SkyHawk vs IronWolf

LtCmdrMetegakoStar · January 21, 2021

Hello. I wasn't sure to post this in the HTPC category, since the intended build and use case here is an always-on HTPC, or in the Storage Devices category.
Essentially, I'm finding myself a little stumped deciding between Seagate's SkyHawk Surveillance drive product line and their IronWolf NAS drive product line, for my aforementioned intention.
I've also discovered Western Digital to have analogous product lines in their Purple drives and Red drives, respectively.
Additionally, I found there used to be hard drives specifically aimed at media storage known as AV drives, but these seem to have been phased out in favor of NAS drives and they also appear to top out at 4TB.... and I'm in the market for drives just a bit larger, of at least 6 or 8TB each.

During my research, I came across this article from Arxys Appliances which at the end of it excerpts a data table from HDSTOR comparing different features of different classes of drives. From the table, I learned that I probably shouldn't keep my Seagate Archive drive for my backups in the same, always-on environment as my would-be media drives. But if AV drives really have been phased out, the should I go with NAS drives or Surveillance drives? There isn't a large price/TB difference between them from what I've seen.
I have lots of digital copies of my favorite tv shows and movies as well as music and pictures, and I'm interested in a drive that's both optimally suited for storing and playing media, and most of all I'm looking for the most capacity I can stuff into the HTPC. Maybe a Purple/SkyHawk is built for a bit more of a demanding environment than I have, but if it's in the same ballpark as a Red/IronWolf, does it even really matter if its technically overkill?

Electronics Wizardy · January 21, 2021

How many tb are you looking at?

They should all work about the same for your use,id just get the cheaper for the capacity you want. You can get 18tb drives pretty easily, so you can put a lot of storage in one bay.

LtCmdrMetegakoStar · January 22, 2021

I have the sexy and spacious SilverStone GD08, capable of holding 8-12+ drives depending on configuration. So I'm by no means short on physical space, I have plenty of drive slots to fill.
I'm also very well aware that I could certainly order an 18TB IronWolf Pro, or perhaps 10 of them if I really wanted, but that doesn't really answer my original question.
Are NAS drives like IronWolf or surveillance drives like SkyHawk better for an always-on HTPC long-term storing digital media?