Disk replacement to rebuild raid

snakefood · 23 Dec 2021 at 13:17

Hi guys,

I've had a disk fail in my 2 drive nas so I need to replace one, but they were quite old disks.

The model listed in there is a ST300DM001 - 1ER166. Do I need to source the same exact model to rebuild the array, or can I add in any 3TB drive? Could I please get a recommendation of something appropriate?

Cheers

Armageus · 23 Dec 2021 at 13:30

You can use any 3TB or larger drive as a replacement, it does not have to be the exact make or model.

It's worth noting that your existing drive isn't actually specified for NAS use, it's a standard desktop PC drive - so I would look to replace it with a NAS specific one like a Seagate Ironwolf or WD Red Plus.

(Avoid the standard WD Red models i.e. not the Plus or Pro models, as despite being a NAS drive they use an inferior design known as SMR that can cause issues in certain NAS models)

Based on current pricing, you are probably better off picking up a 4TB drive, as will cost you little more than a 3TB model. If you then later replace the remaining 3TB drive, you should then be able to expand your NAS to use the extra space (assuming it's something like a Synology or QNAP).

My basket at Overclockers UK:

1 x Seagate 3TB IronWolf NAS 5900RPM HDD 64MB Cache Internal Hard Drive (ST3000VN007)= £83.99
1 x WD 4TB Red Plus 5400rpm HDD 128MB Cache Internal NAS Hard Drive (WD40EFZX)= £89.99
1 x Seagate 4TB IronWolf NAS 5900RPM HDD 64MB Cache Internal Hard Drive (ST4000VN008)= £94.99

Total: £277.67 (includes shipping: £8.70)

snakefood · 23 Dec 2021 at 16:12

Cheers for coming back to me, my nas is a netgear readynas. I don't think it's all that great a unit, but all I really do is download 1080p content to, and play locally from it. I think it uses some quirky ass netgear raid standard called x-raid...but I do believe x-raid allows for expansion, so you may well have a good point on buying a larger disk (guess that also confirms I don't require matching models

)

I notice all of those nas specific drives listed are slower at 54-5900, is that not an issue? Historically I've always steered away from these, but I've also not had to buy many nas disks, so I could well be uneducated in this aspect.

Armageus · 23 Dec 2021 at 16:20

snakefood said:
I notice all of those nas specific drives listed are slower at 54-5900, is that not an issue? Historically I've always steered away from these, but I've also not had to buy many nas disks, so I could well be uneducated in this aspect.

It shouldn't be an issue, as in theory the NAS should slow things down to the speed of the slowest device. Although in reality thanks to improvements in technology, caching and firmware I actually think a modern 5400/5900rpm drive would probably be quicker than your ~10 year old model.

You can get 7200rpm NAS drives, but you'd be looking at a bit more of a price jump (OcUK only have stock of 4TB models of these)

My basket at Overclockers UK:

1 x WD 4TB Red Pro 7200rpm HDD 256MB Cache Internal NAS Hard Drive (WD4003FFBX)= £119.99
1 x Seagate 4TB IronWolf PRO NAS 7200RPM HDD 128MB Cache Internal Hard Drive (ST4000NE001)= £124.99

Total: £253.68 (includes shipping: £8.70)