Suitable drives for a NAS?

[daz72]

I've been researching NAS for the last few weeks and will be finally taking the plunge & buying a QNAP TS-419P+ this week.

I'm still a bit stumped however regarding the choice of hard-drive to install.

I'm obviously only considering those on the approved list from QNAP, and am wanting to initially install a couple of 2Tb drives. But I am completely lost whne it comes to the technical spec and whether I need something rated for consumer or busines use*? 7200 or 5900 rpm? 32 or 64mb cache?

* I will be running a bit-torrent client on the NAS so it will in all liklihood be permanently on, or at least for several days at a time.

Initially I intend to run two 2 TB drives in RAID1, expanding with a further two drives as and when needded.

The NAS will be used as a home media server for HD movies to my network media player and also as central storage accessible wirelessly by 2 laptops. Also in the future it will serve music to (possibly) a squeezebox.

Below I've listed details of the 2TB (and 1.5TB) drives that appear on the QNAP list of approved drives for the TS-419P+ with a ball park price. I'd be really grateful if someone could identify those that would suit my needs.

BUSINESS Ideal for: Mission-critical, highly reliable business environments, 24/7
MTBF: 1.2 million hours
Warranty: Typically 5 years

SATA I/ SATA II (3Gb/s)

HUA722020ALA330 Hitachi Ultrastar 2Tb A7K2000 Hard Drive - HDD
2TB Hitachi 0F10452 Ultrastar A7K2000, Enterprise 24x7,
SATA 3Gb/s, 7200rpm, 32Mb Cache, 8ms, NCQ £200

ST32000644NS Seagate Constellation ES 2TB Hard Drive
2TB Seagate Constellation ES,
SATA 3Gb/s, 7200rpm, 64MB Cache, 8.5 ms £180

WD2003FYYS Western Digital 2TB RE4 Enterprise Hard Drive2TB
Western Digital WD2003FYYS RE4,
SATA 3Gb/s, 7200rpm, 64MB Cache £180

WD2002FYPS Western Digital 2TB RE4-GP Hard Drive - HDD
2TB Western Digital WD2002FYPS RE4-GP,
SATA 3Gb/s, IntelliPower, 64MB Cache, NCQ £165

WD1503FYYS Western Digital RE4 Enterprise 1.5TB Hard Drive
1.5TB Western Digital WD1503FYYS RE4 Enterprise,
SATA 3Gb/s, 7200rpm, 64MB Cache £140
 
CONSUMER Ideal for: Family and SOHO, 8 hrs/day
MTBF: 500,000 – 1 million hours
Warranty: Typically 3-5 years

SATA I/ SATA II (3Gb/s)

HDS722020ALA330 Hitachi Deskstar 7K2000 2TB SATA-II 7200rpm:
SATA-II, 7200rpm, 32MB Cache £100

ST32000542AS Seagate Barracuda LP 2TB Hard Drive
ST3200542AS - 2TB Seagate ST32000542AS
SATA 3Gb/s, 5900 rpm, 32 MB, 16ms £70

ST32000641AS Seagate Barracuda XT 2TB Hard Drive
2TB Seagate ST32000641AS Barracuda XT,
SATA III 6Gb/s, 7200rpm, 64MB Cache, 8.5 ms, NCQ £120

ST31500541AS Seagate Barracuda LP 1.5TB Hard Drive - HDD
1.5TB Seagate ST31500541AS Barracuda LP,
SATA 3Gb/s, 5900rpm, 32MB Cache, 5.1 ms, NCQ £60

ST31500341AS Seagate Barracuda 1.5TB 7200.11 Hard Drive - HDD
1.5TB Seagate ST31500341AS Barracuda 7200.11,
SATA 3Gb/s, 7200rpm, 32MB Cache, 8 ms, NCQ £50

HD204UI Samsung 2TB Spinpoint F4 Hard Drive - HDD
2Tb Samsung HD204UI/Z4, SpinPoint EcoGreen F4EG
SATA 3Gb/s, 32MB Cache, 8.9 ms, NCQ £65

HD203WI Samsung 2TB Spinpoint F3 Hard Drive - HDD
2Tb Samsung HD203WI, SpinPoint EcoGreen F3EG
SATA 3Gb/s, 32 MB Cache, 8.9 ms £85

HD154UI Samsung 1.5TB Spinpoint EcoGreen F2 Hard Drive
1.5TB Samsung HD154UI Spinpoint F2 DT EcoGreen,
SATA 3Gb/s, 32MB Cache, 8.9 ms, NCQ £50

WD2001FASS Western Digital 2TB Caviar Black Hard Drive
2TB Western Digital WD2001FASS Caviar Black,
SATA 3Gb/s, 7200rpm, 64MB Cache £130

Cheers

Darren

 

[BostonDan]

Hard Drives

Hi daz72,

Let me first start out stating that this is my personal opinoin and I'm sure many are going to disagree with me. But in the web research I found:
1) most reviews/articles/research papers stated that in many cases, enterprise drives and consumer drives are of the same build quality.
2) studies which suggested that enterprise drives do not last longer than consumer drives. To me, this meant that the only thing I was buying is the priviledge to send defective drives back to the manufacturer for a replacement. After 3 years (standard consumer warranty), I wouldn't want the same size drive back. I want a larger drive and I don't want to have to wait for the warranty exchange process to complete for a replacement.
3) Hitachi and Western Digital appear to have higher reliability than all other manufacturers.

If you perform a web search on hard drive reliability studies/papers, there is a paper by Google and some university that are worth reading.
Hope this helps.
BostonDan

 

[stevech]

personal experience: Pair of WD 500GB 3.5in. SATA drives. In a PC that runs 24/7 in my garage. In RAID1 motherboard controller. Win XP. I doubt they ever spin down due to how they're used.
These are consumer grade.
Have about 3+ years on them.

Of course, this doth not make a statistically valid sample but is one data point.

 

[thiggins]

You're going to be hard-pressed to see a performance difference from the drive used in a NAS. Most just are not powerful enough.

"Enterprise" NASes might last longer. But they will run hotter and noisier than consumer drives.

 

[daz72]

Thanks for the replies guys.

Put my order in today and have gone for a pair of Seagates (ST2000DL003) at £63.50 each from Scan

While not yet on the QNAP approved list, this seem to be the replacement model for the ST32000542AS which was on the list.

Having read a review and the experiences detailed in a thread on the QNAP forum they sound like a good choice and very good value.

 

[claykin]

Thanks for the replies guys.

Put my order in today and have gone for a pair of Seagates (ST2000DL003) at £63.50 each from Scan

While not yet on the QNAP approved list, this seem to be the replacement model for the ST32000542AS which was on the list.

Having read a review and the experiences detailed in a thread on the QNAP forum they sound like a good choice and very good value.

Sorry to burst your bubble but I would choose known reliability any day over saving a few coins. Good luck and I hope it works out for you.

 

[daz72]

Sorry to burst your bubble but I would choose known reliability any day over saving a few coins. Good luck and I hope it works out for you.

...and which bubble are you bursting exactly?

 

[icerabbit]

I interpret the statement as:

~ you must be tickled pink with your new NAS & Hard Drives, but made a mistake by purchasing a less reliable drive / brand based on a sale. As in, you may have gone for too cheap a drive and there will be reliability issues soon. That kind of a thing. ~

Please note that I have no opinion on the hard drive or manufacturer or reliability specifically. just passing through to research some drive models for my NAS (two of which listed in the original post on top) ... and thought I'd share my interpretation of that statement ... since you asked and the person didn't respond.

 

[circuitnine]

WD and Seagate make the best quality drives for the money IMO, although I am very loyal to WD especially regarding my NAS setup. When I first installed my email marketing software I felt it was important to have an archive of all of my work and these drives have really done the trick. You cannot go wrong either way.