Hey everyone, it’s Marius here, your trustworthy expert guide to all things Synology NAS! What an incredible end to 2025 for us Synology enthusiasts! Just when we thought the year couldn’t get any better after all the drama earlier, Synology has delivered some massive wins that have me super excited, and I know many of you are too.
Let’s start with the biggest piece of news that we’ve all been talking about in the NAS community: the reversal of the controversial HDD restrictions on the 2025 Plus series models. Remember back in spring when Synology tightened things up, limiting full functionality to their own branded drives on models like the DS925+, DS1825+, DS1525+, and others? It sparked a ton of discussion (and frustration!) across forums, Reddit, and our own Facebook group. Well, with the release of DSM 7.3 in October, Synology listened to our feedback and walked it back completely for consumer-grade Plus, Value, and J series devices.
Now you can once again use any compatible third-party 3.5-inch HDDs or 2.5-inch SATA SSDs like the trusty Seagate IronWolf or WD Red without those annoying warnings, restrictions on storage pool creation, or “unverified” messages. It’s a full return to the flexibility we knew and loved! Of course, enterprise models still have stricter rules, and M.2 NVMe remains limited to the compatibility list, but for most of us home and prosumer users, this feels like a huge victory already.
Synology even mentioned they’re working with manufacturers to expand certified options moving forward. And hot off the press as of December 11, 2025, Synology has finally released PHP 8.4 as an official package in Package Center! I’ve been hearing from so many of you who run Web Station, WordPress sites (just like mariushosting.com!), or other PHP-based apps on your NAS, and you’ve been patiently waiting for this update. With DSM 7.3.2 bringing it in, alongside continued support for PHP 8.3, performance, security, and compatibility for modern web hosting got a big boost. I switched over immediately, and it’s running smoothly, no more lagging behind on the latest PHP features.
All these recent firmware releases and package updates have me wondering: could this be Synology gearing up for something even bigger? Per my experience, this points to a possible DSM 8 beta in 2026, with a full release following soon after. These back-to-back updates in the last few months feel like Synology is really hearing us users loud and clear.
While the current Container Manager still sits on Docker engine 24.0.x (solid and stable for most workloads, by the way), these rapid package accelerations in late 2025 feel like prep work for a more substantial overhaul. Based on my direct testing and patterns I’ve seen over the years (remember how PHP updates preceded major leaps before?), I fully expect an updated Docker engine, likely something fresher and more feature-rich, to arrive imminently, quite possibly aligned with the next big milestone. Many of us are hoping it brings even better performance, security patches, and smoother integration for all those awesome containers we run.
In the meantime, if you’re heavy into Docker/Container Manager, keep your setup updated, use Portainer for ultimate flexibility (as I always recommend), and watch the Package Center closely. I’ve got my notifications on, and the second anything drops, you’ll hear it from me first.
Synology is ending the year on a high note that’s got me (and the entire community) very optimistic about their direction. All these moves in the last few months, the policy reversal, rapid package updates, really signal that Synology is making a strong comeback. They’re responding to us, modernizing DSM through frequent updates (DSM 7.3-81180, DSM 7.3.1-86003, DSM 7.3.1-86003 Update 1, and DSM 7.3.2-86009), and rebuilding that user base enthusiasm. If this momentum continues, we can expect even more user-focused improvements ahead, with the platform feeling fresher and more capable than it has in a good while.
This post was updated on Saturday / December 13th, 2025 at 6:47 PM