erschien zuerst auf flohs blog.

We have planned and already purchased two generously sized network cabinets (12SZBIT42U88RAGM from ZPAS), each with 42 U of installation space and a width and depth of 80 cm. One is on the ground floor to distribute the “incoming Internet” sensibly (the plan is to use fiber optic from Deutsche Giganetz, which has already been laid and is active, but cables from Vodafone or classic (V)DSL would also be possible, as well as mobile and satellite Internet, which are available almost everywhere) and to create a cool place for the storage servers and NAS.

This article will focus on this very cramped built-in cabinet. The second cabinet will be located in the DG and will be responsible for computing and most of the switching, in a specially partitioned and separately air-conditioned area with more than enough space in every direction.

⧉ IT-Budget

The problem

In Germany there are a multitude of regulations governing virtually everything in the electrical sector, with dependencies on everything else. In some cases, this leads to complicated situations, such as the one described here:

There must be at least 1.20 meters of unobstructed space in front of the main meter cabinet. The same applies to the house connection box (HAK), which, like the meter cabinet and the network cabinet, is located in a room measuring less than 7 square meters. That sounds cramped and it is: the somewhat unfavorable L-shape of the room further exacerbates the problem.

It is not possible to maintain both distances at the same time; unfortunately, in old buildings, you can’t always choose. Since the meter cabinet needs to be accessed frequently and the HAK virually never needs to be accessed, the priorities are clear – but what if you need to create the distance to the HAK (temporarily)?

What to do?

Fortunately, there is an M12 thread at each corner of the base plate of the cabinets, which is even open on the inside and therefore does not significantly restrict the screw-in depth. The network cabinets come with feet for levelling:

⧉ IT-Budget

If I were to install these simple feet* as originally planned, the cabinet, with its considerable weight once fully equipped, would never be able to be moved again. On the one hand, this is good because the Cat. 7A installation cables* are not designed for movement anyway, but on the other hand, it is bad because it would be impossible to move the whole thing temporarily.

There are a variety of casters available as an alternative, with or without brakes, made from a wide range of materials. The simplest solution would be to install casters with M12 threads* instead of the feet. The disadvantage is that these “stand in the floor,” as PVC will be laid in this room and will certainly give way somewhat over time. At the same time, standing permanently in the same position is probably also not particularly good for the casters’ bearings.

It exists, the optimal solution:

After doing some research, I came across several types of heavy-duty casters that combine both:
a caster and a foot, which is even rubberized. The original manufacturer of this type of combination base appears to be G-DOK with the brand name “FOOT MASTER®” (Product overview as PDF, archive.org), with corresponding patents and prices. Since most things are quickly copied these days, it’s not hard to find a much more affordable and equally suitable clone (note the copied but modified “FOOT MASIER” instead of “FOOT MASTER®”):

Von diesem gibt es dann sogar wie im Original noch eine leicht weiterentwickelte Form als Nachbau, u.a. mit Weldinger-Branding* – für diese Variante habe ich mich letzendlich entschieden: Statt sich wie bei ersten Variante mit dem Drehrad zur Höhenverstellung abmühen zu müssen (das mit mehr Gewicht und mehr Standzeit garantiert wesentlich schwerer zu verstellen sein wird) kann man den integrierten Fuß einfach “hoch- oder runterrätschen”, bei hoher Gewichtsbelastung dann auch z.B. mit einem Schraubendreher als Verlängerung zur Kraftverstärkung:

As with the original, there is even a slightly more advanced replica version available with Weldinger branding*, among other offers – I ultimately decided on this variant: Instead of having to struggle with the rotary wheel for height adjustment (which will definitely be much harder to adjust with more weight and after some time), as with the first version, you can simply “ratchet up or down” the integrated foot, and for heavy loads, you can also use a screwdriver as an extension to increase the force:

As with the previous swivel wheel version, the weight rests permanently on the rubberized foot, which in turn can be raised or lowered internally by means of a thread, ensuring that it stands securely. If movement is necessary, all four feet can simply be “ratcheted down” until the roller stands securely and the foot is far enough off the ground.

This was also copied, but not quite as brazenly as the previous version and is marked with “FOOT CASTOR”.

This solution is sold for workbenches and laboratory equipment, but the feet are also very well suited for my intended use. The maximum load capacity of 1000 kg with four feet is also well dimensioned, which is also the limit of the cabinet. The only thing I didn’t like was the yellow color of the hexagon for countering the M12 thread, so I painted it glossy black to match the rest of the foot:

Der Beitrag Casters or feet on network cabinets – why not both? erschien zuerst auf flohs blog.

We have been operating several Synology NAS devices for many years, which have been discussed previously. One of them in particular – the DS1819+ – has an interesting feature: you can install an expansion card.

In terms of networking, this model comes with four RJ45 sockets, each of which can handle a maximum bandwidth of 1 gigabit. Link aggregation would allow you to use 4 gigabits, but there are obstacles and you would have to occupy four ports on the switch. Not ideal.

But Synology does offer expansion cards:

Anyone who has ever searched for any of these models in price comparisons will notice that they are BRUTALLY overpriced and actually only consist of components from other manufacturers (similar to Synology-branded hard drives and SSDs!).

Third Party?

For a long time, I was unaware that Synology directly tests third-party expansion cards for compatibility and that there is even an official list. It’s no coincidence that this list isn’t that easy to find:

What is compatible or works and what is not is largely determined by the device drivers available in DSM, and that is in the hands of Synology. Since our basic system will be based on RJ45 for the foreseeable future, the two older Intel models, X540-T2* and X550-T2*, look interesting to me.

The X540-T2 is available used starting at €40, while the X550-T2 tends to start at €70 – 80, as it is generally the better choice: Significantly lower power consumption plus support for the now widespread 2.5 and 5 Gbit modes (the X540-T2 can only do 10 / 100 / 1,000 / 10,000, nothing in between!).

Great, so you can use cards that are much cheaper than those from Synology!

Yes, and it gets even better: User “bb-qq” has something really cool up his sleeve in one of his repositories:
DSM drivers for Realtek network adapters that run via “USB 3.1 Gen.1” (i.e., USB 3.0) and are available in China and generally very inexpensive!

The following Realtek chips are supported (as of 01/2026):

• RTL8152/RTL8153:
  1.0 Gbit
   
• RTL8156:
  2.5 Gbit
   
• RTL8157:
  5 Gbit
   
• RTL8159:
  10 Gbit

2.5 or 5 Gbit make the most sense here; 10 Gbit would be severely slowed down by the lack of bandwidth because of USB 3.1 Gen.1. This way, Synology NAS devices in particular can be expanded with faster networking. These devices do not have an expansion card slot but do have at least one USB 3.1 Gen.1 interface, which is almost always the case!

The Github page also lists exact models with compatibilities and incompatibilities so that you can buy the right one right away. However, installing the drivers is something for advanced users; SSH and CLI should not be foreign words.

For the inexperienced, it is recommended to use one of the Intel network cards mentioned above, preferably used or refurbished.

Der Beitrag Alternative networking options for Synology NAS erschien zuerst auf flohs blog.

I have always been a big fan of AVM and its products in the consumer sector. I thought their philosophy was spot on: sophisticated hardware and long-term, high-quality software support. Almost like Synology and Apple. Plus a really well-equipped ecosystem.

Over the last three years, there have been increasing reports of defects in some Fritzboxes, with the Wi-Fi failing but still showing as active according to FRITZ!OS. Almost always the 2.4 GHz band first, often both bands later (5 GHz as well). The former flagship FritzBox 7590, which we have been using since its release, was also affected, shortly before the expiry of the 5-year warranty voluntarily granted by AVM.

It took me a while to figure out why only some Wi-Fi devices were still working. If I didn’t use a separate, hidden SSID for each band, I would probably have spent even longer searching (the default setting sends the same SSID for both bands). In addition, we run everything we can via Ethernet.

AVM replaced our unit some time ago, i thank them for the excellent service. It only took a few days and in the meantime I used my old FritzBox, a venerable 7390. Shortly afterwards, I heard about a similar case among my friends. Same defect, also replaced under warranty.

This topic came up again for me because I have another case to complain about in my family. Similar symptoms – this time, both Wi-Fi bands are gone, while the software says they should be there. This unit is just too old to be replaced by AVM and will soon have to be replaced by a FritzBox 7590 AX V2*.

Possibilities

Günter Born reported on this problem some time ago. His blog post also contains lots of useful tips on repairs and companies that deal with the problem. Heise also picked up on the topic later.

The fault can be repaired but many Fritzboxes will probably end up as electronic waste anyway. This is annoying, especially since 90% of the device continues to function without any problems. Alternatively, the WLAN can be bypassed in tandem with a repeater from AVM*, which is connected to the Fritzbox via a LAN bridge. Not ideal, but practical.

Consequences

Mistakes can happen, but what matters is how they are dealt with. AVM is making every effort to replace affected units. To be honest, I have to say that my confidence in the products has been somewhat shaken. I had never had any problems with AVM products before and the company had long been my standard recommendation in my private sphere.

The fact that Imker Capital Partners is now managing the company’s fortunes does not bode well for the future.

Der Beitrag Hardware problems with Fritzboxes, especially with the very popular 7590 model erschien zuerst auf flohs blog.

The mountains of data accumulated over the years made increasingly extreme storage solutions necessary. The situation could be aptly described as “organically grown,” but neatly organized.

We operate three original NAS devices from Synology (as mentioned earlier in this article) and two “devices that also run a type of DSM”. Everything is local; we do not use Synology services. The sole task is to provide energy-efficient storage space.

Synology NAS

“Synology” NAS

All of these desktop NAS devices will sooner or later be replaced by one or more 19″ rack storage servers. This saves space and is generally more efficient. At this point, at the latest, the network will also be upgraded to 10 Gbit.

Der Beitrag Overview of our network attached storages erschien zuerst auf flohs blog.

There are several manufacturers of ready-made NAS solutions. The best known are probably QNAP and Synology. I’ve been a fan of Synology from the start – “the Apple of NAS systems,” in the best sense of the word.

Easy to maintain, mature, stable. Everything you want in a system that runs 24/7. Synology has always been able to deliver that. Admittedly, it is almost always more expensive than the competition and certainly always has very weak hardware. But it is stable and reliable.

Buckle up, the Prolog:

My personal journey with file servers began with a discarded desktop PC, which initially provided a few directories for other computers. Actually, it was more a collection of leftover components, a graphics card that was as energy-efficient as possible, and all kinds of data storage devices. The operating system was Windows XP, and the year was 2008.

Directories became entire drives, and Windows XP soon became the closely related Windows Server 2003. That ran on and off for some time. After the first hard drive full of data without RAID or backup quit working, it became clear what backups were for.

The hardware of this simple file server was changed again and again, as were the data carriers. Soon, automatic backups were made to external data carriers. It all worked more or less okay. The main problem with the system was maintainability and the pretty high power consumption in every situation. Well, and the fact that Windows isn’t the best of all server operating systems, for various reasons.

The year 2011 came and I read about Synology and its products for the first time. I was immediately interested. However, the Windows server continued to run for the time being. I closely followed Synology’s newly released products and it was clear to me that one day I wanted to venture into the world of NAS with Synology.

The first step…

Two years had passed, and it was 2013. Electricity is expensive. Then I came across a good deal: a Synology NAS, model DS213j (Newer model*). I bought it right away. After a little research and based on past experiences and events, it was clear that the two planned hard drives would be from Western Digital. The best choice was the matching “WD Red” series, specifically designed for NAS running 24/7. That’s what I got – two 3.5″ HDDs, WD Red, each with a capacity of 4 TB*.

When the components arrived, my first impression was “not much material for a lot of money.” Synology’s J series is (to this day) the cheapest and least powerful, which I was aware of. But my impression was deceiving: I read the instructions, took apart the case, put in the hard drives, put everything back together, and connected the power supply. After a few minutes, I found the IP address assigned to the new NAS via DHCP in my FritzBox, so I navigated there. Alternatively, I could have gone to https://www.find.synology.com.

At that time, version 4 of Synology’s proprietary operating system DSM (“DiskStation Manager”) was the latest version. The setup wizard was nice, understandable, and fast. After a few more minutes, the “desktop,” i.e., the main screen, was visible. After a few more clicks, both hard drives were configured to RAID-1 and shares were created.

That’s how it should be, I thought to myself at the time.

It happened as it had to happen.

Hard drives are filled, replaced with larger ones, and filled again. And so it goes on. A flashing tree of switches and devices grows. To cut a long story short: this first NAS, the DS213j, is still running as a file server today, 12 years later. Updated to DSM 7 at my own risk. With the original power supply and original fan. The hard drives have, of course, been replaced several times, and today two 10 TB WD Reds* are working away in RAID-1. However, the original 4 TB hard drives still work today and are installed in desktop PCs, with an enormous number of operating hours.

This 2-bay NAS was followed by a second one at the end of 2014, a DS414 with four bays. Demands increased, as did storage space requirements. WD Red hard drives with a capacity of 4 TB each were used again, and thanks to Synology SHR, only one of the four HDDs was lost as data security. Then, in 2018, came the biggest chunk yet: a DS1819+ with an impressive eight bays and a very high purchase price. Eight times 10 TB WD Red, again with SHR. You can see the development clearly: first an inexpensive J model, then a “normal strength” one without a suffix, and now one with a “+”, meaning more power.

All three NAS devices are still running side by side today and serve different purposes. Several WD MyBook Duo RAID enclosures are also connected to the DS414 and DS1819+, which are connected via USB 3.0 and configured as mirrors. So you could definitely say that I was and am very satisfied with the company’s hardware and software, regardless of the higher prices.

Good, long-term software support simply costs money, and very inexpensive hardware usually comes with poor software support. See inexpensive Chinese Android devices in comparison to Apple, for example.

⧉ Synology

⧉ Synology

⧉ Synology

What has changed?

Everything has become increasingly consumer-unfriendly over the years. It’s important to remember that Synology’s focus is and always has been on business applications—yet more and more unpleasant circumstances and issues have crept in. It started with features that were suddenly patched away and outsourced separately for a fee, or even removed without replacement. You could possibly overlook that, as I only ever used the NAS for what they are: maximum energy-saving file servers. That’s OK for smaller services, but it’s always a compromise.

Then, at the beginning of 2021, news broke that Synology would now be offering its own rebranded first-party hard drives. A negative feeling spread. Why was this necessary?

Then came what was unfortunately to be expected: Synology’s greed had obviously eaten their brains, as the saying goes, and it was announced that all new “+” NAS devices from Synology would only be fully functional with Synology’s own storage devices in the future, as was already the case with RackStations.

Very bad. Very, very bad. Dear Synology, I can easily put together a file server or five for much less money and with significantly more computing power. And I’m sure I’m not the only one. What’s more, how many of us started out using Synology NAS systems privately and then took this knowledge to our workplace, which then also opted for this company and its solutions?

Apart from that, I don’t even know how many other people I have recommended Synology to or integrated it myself. There were quite a few, but that’s over now. Again, I don’t think I’m the only one who feels this way. The next setback came with the requirement to only use their own SSDs.

On the software side, there are now extremely good alternatives, such as Unraid or TrueNAS, to name two mature operating systems. In addition, there are all the other ready-made NAS providers, such as QNAP or Asustor. Advanced users simply take standard hardware and install Ubuntu Server, which is the most flexible option. Or they build something nice and optimized for low power consumption with hardware from UGREEN or Orico.

Consumers vote with their wallets.

That’s what happened: sales of Synology NAS systems have apparently plummeted dramatically. In October 2025, they quietly backtracked and started accepting all hard drives again. It’s too late, at least for me. You can only pull a stunt like that once, and after that, no one believes you anymore.

The next NAS will most likely not be from Synology, and the next person who asks me for recommendations will not hear the term Synology. Unless you get the hardware for next to nothing, which is unlikely to happen.

It’s a shame. Whenever something is a good overall package, it gets ruined.

I predict that AVM and Fritz will become just as greedy in the future; since the sale, it’s all about shareholder value. AVM has always produced slightly more expensive but reliable, feature-rich, and long-updated hardware, and I fear that this behavior will now change for the worse.

Der Beitrag Thoughts on NAS – Synology’s ruined reputation erschien zuerst auf flohs blog.

I am writing this post to let everyone who uses a Fritzbox from AVM* know that the USB port integrated into most models can be used for very useful things.

My recommendation is to set it up as a kind of “slow, simple NAS” – that is, connecting a USB data storage device to a USB port on the router and then configuring it via the fritz.box administration interface.

The result greatly facilitates data exchange between different end devices, especially when there are multiple users on the same network. If no other network drive exists (e.g., a “real” NAS), the benefit is even greater.

Prerequisites

All you really need is a data storage device with a USB connection that is as energy-efficient as possible. USB sticks with a storage capacity of 128 GB* or more are ideal. Portable SSDs* would also be a good choice. Another major advantage of flash memory is that it has no start-up time, meaning that the system responds immediately when accessed, unlike hard drives.

It should be noted that the transfer rates will not be particularly high, especially with older Fritzboxes, as they simply lack CPU power. However, 10-15 MB/s should be possible. With newer models, 30 MB/s+ is also feasible.

Depending on the model, Fritzboxes have more or less internal flash memory, but in my opinion, this should not be used excessively because nothing can be replaced in the event of a defect and the Fritzbox itself already reads and writes enough data there.

Uses

Despite the fact that we operate “several” network storage devices and servers, we also use an additional network drive via our Fritzbox 7590. This serves as a general exchange folder and, more importantly, to store our KeePass database. This is very convenient as there are hardly any delays in access because the router is always in operation and Flash has very low latency. This means that it can be accessed from any device at any time and no hard drive has to be started up for 20 KB of data.

Tutorial

The instructions provided by the manufacturer AVM are brief and really good:

https://fritz.com/apps/knowledge-base/FRITZ-Box-7590/543_Speicher-NAS-am-Computer-als-Netzlaufwerk-einrichten

Der Beitrag Set up a simple network drive with FRITZ!NAS erschien zuerst auf flohs blog.

It is widely recommended and makes a lot of sense to back up your smartphone or tablet more often than not. The easiest but also most expensive way is what a large proportion of Apple device users do: take out a large, paid iCloud subscription and back up everything there.

This is very convenient, but that’s about it. Extract individual data? No chance. Protect data from unauthorized access? Difficult to verify. In addition, backups via mobile networks cost data. There has always been an alternative: making backups locally using iTunes, in this case on Windows. But this also has its pitfalls: everything is backed up to the boot drive C:\ by default and cannot be configured.

Very inconvenient. Imagine an almost full 256 GB iPhone being backed up to a 512 GB system SSD. Neither of these are unrealistic sizes. First, the SSD will fill up very quickly, and second, write operations are exactly what you should avoid with SSDs.

This is particularly inconvenient when backing up multiple Apple devices. The amount of data quickly gets out of hand.

What to do?

There is a fairly simple solution, which would not be necessary if you could configure the destination path in iTunes. Of course, you need a location where the backups can be created instead. An internal or external hard drive would be conceivable, but a Samba network share would be recommended. In our case, we use a Synology NAS for backup purposes.

You can hide the real location for iTunes at the file system level by creating a symbolic link. This has to be done via the command line, but it’s very easy.

First, iTunes must be closed. Then navigate to

%appdata%\Apple Computer\MobileSync

%appdata%\Apple Computer\MobileSync

and, if necessary, copy the existing “Backup” subfolder to the new, desired destination. The folder must then be deleted from its old location. If there is no such folder, no local backup of an Apple device has been created yet.

The “MobileSync” folder should now be empty. Now open a command line with the Windows key + R or via the Start menu with the command “cmd” and create a symbolic link with this line:

mklink /D "%appdata%\Apple Computer\MobileSync\Backup" "\\DS918\iTunes\Backup"

mklink /D "%appdata%\Apple Computer\MobileSync\Backup" "\\DS918\iTunes\Backup"

The destination “\DS918\iTunes\Backup” must of course exist. If everything worked, you can close the command line and should now see a folder called “Backup” again under “%appdata%\Apple Computer\MobileSync” but with the usual “shortcut icon” next to it. Double-clicking on it should now take you to the destination folder, which could be anywhere.

Success.

When you create backups with iTunes, they will now always be saved in the desired path. In our case, the folder already takes up a whopping 1.2 TB of storage space, which would be more than impractical on a boot drive (two iPhones, some older backups, and three iPads).

The disadvantage is that you have to perform this procedure on every computer on which you want to use iTunes. However, the symlink has always survived in-place upgrades of Windows so far.

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