I always recommend using drives designed for network-attached storage (NAS) inside such an enclosure to ensure you have the performance and reliability required for continuous operation. That said, I did want to test using desktop-class drives inside a NAS, specifically SSDs, since these are less likely to cause issues if all you require is somewhere to stash files and maybe perform some reads here and there with a few running services. Equipped with a LincPlus LincStation N1 and a few mismatched SSDs, I assembled a compact, yet fairly capable NAS, and the test began.

Why using desktop-class drives is a bad idea

They're not designed for servers

You technically can use consumer-grade drives inside a NAS for storage and have absolutely no trouble, but there's a reason why Seagate, Western Digital, and other storage brands have launched NAS drives. We recommend repurposing old drives for use inside a NAS, but if you're starting from scratch or need to replace one, it's worth considering a NAS drive. Here are some reasons why drives designed for NAS are generally better than those found inside desktop and laptop PCs:

• Extended warranty.
• Anti-vibration protection.
• Better endurance.

They may be more expensive than consumer-grade counterparts, especially when comparing capacities, but it's worthwhile for the additional peace of mind. When using multiple mechanical hard drives within the same enclosure, more vibrations are produced from all the spinning motors and platters, which NAS-grade drives and above all have protection against. The same goes for run time with most NAS and home lab servers running 24/7, something desktop and laptop counterparts aren't usually designed for.

Using consumer SSDs is perfectly fine

Though I would ensure you have backups

I chose a collection of mismatched drives for the test, totalling five for a combined total of 10 TB. This consisted of a Corsair MP600 Mini 4 TB NVMe, Sabrent Rocket 4 Plus 2 TB NVMe, Samsung 990 EVO 2 TB NVMe, Western Digital Blue 1 TB SATA, and Synology SAT5200 960 GB SATA. The Synology SSD is the only drive included in this test, specifically designed for use inside such an enclosure, which is the LincPlus LincStation N1. This NAS has an Unraid license, which was used for the duration.

Using a NAS SSD would allow me to see how the drives all perform through the test, and if any issues would arise. While Immich, Jellyfin, and Nextcloud would be the Docker containers used for saving and reading data to and from the drives, I wasn't expecting any failures to occur within the period of six months. According to Unraid, not a single error was detected. I encountered no problems attempting to hit the NAS hard or leaving it be for weeks on end. Every drive is running as they were before.

Performance was excellent since we're using a combination of NVMe and SATA SSDs, and while not all PCIe lanes are fully saturated on the SSD front, the LincPlus LincStation N1 provides ample bandwidth for running a few services and storing data. Most won't run Docker containers on their NAS, meaning this would be used for storing data alone, and for that, it does an excellent job. Unraid is great for getting up and running without much fuss, though the included license with this NAS is slightly limiting.

No RAID was configured, against my better judgment. A single storage pool was used to store all data, with just a few folders created for each service and user. Interestingly, and this could be related to the cooling (or lack thereof) inside the N1, Synology's NAS SSD ran hotter than all other installed SSDs. This was only by a few degrees Celsius, with all drives ranging between 45 and 54 degrees Celsius, but it's worth noting. This isn't too hot for SSDs, but I'd feel more comfortable with my live environment running slightly cooler for longevity.

Does this mean I recommend using drives from your PC inside a NAS? Not at all, but you can get away with using them as a stopgap before purchasing server-grade hardware. For SSDs, they differ from mechanical hard drives since there are no moving parts, and I believe you can get away with more through flash storage, so long as you're not beating the drives hard daily. As always, regardless of what type of drive you use inside a NAS, you must always back up all data. Follow the 3-2-1 backup rule and you'll avoid data loss.