I'm going RAID5......need advice!

[cyber69]

Hi fellow OcUK'ers, need some advice please.

I need a RAID5 NAS and have been looking at a Synology DS409 but I need recommendations for the best SATA-II hard drives to use.

I cannot affored RAID level drives so I was thinking of the Samsung 1.5TB eco drive. Has anyone got some of these in a RAID array?

I've heard that the Western Digital greenpower drives are no good in external NAS boxes because of a problem with load cycle count?

 

[Imy]

I wouldn't worry about the performance of the drives too much as the controller will likely be the bottleneck in that thing.

Look more at heat, noise, reliability and power usage.

 

[Tweaker]

I have 4 1 TB samsung F1 drives in RAID 5, they are slower on the Intel controller than most, but still manage a solid 60MB/s write. I read a article that said most RAID cards can do much better than this on the same drive. I would say the 5400RPM speed is going to affect them.

 

[mdjmcnally]

I run the 1Tb WD Green Power drives in a Drobo Pro, although they have been tested and approved by Data Robotics.

In general however I believe that both WD and Seagate suggest avoid RAIDing there desktop drives period these days. Not sure if just "spend more with us" or an actual real issue.