HDD Recommendation for a Synology DS1813+ NAS

[abbjr]

I currently have two (2) NAS devices up and running in my home:

D-Link DNS-343 configured with 4 WD Green 1 TB Desktop Hard Drives - WD10EZRX; RAID 5 (2.67 TB usable storage). Up and running since 2008.

Synology DS1010+ configured with 5 WD RE 2 TB Enterprise Hard Drives - WD2003FYYS; RAID 6 (5.35 TB usable storage). Up and running since 2010.

I have never experienced any issues with either NAS to date (knock wood)!! They are used to store a myriad of personal data: documents, music, photos, videos, movies.

Problem: I have filled both of them up -- I only have ~400 GB of free space left.

Solution: After doing my research I have decided to buy a Synology DS1813+ and retire my 2 current NAS devices. I will most likely redeploy the DS1010+ as JBOD to back-up the most critical data on the DS1813+ and sell the DNS-343 on eBay.

Question(s): What size and type HDDs (and ultimately RAID) should I use to configure this new NAS?

Size - I am debating between 3 TB and 4 TB drives. I have read that once you exceed the 2 TB limit, the larger the drive the higher the chance of failure. True or False? All things being equal, bigger is better in my NAS. But, not at the expense of a legitimately higher chance of failure.

Type - I am primarily looking at two enterprise drives: 1) WD RE Enterprise Hard Drive or 2) Hitachi HGST Ultrastar 7K4000. Both have pros and cons. I have had extreme success with all the Western Digital drives running in my current NAS devices, which includes the 2 TB RE's I am now using. I also see that the HGST Ultrastar has a 2 million hour MTBF, which is quite a bit higher than the 1.2 million hours of the WD RE. I have also considered the WD Red NAS drives, but truly feel more comfortable with the enterprise drives.

RAID - RAID 5 or RAID 6?

I really would like to hear some of your personal experiences with these devices and feedback as to what you recommend and why. Thank you!!

 

[Emerald]

Western Digital RE WD2000FYYZ, WD3000FYYZ or WD4000FYYZ (7200 rpm)
Western Digital Red WD20EFRX or WD30EFRX (5400 rpm)

 

[popatim]

I assume you are aware that the 1010+ is expandable to 10 drives with the 510/513 expansion box and that five 3tb drives raid6 in the 1813+ only gets you 1tb more space over your current 2-nas setup so My recommendation would be to replace the D-Link with the 1813+ filled with 3 or 4tb drives (9tb/12tb usable) for the largest increase in storage space. Then when you have funds again, pickup the expansion box and drives - retire the 1010 also.

 

[abbjr]

I assume you are aware that the 1010+ is expandable to 10 drives with the 510/513 expansion box and that five 3tb drives raid6 in the 1813+ only gets you 1tb more space over your current 2-nas setup so My recommendation would be to replace the D-Link with the 1813+ filled with 3 or 4tb drives (9tb/12tb usable) for the largest increase in storage space. Then when you have funds again, pickup the expansion box and drives - retire the 1010 also.

Yes, I am aware -- thank you!; however, Synology STRONGLY recommends that an expansion unit be added as a new volume and not an expansion to an existing volume, thereby negating any benefit of the expansion unit, i.e., by adding as a new volume in a RAID 5 or 6 I would loose the storage capacity of 1 or 2 of the additional drives. They advise this is due to the fact too many things can happen if added to the existing volume to make it worth the risk, e.g., eSATA cable comes loose, power supply failure in either unit, etc. that can crash the entire NAS array (things that make you think HMMMM?!). If this is true, it is not worth the risk!! The 1813+ holds 8 drives, so filled with 3 TB or 4 TB drives (~18 TB/24 TB usable) in RAID 6 I should have more than double to triple the space in my current 2 NAS setup, and that still allows me to use the current 1010+ to backup my most critical files.

As you are a Storage Master; this is a 'home-based' NAS, primarily used to store personal data and stream media to no more than two concurrent users, is there any real benefit to using a 7200RPM HDD over a 5400RPM HDD in my specific environment? Performance and reliability are much more of a concern than cost, so I would value your opinion on this question. If this was your NAS and cost was not a concern; however, drive stability and performance were, what HDD would you put in it? Thank you!!

 

[popatim]

Youre right... I was thinking 15xx in my head. LOL

As for the need for 7200rpm drives, there is none. Theres no such thing as performance with a NAS because of what it is: network attached. The drives can outperform the interface easily unless you run them in individual mode. Even with the nic's in teamed mode you get ~200mb/s transfer rate and 8 drives in raid 6 is can do about 700mb/s in seq reads. (writes will vary widely depending on the controller used to calculate parity. (parity is not used/checked on reads))

What would I do? Break out of the nas routine and put together a server. I don't use raid at all on my home server. I dont care if it goes down at all, everything is backed up multiple times (to multiple locations) and can wait till I get home. I don't need performance or redundancy/uptime. To me data safety is whats important.

Raid 6 is fine for keeping you running, excellent even, but if you (or a virus) deletes some files and you want them back... backups are crucial.


edit - and by the way, I didn't mean to imply to expand the array with the expansion box, but rather move the old data to the new volume you would get with the expansion.