HDD recommendations for Readynas NV+ v1

You can mix capacities, but you won't see vertical expansion until all drives match (The NAS would treat all drives as 1 TB) Also, given the age of your equipment it is likely you'd need to do a factory reset to get 4K alignment anyway. Otherwise performance will suffer.

You also might need to update your firmware. What are you running now?

Since you are out-of-warranty, there are no support implications to straying from the HCL. Personally I'd pick the WDC WD10EFRX (or the WD20EFRX if you want 2 TB for ~$30 more). Usually I'd suggest going with the 2 TB drives, but in your case your storage needs do not appear to be growing very quickly. So it is a toss-up. You might want (or need) a new NAS before you need larger drives.

I'd avoid the newer "green" disks (WDC or Seagate). The NAS disks from both vendors (WDC EFRX and Seagate NV000) seem to do better in NAS and have better warranties. Seagate doesn't have a 1 TB model though.

Hi Stephen, thanks for the reply.

Think I'm running the latest FW (RAIDiator 4.1.13 [1.00a043]) - I was more interested in HCL because of not wanting any weird compatibility problems.

WD10EFRX looks like the sensible option - it's actually on the HCL - and I had forgotten that x-raid meant adding more discs with the same capacity just adds capacity not redundancy, so I'd get 2TB free space... as you say, should last me until it's time to replace the NAS.

Appreciate the head-up about 4k alignment issue with 2TB drives too - would have been annoying to have to factory reset.

Read the specs of all drives carefully. The red drives including the WD10EFRX are Advanced Format drives ( 4k )
http://www.wdc.com/wdproducts/library/S ... 800002.pdf
Most of the high capacity ( > 1 tb ) are 4k drives.
Unless I am wrong about the AF designation. We got bit by this at work a year or so ago when the AF drives got slipstreamed into a big laptop order. Our images performed poorly until we figured it out.

markwoll wrote:
The red drives including the WD10EFRX are Advanced Format drives ( 4k )

Thx for pointing this out.
I'd use it anyway though. Otherwise you end up searching for drives no longer in production. Sometimes you can find them, but often the price is way out of line.

If the performance noticeably drops off you would need a reset to restore it. Though you might find it is ok - my NV+ is mis-aligned, and I've never gotten around to fixing it. I use it for backup of my Pro, and its more than fast enough for that.

I`ve recently been looking for HDD replacement/ upgrade to 2TB, and have been finding it difficult to find a good HDD that is on the HCL from retailers. Just about the only thing I see from my regular retailer is a Seagate drive that only has 1 year warranty, and some unflattering reviews ... Unfortunate, since I would typically buy Seagate.

I note your earlier comment on WD10EFRX (which is on the HCL), and note regarding WD20EFRX (which is not on the HCL) for 2TB.
The WD20EFRX is available from my regular retailer, so very much interested in getting this if it is, in fact, supported.
Is this a known omission from the HCL ? Would I be refused support if I got the WD20EFRX ?

Any advice/guidance would be appreciated.

Thanks!

If you do choose to use drives outside the compatibility list you need to be extra vigilant to make sure your backup is up to date in case you run into issues. So you have a backup to restore from if you are unable to get support.

Understood on the backup precaution.
Unfortunately, my choices for 2TB seem to be to either buy a consumer grade drive (on the HCL) which appears to have failure issues, or buy something not on the HCL (even though same family, lower capacity drive is on the HCL). Is there any visibility of what other drives are undergoing qualification for NV+ beyond what's published on the HCL ?

I have asked our QA team about this.

Thanks!

I would also like to understand whether higher capacity than 2G drives will be supported in future (even if capacity restricted to 2G), since 2G drives will eventually become difficult to buy, with more limited options, as technology moves forward.


Thanks!

I don't think so.

A lot of devices would be affected by this so I don't think 2TB drives will disappear off the shelves any time soon.