What HDD for the new NAS?

[#Michael]

So I am picking up a new NAS soon, the synology DS213, but I have no idea what HDD to put in it. There are so many options available that it is mind blowing. I am looking for around 4TB and will probably do a raid1 or the synology hybrid raid option. I know that HDD prices are good now but I don't know what brands are good or what models.

I have had the WD caviar blacks before and really liked them. Do I stay with them or go for something else?

[Crisp]

If it's going to be on 24/7 I would go with WD Green drives.

[threetonesun]

Blacks are overklll for a NAS. WD makes a red which is designed for NAS use, and I've seen them on sale recently for reasonable prices.

[#Michael]

If it's going to be on 24/7 I would go with WD Green drives.

WD has stated though that the greens are not designed for NAS setups

Blacks are overklll for a NAS. WD makes a red which is designed for NAS use, and I've seen them on sale recently for reasonable prices.

Last time I setup a NAS, the reds were sky high expensive. I'll look at it.

[tsupersonic]

I got the Synology DS213, and I'm running just 1 TB WD Red, and it's held up well so far. I plan to add in a second WD Red in the future, I just don't need that much storage (for now). If you're going Western Digital, don't get the Black, Blue or Green. Only the Red lineup is 'optimized' for NAS use.

[#Michael]

I got the Synology DS213, and I'm running just 1 TB WD Red, and it's held up well so far. I plan to add in a second WD Red in the future, I just don't need that much storage (for now). If you're going Western Digital, don't get the Black, Blue or Green. Only the Red lineup is 'optimized' for NAS use.

I have used WD drives for a long time now and they have always treated me well.

[threetonesun]

Last time I setup a NAS, the reds were sky high expensive. I'll look at it.

Microcenter is selling 2TB Reds for $119, only $10 than a green, and $50 less than a black.

http://www.microcenter.com/product/397398/Red_2TB_SATA_60Gb-s_35_Internal_Hard_Drive_WD20EFRX_-_Bare_Drive

[#Michael]

Microcenter is selling 2TB Reds for $119, only $10 than a green, and $50 less than a black.

http://www.microcent...RX_-_Bare_Drive

That's not a half bad deal, plus I have a microcenter store near me. But if I do this then I want to make it last so I am thinking of going with the 3tb drives. Amazon has them for $158, plus I am a prime member so no tax and free shipping.

[webdev511]

I agree with the group here and suggest WD Red drives if you can afford them. I just migrated from a Drobo-FS to a Drobo 5N, but couldn't quite stomach the extra $150 5 2TB WD Reds were going to cost me over 2TB Seagate Barracudas (which happened to be the cooler running two platter version) that were on sale.

Drobo doesn't suggest green drives in their devices.

[jerzdawg]

That's not a half bad deal, plus I have a microcenter store near me. But if I do this then I want to make it last so I am thinking of going with the 3tb drives. Amazon has them for $158, plus I am a prime member so no tax and free shipping.

yea def go with the 3TB, I went with 2x2TB in my DSJ211 and running in raid 0 (i think, its mirrored for backup). I only use it for backup for my mp3s and photos but I do not look forward to eventually swapping out the drives to increase storage

[Klownicle]

Western Digital Red drives, can't go wrong. I have a MediaSonic ProRaid 8 Bay unit with 8x2tb drives in a raid 50 configuration. 220mb's read vs 180mb's write in seq.

[metallithrax]

We have just changed the drives in one of the NAS devices at work. Removed 4x 2TB Green and replaced with 4x 3TB Red (which are designed for NAS). When the Greens were in the NAS was fairly slow for what we use it for. A lot better now we have the right drives.

[+Byt Subscriber¹]

Just a side note.... every Buffalo NAS i have bought for my clients comes with WD Green's in the UK here.... Bit odd if they are not designed to be a NAS Drive.

WD Red looks brill

[Jason S. Global Moderator]

I have a mix-and-match in my Synology DS409. I have (2) Hitachi 1TB, (1) 2TB Seagate and (1) new, 2TB WD Red. They all play nice together.

Check Synology's compatibility list and get a WD. theyre my preferred brand.

[threetonesun]

Just a side note.... every Buffalo NAS i have bought for my clients comes with WD Green's in the UK here.... Bit odd if they are not designed to be a NAS Drive.

WD Red looks brill

The Reds are "relatively" new, also depending on when Buffalo stocked up on drives, the Greens were considerably cheaper in the past. As sort of a "dumb" storage backup, they work relatively well.

[Odom Member]

yea def go with the 3TB, I went with 2x2TB in my DSJ211 and running in raid 0 (i think, its mirrored for backup). I only use it for backup for my mp3s and photos but I do not look forward to eventually swapping out the drives to increase storage

No RAID provides backup. In fact, RAID has nothing to do with backups. They only provide hardware fault-tolerance, with the exception of RAID 0.

- RAID 0 is striped = minimum of 2 drives, space is added. One drive fails, everything is gone

- RAID 1 is mirrored = example with 2 drives, 1 drive is mirrored to the other. You only have the space of one drive (assuming both HDD's are the same size). One drive fails, the RAID runs in degraded mode but you still have one drive holding your data. You can swap out the faulted drive and rebuild the array.

[jerzdawg]

No RAID provides backup. In fact, RAID has nothing to do with backups. They only provide hardware fault-tolerance, with the exception of RAID 0.

- RAID 0 is striped = minimum of 2 drives, space is added. One drive fails, everything is gone

- RAID 1 is mirrored = example with 2 drives, 1 drive is mirrored to the other. You only have the space of one drive (assuming both HDD's are the same size). One drive fails, the RAID runs in degraded mode but you still have one drive holding your data. You can swap out the faulted drive and rebuild the array.

Thanks, I knew I'd pick the wrong one. Mine is currently in raid 1 then. I did use the wrong wording but by "backup" I meant in the event of 1 drive failing. I hope I am correct in assuming that if one driver were to fail I would be able to replace and the raid would repair itself?

[Odom Member]

Yes, that's how it should work. One drive fails and the array goes into degraded mode. The data is still accessible, but the performance might be slower. All you need to do is replace the faulty drive and the array will rebuild itself.