Best recommended drive for Synology NAS DS214+

A

amrogers3

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Looking to pick up a DS214+ and found several 4TB drives that may work from the Synology website.

What is the best hard drive for home use out of these three? I see mixed reviews from Newegg. Does RPM make much difference on a NAS? I'm not storing a lot of bulky files like movies, etc. I've read that the RPM really doesn't matter a whole lot, what you want is high IOPS which I don't see for the drives listed.

Specs from the three are the same except for the RPMs.

HGST - HDS5C4040ALE630 (couldn't find, found the HDS724040ALE640 instead) - 7200 RPM.
Seagate - ST4000VN000 - 5900 RPM
Western Digital - WD40EFRX - 5400 RPM

I couldn't find the HGST ALE630, the HGST 640 has better RPM at 7200.
 
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What is your intended purpose for this device? Primary data storage, data backup, media server, file server, etc?
 
WD Red drive. But take the 2 tb model, skip the 3 to model as reliability is worse due to more platters. Don't know about the 4 Tb model but I suspect, more platters means more weight and more things to go wrong. Good luck. Make sure to backup your NAS to USB external drive.
 
arentol said:
What is your intended purpose for this device? Primary data storage, data backup, media server, file server, etc?
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Hi arentol, thanks for the reply. Yes primary data storage and data backup. Looking forward to utilizing the VPN feature. I will use RAID 1 mirroring for my data.

fteoOpty64 said:
WD Red drive. But take the 2 tb model, skip the 3 to model as reliability is worse due to more platters. Don't know about the 4 Tb model but I suspect, more platters means more weight and more things to go wrong. Good luck. Make sure to backup your NAS to USB external drive.
Click to expand...

Hello fteo, thanks for reply. I am looking to go 4TB, do the bigger size drives have more problems? Also, why the need to backup to a USB drive, isn't that the whole point of RAID?
 
Definitely go WD.. Reds are great for non-essential, storage/backup. Blacks are great for enterprise usage/day to day. I've had (2) reds in a Synology 413 for about a year now, maybe a bit less.. No problems at all. And, they serve up media with no issues.

Word to the wise - if you're purchasing from Newegg I see lots of failure in the reviews. I have (2) theories going for this.. One is your typical 'squeaky wheel gets the grease' idea that only people with issues leave feedback - and I'm guilty of this myself since I have not left feedback on the (2) drives I've purchased from them.
My other theory is that people order them without anything else. So, basically, they're using the smallest possible box to ship in to save money. Thus, typically not enough packaging is used, and you'll get a drive that is only void filled, but with no barrier between the drive itself and the outside of the box.

So, keep that in mind when placing the order.. Maybe order something else with it (if/when you have to), or multiple drives. I've seen those reds on sale as well, let me find that link for you.. Here you are, down from $160... They're 3TBs.. and I have a 4 drives NAS, so I understand your reasoning to go with 4TBs.. But, to be honest, I have literally had to consciously try to fill my (2) 3TBs... If you're that concerned about filling them, I'd almost consider going for a 4 bay over a 2 bay. Think of it this way.. The 4TBs are $50 more a piece, and if you're going for (2), that's $100. The 214 is something like $320, whereas the 413 is up at $500, so that's 2/3 of the difference in drives..

I don't know, maybe I'm just jaded, and always buy slightly overkill for what I want, that way there's no need to get another down the line, or have the "I wish" syndrome as I call it.
If you've never had a synology before, I really hope you're single.. Because you're going to effin' love that thing... Definitely the best piece of hardware, and software for that matter, that I have purchased in the past few years...

I sure hope you're serving up some media from it. I can play any movies/music/pictures off the synology, to any smart tv in the house. I can also watch/play/view from my phone/ipad/computer anywhere I have service. It's awesome.. I can also 'shop' for downloads, and remotely start the download (to the synology), from my phone.. That is an awesome feature. Basically everything is downloaded before you get home.

Raid isn't really 'fail safe' until you get up into the multiple drive levels.. Although technically you're right with Raid 1... However, sometimes the array won't rebuild, etc. I don't have much experience in that sector, thankfully.. But, I do have a paranoid friend that made me buy (3) identical drives for our synology 213, to maximize the chances of being able to rebuild the array should one fail. So, consider that.
 
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Awesome post. Thanks Sean.

I was always curious about the sound/temp of the 4 bays. How loud and hot does your 4 bay 413 run?

I was thinking about 4 bays but man space is such a factor that I need to keep it as small as possible. Also, the reasoning behind the 4TB drive is trying to futureproof myself a bit. I think I saw those 2 Reds on Amazon for around $179 ish. So around $360 for drives + $414 for the 214+ this is going to hurt the budget. The 412 and 414 come in around $600 and $500 respectively not accounting for the drive. Not sure I can swing that.

What do you think about the DS214play? Seems like you are doing quite a bit of streaming.

Also, the mention of RAID1 failure is concerning. Have you heard of someone not being able to rebuild the array for one of the synology 2 bays systems?

You running RAID5 on your setup?
 
I've got 4x 4TB of the Seagate NAS drives in my DS1513+. Running great, no problems so far. Drives had been ordered from Newegg and none DOA. Think they are working packing better, each drive had be in its own bubble 'shell'.
 
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