Platform choice

Synology SHR or RAID 5?

Compare flexible mixed-drive planning with a conventional equal-drive RAID layout through the actual expansion path you expect to use.

Best fit

Synology SHR

Synology owners who expect staged upgrades or may combine supported drive sizes.

  • • Capacity depends on the exact drive combination.
  • • Expansion rules must be checked before purchase.
  • • Platform support and compatibility still apply.

Best fit

RAID 5

Equal-drive arrays where conventional parity capacity math and layout expectations are preferred.

  • • Usable capacity follows the smallest participating drive.
  • • Future capacity growth may require multiple replacements.
  • • Single parity is not backup.

Decision rule

Write down current and future drive sizes, then use Synology’s official calculator and expansion documentation before choosing a drive purchase sequence.

Build the storage baselineCalculate RAID capacity

Editorial record

Maintained by Make Your Own Tools to turn “Store data safely” into a defined capacity, bays, redundancy, and recovery baseline. The references below provide the technical context for this planning path. Its calculation rules and planning assumptions are documented in the methodology, and affected calculations pass regression checks before the review date advances.

Last reviewed
Evidence set
2 primary references
Read methodology →
Planning scope
Synology owners comparing supported SHR and RAID layouts.
Next check
Other vendors or every possible mixed-drive arrangement.
Synology drive replacement and expansion guidancePlatform-specific conditions for capacity changes after drive replacement.Open source ↗Synology RAID CalculatorCapacity estimation for supported Synology drive combinations.Open source ↗