Western Digital’s digital NAS drives flash a three-year “warning” on Synology DSM

If you own an HP laser printer like I do, you probably replaced the toner cartridge just because the printer warned you it was out. But buried in the printer settings way to bypass message and keep printing 100, 200, or even an indefinite number of sheets – because shock: the ink is still really good despite the alert.

This “low ink” warning is similar to what owners of some Western Digital USB flash drives say they see through their hard drives and diagnostic software. Ars Technica reports Many Synology users are dealing with warning alerts that the Western Digital hard drives they are using in their NAS are bad. The Synology alert is triggered because Western Digital’s WDDA analytics—internal SMART data that reports usage stats and monitors health—seems like the manufacturer is set to issue a warning after it’s been running for three years.

In March, user andrewilley on the Synology-focused SynoForum forum found the warnings It happened to two of their drives, both of which run for about 26,400 hours, or a few days after three years. Moreover, the user notices that the drives warranty also expires at the three-year mark. and last month, YouTuber SpaceRex pointed out These warnings can cause people to miss real issues such as reallocated sectors.

Some say that Synology may have been mistaken in sending the alarms on its product to respond to the Western Digital timer and hope that users will buy the company’s discs instead. But tech YouTuber SpaceRex doesn’t think so. Valid Western Digital documentation for the Synology DSM 7 or later NAS system software has been found to indicate that the drive is marked for replacement Recommended action At the three-year mark.

Going on for an extended period of time alone, much like a printer that only counts the number of sheets that pass through it (not the amount of ink actually used), is at best a random cause to indicate that the drive is in poor health and needs to be replaced. We’ve reached out to Western Digital to find out more about why the drives are configured this way but have not received a response at the time of publication.

Discussions have been made on the Synology subreddit How to disable WDDA Hence ignore the warning to use all Synology features again. However, for now, the subreddit is part of a Reddit blackout to protest the company’s heavy API monetization, making all threads private.

Western Digital has made some other eyebrow-raising moves before. The company has been sued Because some red NAS drives have been stealthily upgraded with Interlaced Magnetic Recording (SMR) drives that can hold more data per disk by interleaving data at the expense of write speed and longevity. Also, SanDisk, which is owned by Western Digital, recently took its Extreme Pro portable solid-state drive in a swipe for some users, and Western Digital’s cloud-enabled NAS devices were downed earlier this year due to a security breach.