ReadyNAS Pro Hard Disk compatibility list is a joke

The handling of the disks when they are shipped from the vendor to you also has an impact on the life of the disk. I have purchased Seagate and WD OEM disks from several vendors and find that in the case of both brands they apparently ship 20 of the disks in a box with styrofoam trays top and bottom to protect the drives. But, once the drive is removed from that case, it is just the drive protected by the anti-static bag it is wrapped in. As recently as a year ago, my favorite supplier would wrap the drives in several layers of bubble wrap and then place the drive in a box with a lot of styrofoam peanuts. Then they went to this crumpled paper packing. My second choice supplier uses similar packing.

I recently bought 5 Hitachi OEM 3TB drives splitting the order between my two suppliers. In both cases the OEM drives came in an antistatic bag and then a plain brown corrugated container with expanded styrene standoffs to protect the drive inside the box. No identification on the outside of the box. Either both vendors shifted at the same time to this new packaging, or Hitachi is shipping their OEM drives in this new far superior packaging.

If the OEM drives are not packaged properly and they received a hard jolt during shipment, it can affect the life of the drive.