Is it worth going enterprise for a download server's main drive?

AshleyAshes · November 18, 2017

In short I have this media server which is the primary download location for most files in my home.

Between it's 2TB Seagate Green 5900RPM drive being used as the OS and download/unRar/PAR drive which sees a tremendous amount of abuse in terms of reads and writes and has clocked 7.7 years (67733 hrs) of power on time and the rest of the storage/parity drives which is a mish mash of other Seagate drives, many of which were shucked from external USB3 enclosures using a power drill (I don't have time to pry apart snaps!), @seagate_surfer should either mail a free fridge magnet or have me killed... I'm thinking it's time to upgrade that main OS/Download drive.

The main issue is that that drive can get SLAMMED. While pulling down data off usenet at 250mbps, while parity checking, repairing/reconstruction, or UnRARing files, and reading/moving files to the storage array, 'slammed' is no exaggeration. It bogs down significantly without exaggeration. So I'm thinking of replacing a drive entirely unsuited for that job for something better. One thing I want to do is get a 2.5" drive first of all. Since this is a storage server, saving as many 3.5" bays for storage drives makes sense and I can use the four 2.5" slots on the back of the case for OS or maybe other special purpose drives. So this is where the question comes in; This is a home server which at times is hit with an enterprise like load and it does run 24/7. It's also the download target for my torrent client so it's spinning and active 24/7 as well unlike my storage drives which sleep individually. So there are obviously better desktop drives that well outclass an old Seagate Green drive, but would it be worth it to look at an Enterprise SATA model? It's hard question because the 2.5" Enterprise drives are NOT cheap, a 2TB Enterprise drive is 2-3x the cost of most other 2TB 2.5" drives and it's also about 2x the cost I put into 8TB drives for the server.

So what are the real, meaningful gains I could see in an 2.5" enterprise drive over just a high end desktop model?

Enderman · November 18, 2017

Longer lifespan, better quality control, maybe less heat too.

They might have larger cache too, idk.

Matt_98 · November 18, 2017

10 minutes ago, AshleyAshes said:

In short I have this media server which is the primary download location for most files in my home.

Between it's 2TB Seagate Green 5900RPM drive being used as the OS and download/unRar/PAR drive which sees a tremendous amount of abuse in terms of reads and writes and has clocked 7.7 years (67733 hrs) of power on time and the rest of the storage/parity drives which is a mish mash of other Seagate drives, many of which were shucked from external USB3 enclosures using a power drill (I don't have time to pry apart snaps!), @seagate_surfer should either mail a free fridge magnet or have me killed... I'm thinking it's time to upgrade that main OS/Download drive.

The main issue is that that drive can get SLAMMED. While pulling down data off usenet at 250mbps, while parity checking, repairing/reconstruction, or UnRARing files, and reading/moving files to the storage array, 'slammed' is no exaggeration. It bogs down significantly without exaggeration. So I'm thinking of replacing a drive entirely unsuited for that job for something better. One thing I want to do is get a 2.5" drive first of all. Since this is a storage server, saving as many 3.5" bays for storage drives makes sense and I can use the four 2.5" slots on the back of the case for OS or maybe other special purpose drives. So this is where the question comes in; This is a home server which at times is hit with an enterprise like load and it does run 24/7. It's also the download target for my torrent client so it's spinning and active 24/7 as well unlike my storage drives which sleep individually. So there are obviously better desktop drives that well outclass an old Seagate Green drive, but would it be worth it to look at an Enterprise SATA model? It's hard question because the 2.5" Enterprise drives are NOT cheap, a 2TB Enterprise drive is 2-3x the cost of most other 2TB 2.5" drives and it's also about 2x the cost I put into 8TB drives for the server.

So what are the real, meaningful gains I could see in an 2.5" enterprise drive over just a high end desktop model?

probably not, what about a cctv drive there supposed to have longer longevity

ARikozuM · November 18, 2017

1 minute ago, Matt_98 said:

probably not, what about a cctv drive there supposed to have longer longevity

Mostly for sequential writes and reads.

I would look into WD Gold drives. They're a bit loud (four of them; RAID 5) in my 12-bay NAS, but they perform very well just like the Reds they replaced. Cost-wise, I wouldn't bother too much since you're not really getting much with an enterprise 2.5" or desktop 3.5" if the warranty is the same since you have various methods in place to counter any corruption or data loss.