NAS Hard Drives - Before You Buy

- When choosing your first NAS device, as important as it seems to get the right network attached storage device, even more important is making sure you get the right hard drive or SSD Media to store your files on. Technically any hard drive (HDD) these days can be installed inside a network attached storage device. On the one hand, this is a good thing for those that like choice, but it is also a bloody awful thing for the indecisive or those that just want to know what the best hard drive to buy is right now. In order to use any hard drive in your NAS, you will need to make sure it is the following:
SATA connectivity (so some Enterprise drives will also support SAS)
At least 5400rpm or higher otherwise you there will be lag during access which only gets worse, the more drives you add.
at least 120GB and above in capacity, as often applications and NAS operating systems, plus updates, will be well over 50-80GB alone over the years
At least 64MB cache
Yep..that just above covers it!

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[mikeeast]

The best NAS content on the web. You have helped me so many times. I am on my 3rd NAS thanks to you and it's running like a top. Thank you sir!

[Bay-Raker]

This video will probably answer what you were trying to search for when you found it. My highest compliment. Good day, sir.

[williamyf]

One trick that could be used is to use differnt types of drives for differnt uses in groups, and use only those drives when defining the storage pools. Either in different slots on the chasis, or, if your NAS supports multiple external bays, in diferent storage bays. Using a DS1515+ (my NAS) as an example:

Slots 1 and 2 are for SSDs, maybe in Write Cache, or read cache for two partitions.
Slots 3~5 have NAS drives (say Toshiba N300) in RAID5 for VMs and Speed/Latency sensitive stuff.
Then, on the first DX517: A bunch of surveillance drives Say, Toshiba S300 In RAID 6
And finally, on the second DX517, A bunch of normal Hard Drives in RAID 5 or 6 for media and non Speed/Latency sensitive stuff.

Same Idea with, say, a 12 bay NAS.

Just make sure that, when you create your storage pools, you select only drives of the same type.

[MattCLind]

Cant thank you enough for your videos. I’ve probably watched 8hours of your videos the past week... particularly the QuMagie vs Moments. I probably changed my mind back and forth 20X

[stoffls]

I am so glad I found your channel. I am thinking about buying a NAS for home use - and with your tips I can make a much better decision. And you are really able to explain the topics well (I am a Microsoft server engineer, so the concepts are not completely new to me - only regarding the home use vs. the enterprise environment I am working with).

[IMBlakeley]

Ran a cheap WD blue for 5 years in an Old ReadyNAS, it did eventually totally fail with no warning but that's what backups are for.

[Isaacmuribeca]

You know everything about NAS, it’s insane, hats off 👏🏼

[thngzys]

It's almost as if he's reading my mind. Need to move out of Google Photos? Here's a video. Wondering what disk to choose? Here you go!

[timothyoconnor]

As always, a brilliant video. Thank you again. I'm learning so much.

[exsosus]

Yes, some of the pro drives, are so loud, they make a real real noise racket. I began using 5400RPM for a while only, as its whisper quiet and one can sleep in the same room as the NAS then. Yes, less performance, noticable for movies and database storage? Nope. Perfect for my configuration.

[HumanityHourI]

Great video! The perfect ending would be a summary that links the theory covered in video to the real world. Something like "These brands/product lines are designed for NAS: <a, b, c>, these for surveillance: <d, e, f>, these for desktop: ..., and these for enterprise/server environment: <x, y, z>

[iankester-haney]

I got an Asustor NAS and 4 10TB Ironwolf Exos drives. Now I am replacing 1 due to relocated sectors via smart. Seagate didn't even ask for info before processing an rma. Gotta love pro level gear.

[sarhtaq]

CMR vs SMR drives can often be quite important as well, especially when you need to write large files and move them frequently.

[TechDogeth]

Great content, suggestion for future videos. Please add a written overlay for the math sections. E.g. The Capacity section with explanations of drives & config vs storage, "seeing" the math written out side by side could help. I can tell I was not the only one since the analytics say a lot of people re-winded back and forth there, which can get confusing.

[Morpheus-ptwq]

The reason, why there are drives specified for different use is binning. It would be costly for the manufacturer to make each segment as standalone. Just like chips, not all drives are created equal. When a drive is specified for 5400rpm, it only means it´s unable to meet specs required for 7200rpm drive. Worst HDDs end up in external boxes, worst CMR HDDs end up as surveillance disks or compute units (if such line still exists). So, basically, a WD Purple is a drive, that couldn´t made it into WD Red line and WD Red (RED Plus currently) line couldn´t made it into WD Red Pro line, which couldn´t made it into WD Gold line, etc.

You can use ANY drive in your PC - you can also use ANY drive in your NAS - that depends entirely on you. Telling people, that you have to pick a HDD according to your use is just a fall under manufacturer´s manipulation. Also check the datasheets, Seagate specifies all compute Barracuda drives to be used max 8 hours in bussiness days. Made me wonder about the drive internal quality, when i read it.

I´m using a NAS-specified drive in PC, do you think it does not work? I´m getting sick of all SMR drives, that silently replaced all cheap compute drives. Yes, Seagate did this as well, a lot sooner, than WD SMR scandal happened.

Eventually, every HDD will fail - it´s inevitable. If HDD fails within few days of purchase or arrives DOA, it does not mean it´s a bad quality drive, just a bad luck. Important thing here is to have backups, or even backups of backups.

[freddied]

Sadly I didn't watch this video before I bought a new NAS 3 months ago, my old DS214p died and I had to get up and rjnning again so inmh stress I bought a DS220+ and and soon after upgraded the discs to 2x16Tb Toshiba. I have now come go the conclusion I'd rather have a DS920 with 3x8Tb drives. That would also have given me a quad core instead of the dual core and possibility for SSD cache if needed down the line. Sure a DS920 doubles the price of a DS220+ but as you mention you will save that on buying 3 smaller drives ror a RAID5 instead of a RAID1.

[stephenkbolton]

Perfect timing! Just looking to get my first nas.

[televisi]

Thanks for the suggestion of buying less disk space with more disks to have the same equal space but less money!

[SldiEr]

Even has the time to answer emails direct.. top lad.

[Cuthalu]

Some of the pro hard drives are the least noisiest (Hitachi MG, Ironwolf Pro), which is why silence enthusiasts specifically target them. Regular hdd's are noisy by comparison.