One of the drives in my NAS failed, and I found an 8TB Seagate BarraCuda that costs less than several smaller-capacity hard drives. Since Seagate is a reputable brand, I'm trying to understand whether there's a catch in the specifications. Is this drive suitable for an always-on NAS or RAID setup, and what should I look for instead?
3 Answers
WD Red Plus drives are another reasonable choice for a home NAS. They can cost more than desktop drives, but the extra expense generally buys you better suitability for continuous operation and RAID. Compare the exact specifications rather than relying only on the brand name or advertised transfer speed.
For a NAS, choose a drive specifically marketed for NAS or enterprise workloads. Those models are designed for higher duty cycles, vibration, and RAID environments. Seagate IronWolf and WD Red Plus are common options; just verify that the exact model uses CMR rather than SMR.
I’d avoid it for a NAS. The BarraCuda line is generally intended for desktop use rather than continuous NAS operation, and this particular capacity may use SMR recording. SMR can perform poorly during sustained writes and RAID rebuilds, so the low price comes with important trade-offs.
That makes sense. I also noticed the drive is rated for only about 2,400 power-on hours per year, which doesn’t seem appropriate for a system that runs around the clock.
I’m going with four 4TB Seagate IronWolf drives instead. Larger disks would be convenient, but buying four of them is already stretching my budget.