Which HDDs for NAS?

coota1268 on 16/12/2023 - 13:35

I'm looking to revive my old HP N40L Microserver as a NAS/Backup Server. I was using it many years ago with a mis-match of random drives with UNRAID, but would like to purchase 4x new HDDs to go in it.

I already have a Dell Optiplex 7050 USFF acting as my "primary server" which runs VM's, media etc, so the N40L is a secondary (slower) storage point for backups etc.

I'd like to keep the costs and power-draw down and I don't really need anymore than 4TB of storage in the array. I was looking at the WD reds, but got confused around CMR vs SMR and all the other micro-details that I probably won't even notice.

Can anyone suggest some 2-4TB WD Reds (or even Greens) that might suit my use-case?

Thanks.

Computing Computer Component Hard Drive NAS

Comments

  • garetz on 16/12/2023 - 13:43

    If the disk will have constant read/writes then you want cmr, if you just want read only storage then smr is fine.

    its also much slower to transfer data on smr drives, so if you want to transfer huge swathes of data over and over, get cmr.

    i would also say cmr drives are more reliable for cold storage as bitrot can be a problem over years.

    I would not personally touch greens for nas usage.

    • Trance N Dance on 16/12/2023 - 15:19

      The issue isn't just constant read/writes or not but rather what type of redundancy the OP will be using. If it's UNRAID SMR in theory should be fine but it could lead to long rebuild time in the event of a lost drive (which comes with other risks). If using RAID setups (especially ZFS) or Synology SHR definitely do not use SHR drives as reslivering usually fails.

      Green drives (as long as they're not SMR) are fine for NAS use, they will just be super slow. I don't think there's any new drives left on market marketed as Green other than 2.5" drives though.

      • garetz on 16/12/2023 - 15:25

        A nas needs to be as fast as you need it to operate at, or it defeats the purpose of having a nas, saying a green drive is fine, except its super slow kind of makes it not suitable for purpose

        i agree with your unraid info, but the N40L Microserver is pretty old now, it propably is not an issue with such old hardware.

        • Trance N Dance on 16/12/2023 - 15:49
          +1

          There are many reasons to have a NAS. I don't care about my NAS being slower as I don't write live all that often to it, send it to SSD cache then move it to the main pool overnight. And yes that's my personal use case, other users can choose whatever hardware that suits them, which does not preclude green drives.

          What does old hardware have to do with UNRAID, I'm running a 4790k as an UNRAID box fine. Sure it might not run VMs or apps well but as a pure data storage server it works well.

          • garetz on 16/12/2023 - 18:01

            @Trance N Dance: You caring how slow your nas is is irrelevant, what matters is price vs performance for pretty much 99.9% of people.

            Just because something suits you doesn't mean it will suit everyone else.

            • Trance N Dance on 17/12/2023 - 10:14

              @garetz: And on the same note, just because it isn't fast doesn't mean it won't suit different use cases. And you're right price vs performance was one of the reasons why I am happy with slower drives, the price was too good.

  • baronorder on 16/12/2023 - 14:34
    +1

    If you are looking to keep power draw down and only need a small pool of storage then going for a large bulk storage SSD and backing up to spinning rust with a scheduled task is likely the best power, noise and heat wise providing you aren't doing writes constantly and on what your risk appetite is.
    Otherwise it's worth spending the cash on better quality drives like the exos range from Seagate or WD golds etc as doing any type of nas setup with data you care about on cheap drives just isn't worth the cost savings vs the personal time costs in my experience.

  • Trance N Dance on 16/12/2023 - 15:22
    +1

    Avoid Seagate Barracuda and Western Digital Blue as they're all SMR for new drives now (except 1TB).
    Avoid Western Digital Red drives as they're SMR; however the Red Plus and Red Pro lines are fine those are CMR.

  • scotty on 16/12/2023 - 21:54

    Spinning rust for NAS, either

    Both are CMR. WD Red Plus is 5400RPM (vs 5900/7200RPM of Ironwolf) which I think is a bit slower but quieter and uses less energy.

Login or Join to leave a comment
Login Join