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Synology DS212 NAS Firmware - Help - Please

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Barryng

Member
Joined
Nov 16, 2001
In 2012 I purchased a Synology DS212 NAS. It was installed for only a few months and never really used. It then sat on a shelf forgotten until today. The firmware is, of course, well out of date but the latest available firmware from Synology will not install unless, at least, version 4.3 is installed (4.1 is the current installed version). Unfortunately, Synology advised me today version 4.3 is no longer available for download. So, for all practical purposes, I have, in 2012 dollars, a $400+ almost never used brick plus the then new two 1TB HDDs I have zero other use for.

Does anyone happen to the version 4.3 .pat file or know how to get it? If so, I would certainly appreciate it. Without being able to install the latest firmware available for it there are issues with security and features I need to resolve before it is usable.

The DS212 can be installed (assuming I can update the firmware) with external to my network access blocked. However, Synology advised there are ways to hack through this even with the latest available firmware. That is OK as all files on it will be encrypted using AES 256 bit.
 
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what is the exact vesion you have now 4.3xxxxx?, There will always be security vulnerabilities but as long as your nas isn't broadcasting itself to the world it'll be fine and if your router blocks pings to your public ip that's even better. A quick look before I sign off for the night I see 6.4.2 standalone installer , give that a try and I will check back in the morning https://www.synology.com/en-global/support/download/DS212?version=6.2#system
 
The current installed firmware is DSM 4.1-2647 and this dates back to 2012. The latest DSM version, available for the DS212, is DSM_DS212_25556.pat. If I try to manually update the firmware with this current file an error message states "(Note: Please upgrade to DSM 4.3 first.)". Unfortunately, DSM 4.3 is not available to download from Synology. Synology tech support then told me 4.3 is intentionally no longer available due to "licensing reasons" and stated my DS212 is too old to be used, and I should by a new one. He was a bit offensive as he pushed too hard suggesting I buy a new NAS from specifically Synology and was pushing a model with features way beyond anything I need.

I did download the Synology HDD/SSD Offline Update package which is a .sa file, not a .pat file which appears to be the form of firmware update software. If the .sa file is chosen during a "Manual DSM Update ", an error message is received stating "You have selected as file with the wring extension ... make sure file extension is ".pat" ... . Also, the Synology tech advised that DSM 4.3 must be installed to install any version later than 4.3.

I did spend a lot of time exploring archive.org/The Wayback Machine but did not find version 4.3 which is the specific and only version now required to update my DS212 to something usable as no version later than this will work without 4.3 installed first.

Thanks for the suggestions above. They are appreciated.
 
May be able to see if someone on the datahoarder or Synology subreddits may have a copy downloaded/backed up?
 
The current installed firmware is DSM 4.1-2647 and this dates back to 2012. The latest DSM version, available for the DS212, is DSM_DS212_25556.pat. If I try to manually update the firmware with this current file an error message states "(Note: Please upgrade to DSM 4.3 first.)". Unfortunately, DSM 4.3 is not available to download from Synology. Synology tech support then told me 4.3 is intentionally no longer available due to "licensing reasons" and stated my DS212 is too old to be used, and I should by a new one. He was a bit offensive as he pushed too hard suggesting I buy a new NAS from specifically Synology and was pushing a model with features way beyond anything I need.

I did download the Synology HDD/SSD Offline Update package which is a .sa file, not a .pat file which appears to be the form of firmware update software. If the .sa file is chosen during a "Manual DSM Update ", an error message is received stating "You have selected as file with the wring extension ... make sure file extension is ".pat" ... . Also, the Synology tech advised that DSM 4.3 must be installed to install any version later than 4.3.

I did spend a lot of time exploring archive.org/The Wayback Machine but did not find version 4.3 which is the specific and only version now required to update my DS212 to something usable as no version later than this will work without 4.3 installed first.

Thanks for the suggestions above. They are appreciated.
is this useful?
 
I need to thank everyone above for the help as the advice above proved successful. I took the advice of Janus67 and via Reddit found all the old firmware downloads. Within a few minutes of finding that page, I saw the message and link from =XAF=AfterShock and that took me to exactly the page I was already on. Then it was just a matter of downloading and installing sequentially five firmware updates as each update seemed to require having the firmware series immediately preceding it installed first. After I completed that it automatically found an update that apparently was just published within the past day or so. Thanks again!

Now that it is up and running with the latest firmware, it is big time kicking my *** trying to map it to an assigned drive letter. This is necessary because my backup software, Backup Maker, requires the backup to go to a specific drive. I called Synology but the tech this time had such a strong Indian accent, in spite of my best efforts, I could just not understand him. I will call them back Monday.

Thanks again. The help here is truly appreciated.
 
Glad you got it working instead of just being E-Waste like synology had planned with their abandonment of functional hardware. I'm no familiar with backup maker but I will check it out and see if there is an easy way to make it work.

Ok I'm on a free trial of backup maker and I see you can point your backup location to a folder located on a nas, all you should have to do is create a folder in the shared folder section of the synology control panel.
 
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I need to thank everyone above for the help as the advice above proved successful. I took the advice of Janus67 and via Reddit found all the old firmware downloads. Within a few minutes of finding that page, I saw the message and link from =XAF=AfterShock and that took me to exactly the page I was already on. Then it was just a matter of downloading and installing sequentially five firmware updates as each update seemed to require having the firmware series immediately preceding it installed first. After I completed that it automatically found an update that apparently was just published within the past day or so. Thanks again!

Now that it is up and running with the latest firmware, it is big time kicking my *** trying to map it to an assigned drive letter. This is necessary because my backup software, Backup Maker, requires the backup to go to a specific drive. I called Synology but the tech this time had such a strong Indian accent, in spite of my best efforts, I could just not understand him. I will call them back Monday.

Thanks again. The help here is truly appreciated.

If it has a share available for the network you should be able to set a drive letter either via the Windows/my computer/map network drive screen or via command line via net use commands.

You need to be able to access it in either case by getting to \\synologyhostname-or-ipaddress\sharename

For example at home I use unraid and my server is unraidtower and ip is 10.101.1.200 \\unraidtower\media or \\10.101.1.200\media both takes me to my media share (and prompts for a username and password that I have setup on my server)
 
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