NAS HDD in desktop pc (again)

[FynePool]

Hi everyone, I'm in desperate need of your help beacause i'm basically a super-noob. My question is very simple and it's probably been asked many times but I could not find the specific use I want for my PC.

So, I use "Plex Media Server" to stream my content when I'm out of town or simply on my TV directly installed on my pc. I don't own a NAS (yet, but I'm saving to buy one and put plex on that). In the meanwhile I need more capacity and I was looking for HDDs (8TB or more). My Desktop PC is used mainly to download and stream my content (it runs windows 10 and I access it with VNC Viewer) and it's on h24/7. Naturally i was looking for a WDRed or an Ironwolf because as long as I know they are designed to run for long periods and near other drives (I already have 4 drives in the case) but I've read that those kind of drives have different software inside and may not operate as well as in a NAS.

 

So, my question is, since my PC is running h24/7 for Plex is it right to use a NAS HDD for my medias? My biggest concert is the durability, I'm looking for drives that can lost as long as possible while working h24/7.

 

Thank you for your help, I hope my english was right. If you need more info just ask 

[Caennanu]

i don't have experience with vnc viewer or plex server. i do however use a thecus nas.

This nas has been running simple WD's for the last 10 years without any issues. As you can probably tell from the age, this was from before the time there were drives specifically for NAS purposes (available for consumer markets).

 

So in regards of durability, its more a silicon lottery than anything else. The difference more or less lays in the warranty if you ask me. 

But since that is my experience, i have not purchased NAS specific drives and thus cannot tell from experience.

[FynePool]

28 minutes ago, Caennanu said:

i don't have experience with vnc viewer or plex server. i do however use a thecus nas.

This nas has been running simple WD's for the last 10 years without any issues. As you can probably tell from the age, this was from before the time there were drives specifically for NAS purposes (available for consumer markets).

 

So in regards of durability, its more a silicon lottery than anything else. The difference more or less lays in the warranty if you ask me. 

But since that is my experience, i have not purchased NAS specific drives and thus cannot tell from experience.

I asked because I'm not really a pro user so I don't really understand the technicalities. I'm just looking for good, reliable HDDs to store my media (I don't have the budget to but a nas and a pair of disk to set a backup one right now)

[Aragorn-]

Personally, i buy whatevers going cheap. Mechanically theres nothing particularly special about a "NAS" hard drive. My server currently has a mixture of NAS, Desktop and SAS/Enterprise drives in it, because thats what came along at the right time/price.

 

I have a few storage servers at work which have 10-20 drives in them, and they've also been filled on the same principle. Some drives have failed, but theres no real correlation between failures and types of drive. Infact most of the failures have been "NAS" drives.

Currently the cheapest options are often to buy WD easystore drives from BestBuy/Amazon

However, no hard drive is perfect, and you really must have a backup of important data.

[Retrodex Gaming]

In my opinion it seems the term NAS gets banded around to add a premium onto a drive with slightly better quality control, similar to "Gaming" for anything with RGB or slightly higher speed.

 

If its a SATA drive, it'll work regardless of NAS or not, I've got a couple of WD greens in a self built "server" based on consumer hardware running just fine!

[FynePool]

Thanks for the help. I've looked online and I've found that HGST (Hitachi) drives are the most reliable so I'm probably going to buy one of those although they are the noisiest

[Robchil]

19 hours ago, FynePool said:

Thanks for the help. I've looked online and I've found that HGST (Hitachi) drives are the most reliable so I'm probably going to buy one of those although they are the noisiest

The whole point of having a NAS is something you can put in a room you never use so nois won't matter, connected with a network cable. 

If you want security, you need more than one disk in RAID1 or RAID5, you usually need more advanced controllers if you want even better security, security as in you don't loose data if one drive fails.