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NAS Hard Drives - Before You Buy
NASCompares
Overview
This video explains five crucial factors to consider before purchasing hard drives for a Network Attached Storage (NAS) system. It differentiates between standard PC drives and NAS-specific drives, highlighting the importance of choosing drives designed for 24/7 operation and RAID configurations. The summary also delves into understanding drive speed in the context of RAID arrays, the trade-offs between drive capacity and quantity for storage needs, the impact of noise levels, and the specific requirements for surveillance applications versus general NAS use. The goal is to help viewers make informed decisions to optimize performance, capacity, and longevity for their NAS setup.
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Chapters
- Standard hard drives are designed for PCs with intermittent use, while NAS drives are built for continuous 24/7 operation.
- NAS drives are optimized for multi-drive RAID configurations, handling vibration and heat better than standard drives.
- Pro series NAS drives offer enhanced performance, higher durability, and longer warranties, suitable for demanding SMB or enterprise environments.
- Regular NAS drives are sufficient for home, prosumer, and small business use with fewer than 8 bays, balancing cost and performance.
Choosing the right type of drive ensures your NAS operates reliably and efficiently, preventing premature failure and performance bottlenecks.
Using a standard PC drive in a NAS is like using a ladle to eat yogurt; it's not the right tool for the job, leading to potential issues.
- Advertised read/write speeds (MB/s) are typically for a single drive, not the aggregate speed of a RAID array.
- Adding drives to a RAID array increases overall performance, but not linearly; each drive adds a fraction of its individual speed.
- Regular NAS drives might add 50-70 MB/s per drive in a RAID, while Pro series drives can add 80-120 MB/s per drive.
- The final RAID performance is influenced by the RAID configuration, NAS CPU, number of drives, and external interface.
Misunderstanding RAID speed can lead to unmet performance expectations, impacting the responsiveness of applications and file transfers.
A RAID array with four regular NAS drives won't achieve 4x the single-drive speed; instead, each added drive contributes a smaller performance boost.
- RAID configurations prioritize different aspects; some, like RAID 1, sacrifice capacity for redundancy (e.g., two 8TB drives yield only 8TB usable).
- Using more smaller drives in a suitable RAID (like RAID 5) can offer more total capacity for less money than fewer larger drives.
- For example, three 8TB drives in RAID 5 can provide 16TB usable storage for less than two 16TB drives in RAID 1.
- Newer, larger capacity drives are often more expensive per terabyte, making it cost-effective to scale out with more drives rather than up with fewer, larger ones, especially for multi-bay NAS units.
Strategic drive selection based on capacity and quantity can significantly reduce costs while maximizing usable storage space in your NAS.
Spending $700 on two 16TB drives for RAID 1 gives 16TB usable, while spending ~$525 on three 8TB drives for RAID 5 also yields 16TB usable, saving money.
- Pro series and enterprise-grade NAS drives are generally noisier than regular NAS drives due to higher RPMs and more robust internal components.
- Noise manifests as clicks, hums, and vibrations, which can be amplified by the NAS chassis (especially metal ones) and surrounding environment.
- Higher RPMs and larger caches in pro drives contribute to better performance but also increased audible output.
- If your NAS is located in a living space or quiet office, drive noise can be a significant consideration.
Drive noise can be a major distraction or annoyance, especially in home or office environments, making it important to balance performance needs with acoustic comfort.
Enterprise drives like WD Red Pro or Seagate IronWolf Pro often produce more noticeable clicks and hums compared to their non-Pro counterparts.
- Surveillance drives (e.g., WD Purple, Seagate SkyHawk) are optimized for constant writing, typical in CCTV/NVR systems.
- NAS drives offer a more balanced performance between reading and writing, suitable for general file storage and access.
- Surveillance drives spend 90-95% of their time writing data streams, whereas NAS drives handle a mix of random reads and writes.
- Using surveillance drives for general NAS tasks or NAS drives for heavy surveillance can lead to suboptimal performance or reduced lifespan for the drives.
Matching the drive type to its primary workload (surveillance vs. general storage) ensures optimal performance, reliability, and longevity for your specific NAS application.
A NAS used primarily for continuous video recording should use surveillance drives, as they are built for the heavy write-intensive workload.
Key takeaways
- NAS drives are engineered for 24/7 operation and RAID environments, unlike standard PC drives.
- Pro series NAS drives offer higher performance and durability but come with increased cost and noise.
- RAID performance scales additively, not multiplicatively, meaning each drive adds a portion of its speed to the array.
- Consider the cost-per-terabyte and RAID configuration to maximize storage capacity efficiently.
- Drive noise is a significant factor; choose regular NAS drives if acoustics are a concern.
- Select surveillance-specific drives if your NAS is primarily used for CCTV or NVR functions.
- Always match the drive's design to your NAS's intended workload for best results.
Key terms
NAS (Network Attached Storage)HDD (Hard Disk Drive)RAID (Redundant Array of Independent Disks)Pro Series DrivesRegular NAS DrivesRead/Write PerformanceCapacityRedundancyRPM (Rotations Per Minute)Surveillance Drives
Test your understanding
- What are the primary differences in design and intended use between standard PC hard drives and NAS hard drives?
- How does adding more drives to a RAID array affect the overall read/write speed, and why doesn't it simply multiply?
- Explain the trade-off between drive capacity and the number of drives when populating a NAS, using a specific RAID example.
- What factors contribute to the increased noise levels in Pro series NAS drives compared to regular NAS drives?
- Under what circumstances would you choose surveillance-specific hard drives over standard NAS drives for a NAS system?