NAS drives vs?

[thestrangebrew1]

Been browsing HDs looking to expand my server a bit and I'm coming across some that are labeled NAS hard draives, mostly from WD. Any difference between a "NAS" HD vs say a Seagate Barricuda 3tb hd? Is this some sort of marketing gimmick?

 

[blastingcap]

WD artificially restricts the TLER settings from changing, on some of its drives, forcing you to get Red or RE drives for hardware-RAID setups. You can either go software RAID to get around this, or buy their Red/RE drives. Or buy Toshiba/Hitachi/Seagate drives, most/all of which do not have such artificial restrictions.

 

[xilience]

If you are going to be using the NAS heavily, I'd steer towards a NAS labeled drive.

If you are causally using it for file storage, then just get a cheap drive with a decent warranty. (though the WD RED drives have the longest warranty of WD's offerings)

 

[thestrangebrew1]

Yea I've been looking to consolidate. I currently just have 2x1tb drives and 1x2tb drive in my server. I don't use it heavily, mainly it's just to store important files and media files that are accessed by a bunch of other devices in the home. Thinking about maybe getting a few 3tb drives instead if the prices come down a bit more.

 

[smitbret]

Just cruising through CostCo yesterday and noticed they had Seagate 4TB externals for about $180. Crack 'em open and you should see some nice results.

 

[thestrangebrew1]

On the Hot Deals page NE's got the WD 3TB Reds on sale for $139.99 with the promo code. I may just pick up a few of those.

 

[blastingcap]

From what I have heard, HDDs are "binned" like any other electronic part, and the lesser drives go into external HDDs, so be careful about cracking open those and using them as 24/7 NAS drives.

 

[smitbret]

From what I have heard, HDDs are "binned" like any other electronic part, and the lesser drives go into external HDDs, so be careful about cracking open those and using them as 24/7 NAS drives.

Dude, you are everywhere in this forum.

Glad you've got my back. I'll have to look into that.