SYMPTOM
You log into your Synology NAS and everything looks fine: no drive errors, volumes seem online—but your shared folders are empty. No user data is visible.
WHAT’S REALLY HAPPENING
This is often caused by metadata corruption, volume mount failure, or an unreported RAID array issue beneath the surface. Synology’s interface may still show “green” despite actual structural issues.
WHAT NOT TO DO
- Don’t remount or recreate the volume
- Don’t delete and recreate shared folders
- Don’t assume the problem is permissions-related (unless it changed recently)
WHEN TO ESCALATE
If:
- You didn’t recently delete those files
- Multiple folders are suddenly empty
- The NAS reboot didn’t fix it
→ Escalate immediately. Further attempts may overwrite hidden or orphaned data.
WHAT YOU CAN DO
ADR engineers specialize in Synology and QNAP recoveries. You can also run JeannieLite to extract array metadata and send it to us — no disassembly required.