Did exFAT support on external USB drives stop working?

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Did exFAT support on external USB drives stop working?

2
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NAS
DS415play
Operating system
  1. Windows
Mobile operating system
  1. Android
Hi,
I have a WD My Book connected to my DS415play in one of the rear USB ports. I'm on DSM 6.2.4-25556.

It was working fine until recently and then I lost the share. At the moment I have the drive plugged into my laptop and it's working fine, but I want to get it back as a shared drive on the Synology.

When I check External Devices on the control panel I see the drive but it says it's <Not Shared>. Under File System Type it says "Install exFAT". I clicked that and I would have to buy it for $3.99. Given exFAT should be supported in a product as expensive as this I find that annoying, but I'm prepared to buy it. But it then tells me exFAT will be free in DSM V 7. That is so screwed up I don't even know where to begin.

I notice in the release notes that "exFAT stabiliy" was improved (I never had an issue, but hey), so did they stop the free support working? That would be insane if they are giving it free with V7.

The thing is, this was working fine and I never switched off sharing. Any other thoughts on why it stopped working? Did Synology stop exFAT support until V7 is released? I know I did not buy the extension when I got it to work previously.

Cheers,
Geoff
 
There was never a free support of exFat, so I am amazed you seem to have used it. It was not supposed to work without licence in DSM 6 or earlier.
The reason for this was, that exFat is a Microsoft propriet technology that Synology had to pay micro$oft for. Personally I think it was a fair choice to make only users that actually used it to pay for it.
Since 2020, the technology is free and since 2021 it is included for free in DSM7.
Dont ask me why the technoly is not backported to DSM 6. There may still be restrictions from microsoft, or it would take work on the DSM 6 that has no priority yet.
Then, back to your question: since it was never supposed to work in dsm 6 without a license, it looks not possible to me to get it back to work without buying a licence Or upgrade.
 
Not sure why exFAT would have been working if you hadn't purchased exFAT Access. I've bought it for each of my three NAS as DSM 5 (where I started with Synology) and DSM 6 had this as a chargeable package. Basically, Synology was being tight and not paying Microsoft for the licence unless the end-user paid for it first.

Recently Microsoft has stopped charging for the licence but Synology hasn't altered their process in DSM 6, instead they have dropped charging for it in DSM 7.

Irritating to pay? Yes. Why you've had a free ride for so long... not sure. But my paid licences were all working and one still is, the other two NAS are on DSM 7 and have exFAT 'for free'.

DSM 6
1627906584266.png

DSM 7
1627906546189.png


Maybe you did pay for it and forgot: check that your NAS is signed into you Synology Account as the exFAT purchase is linked via it.
 
Sorry if I appear stingy. I had no idea that exFAT was a big deal as it's now the only common format between modern Windows/Mac/Linux devices. I just think if you're paying so much for a NAS it's not unreasonable for it to support mainstream formats as standard. As I say I would have paid for it if I understood why it stopped working as it's obviously a pretty useful feature. I think my irritation was that it silently stopped working.

I did the manual update to V7 and it's now working again. I checked my license info and it mentions "this package comes in either a trial or paid version..." so maybe it was a trial previously. As usual you have to be psychic to guess the reason why it stopped working. A status message would have been useful

Anyway, it's now working so all good.

Thanks all :)

Cheers,
Geoff
 
Sorry if I appear stingy. I had no idea that exFAT was a big deal as it's now the only common format between modern Windows/Mac/Linux devices. I just think if you're paying so much for a NAS it's not unreasonable for it to support mainstream formats as standard. As I say I would have paid for it if I understood why it stopped working as it's obviously a pretty useful feature. I think my irritation was that it silently stopped working.
I paid for exactly this reason. Very grudgingly.

I never saw any trial option, which is probably a good thing as I'd have spent too much time trying to work out how to keep it working. :)
 
My view on this is, that Synology has an almost indefinite DSM upgrade path to devices sold in the last say 10 years.
So including it in DSM, and pay microsoft for a small amount for every new device sold was certainly an option. But paying for all your sold devices in the last 10 years, that would really have been a huge sum for Synology.
 
Good point! It's pretty much a no win way to add support without either
  • incurring licence fees for all older devices, or
  • the wrath of older device owners that see their loyalty snubbed if newer devices get it for free.
But there have been point versions of DSM 6 since Microsoft stopped charging. Oh well, it was only a large coffee.
 
Maybe nothing to do with exFAT? My WD My Book (3TB, WDBACW0030HBK-01), formatted to NTFS, dropped off my DS220+ last week. I only noticed when a backup task failed.

My WD drive is not listed on the DS220+ compatibility list - despite that it's been working fine for almost a year.
Like you my external drive works fine on a Windows PC, but no longer mounts on the DiskStation front or rear USB ports.

Wondering if Synology is enforcing the compatibility list?
 

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