From compact pre-built NAS devices to hardcore DIY storage servers, there are plenty of ways to put together a Network-Attached Storage system for your local devices. Aside from the hardware inside the NAS, you’ll also have to grab some storage drives for the server, which is a lot easier said than done considering the myriad HDDs and SSDs up for sale. So, we’ve put together a couple of tips to help you choose the perfect drives for your NAS.

5 Keep the warranty in mind before making a purchase

To avoid spending extra money when a drive fails prematurely

Even with proper care, computing parts have a weird tendency to break down at the most inopportune moments – and this statement also extends to hard drives and SSDs. Heck, it’s entirely possible for your drives to kick the bucket without any indication of an impending failure from the S.M.A.R.T. tests.

As such, it’s a good idea to look for drives with extended warranties, especially if you’re planning to run a NAS setup involving constant read/write operations. Whereas most storage manufacturers provide a 1-2 year warranty on their drives, certain enterprise-grade HDDs and premium SSDs have longer 5-year warranty periods, making them better for hardcore NAS setups.

4 Grab fewer drives with higher storage capacities

And not the other way around

Let’s say you’ve got a run-of-the-mill four-bay NAS. There are a couple of ways you can accommodate some drives into the storage server. You could either go for two high-capacity drives or split the storage capacity (and costs) between four drives – and I recommend choosing the former if there’s even the slightest chance that you may need to expand your pool in the future. Of course, drives with extra storage space can cost a lot more than their low-end variants and you could end up with longer rebuilding periods if a drive fails unexpectedly. But you have plenty of headroom to upgrade your storage capacity without needing to replace multiple drives.

In fact, I’d especially recommend getting fewer high-capacity drives over multiple low-capacity ones if you’re on a conventional RAID setup. Unless you’re running a JBOD configuration, you’ll end up paying a huge premium to upgrade the storage capacity if you’ve already occupied all the HDD bays and M.2 slots on your NAS, as you’d want multiple disks of the same capacity instead of mixing drives with varying amount of space in a typical RAID array. Speaking of using different drives…

3 Double-check the specs before mixing drives from different manufacturers

You don't want to use 5,400 RPM drives with those rated at 7,200 RPM speeds

Grabbing different SSD and HDD models is a great way to minimize the risks of cascading drive failures. That’s because mixing drives from different models and brands lowers the chances of your HDDs/SSDs being afflicted with the same manufacturing defect, thereby reducing the possibility of them ascending to kingdom come at the same time.

However, you’ll need to be extra careful when going through their specs. Aside from the capacity, you’ll want your HDDs to have the same RPM/spindle speed. Likewise, you should pick SSDs with similar read/write performance, as major discrepancies in the transfer speeds will cause the RAID array to run at the lower drive’s speeds.

2 Look into the PCIe and Ethernet specifications of your NAS before buying an M.2 SSD

5GbE should be the bare-minimum; 10 Gigabit is ideal

Unlike the SATA ports on typical hard drive NAS enclosures, all-flash systems rely on the high-speed PCIe interface. That said, all-SSD NAS devices in the consumer space tend to be capped at PCIe Gen 3 speeds, meaning you don’t have to invest in the latest and greatest PCIe Gen 5 drives for your small form-factor NAS.

Likewise, the number of PCIe lanes per drive and the Ethernet bandwidth are other important factors that determine your NAS speeds. Considering that even a high-end HDD can choke a 1 Gigabit network, you’ll want at least something as fast as a 5GbE connection to make the most of your SSD NAS.

1 Know your SMR HDDs from your CMR drives

Try to avoid the former as much as possible

SMR hard drives have become a lot more common in the entry-level HDD sector, and that’s a trend I’m particularly salty about. Thanks to their higher storage density, HDDs leveraging the Shingled Magnetic Recording (SMR) technology are cheaper to produce than their CMR counterparts.

But the catch with SMR drives is that they’re painfully slow when it comes to write operations – to the point where your storage pool’s transfer speeds will tank once you add an SMR HDD to the mix. And don’t even get me started on the abysmal pace of rebuilding an array with an SMR drive. Data archival is the only scenario where using these drives makes a modicum of sense, but I’d still recommend going with CMR drives unless there’s a major price difference between the two.

Picking the finest of drives for your all-powerful NAS

Aside from these tips, there are a couple of other pointers that can help improve your NAS experience. Slotting an extra HDD or two as a hot spare disk can prevent long downtimes if a drive ends up biting the dust. For those who haven’t set up their sharing protocols yet, it might be a good idea to experiment with block storage protocols like iSCSI, as mapping your storage drive as a local disk can help out in certain projects. Finally, a 3-2-1 backup setup is perfect when you want a foolproof way to prevent accidental loss of data.