[GUIDE] Hack/Mod Synology DSM for DS110J to DS112J (but you can use the same guide for other models)

[Ricyx]

ATTENTION:
before starting to do the guide you must READ it and understand what you are doing however precise it may be, problems may arise outside of it that I do not know about, therefore I do not assume any responsibility for damages caused by following the guide or part of it it, mine just wants to be a guide to help those who are less familiar with this type of device and unlock planned obsolescence if the devices still work and it is still better to use them.
the rule "your things, your problems" applies


- Necessary supplies (which I will post gradually in the guide):
Hardware:

• Synology Nas Ds110J (or your own model)
• HDD/SSD (i prefer SSD to lighten the efforts to the Synology)
• Sata Station (box hdd is same, or sata reader)
• Lan Cable (if is possible cat 6 1Gb/s transfer)
• Pc or Laptop (i've win10)

Software:

• DSM 5.2 5967 (164mb file) for DS110J (or latest DSM 164/300mb for your own model)
• Update file "DSM 5.2 5967 update 9" for Ds112J (or latest update DSM for model compatible selected)
• DSM 6.2.4 (300mb file) for DS112J (or latest DSM 300mb for compatibile model)
• Synology Assistant
• Putty

- How to check compatibility:
go to this site and to this site, use the search button on your browser (ctrl+f) and look for your model, which CPU it mounts, RAM and how many Bays it has;
In my case DS110J mounts:
CPU: Marvell Kirkwood mv6281 800Mhz ARM
SATA, 16-bit Memory Bus,
128MB of RAM

in search bar write (in my case) "Marvell Kirkwood mv6281 ARM" and you found all model compatible, see also frequency processor device if is similar or major possible similar (in my case) DS112J has:
CPU: Marvell Kirkwood mv6281 1.0Ghz ARM
128MB of RAM

and compare all settings

From now on I will refer to DS110J and DS112J, but if you have different models the
"DS110J = your physical device"
"DS112J = compatible device to emulate"

Having said that we can start:
THIS PROCEDURE WILL ERASE ALL DATA IN THE SYNOLOGY, SECURE ALL YOUR DATA OR MAKE A BACKUP BEFORE PROCEEDING
-If you don't have a working Synology DS110, continue with the guide, if you do have a working one, skip this step.

1. insert a new hard disk/ssd, connect directly by LAN cable on your pc/laptop and start the DS110J, a flashing Orange led will come out on status, you must download the latest version of the DS110J available here or exactly here (164mb file)
2. install Synology Assistant on your pc DESKTOP UTILITY SECTION and download it for your OS
3. after installed synology assitant , the program found your DS110J and ask to you to install the latest DSM, put in your latest (164mb file) and click next button
4. Synology Assistant start to formatting and install all proprieties, partition and other stuff, when all is finished (no problem if return back message CONNECTION LOST FOR LAST STEP, important is go to web interface)

- Now you have a working device with latest DSM available for your device
1. login with "admin" user and password you have selected when you have installed the latest DSM.

2. go to control panel ---> Advance Mode (corner up-right) --> Terminal & SMNP

3, now download and install Putty, open it and set the synology ip address (see in synology assistant what is the ip) :

4. now appear warning message go to accept and go to terminal with a login user
user: root
password: (same password you have selected for admin user)

5. now type in terminal:

vi /etc.defaults/synoinfo.conf

and press enter

6. WARNING NOW YOU CAN BRICK YOUR SYNOLOGY IF YOU WRITE WRONG VALUE, PAY ATTENTION
Press the letter " i " on your keyboard move the green square with keyboard arrow and change value in follow line:

1. line 1: unique": "synology_88f6281_110j -> unique": "synology_88f6281_112j
2. line 236: upnpmodelname="DS110j" -> upnpmodelname="DS112j"
3. line 251: synobios="ds110j" -> synobios="ds112j"

press ESC on your keyboard and write :wq for save and exit, (if you have wrong values write only :q for exit without save, close putty and repeat the process from step 3)

7. close putty (now we don't need it) and go to the synology web interface for checking if we see is DS112J also in Synology Assistant if is same
DON'T POWER OFF or DON'T RESTART the device because is temporally DS112J and file go to corrupt if you power off or restart. (if you have do it go to step 1 and repeat process)

8. download DS112J 5.2 UPDATE 9 here and install it with manual install from control panel
9. after install you will appear with this:

we need to do this step to fix the proprieties permanently signed by synology last modified.

in next post i follow the hard step

 

[Ricyx]

now here i explain the hard part:

10. restart che synology and check if all is ok (DSM, MODEL etc) if all is ok and no orange led status you can continue, otherwise you do repeat from step 1

11. open synology and extract the HDD/SSD , insert in HDD BOX or SATA STATION and connect to pc
12. go to CREATE or FORMAT PATITION (or right button mouse on windows logo and select DISK MANAGE)


13. search the synology disk and Delete all patition/volume without formatting (in my case is Disk2) you see blue bar go to black bar
14. after this reinstall the HDD/SSD into the DS110J and Power on
15. Now Synology assistant ask to you install the DSM image with orange led status bar
16. Download here the latest DSM available for DS112J (in my case 6.2.4)
17. install with Synology assistant the DSM previous downloaded in step 16 for DS112J follow step 1 how to do.
18. now you have your synology updated

 

[Ricyx]

Tips & Trick:
to increase the potential of the porting it would be ideal to:

• Use SSD
• Disable some services (such as "universal search")
• Activate e-sata port
• Correct HDD-BAY

How to disable Universal Search:

1. open putty (follow from step 3 to 4)
2. if don't work or return back the message "access denied" or "connection refused" repeat the step from 2 to 4
3. if don't work also this, you need to follow step 3 and login user "admin" with password you've set up in step 17, after login write "sudo -i" and re-write the password set up in step 17.
4. after log in in root mode write "vi /var/packages/SynoFinder/INFO" press letter " i " from keyboard and search the line 14 with command ctl_stop="no" and set in ctl_stop="yes"
5. after this search line 15 with command ctl_uninstall="no"and set in ctl_uninstall="yes"
6. press ESC from keyboard and write :wq

How to Activate E-Sata Port:

1. open putty (follow from step 3 to 4)
2. if don't work or return back the message "access denied" or "connection refused" repeat the step from 2 to 4
3. if don't work also this, you need to follow step 3 and login user "admin" with password you've set up in step 17, after login write "sudo -i" and re-write the password set up in step 17.
4. after log in in root mode write "vi /etc.defaults/synoinfo.conf" press letter " i " from keyboard and search the line 76 with command" support_s2s=”yes” press enter after this to create new line
5. Add write line supportESATA="yes" (new line is 77)
6. now go to the line 282 and set esataportcfg=”0x0″ to esataportcfg="0x10"
7. press ESC from keyboard and write :wq

How to Correct HDD-Bay Number:

1. open putty (follow from step 3 to 4)
2. if don't work or return back the message "access denied" or "connection refused" repeat the step from 2 to 4
3. if don't work also this, you need to follow step 3 and login user "admin" with password you've set up in step 17, after login write "sudo -i" and re-write the password set up in step 17.
4. after log in in root mode write "vi /etc.defaults/synoinfo.conf" press letter " i " from keyboard and search the line 143 with command maxdisks="x" (when "x" is a number of hdd-bay) and set maxdisks="y" (when "y" is the number of the REAL hdd-bay you have, in my case DS110 have only 1 HDD internal support and i've set "1" in "y")
5. press ESC from keyboard and write :wq

 

[Ulfhednir]

The Update works with DSM 7.2 too?

 

[plang.pl]

Neither the 110j nor the 112j receives 7.2

How to disable Universal Search:

This can be done easier:
Just use the command "sudo synopkg uninstall UniversalSearch"

@Ricyx Thanks for sharing!

 

[Ricyx]

The Update works with DSM 7.2 too?

my guide is a universal guide, i specify the device because i've do with this.

if you have hardware compatible in list with a device with DSM 7.1 update you can do it!
for my device the best and the last is 6.2.4 update 7 and for my use is the best (i use for my own cloud with Nextcloud app)

when i've a time i add a heatstink on cpu (same like raspberry pi heatstink) for increase dissipation and for have cotinuative performance

 

[plang.pl]

when i've a time i add a heatstink on cpu

I don't think that this will change anything. The CPU of the 110j runs at very low voltage and really don't even get warm, because the power consumption has a low limit.

 

[Ricyx]

i see the medium cpu work on 70% because the DSM porting is base on 1Ghz CPU and we have a 800mhz, i presume work better in cold condition with heatstink.

 

[plang.pl]

Which temperatures do you see?

 

[Ricyx]

Which temperatures do you see?

I haven't tested it thoroughly and I haven't put it under stress, but the average is around 40°C, keep in mind that to lighten the work on the CPU I have inserted a 2.5" SSD (less consumption and less stress with greater dissipation )

 

[plang.pl]

On my 720+ with Quad Core CPU I don't see temperatures over 75°
The CPU can handle up to 105°
I think that the CPU of the 110j will not go ahead 60°, even under 100% load over a long time. So I think a heat sink will not change anything. Maybe the CPU then won't go ahead 50°. But you won't recognize that

 

[indaba]

Hi Rycyx, thank you for the very detailed guide, all worked until I got to the PUTTY part. When signing on in PUTTY, I could enter my admin as user but then when asking for the password, no keyboard keys reacted to enter. What have I done wrong?
Synology DS110j with DSM 5.2.5644

 

[plang.pl]

Just try another terminal app. If you work with windows, you can use cmd or under macOS, you can use the standard terminal

 

[Synchrotron]

Ist das hier jetzt so wichtig, dass mer auswärts schwätze müsse … ?

 

[goetz]

Hello,

no keyboard keys reacted to enter

you have to type your password blind, there is nothing to see until you press Enter.

Regards Götz

 

[indaba]

many thanks for super fast reply. I have now successfully modified the three lines in PUTTY and saved these. Synology Assistant shows DS112j and DSM 5.2-5644. Update DSM to 88f6281_112j.pat not possible: "not compatable with this version of DSM". Oh dear, what now?

 

[indaba]

unfortunately no reply to my further query, can someone please help me resolve my problem.
I am unable to load DSM 5.2 Update on to the DS110j (now shown as DS112j after PUTTY re-name), see details above.

 

[indaba]

Hi Goetz, as said above, I am still unable to load the DSM 5.2-5967 Update 9 to replace DSM 5.2-5644 Update 8 and just get incompatable message. Have you any idea what went wrong with the change DS110j to DS112j. Attached is snippet of the present set-up.

 

[plang.pl]

Du kannst hier ruhig auf deutsch schreiben...

 

[indaba]

Also gut plang.pl, als Ire bin ich trotzdem wohl in beiden Sprachen etwas mächtig.
Nachdem ich die Anweisungen (USER GUIDE) genau verfolgt habe und mein DS110j jetzt als DS112j erkannt wird (SYNOLOGY ASSISTANT), wollte ich die empfohlene Update-Datei DSM 5.2-5967 anstelle von DSM 5.2-5644 installieren. Leider gibt es eine Fehlermeldung wegen inkompatibilität.
Wenn du weiter helfen könntest wäre ich sehr dankbar.