I was on my 3rd Synology over the last 12 years or so. They were solid and something I didn't have to pay attention to.

But the drive lock-in tipped me over the edge when I needed to expand space. I'm getting burned out with all of these corporate products gradually taking away your control (Synology, Sonos, Harmony, etc.).

Even though it takes more time and attention, I ended up building my own NAS with ZFS on Debian using the old desktops I use for VMs. I did enjoy the learning experience, but I can't see it's that reasonable a use of time.

> can't see it's that reasonable a use of time

That totally depends on if you enjoyed yourself and maybe learned something or not. Totally up to you!