Hi,
So looking for some opinions here on how to best setup my NAS from those with more experience than me.
I've got a 4 bay QNAP NAS which I've filled with 4 10tb IronWolf drives. The primary use for this NAS will be a Plex media server, with a side of files will also be copied here. The NAS won't be a backup, but I will be doing a nightly Robocopy of some folders on my PC and laptop to it. These will mostly be just an updated copy of my OneDrive folder, some photos, etc. Nothing on the NAS won't exist elsewhere.
I've had recommendations for RAID 5, 6, and 10 - previously I had this setup running as RAID 10 which seemed fine. If I were to lose the RAID, I'd be upset, but not devastated. All four drives were bought at the same time, from the same retailer, which probably wasn't the best choice. From experience, it takes about ~2 weeks to receive a replacement drive from Seagate under warranty, so not sure how long a RAID would survive should a drive die.
I was leaning more towards RAID 5 for the added storage, or 6 for the added safety of any two drives dying. But wondered if RAID 6 would impact the life span of the drives with so many more read/writes than the other options.
Heat may be an issue as I'm currently in Australia; the NAS will be sitting next to my desk which, when I'm in the room, will have both fan and AC on it, but in the "summer" ambient temps can be ~30C or higher.
Hopefully I've answered all the obvious questions.
Thanks for your time and input ;)
Happy New Year!
