Debating between HGST and WD RE4 for NAS, looking for opinions

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F1ydave

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Mar 9, 2014
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I was going to build a NAS, but then I saw this for sale the other day for about 10% off Amazon pricing, the other day. Reviews were good, basically its a Synology with a cheaper web UI, built by Asus. The things I liked were the dual gigabit, usb 3.0, eSata, HDMI (not that I would every need that) and the drive notification lights in case of a failure.

Asustor Intel Atom,1GB DDR3 8-Bay NAS - $749.99 + $5 standard shipping

  • CPU: Intel® Atom™ 2.13 GHz Dual-Core Processor
  • Memory: 1GB SO-DIMM DDR3 (Expandable. Max. 3GB)
  • HDD Compatibility: 2.5" / 3.5" SATA II/III or SSD x 8
  • Maximum Internal Raw Capacity: 64 TB (8 TB HDD X 8); Drives NOT included
  • Supports Hot Swappable Drives
  • Expansion: USB 3.0 x 2, USB 2.0 x 4, eSATA x 2
  • Network: Gigabit Ethernet x 2
  • Output: HDMI 1.3a x1
I will be upgrading the ram to 3gb. I will be running raid 6.

I am wondering what harddrive you guys recommend? This will be used mainly for server backup (replacing a 2006 Buffalo Station with 1.2 TB. My main production server uses 250gb, runs on WD 1TB Blacks with WD Reds 4tb. My offsite server is a Lenovo TS140 with 4 - 1tb Seagates Enterprise with encryption.

I am debating on going with these:

HGST NAS 4tb: HGST 4TB Deskstar 3.5" SATA Internal Hard Drive 0S03664 B&H

or

used WD RE4 4TB. or possibly to 2TB RE4's since they are a 3rd of the price...havent decided how greedy I want to get on my space.


Do you guys have any different drive recommendations?
 
Last edited:

pricklypunter

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If this is a production scenario at work, buy new disks with full warranty from a reputable supplier. If this is for personal use, and you are in the US, I would say buy HGST 4TB Ultrastars (refurb/ clean pulls) from gohdd/ newegg. Test them fully though before putting them into service :)
 

Stereodude

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F1ydave

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Hitachi nas are great drives, I've also enjoyed the debate nas.

Buying used drives is like buying used underwear, just don't do it.

Well I run 16 - WD RE4 2TB's in my personal server 24-bay, I bought all used on eBay over a couple months, none have gone down after a couple years...considering I paid $15 per TB, I really dont care about warranty. Some might say that is the point of raid 6 :D.

Additionally, my exsi server host drive is on a mirror of used intel 720 or 740's SSD's (i think), no problems there either. I dont recall now, but the hours/writes on one was really high from a server environment.

I understand the concern. Its not like my office of 5 people are even using 1% of CPU. We open files and then have them open for 30 minutes or more on average. The main thing is fire/lightning.

I will consider the Hitachi's though, thank you.
 
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F1ydave

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Mar 9, 2014
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I ended up buying 6 Hitachi HUS724040ALA640 Enterprise.

Can't beat 5 year warranty and 2 million MTBF.

I transferred 700gb folder over the weekend and now bad blocks has been running for roughly 18 hours now with 3 days to go.

Couple notes on the Asustor, I am really impressed with the GUI. Its much better than the reviews gave it credit for. Very easy to manage and a lot of built-in options. I actually think this would be too advanced for a regular guy. Has a lot of remote management access through smartphone apps. I was not expecting that.

Cons: I wish it had the ability to CLI and a better performance diagnostic for reviewing, but I get that 99% of the target customers set it and forget it.
 
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pricklypunter

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Can't beat the Ultrastars in my book. Everyone has their favourites of course, but I reckon the Ultrastars are about the best money can buy, at least that's been the case over the last few years anyway, and looking at their current range of disks, they are certainly bringing quality to the table, so I don't think they are going to be hurting over market share anytime soon :)
 

Patrick

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Nice find @F1ydave ! I probably would have gone Hitachi as well.

I do want to hear what you think of that unit (and if that motherboard is replaceable!!!)