Solo
One person — like the typical cloud storage plan, just in Germany.
€4 / month
every six months · €24/6 months
- Storage 1 TB
- User account 1
- Devices unlimited
- Traffic unlimited
Cloud · Virtual hard drive
storageDRIVE
The virtual hard drive for every computer: mounted via SMB on Mac, PC and Linux — and in the browser with a full file manager, no installation needed. All data stays in Germany.
storageDRIVE is the virtual hard drive for every computer. On your machines it mounts via SMB as a drive — like a local disk, except it lives on our hardware in Germany. On any other computer, the browser is enough: a full file manager, no installation. Plus the Drive client for sync, automatic photo upload from your phone, WebDAV, FTPS and SFTP. One plan, one user account, a fixed quota — and as many devices as you like.
- Mounts via SMB on Mac, PC and Linux — like a local hard drive
- Full file manager in the browser — from any computer, no installation
- One plan, one user account — any number of devices in parallel
- Seven ways in — SMB, Drive client, Photos, WebDAV, FTPS, SFTP, browser
What is this?
What is storageDRIVE — and what does virtual hard drive mean?
storageDRIVE is your virtual hard drive built on Synology — also known as an online hard drive. You get your own user account with a fixed quota on our hardware in Germany — and mount the storage via SMB as a drive in the Mac Finder, in Windows Explorer or as a mount on Linux. Open, save and move files — like on a local disk. On top of that: the Synology Drive client for sync on Mac, Windows, Linux, iOS and Android, WebDAV, FTPS and SFTP for scripts — and browser access with File Station, a full file manager: drag-and-drop upload, previews, ZIP download, sharing links. That gets you to your files from any computer without installing anything. Because the drive is a real SMB share, it also works as a Time Machine target for your Mac.
Each plan belongs to exactly one user account — with no device limit in return: Mac, Windows PC, phone and tablet sync in parallel. Your data lives in Germany — no CLOUD Act, no AI mining your photos, no ads. If several people need their own logins, Nextcloud Hosting is the right choice.
You get a full DSM interface with seven pre-installed apps: File Station, Synology Drive, Synology Photos, Note Station, Cloud Sync, Text Editor, PDF Viewer. Nothing to install, nothing to configure — everything is ready to use.
Plans
Five sizes — 1 to 20 TB.
One plan, one user account, a fixed quota — and any number of devices. Need more? Up to 100 TB per account on request.
Plus
More room for photos and videos — roughly two to three times the standard cloud plan.
€9 / month
every six months · €54/6 months
- Storage 2.5 TB
- User account 1
- Devices unlimited
- Traffic unlimited
Pro
Self-employed people with lots of data.
€18 / month
monthly
- Storage 5 TB
- User account 1
- Devices unlimited
- Traffic unlimited
Warehouse
Big projects and archives — the drive that never fills up.
€35 / month
monthly
- Storage 10 TB
- User account 1
- Devices unlimited
- Traffic unlimited
Archive
Long-term archives. Up to 100 TB per account possible — if you need more, talk to us.
€70 / month
monthly
- Storage 20 TB
- User account 1
- Devices unlimited
- Traffic unlimited
More than 20 TB? Can do.
Up to 100 TB per account, at the same clear rate. Open a ticket with what you need — you get a concrete quote within one business day. Large initial datasets we accept on a shipped storage device and upload free of charge over our 10-Gbit connection — you only pay the return postage.
One plan, one user account: Your account, your quota — and as many devices as you like. You share files and folders via sharing links with password and expiry date, and the recipient needs no account.
Several users with their own logins? Then go with Nextcloud Hosting — unlimited users, shared storage, office in the browser, Talk video calls and fine-grained permission management.
All prices include 19% German VAT, cancel monthly, no setup fee. 10% off all plans with yearly prepayment — on request via ticket. This product is additionally covered by our storageDRIVE service agreement.
Pre-installed
Seven DSM apps — ready to use.
Seven DSM apps are ready for you without any further configuration — we install and maintain them centrally.
File Station
The classic file manager in the browser. Drag-and-drop, file upload, sharing links, ZIP creation, previews for images and videos.
Synology Drive
The sync hub. Your primary browser access to files, with version history, collaborative editing of office documents and the connection to the Drive client.
Synology Photos
A photo gallery like the well-known cloud photo services. Automatic upload from your smartphone, face and location recognition, albums, sharing.
Note Station
Notes with rich text, attachments, tags, encryption. Evernote-style, with its own mobile app.
Cloud Sync
Connects to external cloud providers — the big US cloud services (Drive, Sync, Storage), S3-compatible backends and 20+ more. Two-way or one-way.
Text Editor
Browser-based text and code editor with syntax highlighting for more than 50 languages.
PDF Viewer
View PDFs in the browser, add comments, extract pages — no Adobe needed.
Features
Seven ways in — and what else your storage can do.
Pick the access route that fits your workflow — all usable at the same time, all with the same login.
Mount it as a drive — SMB
The most direct route: you mount your storageDRIVE as a drive in the Mac Finder, in Windows Explorer or via mount on Linux. Open, save and move files — straight from any program, like on a local disk. Included in every plan, no add-on, no extra software. The protocol spoken is SMB 3.
Time Machine target for your Mac
Your Mac backs up via Time Machine straight to your storageDRIVE drive — hourly, automatically, versioned. Straight talk about the first full backup: it runs over your upload bandwidth and takes real patience on a typical DSL line. After that, Time Machine only backs up changes.
Full file manager in the browser
On any other computer the browser is enough: File Station offers drag-and-drop upload, previews for images and videos, ZIP download of entire folders and sharing links — no installation, no admin rights. You can secure the web login with 2FA if you want.
Synology Drive client
Native sync app for macOS, Windows, Linux, iOS and Android. Works like typical cloud sync — you get a local folder, changes sync immediately. Selective sync, streaming mode, version history.
Automatic photo upload with Synology Photos
Phone takes a photo, photo lands in your storageDRIVE — automatically on Wi-Fi. Face recognition and album management included. Like the big cloud photo services, just in Germany and without AI profiling.
WebDAV as a network drive
The alternative to the SMB drive when a network (say, at the office) only lets HTTPS through: mount it as a network drive in Finder or Explorer, drag-and-drop as usual. Standard login, no extra software.
FTPS and SFTP
FTPS encrypts classic FTP; SFTP runs over the SSH layer and is the tool of choice for scripts. Both work with your normal DSM login. Direct SSH shell access is off the table by design — we run multi-tenant.
Sharing links instead of user management
You share files and folders via link — with password and expiry date, and the recipient needs no account. For holiday albums, client handovers or that one big video, that is plenty. If you need real multi-user logins, Nextcloud Hosting is the better fit.
Recycle bin per account
Deleted something by accident? The file lands in the DSM recycle bin, and one click brings it back. The Synology Drive client adds version history on top. Via the daily backups (managed by us) you can roll back further in time if it comes to that — restore via ticket.
AES-256 encrypted
All data is stored encrypted on the disks. Stolen hard drives would still be useless to an attacker — they need the key, and it does not live in the same server.
Mirrored across locations
Data in Düsseldorf, mirrored daily to Nuremberg or Falkenstein. If one location goes down, your data is ready elsewhere — you do not have to do a thing.
Also included in every plan
Even on the Solo plan. No extra charges, no hidden modules.
- DSM web interface with seven pre-installed apps
- Synology Drive client for macOS, Windows, Linux, iOS, Android
- Synology Photos with automatic upload from your smartphone
- SMB drive on Mac, PC and Linux — mounts directly, no extra charge
- Time Machine target for your Mac — back up straight to the drive
- Full file manager in the browser (File Station) — from any computer, no installation
- WebDAV over HTTPS as a network-drive alternative
- FTPS for legacy workflows and scripts
- SFTP for secure CLI workflows
- Sharing links with password and expiry date
- Recycle bin per account — deleted files can be restored
- AES-256 encryption of data at rest
- Our own hardware at three German locations, mirrored across locations
- One user account per plan · unlimited devices · expandable to 100 TB per account
Straight talk
What we deliberately do not offer.
Some things other providers advertise — we do not, because by design or for security reasons they do not work:
- ! SSH shell access for end customers — Synology DSM does not cleanly separate multi-tenant users at the shell level. SFTP works though; it uses a similar path without a shell.
- ! NFS mounts — for mounts we settled on SMB: one protocol that runs on Mac, Windows and Linux with built-in tools alike.
- ! Receiving Hyper Backup — that is what our own product Hyper Backup Storage is for: deliberately separate from the drive, so a full storage never crowds out your backup.
- ! BorgBackup server — Synology has no Borg server. For scripted backups, SFTP and FTPS are the clean routes.
- ! Multi-user plans with a shared storage pool — Synology DSM does not cleanly map shared quota pools in a multi-tenant environment. A storageDRIVE belongs to exactly one user account; for families and teams with multiple logins, Nextcloud Hosting is the right choice.
- ! SharePoint/Office 365 editing directly in the browser — we are storage, not an office suite. If you need that, Nextcloud with OnlyOffice is the right choice.
We would rather sell you seven access routes that work reliably than twelve on a marketing list, half of which fail in everyday use.
Who uses this
Five typical profiles.
storageDRIVE is not for everyone. Here are the people it makes sense for.
📸
Photo hobbyists
Plus or Pro
RAW files, Lightroom libraries, family photos spanning years. Classic cloud photo services stop being enough beyond 2 TB — or you simply do not want your data in the US. Synology Photos handles automatic upload and album management.
💾
Anyone who does not want to cram their computer full
Warehouse or Archive
The notebook has 512 GB, the projects need more. Mounted via SMB, storageDRIVE is the drive that never fills up — video projects, archives and old machine snapshots live with us instead of on a stack of USB drives on your desk.
💼
Self-employed people who have to keep backups
Solo, Plus or Pro
Client data, contracts, bookkeeping. One hard drive on your desk is not enough if the office burns down. storageDRIVE as a second layer — mounted via SMB, it feels like a second hard drive.
🌍
Anyone replacing the big US cloud services
Solo or Plus
You want out of US cloud — because of GDPR, because of the CLOUD Act, because of AI mining your photos. The Synology Drive app makes the switch painless. For very large datasets, send us a storage device — we upload it for you over 10 Gbit, free of charge.
🔄
Anyone switching from a raw storage provider
all plans
Raw cloud storage boxes are cheaper per TB, but deliver no automatic photo upload, no native Synology app, no ready-made SMB drive. If you need that, you come to us. Migration runs via rsync, SFTP or WebDAV.
What sets us apart
Storage is everywhere. Ours is different.
Six things we do concretely better than most other providers.
Vorteil 01
One plan, one user account — simple on purpose.
No user management, no pool allocation, no debate about who is using how much: your account, your quota, done. Built on Synology, that is the clean approach — DSM does not reliably map shared storage pools in a multi-tenant environment, so we do not sell them. If several people need their own logins, our Nextcloud Hosting with unlimited users is the better route.
Vorteil 02
Synology convenience, not bare SFTP.
We offer the SMB drive and the Synology Drive client as the main access routes, plus seven pre-installed apps — the UX you know from the big cloud sync services. Raw cloud storage boxes hand you a chunk of storage with an FTP login. We deliver the convenience on top.
Vorteil 03
Recycle bin + daily backups.
Accidental deletion is not gone for good: every file lands in the DSM recycle bin first, one click in the web interface brings it back. For the cases where the recycle bin is not enough (emptied by accident, older version needed), our daily backups step in — restore via ticket. Classic photo cloud services only give you a recycle bin; raw storage boxes often not even that.
Vorteil 04
Three German locations.
Düsseldorf, Nuremberg, Falkenstein. Daily backup mirroring across locations. If one location drops out, your data is ready in another data center. On top of that, we keep empty standby systems at every location, so hardware failures are absorbed without long waits — the 24/7 hands-on crews on site are usually available right away.
Vorteil 05
Data stays in Germany.
Our hardware sits exclusively in German data centers — Düsseldorf, Nuremberg, Falkenstein. That puts your data under German and European law: GDPR, the German Federal Data Protection Act, telecommunications privacy law. No US CLOUD Act, no government request routed through a US parent company, no data transfers to third countries without your consent. If you get audited, you can show exactly where the data sits — and who has access.
Vorteil 06
Personal support that knows Synology.
We have been looking after Synology NAS systems for close to 20 years — roughly since the first version of DSM appeared. We know the typical pitfalls inside out. Add the direct line into the Synology world: we are actively working towards Synology partner status, so complex issues reach the right people on a short path. In the ticket, one of three permanent team members answers you — no script template, no escalation loop.
Setup
Getting started — typically within 24 hours.
- 1
Order a plan
Pick the right size in the customer center — from Solo (1 TB) to Archive (20 TB). After payment arrives, we check the order manually and typically set up your account within 24 hours. You get the server address, username and password by email.
- 2
Mount it as a drive (SMB)
Mac: Finder → “Go” → “Connect to Server” (
⌘K), enter the server address from your welcome email. Windows: Explorer → “This PC” → “Map network drive”. Linux:mount -t cifs. After that, the storage behaves like a local disk. - 3
Install the Synology Drive client (optional)
For sync instead of direct access: on Mac, Windows or Linux, download the Drive client from synology.com; on iOS and Android, get it from the respective app store. At login, enter the server address and your credentials, then pick the local sync folder — the default is
~/Synology Drive. - 4
Turn on automatic photo upload (optional)
Install Synology Photos on your phone and enable auto upload per camera folder. Wi-Fi-only is recommended. The photos from your last holiday are with us 30 seconds later.
Frequently asked questions
Can several people use one storageDRIVE plan?
A plan belongs to exactly one user account — built on Synology, that is the clean approach; DSM does not reliably map shared storage pools in a multi-tenant environment. What works without any trouble: any number of devices on the same account (Mac, PC, phone, tablet in parallel) and sharing via sharing links with password and expiry date. If your family or team needs individual logins: either each person orders their own plan, or you go with Nextcloud Hosting — users are unlimited there and the storage is shared.
How is storageDRIVE different from the big US cloud storage services?
The US offerings are cheaper, but: servers in the US, AI on your photos, no SMB drive, no WebDAV, no FTPS. We are more expensive per TB, but GDPR-compliant, with seven access routes and seven pre-installed apps.
How is storageDRIVE different from a classic cloud storage box?
Raw cloud storage boxes are bare storage with protocols. storageDRIVE is built on Synology — you mount the storage as a drive via SMB and get the Synology Drive app and Synology Photos on top. We are more expensive per TB, but more convenient. What else matters when comparing providers is covered in the guide Online hard drive from Germany.
Do I need my own Synology at home?
No. You mount the SMB drive with the built-in tools of Mac, Windows and Linux, and the Synology Drive client runs on all common systems including iOS and Android. You need no Synology hardware to use storageDRIVE. And if you have one and want to back it up: that is what our Hyper Backup Storage is for.
How do I access storageDRIVE?
Seven ways, depending on what you need: (1) SMB — as a drive in Finder/Explorer or as a Linux mount, (2) the Synology Drive client on Mac/Win/Linux, (3) Synology Photos for automatic photo upload, (4) WebDAV as a network drive over HTTPS, (5) FTPS for legacy tools, (6) SFTP for scripts and CLI workflows, (7) in the browser — a full file manager (File Station) on any computer, no installation.
What about SSH access?
No SSH shell for end customers. Synology DSM does not cleanly separate multi-tenant users at the shell level — that would be a security problem. SFTP works though — it is the standard for secure file transfer and covers scripts and tools.
How do I mount storageDRIVE as a drive?
Mac: Finder → “Go” → “Connect to Server” (
⌘K), then enter the server address from your welcome email. Windows: Explorer → “This PC” → “Map network drive”. Linux: mount -t cifs. The login is your normal DSM credentials. The step-by-step guide is in the knowledge base.Can I use storageDRIVE as a Time Machine target for my Mac?
Yes. Mount the drive via SMB, select it as the backup volume in the Time Machine settings — done. One thing up front: the first full backup runs over your upload bandwidth and, on a typical DSL upload, takes days depending on the amount of data. After that, Time Machine only backs up changes — you will not notice it in everyday use.
Can I get to my files from someone else's computer?
Yes — open a browser, log in to your storageDRIVE, done. File Station is a full file manager on the web: drag-and-drop upload, previews for images and videos, ZIP download of entire folders, sharing links. Nothing to install, no admin rights needed — and you can secure the web login with 2FA if you want. Log out afterwards on machines that are not yours, obviously.
Which apps are pre-installed?
Seven DSM apps are ready without any further configuration: File Station (file manager), Synology Drive (sync hub), Synology Photos (gallery), Note Station (notes), Cloud Sync (external cloud connections), Text Editor and PDF Viewer.
Can I get my data back out again?
Of course. Vendor lock-in is not our thing. Download everything via the Synology Drive client, WebDAV, FTPS or SFTP. And we help with the migration if you ever want to move elsewhere.
How do I get a large dataset in initially? My internet is too slow.
Send us a storage device of your choice (SSD, HDD, USB stick — does not matter). We upload the contents to your storageDRIVE account over our 10-Gbit data center connection. The upload is free; you only pay the postage for the return shipment of the device. That saves you days of upload sessions over DSL/cable, and your data is typically in within 1–3 business days.
How does the automatic photo upload work?
Install Synology Photos, log in, enable auto upload for the camera folder in the app settings. The next time you are on Wi-Fi, all new photos get uploaded. You can decide per album and include videos too.
What happens if a location fails?
We run the service in Düsseldorf. Data is mirrored daily to Nuremberg or Falkenstein. If one location fails, we keep running from the second. At most, you notice a short interruption in sync.
What about file versioning?
Every deleted file lands in the DSM recycle bin first — you bring it back from there with one click in the web interface. If the recycle bin was emptied or you need a much older version, our daily backups step in — managed exclusively by us, restore via ticket. Shorter backup intervals or longer retention we set up on request.
Can I sync several devices at the same time?
Yes, any number of devices on the same account. Mac, Windows, iPhone, Android, Linux — all in parallel.
What is the minimum contract term?
One month. You can cancel monthly.
News about this product
Alle Einträge →Your storage is waiting.
The virtual hard drive for every computer: mounted via SMB as a drive, in the browser from anywhere — in Germany instead of the US cloud. Setup typically within 24 hours.