After being in beta for a long time and being very carefully phased out in recent times to several select models, Synology’s DSM 7.1 is now available for almost all supported NAS of the brand. What’s new?
The road to DSM (Disk Station Manager, the OS on which all Synology NAS run) version 7 was a long one. It took years before the upgrade was considered good enough by the manufacturer. Still, version 7.0 was somewhat lukewarm by users. The disappearance of functions in particular raised questions.
Older versions of DSM were known for being able to play music via a plugged-in DAC, for example, and even recording DVB-T television was possible for a long time. Making old USB printers available via the network – including AirPrint capabilities – was no problem at all. It was the dots on the i that made DSM popular.
Still, Synology chose to delete them. Anyone who used a UPS – the battery-backed emergency power supply – in combination with a Synology was also annoyed. It suddenly turned out to be no longer possible for most brands to switch off the UPS.
Only for UPSs of the in our regions more obscure and also very expensive brand Omron, that trick still worked. After many complaints, Synology has reversed that in 7.1; the other features mentioned are gone for good.
Curious
The key question remains, of course, what you will get in return, now that DSM 7.1 is available. Well, according to Synology mainly a smoother, more stable and faster whole. With several extra options, such as the option to make a full backup of your system. If something goes horribly wrong, you can quickly restore everything back to working order. Including operating system, all settings and so on.
The Active Backup for Business tool required for this can be found in the Package Center, DSM’s ‘app store’. It is striking that after the first start, the app must first be activated at Synology. We are now seeing this in more parts.
In fact, before the upgrade to 7.1, we were told that we had to be logged in to a Synology account if we wanted to install certain codecs. This means that DSM is starting to feel a bit curious.
About apps
To be fair: DSM is also an excellent operating system for the NAS in version 7.1. But actually, after the stormy start of the revolutionary whole with the hip desktop that runs in your browser, we expected more from the future. More apps, more peripheral support. With that, the NAS could have become very nice low-power servers for home use and workgroups in the office.
Many ingredients for this are certainly present. There is the Synology Drive app with a complete Office suite a la Google Docs. But yes, because those USB printers are no longer supported, some of the users will drop out again.
Flagship Synology Photos – formerly PhotoStation – has undergone a major overhaul in version 7. In version 7.1, the comprehensive photo management package has been further refined. Handy for photographers who want to centrally manage their entire photo collection, separate from something like Adobe Lightroom.
Many improvements
DSM 7.1 has many minor and major improvements over the 7.0x version. For example, you can now configure multiple shares in such a way that they come to a client from one and the same device. No more searching for which shared folder was on which NAS. Especially useful if you have multiple NAS’s, of course.
SSD cache can now be enabled for multiple volumes at once. Furthermore, numerous tweaks under the hood, so that, for example, I/O operations from a virtual machine should be faster. Many of these tweaks are mainly aimed at business users, or for anyone who wants to experiment with more professional settings.
DSM 7.1 Install and Compatibility
DSM 7.1 is actually the switchover moment. DSM 6.2x will be patched until June next year, after that no more. In short: if your NAS supports 7.1, you should slowly start thinking about an upgrade. The disadvantage is that this will be a two-stage rocket.
First you have to upgrade to version 7.01 and then to 7.1. In addition, the update to 7.1 does not appear on all Synology’s, Synology reports on the site. In that case you should Download 7.1 installation file for your type and then via the upgrade module (found in the menu Start, Control Panel and Update and Restore) upload.
After that you can still update. The ‘affected’ models where the 7.1 update does not appear are on the Synology site (scroll down a bit). You also read there that 7.1 is the end station for a large series of NAS; they will no longer be offered higher future versions.
Also read: Support for old Synology NAS ends – You need to know this
All in all, DSM 7.1 is also an upgrade with a smile for some and a tear for others. If you are very attached to specific functions and you are still running on DSM 6.2x, you have until June next year to enjoy it. After that you either have to switch, or take for granted that you will no longer receive (security) patches. This also applies to NAS that no longer receive an update to 7.
In that case, you do not have to immediately throw your NAS in the garbage, but it is important to no longer hang it on the cloud to prevent misery. You can arrange this via the settings in DSM and also in your router by simply blocking internet access to your NAS.
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