Home Server HDD recomendation

[buri]

hi, i would like to turn my gaming pc (which i dont game at all) to a NAS/home/plex media server, whatever you call it. Its a i3-8100 / 960 evo m.2 nvme ssd / gtx 1060. I would like to add a HDD to store media files where i will access from Plex Media Clients , access files over/outside network and so on. I can add 6 sata3 drives so i start with one 4 TB drive and add more and turn it into a RAID configuration. 

 

I am looking for these;

 

Seagate Barracuda 

WD Red

Seagate Ironwolf

 

I know everyone, for a server use, recommends NAS drives like RED and Ironwolf however i will always keep a backup of the media. Is there a big difference between Barracuda and NAS drives? i am considering Barracuda bcs of its price and low noise.

 

tia    

[NelizMastr]

Will it be running 24/7 or only a few hours a day?

 

NAS drives are designed for 24/7 operation and don't particularly like being switched on and off all the time. Consumer drives are more suited to that scenario.

 

For 24/7 operation: WD Red/ Seagate Ironwolf (I'm using Ironwolfs myself in a Synology DS218)

For a few hours a day: Barracuda / WD Blue

[buri]

14 minutes ago, NelizMastr said:

Will it be running 24/7 or only a few hours a day?

 

NAS drives are designed for 24/7 operation and don't particularly like being switched on and off all the time. Consumer drives are more suited to that scenario.

 

For 24/7 operation: WD Red/ Seagate Ironwolf (I'm using Ironwolfs myself in a Synology DS218)

For a few hours a day: Barracuda / WD Blue

it will be ON all year long. I have 2 * 4TB WD Red's in my QNAP, just wanted to know if i can run a cheaper drive 24/7  

[NelizMastr]

25 minutes ago, buri said:

it will be ON all year long. I have 2 * 4TB WD Red's in my QNAP, just wanted to know if i can run a cheaper drive 24/7  

I wouldn't do that personally. Consumer drives also have less spare sectors so once they start to go, they tend to completely die rather quickly. And honestly, the premium for NAS drives isn't that big. Compare it to enterprise grade SATA drives like the WD Gold (previously WD RE) and you'll see what I mean.

[buri]

2 minutes ago, NelizMastr said:

I wouldn't do that personally. Consumer drives also have less spare sectors so once they start to go, they tend to completely die rather quickly. And honestly, the premium for NAS drives isn't that big. Compare it to enterprise grade SATA drives like the WD Gold (previously WD RE) and you'll see what I mean.

thanks for the help, going for NAS grade drives then

[Pyramiden]

34 minutes ago, buri said:

it will be ON all year long. I have 2 * 4TB WD Red's in my QNAP, just wanted to know if i can run a cheaper drive 24/7  

Technically you could do it. They might be less fit for purpose than a NAS drive, but that doesn't mean that they will fail. As long as you get a quality drive they should be able to run 24/7 without any problems.
I have a set of Toshiba ACA300 drives which have been running for 24/7 the past years, and don't have any bad sectors yet. There are other who run normal drives, or even 2,5 inch drives 24/7. Personally I don't think it is an issue to run non-NAS drives 24/7. I would pay closer attention to the reputation of the drive itself.

[leadeater]

Becomes more of an issue when you go above 4 disks in the same mounting bay, local area. Vibration is what normally makes non NAS drives fail early when used that way. Just use shock mounting screws to isolate vibration a bit more and you should be fine to run standard (but good) desktop disks.

 

Personally I just buy the cheapest NAS disk at the time since it's not that much more, if I was planning on buying 24 of them then I might consider dropping down in quality and just eating disks failures if they happen.