What type of drives should I use in this server build?

[Lylat1an]

The idea is to store system images and game backups on a 4-drive RAID5 array over my network. (The boot drive will be separate.)

However, I intend to turn the server on only when uploading or downloading data, and turn it off afterward.

Will such a system need NAS drives, or might consumer desktop drives suffice since they won't be spinning 24/7?

 

[Oussebon]

It may depend on local pricing, but you may not need to choose. For instance, Toshiba N300s may be among the cheapest drives anyway and are targeted for NAS.

What capacity drives are you looking at out of interest?

 

[Lylat1an]

I would like at least 4TB per drive, but I might settle for 3TB if the price is right.

 

[Oussebon]

There's some chance you might get a better deal just buying a single or a couple of prebuilt NAS devices - things like a WD my cloud. When they're on sale you can sometimes get them cheaper than it would be to buy the drives.

 

[Lylat1an]

There's some chance you might get a better deal just buying a single or a couple of prebuilt NAS devices - things like a WD my cloud. When they're on sale you can sometimes get them cheaper than it would be to buy the drives.

Interesting thought, I'll keep an eye out for those.

 

[Lylat1an]

Well, I'm not seeing any good deals for drives already in enclosures, so I'll reiterate my original question with more detail:

I already have a PC for hosting the array, but I don't know whether I should use NAS-specific drives. The system won't be on all the time, but the hot-swap bay I'll be using doesn't have much anti-vibration protection either.

Do modern desktop drives have vibration correction features like NAS drives do, or will there be other benefits if I choose NAS drives?

 

[Oussebon]

You're calling your system a NAS but it's really just a PC you copy things to occasionally and then turn off. In which case there's not going to be much benefit in a NAS-specific drive.

Performance wise there's likely to be little difference. Also, since you're just copying principally a few very large files (system images, game backups) over a network, gigabit ethernet would be your bottleneck anyway (unless you have some really fast wifi or are kitted out at 2.5 gig already).

But as above, you can often get NAS drives for a similar price to any other drive, especially at larger capacities - perhaps less so in the 3-4TB range, but certainly at around 8TB.

Depending on the models, NAS drives can have other advantages - like longer warranties. e.g. a Seagate Barrcuda desktop hard drive usually is 2 years, Toshiba N300 or WD Red are 3, I think.

I suppose there's also the question of whether you'd ever repurpose the drives. e.g. for an actual NAS in the future - a Plex server for your home, or shared storage you keep on 24/7, perhaps. And in terms of the size of drives you're buying whether, down the line, 4 x 4TB drives will be as useful as 4 x (larger) drives.

As for vibration protection (you may have seen this) it may be less of an issue in a desktop system where you can install HDDs with vibration dampening versus them being stored in a very small enclosure together. It depends how concerned you are about it despite that.

 

[Lylat1an]

You're calling your system a NAS but it's really just a PC you copy things to occasionally and then turn off. In which case there's not going to be much benefit in a NAS-specific drive.

Okay, we'll call it a backup server then.

Performance wise there's likely to be little difference. Also, since you're just copying principally a few very large files (system images, game backups) over a network, gigabit ethernet would be your bottleneck anyway (unless you have some really fast wifi or are kitted out at 2.5 gig already).

I do have fast wifi, just over 200Mb/s. And 10 gig cards installed in the server and my main PC in crossover.

But as above, you can often get NAS drives for a similar price to any other drive, especially at larger capacities - perhaps less so in the 3-4TB range, but certainly at around 8TB.

Depending on the models, NAS drives can have other advantages - like longer warranties. e.g. a Seagate Barrcuda desktop hard drive usually is 2 years, Toshiba N300 or WD Red are 3, I think.

I suppose there's also the question of whether you'd ever repurpose the drives. e.g. for an actual NAS in the future - a Plex server for your home, or shared storage you keep on 24/7, perhaps. And in terms of the size of drives you're buying whether, down the line, 4 x 4TB drives will be as useful as 4 x (larger) drives.

As for vibration protection (you may have seen this) it may be less of an issue in a desktop system where you can install HDDs with vibration dampening versus them being stored in a very small enclosure together. It depends how concerned you are about it despite that.

Thank you, warranty and vibration protection are important to me, and I hadn't considered enterprise drives.

Sounds like NAS or Enterprise is the way to go in my case.