Author Topic: Best HDD for NAS? (Read 2966 times)

Arulco · « **on:** Apr 19, 2017 at 07:45 PM »

I just ordered a Synology Diskless NAS appliance so now I'm trying to decide whether to get WDC Red or Seagate Ironwolf HDDs to go with it.

Right now, I'm leaning towards Ironwolf 5900RPM HDDs because they're a bit faster than WD 5400RPM Reds and they have drive monitoring exclusive features enabled in Synology's DSM NAS OS but what about reliability? Are WD Reds still the safer choice when it comes to reliability?

I will be using the NAS as a file and DLNA/UPnP media server with P2P uploading/downloading running in the background constantly.

uvax · « **Reply #1 on:** Apr 19, 2017 at 09:20 PM »

The Seagate Ironwolfs are relatively new locally so experience with it would be limited. I have a Synology DS416 NAS that is setup the same way that you intend to use yours. It's populated with WDC Reds. It's up 24/7. I've had one drive come up with a bad sector. It was not catastrophic but since it was still within the warranty period I had it RMAed. Here's an annualized HDD failure rate from BackBlaze:

https://www.backblaze.com/blog/hard-drive-benchmark-stats-2016/
They haven't tested Sesagate Ironwolfs yet.

Performance wise you won't notice any difference between the two with the way you intend to use the NAS.

flashDB · « **Reply #2 on:** Apr 19, 2017 at 10:10 PM »

im using WD Red 24x7 without any issue. it's been 2 years+ already

Arulco · « **Reply #3 on:** Apr 19, 2017 at 10:47 PM »

Hmmm. The reliability stats of the Seagate ST4000DM000 are impressive considering the much larger sample size. I actually have several of those drives doing external and internal non-24/7 duties on my PC for years now, and they have yet to fail. Based on that Backblaze chart, they seem to be well suited for data center duties.

The sample size for the WDC Red 4TB WD40EFRX is much smaller but gives similar reliability percentages as the ST4000DM000. The WDC Red 6TB WD60EFRX doesn't look too good in comparison though so I think I'll avoid that model

Anyway, I think I'm going to start out with a couple of brand new WD Red 4TB drives and one of my available ST4000DM000 drives for now in RAID 5 or SHR since from what I understand, RAID arrays allow for the mixing of HDD brands. Is there any reason not to do this?

uvax · « **Reply #4 on:** Apr 20, 2017 at 07:00 AM »

I'd rather not mix a desktop drive with NAS drives if you are going to combine them in a RAID array. One of the main features in NAS drive firmware is the much quicker interval in reporting failures. This gives enough time for the NAS to recover instead of just timing out and reporting a raid array failure. So if the desktop drive in your raid array fails it could take your whole raid array offline. You won't lose your data since you're protected by the raid but the array itself will be offline.

flashDB · « **Reply #5 on:** Apr 20, 2017 at 08:08 AM »

Dont mix HDD brands on RAID.

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Arulco · « **Reply #6 on:** Apr 20, 2017 at 08:21 AM »

Ah I see. Some Raid modes like SHR and raid 5 allow for parity so if a drive fails, I could do hot swap the failed drive and the raid array can rebuild itself so i thought could mix and match drives but yeah, rebuilding the raid array means downtime and it's probably not a good idea mixing drives of different rotational speeds in RAID.

I'll just setup the WDC Red drives in RAID and install the desktop drive in the NAS as a basic volume to function as an automated internal backup drive. Is this possible with within Synology NAS appliances?

uvax · « **Reply #7 on:** Apr 20, 2017 at 09:15 AM »

Quote from: Mr. Bungle on Apr 20, 2017 at 08:21 AM

I'll just setup the WDC Red drives in RAID and install the desktop drive in the NAS as a basic volume to function as an automated internal backup drive. Is this possible with within Synology NAS appliances?

Yes you can set individual disks as JBOD.

Synology also offers free backup apps or packages that you can download. I haven't tried it but probably "Hyper Backup" app can do that.

Arulco · « **Reply #8 on:** Apr 20, 2017 at 12:03 PM »

Quote from: uvax on Apr 20, 2017 at 09:15 AM

Yes you can set individual disks as JBOD.

Synology also offers free backup apps or packages that you can download. I haven't tried it but probably "Hyper Backup" app can do that.

I'll definitely check out their backup apps since I just realized that I really need to automate the backups of my "mission critical" work files that I will be storing on the NAS besides the off-site cloud backups I already have. Thanks!

Arulco · « **Reply #9 on:** Apr 23, 2017 at 10:26 PM »

Got these today:

So here's my plan: I'm setting up the two 4TB Red drives in RAID 1, Btrfs for now. When the time comes that I'll be needing more storage space, I'll add a third 4TB Red drive then convert from RAID 1 to RAID 5. I'll be adding a fourth 4TB red drive as needed then just do an expand on the new drive. Backups of files I can't afford to lose will be done on external USB 3.0 drives connected to the NAS. Since this is my first ever NAS and RAID setup, I hope I'm doing it right.

flashDB · « **Reply #10 on:** Apr 24, 2017 at 01:41 AM »

First plan mo is raid 1 so 2 HDDs. Then add another for raid 5.

Im not sure if there's direct conversion of raid 1 to 5. You have to rebuild it. Unless my knowledge is outdated or feature built-in to NAS.

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Arulco · « **Reply #11 on:** Apr 24, 2017 at 05:25 AM »

Quote from: flashDB on Apr 24, 2017 at 01:41 AM

First plan mo is raid 1 so 2 HDDs. Then add another for raid 5.

Im not sure if there's direct conversion of raid 1 to 5. You have to rebuild it. Unless my knowledge is outdated or feature built-in to NAS.

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Nabasa ko dito, pwede daw:

Quote

Change RAID Type of a Volume or Disk Group

Volumes and disk groups can be changed from one RAID type to another without losing existing data. For example, you can create a RAID 1 volume on your Synology NAS, and later change to RAID 5 if you install more hard drives. This article provides instructions to change the RAID type of existing volumes and disk groups on your Synology NAS.

https://www.synology.com/en-global/knowledgebase/DSM/help/DSM/StorageManager/volume_diskgroup_change_raid_type

uvax · « **Reply #12 on:** Apr 24, 2017 at 07:13 AM »

If it's just for downloaded movies and stuff like that I don't even bother with RAID. It's quantity over quality. I just keep a backup of our home videos and pictures on a separate external drive.

frequenzy · « **Reply #13 on:** Apr 24, 2017 at 07:24 AM »

Quote from: uvax on Apr 24, 2017 at 07:13 AM

If it's just for downloaded movies and stuff like that I don't even bother with RAID. It's quantity over quality. I just keep a backup of our home videos and pictures on a separate external drive.

+1

paolorenzo · « **Reply #14 on:** Apr 24, 2017 at 07:45 AM »

Scary yan, when the time comes to convert RAID types. It'll likely take overnight to build the new RAID array. Kaya ako, I held off setting it up, until na kumpleto ko na all 4 HDDs. Make sure naka UPS.

I have 4x4Tb HDD in RAID 5, and it leaves 12Tb as usable space. Vacant pa 5th bay.

flashDB · « **Reply #15 on:** Apr 24, 2017 at 08:25 AM »

ah feature pala sya ng NAS mo. ok nice! pero as mentioned above, parang it sounds scary. minute something goes wrong your files get wiped.

Arulco · « **Reply #16 on:** Apr 24, 2017 at 09:30 AM »

That's why I keep backups of my work/business files on external drives. Yung mga files ko sa work, naka sync din sa OneDrive for easy remote access. Kasama na rin yung music collection ko sa external drive backups which I can't afford to lose. iiyak ako pag may nangyari dun. I don't keep movies and tv shows actually. Dinidelete ko pakatapos ko panoorin. Kaya ako nag NAS para centralized na lahat at may dedicated BT Seedbox na rin ako but I agree, overkill na siguro mag RAID for fault tolerance para sa 24/7 home NAS since I can manage downtimes restoring from backups.

May APC Back UPS 650 CS na rin ako. Kapapalit lang ng batteries a several months ago. Kailangan ko nalang i-setup yung managed shutdown sa DSM control panel. May nabasa ako sa Synology community forums na may mga nasisira palang NAS dahil sa power outages.

flashDB · « **Reply #17 on:** Apr 24, 2017 at 09:32 AM »

re power outages yes, UPS dapat. im using qnap naman with runs 24x7 and almost 2 years na na naka UPS din

Arulco · « **Reply #18 on:** Apr 29, 2017 at 10:00 PM »

Wow. It took me a few days to get everything up and running working with so much data but in the end, it was all worth it. Thanks for all the help guys.

vgsison · « **Reply #19 on:** Apr 30, 2017 at 06:37 AM »

Congrats sir. Using same tplink router in my nas home setup.

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dazed · « **Reply #20 on:** May 24, 2017 at 11:11 AM »

Quote from: Mr. Bungle on Apr 29, 2017 at 10:00 PM

Wow. It took me a few days to get everything up and running working with so much data but in the end, it was all worth it. Thanks for all the help guys.

Time to install Emby or Plex on your NAS so you can serve your media anywhere! Not sure about Synology (I use QNAP), but I have mine set up to automatically download whatever shows I'm watching (using Usenet so pretty reliable, and extremely fast, and more importantly, not dependent on seeders, as in the case of torrents, and also more anonymous)

I use Sonarr to manage TV shows and Couchpotato for movies

Emby also lets me stream from my NAS to pretty much anywhere I am (or my friends are). Have friends who've cancelled their Netflix subscriptions in the US and just stream from my NAS here in manila

There's a lot your NAS can do, not just store media - good luck!

paolorenzo · « **Reply #21 on:** May 24, 2017 at 11:35 AM »

^dazedFlix? How much monthly? Hehehe.

What's your broadband plan sir? Even if 50mbps upload, that can be easily consumed if more than 2 will concurrently stream from your NAS, lalo if HD content.

dazed · « **Reply #22 on:** May 24, 2017 at 11:40 AM »

Quote from: paolorenzo on May 24, 2017 at 11:35 AM

^dazedFlix? How much monthly? Hehehe.

What's your broadband plan sir? Even if 50mbps upload, that can be easily consumed if more than 2 will concurrently stream from your NAS, lalo if HD content.

I'm on 50mbps Fibr, unlimited. so far I haven't been throttled. shhhhhhhhhhh