Which NAS Drives for my 2xRAIDz2 Pool?

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mattlach

Active Member
Aug 1, 2014
323
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Hey all,

I currently have a storage pool consisting of 2x 6 drive RAIDz2 vdevs with 12x 4TB WD Reds in total.
It also has two 512GB Samsung 850 Pro's as L2ARC and two mirrored 100GB Intel S3700 drives as SLOG's.

I have started to creep up on that 80% full threshold, so the time has come for a drive upgrade

I have been comparing the following drives:

Option 1:
12x 8TB WD Red. $274 a piece, for $3288 in total

This was my first choice, as my current WD Reds have treated me well over the last 3.5 years, but I'm always open to options.


Option 2:

12x 8TB Seagate Ironwolf $269 a piece, for $3228 in total

Next I looked into these. I have some discomfort with Seagate drives due to their historic high failure rates, but IO do hear the Ironwolfs are better.


Option 3:
12x 8TB HGST HE8 $274.99 a piece, for $3299.88 in total

Then I stumbled across these HGST drives. With the HE10's now selling, they are the previous generation, but they are 7200rpom, as opposed to the 5400rpm drives I am comparing them to, and HGST has a great reputation for being bulletproof.


So, I guess I'm leaning towards the HGST HE8's (the current gen HE10's blow my budget) but my question is, is there any reason I shouldn't get these? Is the older design a problem? Are there any other drives I should be considering? A lot of people tell me I should shuck MyBook Duo's, and that sure does seem like a way to save money, but you also get much less warranty.

I'd appreciate any suggestions!
 

bitrot

Member
Aug 7, 2017
95
25
8
From that list, I'd go WD Red (my personal preference) or HGST, although the WD Red 8TB and 10TB helium drives basically are HGST drives anyway (WD bought HGST a while ago).
 

mattlach

Active Member
Aug 1, 2014
323
89
28
So, I wound up going with none of these.

After much hand wringing and price comparison (and getting over my Seagate discomfort after their abysmal failure rates in 2TB and 3TB era) I decided to go with 10TB Seagate Helium Enterprise drives (ST10000NM0016)

I'm 4 drives in. They seem pretty snappy, and surprisingly quiet for 7200rpm drives. (They may even be quieter than my existing 3-4 year old 5400rpm 4TB WD Reds)

Lets hope I don't live to regret this. I haven't used a Seagate drive since the last PATA drives I bought in ~2001.
 

Evan

Well-Known Member
Jan 6, 2016
3,346
598
113
I am sure the enterprise Seagate will be good.
I would have said HE8 , at the same price as the other consumer disks I think it’s a slam dunk. They are good drives.

Whatever the brand I would choose enterprise I’ve prosumer all day long.
 

mattlach

Active Member
Aug 1, 2014
323
89
28
I am sure the enterprise Seagate will be good.
I would have said HE8 , at the same price as the other consumer disks I think it’s a slam dunk. They are good drives.

Whatever the brand I would choose enterprise I’ve prosumer all day long.
The HE8's were my first choice, but I found that all of the drives I could find were OEM drives and thus lacked manufacture warranty.

Without manufacture warranty, they weren't worth it to me. I looked at the newer He10 and he12 drives, but they were a little bit more money than I was willing to pay.