Synology Hybrid Raid (SHR for short) is Synology's proprietary RAID setup that optimizes how much storage space is actually usable when you have at least 3 drives. If you'd like to understand better how exactly it works, you can play around with the
Synology RAID calculator, try plugging different drives into the graphic and then setting one of the options to SHR, and the other to RAID 1 or other RAID types for comparison if you add more drives. It's actually kinda fun to play around with.
Yes, we do offer NAS-specific drives, our current model is called
IronWolf. These drives are rated for 24x7 use in NAS environments. In a 4TB capacity, an IronWolf drive would still be 5900 RPM, however once you go above that size (so 6TB and over), IronWolf drives are 7200 RPM. All capacities of the IronWolf Pro line are 7200 RPM and the warranty extends from the standard model's 3 years to 5 years. Sizes 4TB and over do have RV sensors built in, when coupled with the NAS-engineered firmware on the drives, they work together to ensure any vibration considerations of the NAS are handled and mitigated efficiently, since multiple drives in these enclosed spaces could potentially "beat up" on each-other and wear the drives down without this kind of consideration in place.
Synology and Seagate IronWolf drives (in capacities 4TB and up) also have a joint utility called
IronWolf Health Management (IHM) which includes the Synology DS213 unit you mentioned. IHM takes a more proactive and wide-ranged approach to drive health than standard S.M.A.R.T monitoring. Standard S.M.A.R.T monitoring looks at only 20 drive parameters, IHM monitors over 200. S.M.A.R.T simply reports pass or fail status, IHM provides proactive options ahead of specified potential fail events. S.M.A.R.T doesn't really do baselines on drive health, while IHM consistently compares parameters to a baseline for any potential warning signs of drive issues.
Our AgileArray firmware is designed for optimized 10Gbe performance with higher bandwidth streaming and managing multiuser high-usage spikes.
Regardless of which drives you choose for your needs, thank you for considering Seagate!
