NAS HDD suitable for Desktop Storage?

[AIR]

I'm thinking of getting the Seagate NAS 2TB 5900RPM SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache HDD - OEM (ST2000VN000) to use in my Desktop as a storage drive for Media:
https://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=HD-289-SE&groupid=1657&catid=1660&subcat=1954

My thinking is it is reasonably priced, has a 3 year warranty and should be quiet and power efficient, and that a faster desktop drive is not really necessary for Media storage.

However, I have the following questions:

1) Are NAS drives suitable for use as desktop internal storage? Or should they really be only used in NAS enclosures due to the firmware being optimised for NAS?

2) Are there any limitations with using such a drive for internal storage? Or will there be no noticeable difference between this and a standard 'Desktop' drive?

Any advice would be much appreciated

 

[demon8991]

First off I would never buy a Seagate, their reliability is awful!

To answer your questions I have used 2 x 3TB NAS drives in my desktop in mirror mode for a year before moving them both to a NAS and had no issues at all with either of them

There will be no limitations although if you opt for a 5400RPM-5900RPM drive they will be a little slower than a 7200RPM but if you are only using it to access Photos, Music, Video that will be more than enough. 7200RPM is better suited for an OS or when running applications and an SSD is a vast improvement on that.

If I were you I would get one of these I have provided all of the available sizes so you get an idea. I have 2 x 3TB drives and 2 x 6TB drives and they are all great. WD Reds comes with a 3 year warranty and a much better reliability record than Seagate. The good thing about getting a NAS drive is you can transfer them to a NAS/Server in the future should you ever go down that route, which I must say is one of the best things I have done in recent years with regard to electrical purchases.

YOUR BASKET
1 x Western Digital Caviar Red 6TB SATA 6Gb/s 64MB CacheTB SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache HDD - OEM WD60EFRX £209.99
1 x Western Digital Caviar Red 5TB SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache HDD - OEM WD50EFRX £174.95
1 x Western Digital Caviar Red 4TB SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache HDD - OEM WD40EFRX £125.99
1 x Western Digital Caviar Red 3TB SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache HDD - OEM WD30EFRX £94.99
1 x Western Digital Caviar Red 2TB SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache HDD - OEM WD20EFRX £74.99
1 x Western Digital Caviar Red 1TB SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache HDD - OEM (WD10EFRX) £58.99
Total : £749.50 (includes shipping : £8.00 Ex.VAT).

 

[Steveocee]

First off I would never buy a Seagate, their reliability is awful!

I've had 1 fail on me in having 6 over the course of 3 years and counting. Although Demon is quite right to advise on WD Red's as they are pretty much "the" standard to go by, Seagate do get some hammer for reliability but I feel the need to offer my experience of them.

My drives were OEM from OCUK and the warranty was dealt with quickly and efficiently by OCUK as Seagate wouldn't touch them as they were OEM.

 

[demon8991]

I've had 1 fail on me in having 6 over the course of 3 years and counting. Although Demon is quite right to advise on WD Red's as they are pretty much "the" standard to go by, Seagate do get some hammer for reliability but I feel the need to offer my experience of them.

My drives were OEM from OCUK and the warranty was dealt with quickly and efficiently by OCUK as Seagate wouldn't touch them as they were OEM.

I have had 3 in 3 fail for me.

1 in 12 WDs have failed but got replaced easily.

1 in 3 Samsungs have failed but I think that was my fault as I was a little heavy handed when transferring to a new PC. The other two are still going nearly 9 years on.