Long term reliability.

[HesCalledTheStig]

I’m getting ready to order storage for my NAS. Are mechanical drives more reliable for long term storage if they are only written to once a night for back up or would solid state be the way to go?  I want to get the longest life out of whatever I buy. Sorry if this is a common question but I didn’t have time to search around while I’m at work on break.  Thanks in advance!

[Electronics Wizardy]

I wouldn't worry about life span. The majority of HDDs I replace are because they there too small or slow, not because of failure. Make sure you have backups so if a disk fails you don't lose data and your fine.

 

HDDs are so much cheaper than SSDs for mass storage, its not worth considering SSDs for failure rates alone.

[Tetras]

1 hour ago, HesCalledTheStig said:

Are mechanical drives more reliable for long term storage if they are only written to once a night for back up or would solid state be the way to go?  I want to get the longest life out of whatever I buy.

Buying SSD for once a night back up isn't worth the expense.

[jaslion]

As long as you have a proper backup strategy for important files then don't worry about it. 3 copies, 2 local, 1 offsite.

[RokinAmerica]

Follow the above advice. With a good and consistent backup routine (as Jaslion shows), HDDs are what you want.