La Black Friday est officiellement lancé ! Les enseignes n’ont pas attendu pour ouvrir les hostilités : les promotions ont déjà démarré depuis plusieurs jours. Mais aujourd’hui, nous sommes le 29 novembre, date officielle du Black Friday 2024. Avec Noël qui approche à grands pas, c’est le moment idéal pour dénicher les meilleures offres et anticiper vos achats de cadeaux à prix réduit. Le Black Friday 2024 promet des opportunités uniques pour faire de bonnes affaires. Nous avons sélectionné pour vous les promotions les plus intéressantes du moment…. NAS L’excellent Synology DS923+ passe à 544,99€ (prix conseillé : 635€) […] Lire la suite :Black Friday 2024 : les meilleures promotions
The Best ‘Price per TB’ NAS HDD Deals of Black Friday 2024
This Black Friday brings a range of exceptional deals on NAS hard drives, offering substantial discounts for those looking to upgrade or expand their storage solutions. Whether you’re building a new NAS setup or adding capacity to an existing one, these discounts on top-tier drives from Seagate and Western Digital provide a great opportunity to secure reliable, high-performance storage at a lower cost. Below are the standout deals, featuring both consumer and enterprise-grade drives, designed to cater to a variety of needs and budgets.
IMPORTANT – BIG HDDs vs Lots of SMALLER HDDs in a NAS?
When deciding between larger hard drives or multiple smaller drives for your NAS, it’s important to consider your storage needs, budget, and the capabilities of your NAS device. Larger hard drives, such as the 16TB or 24TB options, allow you to maximize storage capacity while using fewer drive bays. This is especially beneficial if you’re working with a NAS that has a limited number of bays or want to reserve extra slots for future expansion. Additionally, larger drives often provide a better price-per-terabyte value, reducing the overall cost of your storage investment over time. However, keep in mind that larger drives can take longer to rebuild in the event of a failure, so proper backups are essential.
On the other hand, purchasing multiple smaller drives can unlock the performance benefits of RAID (Redundant Array of Independent Disks) configurations. RAID setups like RAID 5 or RAID 10 distribute data across multiple drives, allowing for faster read/write speeds and increased fault tolerance. This makes them ideal for users with demanding workloads or those seeking additional data protection. Additionally, spreading your investment across smaller drives may offer more flexibility in terms of replacing or upgrading drives over time. For larger NAS systems with more bays, using multiple smaller drives in a RAID configuration can optimize both performance and redundancy, making it an excellent option for businesses or advanced home users.
The Seagate Ironwolf Pro 24TB NAS HDD is a high-capacity drive designed for NAS environments that demand reliable performance and durability. With a massive 24TB capacity, it is ideal for users managing large datasets, media libraries, or high-volume backups. Its robust design includes features like CMR (Conventional Magnetic Recording) for optimal performance and a 300TB/year workload rating, making it suitable for 24/7 operation. The drive is now available at an unbeatable price of $399.99—a 38% discount from its original price of $649.99. This is the best deal of the season for large-capacity NAS storage.
The WD Red Plus 4TB NAS HDD offers a great entry point for users with smaller storage needs or those building their first NAS. Designed specifically for NAS use, it supports workloads up to 180TB/year and includes NASware 3.0 for enhanced reliability and compatibility with multi-drive systems. Its 4TB capacity is perfect for smaller setups or as part of a RAID array in a larger NAS. Previously priced at $119.99, it is now available for $84.99, offering a 29% discount.
The Seagate Ironwolf 8TB NAS HDD is a versatile and reliable option for mid-sized NAS setups. Featuring AgileArray technology for improved RAID performance and vibration resistance, it is ideal for small businesses or home users needing reliable storage for backups, media streaming, or file sharing. The drive is now priced at $149.99, down 17% from its original price of $179.99, making it a solid choice for users seeking dependable mid-range storage.
The WD Red Plus 10TB NAS HDD is a powerful solution for users who need higher storage capacity without breaking the bank. With a 10TB capacity and 180TB/year workload rating, it is well-suited for multi-bay NAS systems in homes or small offices. Its NASware 3.0 firmware ensures optimal performance and data integrity in 24/7 environments. Previously priced at $224.99, it is now available for $169.99, providing a $55 savings.
The Seagate 12TB NAS HDD strikes a balance between capacity and affordability, making it a great option for expanding existing NAS setups or building mid-tier systems. Designed for continuous operation, this drive includes features like vibration resistance and RAID optimization for enhanced performance. Previously priced at $239.99, it is now available for $199.99, representing a 17% discount.
The Seagate Ironwolf Pro 16TB HDD is a high-performance option for professionals and businesses that require reliable storage for demanding workloads. With a workload rating of 300TB/year and CMR technology, it delivers consistent performance in multi-drive setups. Its 16TB capacity provides a substantial amount of space for backups, virtualization, or media storage. Previously priced at $314.99, it is now available for $249.99, a 21% discount.
The WD Red Pro NAS HDD is a premium drive for professionals and businesses looking for reliable, scalable storage. With a workload rating of 300TB/year and optimized for multi-bay systems, it provides exceptional durability and performance for demanding environments. Previously priced at $429.99, it is now available for $319.99, a significant $110 discount.
The Seagate Ironwolf Pro 24TB NAS HDD is a top-tier storage solution tailored for NAS setups requiring high reliability and performance. Boasting an impressive 24TB capacity, it is perfect for handling large datasets, extensive media collections, or heavy backup tasks. Built for durability, it features CMR (Conventional Magnetic Recording) technology for enhanced efficiency and supports workloads up to 300TB/year, making it ideal for continuous 24/7 use. Currently priced at $399.99, this represents a 38% discount from its original $649.99, making it one of the best deals available for high-capacity NAS drives this Black Friday.
The WD Red Pro 24TB NAS HDD is built for large-scale NAS environments and offers top-tier performance and durability. Designed for workloads of up to 300TB/year, it includes enhanced vibration protection and error recovery controls for dependable operation in RAID systems. Its 24TB capacity makes it perfect for data-heavy applications, including business backups and large media libraries. Previously priced at $569.99, it is now available for $499.99, offering a 12% discount.
The Seagate EXOS Enterprise 24TB HDD is an enterprise-grade solution designed for the most demanding storage environments. Featuring a 550TB/year workload rating and advanced caching technology, it excels in delivering consistent, high-speed performance. Its 24TB capacity and durability make it ideal for data centers, virtualization, and high-capacity NAS setups. Previously priced at $599.99, it is now available for $479.99, representing a 20% discount.
Thinking of buying a product mentioned in this article? If it has helped you make that decision, you can head to several stores using these links and we will get a small % profit of whatever you buy, which goes directly back to NASCompares and allows me and Eddie to keep doing what we do here on YouTube, the community support sites and the Blog.
This description contains links to Amazon. These links will take you to some of the products mentioned in today's content. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. Visit the NASCompares Deal Finder to find the best place to buy this device in your region, based on Service, Support and Reputation - Just Search for your NAS Drive in the Box Below
Need Advice on Data Storage from an Expert?
Finally, for free advice about your setup, just leave a message in the comments below here at NASCompares.com and we will get back to you.Need Help?
Where possible (and where appropriate) please provide as much information about your requirements, as then I can arrange the best answer and solution to your needs. Do not worry about your e-mail address being required, it will NOT be used in a mailing list and will NOT be used in any way other than to respond to your enquiry.
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This Black Friday, UniFi is offering exceptional discounts across its range of networking and security products. Whether you’re looking for high-performance network switches, advanced security cameras, reliable WiFi solutions, or accessories to upgrade your setup, UniFi has you covered. Here’s a breakdown of the products on offer, grouped by category.
UniFi Network Switches on Offer During Black Friday
UniFi’s network switches provide the backbone for high-performance wired networks, offering advanced routing capabilities and reliable connectivity for businesses and homes alike. This Black Friday, several models are available at reduced prices, catering to a variety of use cases and budgets.
The Pro Max 16 is a Layer 3 managed switch designed to meet the needs of modern high-bandwidth networks. Equipped with 16 ports that support 2.5 GbE speeds, it enables faster data transfers across connected devices, making it ideal for office environments, creative studios, or advanced home networks. The switch includes advanced Layer 3 routing capabilities, allowing for efficient management of data between subnets, improving network performance and reducing latency. With versatile mounting options and integration into the UniFi ecosystem, it simplifies network setup and scaling. Originally priced at $279.00, this switch is now available for $229.00.
The Flex 10 GbE is a compact yet powerful Layer 2 switch designed to deliver 10 GbE connectivity in a sleek, space-saving design. With five high-speed ports, this switch is perfect for power users, small businesses, or creative professionals who require ultra-fast data transfers for tasks like video editing or large file backups. The device can be powered through PoE or a 5V USB-C adapter, making it highly adaptable for various environments, from desks to server rooms. Its integration with the UniFi ecosystem ensures easy monitoring and management via the UniFi Network application. Previously priced at $299.00, the Flex 10 GbE is now available at $229.00.
The Pro Max 24 is a professional-grade Layer 3 managed switch featuring 24 ports with 2.5 GbE capabilities, making it an ideal choice for high-performance networks. This switch is designed to handle the bandwidth demands of modern devices while offering advanced Layer 3 routing, enabling efficient data flow between subnets. Perfect for businesses or enterprise environments, the Pro Max 24 allows for streamlined management and scalability within the UniFi ecosystem. Its robust construction and versatile mounting options ensure it can be deployed in various setups. Previously priced at $449.00, this powerful switch is now available for $369.00.
Security Cameras from UniFi on Offer During Black Friday
UniFi’s security cameras are designed for optimal surveillance and monitoring, with features like PoE connectivity, advanced image quality, and integration with UniFi Protect for centralized management. These discounted Black Friday options ensure robust security for your property.
The G4 Bullet is an indoor/outdoor PoE camera designed to provide optimal nighttime surveillance. It features a compact design and high-quality video performance, making it suitable for both residential and commercial properties. Easy to integrate into the UniFi Protect ecosystem, the G4 Bullet delivers reliable security and centralized monitoring. Originally priced from $199.00, it is now available from $99.00.
The G4 Doorbell Pro is a premium UniFi doorbell with an enhanced package detection camera and integrated display. It offers advanced security features, including high-quality video and two-way audio, making it ideal for securing residential or office entry points. Fully compatible with UniFi Protect, it ensures easy monitoring and seamless integration with existing systems. Previously $299.00, it is now offered at $179.00.
The AI Theta is a complete AI-powered camera system that discreetly secures any space while maintaining a warm and inviting atmosphere. It integrates advanced analytics for enhanced security and offers high-definition imaging. Ideal for offices or commercial spaces, this camera ensures privacy while maintaining a professional aesthetic. Previously $299.00, it is now priced at $229.00.
WiFi Solutions from UniFi on Offer During Black Friday
UniFi offers a range of WiFi access points designed to provide reliable and high-speed wireless connectivity, whether for home, office, or outdoor environments. These devices integrate seamlessly into UniFi’s ecosystem, ensuring centralized management and top-tier performance.
The UniFi Express (UX) is a compact yet powerful device that serves as both a cloud gateway and a WiFi 6 access point. Designed for simplicity and versatility, it can act as the primary controller for an entire network or mesh seamlessly as an access point in an existing UniFi environment. The WiFi 6 capability ensures faster speeds, better performance in crowded networks, and improved energy efficiency for connected devices. Originally priced at $149.00, it is now available for $109.00 during Black Friday.
The AC Pro is a versatile ceiling-mounted access point designed to deliver high-performance WiFi 5 connectivity in large office spaces or similar environments. Supporting up to six spatial streams, it provides robust wireless coverage and fast speeds, even in networks with multiple connected devices. Starting at $149.00, the AC Pro is now available for $109.00.
The nanoHD is a compact ceiling-mounted access point offering WiFi 5 performance with six spatial streams. Designed for smaller offices or homes, it provides reliable wireless coverage in a minimalist form factor. Originally priced at $179.00, the nanoHD is now available starting at $99.00.
The BeaconHD is a convenient WiFi 5 extender that plugs directly into a standard wall outlet, making it one of the easiest ways to improve wireless coverage. Designed for homes or small offices, it eliminates dead zones by extending the range of your UniFi network. Previously $129.00, it is now available for $69.00.
Accessories and Upgrades from UniFi on Offer During Black Friday
UniFi accessories and upgrades allow users to optimize their networks further, with tools ranging from powerful gateways to advanced software consoles. These discounted products offer excellent value for enhancing or expanding your UniFi setup.
The Dream Wall (UDW) is a wall-mounted 10G cloud gateway featuring integrated WiFi 6, high-power PoE switching, and comprehensive UniFi application support. With its robust capabilities, the Dream Wall supports high-speed internet connectivity, advanced routing features, and seamless network management through UniFi’s unified ecosystem. Perfect for those seeking a professional-grade solution, the Dream Wall is now available at $799.00, reduced from $999.00.
These Black Friday deals on UniFi products provide an excellent opportunity to upgrade your network and security infrastructure at a significant discount. Whether you’re looking for powerful switches, advanced security cameras, reliable WiFi solutions, or essential accessories, these offers cater to various needs and budgets. Please note that all offers expire at 11:59 PM PST on 12/2/2024, or when stock runs out—whichever comes first.
If you decide to purchase any of these products via the links on this page, NASCompares will receive a small commission. This support directly helps Ed and me (just the two of us!) to continue running this site, creating helpful content, and assisting the NAS and networking community. Your support means the world to us, and we genuinely appreciate it.
This description contains links to Amazon. These links will take you to some of the products mentioned in today's content. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. Visit the NASCompares Deal Finder to find the best place to buy this device in your region, based on Service, Support and Reputation - Just Search for your NAS Drive in the Box Below
Need Advice on Data Storage from an Expert?
Finally, for free advice about your setup, just leave a message in the comments below here at NASCompares.com and we will get back to you.Need Help?
Where possible (and where appropriate) please provide as much information about your requirements, as then I can arrange the best answer and solution to your needs. Do not worry about your e-mail address being required, it will NOT be used in a mailing list and will NOT be used in any way other than to respond to your enquiry.
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If you like this service, please consider supporting us.
We use affiliate links on the blog allowing NAScompares information and advice service to be free of charge to you.Anything you purchase on the day you click on our links will generate a small commission which isused to run the website. Here is a link for Amazon and B&H.You can also get me a Ko-fi or old school Paypal. Thanks!To find out more about how to support this advice service checkHEREIf you need to fix or configure a NAS, check FiverHave you thought about helping others with your knowledge? Find Instructions Here
Or support us by using our affiliate links on Amazon UK and Amazon US
Alternatively, why not ask me on the ASK NASCompares forum, by clicking the button below. This is a community hub that serves as a place that I can answer your question, chew the fat, share new release information and even get corrections posted. I will always get around to answering ALL queries, but as a one-man operation, I cannot promise speed! So by sharing your query in the ASK NASCompares section below, you can get a better range of solutions and suggestions, alongside my own.
The UGREEN NASync Series is 15-20% OFF this Black Friday 2024
This Black Friday, UGREEN is offering substantial discounts on its range of NASync devices, available exclusively on Amazon. Known for their reliability, performance, and user-friendly features, these NAS (Network Attached Storage) solutions cater to a variety of needs, from personal data storage to professional setups requiring robust multi-bay systems. Whether you’re looking for a compact 2-bay model for home use or a high-capacity 8-bay desktop NAS for intensive workloads, these deals provide a great opportunity to upgrade at a fraction of the usual cost.
The UGREEN NASync DXP2800 is an ideal entry-level NAS solution for personal or small office use. Equipped with an Intel® N100 processor featuring 4 cores and 4 threads, it provides efficient performance with a maximum turbo frequency of 3.40 GHz. The 8GB DDR5 RAM, expandable up to 16GB, ensures smooth multitasking and reliability. Supporting 2 SATA bays, this device accommodates up to 64TB of storage with RAID options including JBOD, RAID 0, and RAID 1 for data protection. Its dual 2.5GbE LAN ports enable fast data transfer speeds, while its compact design makes it perfect for space-conscious users.
The UGREEN NASync DXP4800 offers enhanced connectivity and storage features for advanced users. Powered by the same Intel® N100 processor as the DXP2800, it supports two M.2 SSD drive slots for faster data access and improved performance. With its 8GB DDR5 RAM (expandable to 16GB) and dual LAN ports (2.5GbE), the DXP4800 is well-suited for media streaming, backups, and file sharing. Its sleek design, combined with support for 4K HDMI output and self-ejecting SD 3.0 card slots, makes it a versatile choice for both home and small business environments.
For users requiring higher storage capacity, the UGREEN NASync DXP4800 Plus steps up with its 4 SATA drive bays, supporting up to 112TB of total storage. Powered by an Intel® Pentium® Gold 8505 processor with 5 cores and 6 threads, clocked at a turbo frequency of 4.40 GHz, it delivers excellent multitasking performance. With 8GB of DDR5 RAM (expandable to 64GB), dual LAN ports (2.5GbE and 10GbE), and RAID options including RAID 5 and RAID 6, this NAS ensures fast, secure, and reliable data storage for demanding tasks like media editing and virtualization.
The UGREEN NASync DXP480T Plus is designed for high-performance storage with its 4 M.2 SSD slots, enabling ultra-fast data access speeds. Featuring a 10-core Intel® Core i5-1235U processor with a 4.40 GHz turbo frequency, this NAS is ideal for professional users handling intensive workloads like video rendering or AI applications. Its 8GB DDR5 RAM is expandable to 64GB, while Thunderbolt 4 connectivity provides transfer speeds up to 40Gbps. Dual 10GbE ports, RAID configurations, and 8K HDMI output make it a cutting-edge solution for power users and content creators.
The UGREEN NASync DXP6800 Pro combines capacity and speed, offering 6 SATA drive bays and dual M.2 SSD slots to support up to 160TB of total storage. Powered by an Intel® Core i5-1235U processor, its 10 cores and 12 threads ensure high-speed performance for demanding applications. With 8GB of DDR5 RAM (expandable to 64GB) and dual 10GbE LAN ports, this NAS is built for businesses or professionals who need scalable, high-performance network storage. RAID options, Thunderbolt 4 support, and SD 4.0 compatibility further enhance its versatility.
At the top of the lineup, the UGREEN NASync DXP8800 Plus offers unmatched storage capacity with 8 SATA drive bays and dual M.2 SSD slots, supporting up to 208TB of storage. It is powered by the Intel® Core i5-1235U processor, ensuring seamless multitasking with 10 cores, 12 threads, and a turbo speed of 4.40 GHz. With dual 10GbE LAN ports, Thunderbolt 4 connectivity, and expandable RAM up to 128GB, this NAS is perfect for large-scale data storage and processing. Its 8K HDMI output and advanced RAID configurations make it an exceptional choice for enterprises and creative professionals.
This description contains links to Amazon. These links will take you to some of the products mentioned in today's content. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. Visit the NASCompares Deal Finder to find the best place to buy this device in your region, based on Service, Support and Reputation - Just Search for your NAS Drive in the Box Below
Need Advice on Data Storage from an Expert?
Finally, for free advice about your setup, just leave a message in the comments below here at NASCompares.com and we will get back to you.Need Help?
Where possible (and where appropriate) please provide as much information about your requirements, as then I can arrange the best answer and solution to your needs. Do not worry about your e-mail address being required, it will NOT be used in a mailing list and will NOT be used in any way other than to respond to your enquiry.
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If you like this service, please consider supporting us.
We use affiliate links on the blog allowing NAScompares information and advice service to be free of charge to you.Anything you purchase on the day you click on our links will generate a small commission which isused to run the website. Here is a link for Amazon and B&H.You can also get me a Ko-fi or old school Paypal. Thanks!To find out more about how to support this advice service checkHEREIf you need to fix or configure a NAS, check FiverHave you thought about helping others with your knowledge? Find Instructions Here
Or support us by using our affiliate links on Amazon UK and Amazon US
Alternatively, why not ask me on the ASK NASCompares forum, by clicking the button below. This is a community hub that serves as a place that I can answer your question, chew the fat, share new release information and even get corrections posted. I will always get around to answering ALL queries, but as a one-man operation, I cannot promise speed! So by sharing your query in the ASK NASCompares section below, you can get a better range of solutions and suggestions, alongside my own.
Black Friday 2024 – Deals in Storage and Networking
Black Friday 2024 – For both home and business users, this event is a prime opportunity to upgrade or enhance their data storage setup. It’s no surprise that many leading data storage and network technology providers join in on this annual mega sale. Unlike traditional Black Friday sales, which are longer and more widespread, Amazon Black Friday is a shorter event, meaning the window for decision-making can feel incredibly tight. Today, I’ll be spotlighting as many Amazon Black Friday deals as I can find below. Alongside the network and data storage offers that Eddie and I are tracking tirelessly, you’ll also find a list of recommended hardware to keep an eye on. Many of these are expected to appear as lightning deals during this brief sale period, so don’t miss out!
This description contains links to Amazon. These links will take you to some of the products mentioned in today's content. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. Visit the NASCompares Deal Finder to find the best place to buy this device in your region, based on Service, Support and Reputation - Just Search for your NAS Drive in the Box Below
Need Advice on Data Storage from an Expert?
Finally, for free advice about your setup, just leave a message in the comments below here at NASCompares.com and we will get back to you.Need Help?
Where possible (and where appropriate) please provide as much information about your requirements, as then I can arrange the best answer and solution to your needs. Do not worry about your e-mail address being required, it will NOT be used in a mailing list and will NOT be used in any way other than to respond to your enquiry.
[contact-form-7]
TRY CHAT Terms and Conditions
If you like this service, please consider supporting us.
We use affiliate links on the blog allowing NAScompares information and advice service to be free of charge to you.Anything you purchase on the day you click on our links will generate a small commission which isused to run the website. Here is a link for Amazon and B&H.You can also get me a Ko-fi or old school Paypal. Thanks!To find out more about how to support this advice service checkHEREIf you need to fix or configure a NAS, check FiverHave you thought about helping others with your knowledge? Find Instructions Here
Or support us by using our affiliate links on Amazon UK and Amazon US
Alternatively, why not ask me on the ASK NASCompares forum, by clicking the button below. This is a community hub that serves as a place that I can answer your question, chew the fat, share new release information and even get corrections posted. I will always get around to answering ALL queries, but as a one-man operation, I cannot promise speed! So by sharing your query in the ASK NASCompares section below, you can get a better range of solutions and suggestions, alongside my own.
Early Synology NAS Bargains and Deals this Black Friday 2024
Black Friday is here again and for many of you, this is the final decider on whether you are going to finally buy your very own Synology NAS or upgrade that old DS411+ or DS216+ that is starting to show its age. Synology has been focusing considerably more on rackmount NAS solutions in 2024 and the few desktop (Diskstation) NAS solutions that have arrived on the market have been either fantastically enterprise or currently regional exclusives at this time. This means that the majority of their desktop NAS solutions have been on the market now for more than a year each (some in the 18+ series have been around for quite a while longer!) and therefore there is considerable scope for the current range to have a number of great discounts available in the Black Friday 2024 sale. We predict that the likes of the DS423+ and DS923+ all-rounder NAS’ will likely be the star of the show in terms of deals, but more so on the already value focused devices such as the BeeStation series or the DS423 and DS223. With so many different Synology devices in the Diskstation and Rackstation series that are in/entering their 3rd year of circulation, this would be a good chance for Synology to run out the ‘soon to be’ legacy devices and hit the reset button on some new solutions for the new year! Below I have detailed the best Synology NAS for backups, plex, business, surveillance and value – with links to check if they are on offer at Amzazon. Alongside this, I will also be updating this page regularly during Black Friday adding links to deals as they go live throughout the week of Black Friday.
BLACK FRIDAY WEEK DEALS (so far) – (WILL REDIRECT TO YOUR AMAZON REGION AUTOMATICALLY)
EARLY SYNOLOGY BLACK FRIDAY DEALS SPOTTED IN THE WILD
The following promotions have appeared right from the start of November. Synology APPEARS to be considerably more overt in their promotions this year (compared with previous years at least). Links below will redirect to the store in your own region, so although in some cases (see DS423 deal below for example) the offer is a U.S based promotion in dollars, IF the offer is also a global deal, it will be visible in your region. Remember to factor taxes and shipping!!!
TOP Synology NAS Deals to Watch Out For on Black Friday 2024
Below are the three Synology entries that are almost certain to be on sale this Black Friday at your normal online shop (not just Amazon).
Synology DS923+ NAS Drive – Released at the tail end of 2022, the Synology DS923+ is pretty much the tipping point NAS for users looking at the Synology NAS platform that want scalability, upgradability and performance BUT do not want to go nuts on the price, physical size and impact in their home or office. The follow-up to the remarkably popular DS920+, the DS923+ is a NAS that focuses more on performance inside and out, as well as supporting the FULL rang of DSM 7.2 services!. Find it HERE.
Synology DS220+ NAS – Originally released in summer 2020, the Synology DS220+ was one of the stand-out popular NAS choices of that series, as it presented affordable access to the Synology DSM Platform, Plex 4K performance and in a compact/low-impact design, whilst still doing so without the compromise that is generally associated with more affordable solutions. However, in the years that have passed, Synology have refreshed this model with the newer DS224+ and this will almost certainly result in stock of the DS220+ being reduced in price, with Black Friday 2024 being a great time to do so! Find it HERE.
Synology DS923+ NAS Drive
NORMALLY $550-600
Synology DS224+ NAS
NORMALLY $299-329
Synology DS423
NORMALLY $369-389
Black Friday 2024 – Synology NAS Drives for PLEX
One of the big appeals of a Synology NAS drive is to use it as a Plex Media Server. Plex (if you didn’t know) is just as slick, fast and beautiful in design as Netflix, Prime Video and HBO Now, but instead of streaming/renting your content, you play the movies, tv shows and music that you own! Having your own Plex Media Server Synology NAS is fantastically appealing and a much more financially appealing choice than paying monthly for content you do not get to own. Below are the best 3 Synology NAS deals this Black Friday for a Plex Media Server in 2024.
Synology DS423+ 4-Bay NAS
There are two ways we need to look at the Synology DS423+ NAS. In one way, the Synology DS423+ DOES support all of the features and services that users demanded in a fully-featured home/prosumer solution. It features an Intel Quad Core processor with embedded graphics, DDR4 memory, multiple gigabit ports, wide HDD/SSD compatibility and m.2 NVMe SSD support. These are all things popular and most certainly what users would want/expect in a fully featured home/prosumer solution (aka SOHO). Then, when you roll in DSM 7 and it’s enormous range of software and services, the DS423+ is an excellent NAS solution that counters a broad range of criticisms that were leveled at the DS923+ at launch. However, there is, of course, the unavoidable way that most long-term Synology users and those looking to upgrade an existing 2016/2018 Diskstation are going to look at the DS423+ – a Synology DS920+ with less memory and no expandability! For those that skipped the DSx20+ generation, the DS423+ is going to feel decidedly underwhelming at best and hugely disappointing at worst! Synology has made no bones that they prioritize their software and services, with hardware being an important but nevertheless secondary concern. The main criticism is that CPU being the same processor used in the 3 years previous generation. Intel has moved production away from the J4125 themselves several times (with most other NAS brands using the N5105 or J6412 right now) and although Synology has been known to move CPU architecture down through the generations previously, this is a particularly egregious example. Overall, this si still the best affordable option right now for users looking at an all-encompassing Plex Media Server NAS solution from Synology in a compact form.
DEAL WATCH – Is It On Offer Right Now?
These Offers are Checked Daily
Synology DS1821+ 8-Bay NAS
I have always been a long-term fan of the Synology brand as a whole, applauding their recent moves towards Ryzen processors and range-wide adoption of dedicated M2 NVMe cache bays. However, the Synology DS1821+, much like the DS1621+, is a giant leap in many ways and the smallest of stumbles in others. The switch from Atom to Ryzen embedded processor needs to be recognised for both the big jump it is from a brand that typically errs on the side of caution in hardware. Likewise, the inclusion of ECC memory, massive potential-filled PCIe expandability at PCIe 3 x8 and support of popular services like Synology Hybrid RAID (SHR) are certainly a plus. But many buyers will be put off by the continued adoption of 1Gbe as standard and the limitation of those NVMe bays to caching ONLY and not raw storage pools. With a price tag without storage media at around £1,000 (give or take), this is a big ask to pay for something that has lucrative software potential but arguably lesser hardware potential. In short, I do really like the Synology DS1821+ NAS, I just don’t know how long I could be in love with it long-term, as the rest of my network hardware environment embraces faster connectivity.
DEAL WATCH – Is It On Offer Right Now?
Synology DS1821+ 8-Bay Diskstation NAS (AMD Ryzen V1500B Quad-Core 2,2 GHz 4 GB Amazon USA 9.72 OFF (WAS 1094) [LINK] Synology DS1821+8bay NAS V1500B Quad-Core 2.2 GHz,Black Amazon UK 56.02 OFF (WAS 1006) [LINK] Synology DiskStation DS1821+ NAS Storage Server Tower Ethernet LAN Black V1500B Amazon UK 20.01 OFF (WAS 1020) [LINK] Synology DS1821+ 64TB 8 Bay Desktop NAS Solution, Installed with 8 x 8TB HAT5300 Amazon UK 4.25 OFF (WAS 3827) [LINK] Synology DS1821+ NAS Server Amazon DE 100.86 OFF (WAS 1180) [LINK]
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Synology DS1621xs+ 6-Bay NAS
Whatever way you look at it, you cannot what question the sheer level of hardware value present in the DS1621xs+, especially compared with other similarly priced Synology NAS. In the DS1621xs+, you find one of the best performing internal and external NAS systems in the entire Synology portfolio, as well as providing you with an enterprise rackmount grade solution in a desktop form. I know it seems like a big statement, but this could genuinely be one of the best examples of what Synology provide to business users and certainly reorganises the portfolio for small and medium business users for the better in 2024. Is it perfect, of course not, few things ever can be. But if your budget can extend to it, the Synology DS1621xs+ easily represents the very best of everything that Synology has to offer, while still maintaining a fantastic high standard to third-party software users worldwide.
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Black Friday 2024 – Lowest Priced Synology NAS Drives
If you are new to Synology NAS and don’t want to spend much this Black Friday, then that’s ok. Synology has a great selection of fantastically low price NAS available to buy this Black Friday in 1 hard drive, 2 hard drive and 4 hard drive sizes. Below is the best 3 Budget NAS that Synology features this Black Friday 2024:
Synology DS120J 1-Bay NAS
With the release of the new DS120j NAS, when it comes to buying your first network-attached storage device there are several reasons why the Synology range appeals to many. With a diverse range of hardware and storage options across a wide series of uses, as well as an impressive range of first-party applications, Synology has fast become one of the biggest names in the NAS. However, so many users have one tiny problem with most Synology devices, namely the price tag. In terms of overall price, you will find that a Synology NAS typically is around 15 to 20% more expensive than most other brands with the same hardware (we will leave software out of the equation for a bit). Added to this is the fact that most buyers looking to buy their first unit are nervous in spending large sums of money on a largely unexplored area of technology. Luckily Synology has already addressed this problem before with the inclusion of a budget range of devices that serves as a fantastic introduction point to network-attached storage and the Synology Diskstation Manager (DSM) system software.
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Synology DS223J 2-Bay NAS
The Synology DS223j NAS is not the most powerful NAS drive, or the most fully-featured NAS drive – but the point is that it is not trying to be! Synology has held an exceptionally good reputation in the world of network-attached storage for a decade and if a new NAS buyer wanted to cautiously invest in a new piece of equipment in this area, then despite their modest budget, they will want to get the best they can for their money, from a brand with an established pedigree – THAT is what the Synology DS223j NAS is trying to achieve and for the most part, it completely succeeds! Aside from the memory being a touch light on the ground and the white chassis not being to everyone’s taste, in almost every other regard the DS223j is a great little NAS drive that any first time NAS users, or those making the jump from subscription cloud services like Google Drive and DropBox, are going to enjoy. Just keep an eye on the number of active users and tasks at any given time and you will be on to a winner here. Bonus, this system arrives with twice the amount of memory than previous releases in the 2 Bay J family (more than a decade long!).
DEAL WATCH – Is It On Offer Right Now?
Synology DS223J NAS Amazon UK £179.48 (6% Off) [LINK] Synology DS223j NAS Drive (BF) Amazon USA $161.99 (15% OFF, was $189.99) [LINK] Synology DS223j 2-Bay Diskstation NAS (Realtek RTD1619B 4-Core 1.7 GHz 1GB DDR4 Amazon USA 28.16 OFF (WAS 229) [LINK]
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Synology DS420J 4-Bay NAS
Although this device will only cost you around£465 ex.VAT with 4x 2TB hard drives (Seagate Ironwolf NAS Drives) included, it can still perform the bulk of the standard tasks that are available in modern NAS and if you are looking for a universally supported DLNA or backup device, this is the one for you. Though definitely not aimed at the NAS experienced or 2nd-time buyers, or those looking for a solid foundation to build a business around where the customer data is critical. If you are looking for a network-attached storage device to act as a network backup or just want a simple NAS to do basic tasks such as media and protecting the data on your other devices, I recommend the Synology DS420j NAS
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Black Friday 2024 – Synology NAS Drives for Photo and Video Editing
Storing your photography or Video Editing archive for post-production on a Synology NAS is something taht has grown in popularity in the last few years. Now in 2024, not only can a Synology NAS be used to store your photos/video, but with upgraded connections to 10Gbe, Thunderbolt 3 to 10Gbe Adapters and link aggregation becoming more affordable, buying a Synology NAS this Black Friday 2024 for your post-production and live editing is easier than ever before Below are three great options for editors looking for a Synology NAS Deal from Amazon today.
Synology DS1522+ 5-Bay NAS
The Synology DS1522+ is a good NAS drive and most business-focused users are going to appreciate what this newer configuration of hardware is able to provide. There was never any doubt in the extent to which this new NAS would support DSM7, and given its architecture, there is virtually nothing in the popular NAS software that this system cannot do. Likewise, having the option of 10GbE on a Diskstation of this scale will be hugely attractive to some, though the proprietary means with which you need to upgrade is arguably less desirable. The R1600 CPU is a good choice of processor for file handling and simultaneous tasks, as is the 8GB of memory that this system arrives with, plus the potential to ramp it up to 32GB. After that though, the desirability of this system to home users and multimedia users is a little less compelling and with such a large audience of users who look at NAS for their media streaming, the DS1522+ not featuring a more graphically enabled chip will leave them somewhat underwhelmed. Bottom line, the DS1522+ is a solid and full DSM7 supporting system here and you cannot fault the design, internal/external performance and ease of use of this Synology NAS. However, there will always be users wondering why this NAS never arrived with an Intel chip.
DEAL WATCH – Is It On Offer Right Now?
Synology 5-bay DiskStation DS1522+ (Diskless),Black Amazon USA 50 OFF (WAS 750) [LINK] Synology 5-Bay DiskStation DS1522+ (Diskless),Black & Network Upgrade Module add Amazon USA 10 OFF (WAS 977) [LINK] Synology DS1522+ 5-Bay Desktop NAS Solution 5x3,5/2,5" SATA HDD/SSD, 2x M.2 2280 Amazon UK 55.92 OFF (WAS 758) [LINK]
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Synology DS1621+ 6-Bay NAS
The Synology ‘Plus’ series of devices has long held a reputation for providing mid-range hardware to mid-range business customers. Because of this, the DS1621+ needs to balance a fine line between providing fast and reliable hardware, whilst still maintaining a price point that won’t intimidate the average small-medium business user. In this regard, I think the Synology DS1621+ NAS gets it right, finding an impressive halfway point between these two factors. However, it is important for buyers to understand what they are buying and where the price point for the Synology DS1621+ is being aimed. Although it seemingly lacks some of the multimedia and prosumer features of ‘cheaper’ NAS devices in the Synology portfolio, it doubles down on more business and enterprise-level features in efforts to support that core audience. It’s about getting the right tool for the job and in that area, Synology almost completely succeed. The lack of above gigabit connectivity afforded to a NAS unit at this price point, compared with their competitors, may put some users off, but on the whole, you are getting good performance and excellent value on this combined hardware and software solution with some excellent scalability.
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Synology DS1621+ NAS (BF) Amazon USA 10% OFF – £854.36 (was £949.99) [LINK] Synology Diskstation DS1621+ DiskStation DS1621+, NAS, W125846548 (DiskStation D Amazon USA 246.71 OFF (WAS 1214) [LINK] Synology DiskStation DS1621+ serveur de stockage NAS Bureau Ethernet/LAN Noir V1 Amazon UK 35.53 OFF (WAS 1031) [LINK]
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Black Friday 2024 – Synology NAS Drives for 4K Video Streaming
4K TVs and High Definition media production have now reached a point that buying the right Synology NAS for storing, watching and adapting 4K Ulta High definition media in 2024 can be alot of work. True 4K media arrives in HUGE file sizes and you will need a more powerful Synology NAS drive to handle this kind of media all the way from the hard drives inside, to pumping it out to your 4K Display. Luckily a few of the more powerful Synology NAS solutions are on offer this Black Friday and if you are lucky enough to get a deal on one of these three, you will have a great NAS to enjoy 4K in your home or business environment.
Synology DS923+ 4-Bay NAS
Synology has clearly made something of a gamble in the release of the Synology DS923+ NAS. There is no avoiding that making the switch from the Intel Celeron that has historically been the build choice of this product family and opting for the AMD Emb.Ryzen has ruffled some feathers! On the face of it, the R1600 here has a heck of alot of going for it over the previous generation! Higher clock speed, greater PCIe Gen 3 Support throughout, that 4-32GB of DDR4 memory in such a compact system and just generally giving you a lot more horsepower to play with, as well as better bandwidth potential inside and out! But at what cost? The 1GbE standard connectivity in the base model leaves alot to be desired, the proprietary 10Gb upgrade (though incredibly handy) limits the upgradability a tad and the lack of an integrated graphics processor is likely going to result in many long-term Synology advocates to skip this generation. Synology Diskstation Manager (DSM 7.1 at the time of writing) still continues to impress and although the brand still continues to heavily push their 1st party priorities, they have left a little more wriggle room in DSM 7.1 than DSM 7 before it in terms of media compatibility. In terms of design, I cannot fault Synology on this as the DS923+ chassis still arrives as one of the best-looking and still exceptionally well-structured devices at this physical scale and storage level. As always, a Synology NAS is more about the software than the hardware (and the DS923+ delivers in spades on the software side!) and with DSM 7.2 around the corner improving things. Just always keep in mind that the Synology DS923+ NAS is a system that arrives with the slight emphasis on having to do many things ‘their way’. If you are less technically versed, then you will definitely appreciate this level of user-friendly design and assistance, but more technically minded admins’ main strain a pinch! In short, the DS923+ IS a good NAS drive, but its focus has certainly ebbed more towards the business user this generation than the home.
DEAL WATCH – Is It On Offer Right Now?
Synology DS923+ 32TB 4 Bay Desktop NAS Solution, Installed with 4 x 8TB Seagate Amazon UK 86.71 OFF (WAS 1453) [LINK]
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Synology DS423+ 4-Bay NAS
There are two ways we need to look at the Synology DS423+ NAS. In one way, the Synology DS423+ DOES support all of the features and services that users demanded in a fully-featured home/prosumer solution. It features an Intel Quad Core processor with embedded graphics, DDR4 memory, multiple gigabit ports, wide HDD/SSD compatibility and m.2 NVMe SSD support. These are all things popular and most certainly what users would want/expect in a fully featured home/prosumer solution (aka SOHO). Then, when you roll in DSM 7 and it’s enormous range of software and services, the DS423+ is an excellent NAS solution that counters a broad range of criticisms that were leveled at the DS923+ at launch. However, there is, of course, the unavoidable way that most long-term Synology users and those looking to upgrade an existing 2016/2018 Diskstation are going to look at the DS423+ – a Synology DS920+ with less memory and no expandability! For those that skipped the DSx20+ generation, the DS423+ is going to feel decidedly underwhelming at best and hugely disappointing at worst! Synology has made no bones that they prioritize their software and services, with hardware being an important but nevertheless secondary concern. The main criticism is that CPU being the same processor used in the 3 years previous generation. Intel has moved production away from the J4125 themselves several times (with most other NAS brands using the N5105 or J6412 right now) and although Synology has been known to move CPU architecture down through the generations previously, this is a particularly egregious example. Overall, this si still the best affordable option right now for users looking at an all-encompassing Plex Media Server NAS solution from Synology in a compact form.
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Black Friday 2024 – Synology NAS Drives for Business
Businesses in 2024 are producing so, SO MUCH DATA! Customer information, Web site images, legal documents, online marketing, internal communication, surveillance and security – it all adds up! With the majority of this data being highly confidential, copywrite or both, it is imperative that a business has a secure place to keep this data. Synology NAS drives have been used in business for a number of years and Diskstation Manager (DSM) arrives with every NAS, packed with applications and licenses for those enterprise applications (Synology Active Backup, Surveillance, Virtual Machine Manager, Drive, Office, Chat, Calendar, mail and more). Below are the best Synology NAS drive deals this Black Friday for those who want to invest in a business class server to protect their data and ensure high productivity in 2024.
Synology DS3622xs+ 12-Bay NAS
Unsurprisingly, the Synology DS3622xs+ is by FAR the most powerful and capable desktop NAS solution that the brand has ever produced – and that is not even a close-run thing. But we are still talking about a £2,500 box here (unpopulated) and you are going to expect that there is some serious horsepower here – So are you getting the most for your money here? Almost completely, yes. There are a few lingering things that some buyers will still not be in love with, such as the lack of M.2 caching bays, the lack of SAS support or the reduced support of 3rd party drive and network upgrade compatibility, but they do not undercut that this is a genuinely groundbreaking solution from Synology that provides the ultimate base to enjoy and make the most of the Synology DSM 7 platform in 2022 onwards. Once you breakdown everything included in this package, from DSMs software and services, to the tremendous bandwidth available here internally and externally, this compact tank-like NAS server is an absolute beast and a must for those that are keen on fully integrating a private cloud network and subscription-free SaaS-level setup across their company.
DEAL WATCH – Is It On Offer Right Now?
Synology Disk Station DS3622XS+ - NAS server - 12 bays - SATA 6Gb/s - RAID 0, 1, Amazon UK 106.68 OFF (WAS 3107) [LINK]
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Synology DS1821+ 8-Bay NAS
DS1821+ is an 8-bay desktop NAS providing superior performance with great expandability, allowing for seamless expansion and upgradability to satisfy your growing business needs. DS1819+ comes with four Gigabit Ethernet ports and one PCIe expansion slot, providing great configuration flexibility, thereby satisfying your intensive workload demands. Synology Office is a collaboration package combining the convenience and usability of public clouds with the data privacy and security guaranteed by private clouds. It allows you to work seamlessly together on documents and spreadsheets in a protected environment
DEAL WATCH – Is It On Offer Right Now?
Synology DS1821+ 8-Bay Diskstation NAS (AMD Ryzen V1500B Quad-Core 2,2 GHz 4 GB Amazon USA 9.72 OFF (WAS 1094) [LINK] Synology DS1821+8bay NAS V1500B Quad-Core 2.2 GHz,Black Amazon UK 56.02 OFF (WAS 1006) [LINK] Synology DiskStation DS1821+ NAS Storage Server Tower Ethernet LAN Black V1500B Amazon UK 20.01 OFF (WAS 1020) [LINK] Synology DS1821+ 64TB 8 Bay Desktop NAS Solution, Installed with 8 x 8TB HAT5300 Amazon UK 4.25 OFF (WAS 3827) [LINK] Synology DS1821+ NAS Server Amazon DE 100.86 OFF (WAS 1180) [LINK]
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Synology RS1619xs 4-Bay NAS
RS1619xs+ is a high-performance and scalable 1U rackmount NAS designed with upgradable memory and M.2 SSD cache configuration to meet the needs of modern businesses that require a flexible, reliable, and efficient storage solution. Synology’s 5-year limited warranty provides hardware replacement and technical support via email and telephone services, maximizing your enterprises’ return on investment. Synology iSCSI storage supports most virtualization solutions including VMware vSphere, Microsoft Hyper-V, Citrix Xen Server, and OpenStack Cinder, to enhance work efficiency. Create and manage virtual machines running multiple operating systems such as Windows, Linux, and DSM using Virtual Machine Manager.
DEAL WATCH – Is It On Offer Right Now?
Synology NAS Rackstation (Diskless) (RS1619xs+), 4-bay; 8GB DDR4 Amazon USA 56.68 OFF (WAS 2150) [LINK] Synology RackStation RS1619xs+ - NAS server - 4 bays - rack-mountable - SATA 6Gb Amazon UK 48.51 OFF (WAS 2064) [LINK] Synology RS1619XS+/24TB-TE - RS1619xs+/24TB-TE 4 Bay NAS Amazon UK 39.96 OFF (WAS 2996) [LINK] Synology RS1619XS+/40TB-TE - RS1619xs+/40TB-TE 4 Bay NAS Amazon UK 91.97 OFF (WAS 3234) [LINK]
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Synology RS2423RP+ 10GbE 12-Bay NAS
It is reasonable to say that when it comes to having a huge storage array, competent hardware and business class software, that the Synology RS2421RP+ does deliver on a number of its promises. Indeed, despite the huge similarity in internal hardware between the RS2421RP+ and other RELATIVELY recent rackmount releases in 2024, the RS2423RP+ manages to still stand out with its unparalleled level of storage against the majority of solutions in the Synology portfolio. The price tag, edging closer to a number of Xeon powered solutions, may seem a touch high for some and given the difference between this 16-bay and the £1200+ 12-bay being relatively small – that price tag does seem a tad overly ambitious. That said, much like other rackstation NAS solutions of late, the jump from Intel Atom C3538 to embedded Ryzen V1780B was long overdue and although may seem fairly predictable and pedestrian now in, still remains a firm favourite. If the software and services of Synology Diskstation Manager appeal to you, you need storage in the hundreds of terabytes and you need a solution that is both scalable and centralised, you would be hard pushed to find a better solution from Synology right now without spending £5,000-10,000 without drives. Then, of course, there is the fact that the latest 2024 generation of rackmount NAS in the Plus series seem to arrive with 10GbE as standard (from this system upwards!) – whilst still also providing the PCIe Gen 3×8 slot for further upgrades.
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Hot Tips when you Buy a NAS this Black Friday 2024
In order for you to get the very best NAS deals this Black Friday, here are some hot tips that I have personally used for the last few years to get the very best deals.
Amazon Warehouse Deals are 20% lower
For those that aren’t aware, Amazon has a whole section of their website that is dedicated to pre-owned and opened items. This includes both NAS, hard drives, SSD and more for your storage. During Amazon Black Friday 2024, the discount on these broken-seal items will be increased by an additional 20% and for those looking for an insane bargain, this will be irresistible.
Another tip when buying NAS or Hard Drives from Amazon Warehouse is that although (as they are broken seal/used/returned items) they have a shorter warranty from Amazon, you will almost certainly be able to claim the FULL warranty coverage from Synology, QNAP, WD or Seagate. They just want your serial number and a receipt of purchase – this will not state the amazon reduced warranty.
Amazon Warehouse for different countries can be found below:
If you want to make sure you see the LATEST Black Friday deals for NAS (as new ones are added every hour) then I would recommend checking the official Amazon Prime page regularly. It will also include the very latest Lightning Deals too
The prices listed on Amazon for NAS during the Black Friday event are only available to Prime members. If you are not a member, don’t worry, as you can use the 30-Day free trial to sign up for a Prime, or just pay for 1 month of Prime as a student and get it at 50% off. Then after you finish your purchase, you can cancel your subscription. The other bonus of this is that you will qualify for fast, next day delivery for free. I would recommend however that you do not cancel your subscription until you have received your order and tested your item.
As then you will still be able to take advantage of the fast and free return policy extended to Prime members. This is especially useful when buying NAS Hard Drives and you are worried about broken drives!
Improved Delivery on your NAS Black Friday Deal
It is a well-known fact that Amazon Prime membership includes free next day delivery and Amazon has even upped the stakes by stating that they will be providing the fastest-ever Black Friday delivery of just 14 minutes between the cart and the courier, last year we saw and heard numerous examples of delivery issues with Black Friday deals, adding 2-3 days on supposed next-day shipping.
If any of your Amazon Prime delivery dates are not the 24 hours turn around that they promise, then definitely complain to Amazon after you receive your goods (not before) as they will almost certainly have a deluge of customer enquiries after Black Friday 2024 and in an effort to conclude the matter, you might get an additional discount, a gift vouchers or more. Currently, the trending ‘gesture of goodwill’ gift is a free month of Prime membership.
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Note – this is the 2024 update of the rolling ‘best HDD for your NAS’ article (Cheers Clayton!)
When choosing a NAS server for your home or business, selecting the right hard drive is essential. Just like every tool in a toolbox has its role, NAS-specific drives are engineered to meet the particular needs of network storage environments. Using the wrong type of drive in a NAS can lead to decreased performance and potential issues with reliability. In recent years, manufacturers have developed specialized NAS hard drives (including SSDs) that are designed for 24/7 use, high durability, and optimized read/write cycles to suit NAS workloads. As we enter 2025, the storage landscape has evolved significantly, with hard drives now reaching capacities of 24TB and 26TB, and innovations in platter technology leading to 11-platter designs. This breakthrough could soon push capacities beyond 30TB, addressing the growing need for massive data storage in both personal and professional settings. With such a wide range of drive sizes and types available, from 2TB to 26TB and beyond, it can be difficult to navigate the choices. To help, I’ve compiled a guide that highlights eight different NAS/Server setups and the most compatible hard drive options for each, taking into account the latest developments in technology and market trends for 2024/2025
Note – Use our Best Price Per TB Calculator tool HERE in order to get the best value storage for your needs. It includes filters for NAS size, redundancy, budget and capacity needs too!
Important – What You Need to Consider in a NAS HDD?
When selecting a NAS hard drive, understanding key terms can help you make the right choice. Here’s a quick guide to essential terms for 2024:
RAID – Redundant Array of Independent Disks enhances storage, speed, and data safety by using multiple drives. RAID 0 offers no protection but maximizes space. RAID 1, 5, and 6 provide varying levels of redundancy for safer storage.
SATA – Still the main connection type for NAS mechanical drives in 2024, SATA offers 6Gbps speeds, but mechanical drives generally top out at 280MB/s. Newer connections like NVMe and SAS are more prominent in enterprise SSDs.
Saturation – Refers to data flow through a connection. Although SATA allows up to 600MB/s, most mechanical NAS drives perform in the 180-280MB/s range.
Platters – Disks inside the drive that store data. Drives in 2024 now feature up to 11 platters, supporting capacities of up to 30TB.
Cache – A temporary memory buffer on the drive. Larger NAS drives often include bigger caches for smoother data handling, especially in SMR drives.
Terabytes Written (TBW) – Also known as “Workload Rating,” TBW measures how much data a NAS hard drive can handle in a year while maintaining performance. This metric accounts for regular use, such as filling and emptying the drive repeatedly, which is common in data centers. Standard NAS drives usually support around 180TBW, Pro models around 300TBW, and Enterprise-class drives 550TBW or more.
Magnetic Recording – This refers to the technology used to store data on the drive’s platters. In 2024, the main types are SMR (Shingled Magnetic Recording), PMR/CMR (Perpendicular/Conventional Magnetic Recording), EAMR (Energy Assisted Magnetic Recording), and HAMR (Heat Assisted Magnetic Recording). PMR/CMR remains the most widely used for NAS hard drives due to its balance of reliability and performance.
Warranty Length – This is the manufacturer’s commitment to repair or replace a hard drive if it fails due to manufacturing defects. NAS drive warranties typically last between 3 and 5 years.
These terms are key to understanding how to select the best NAS hard drive in 2024. Next, we’ll explore different NAS environments and recommend the best drives for each.
Best Hard Drives for an Affordable RAID 6 Desktop 6/8-Bay NAS – Seagate Ironwolf (non-Pro)
1-12TB, 5900-7200RPM, 64-256MB Cache, 180TBW, 3yr Warranty, Rescue Data Recovery Services Included $50-229
For those who are looking at a NAS server for business, or are home users who have made the enterprising move into the Prosumer bracket, then a 6-Bay or 8-Bay desktop NAS solution will become incredibly attractive. At this storage tier, we find a number of very cool and incredibly useful features become more widely available. For a start, we find the utility of RAID 6 (the 2 disk safety net configuration) much more palatable, as it makes less of a dent on our total available storage. Additionally, at this storage size, we start to see much more powerful processors, such as the Intel Core (i3, i5, etc) series arrive, AMD Ryzen and even Xeons. This combined with huge expandability of both memory internally and storage externally and generally with 10Gbe included as standard or available as an upgrade. So, at this scale of NAS storage, the hard drive choice becomes more important, as you do not want to create an internal bottleneck. For this tier of storage, I recommend the Seagate Ironwolf range of NAS drives. They arrive with a large number of 7200RM drives (with 5400RPM in the smaller capacities), a 180 terabytes per year guaranteed workload and the Seagate Rescue service. For those that are not aware, the Seagate Rescue+ package is a data recovery service that is included with your Ironwolf and Ironwolf Pro drives that, alongside your 3 year warranty, includes an additional 3 years of data recovery services.
What that means is that if your drive fails through no fault of your own within reason (so, no, not smashing it with a hammer), you can send the drive off to the Seagate recovery labs and they will try to get that data back. From accidental deletion, all the way through to mechanical and forensic level recovery, this is an impressive inclusion! You should still factor other safety nets in your architecture (backups, UPS, RAID, etc) but given the cost of data recovery services (costing anything from hundreds to thousands of pounds), this is a very, VERY useful inclusion when you need it. Additionally, Seagate Ironwolf hard drives sill manage to be the most affordable NAS drives on the market compared with their competitors, even when including the Rescue recovery included. They are also the only 3rd party NAS hard drive brand that has a tool to monitor drive health available on practically ALL the NAS software GUIs in the market, in Seagate Ironwolf Health Management.
+ Excellent Price Point
+ Rescue Data Recovery Services
+ Seagate Ironwolf Health Management
+ ONLY CMR/PMR Drives in their NAS Range
– Max Drive Capacity is 12TB (Pro Series go up to 22TB)
– Noisier General Operation than WD Red Drives
DEAL WATCH – Is It On Offer Right Now?
Seagate Ironwolf (non-Pro) 8TB NAS HDD (BF) Amazon USA $149.99 (17% OFF, was $179.99) [LINK]
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Best Hard Drives for a Small NAS Drive – WD Red & WD Red Plus
1-14TB, 5400/7200RPM (higher Caps = 7200RPM), 64-256MB Cache, 180TBW, 3yr Warranty, WD Red 1-6TB (SMR), WD Red Plus 1-14TB (CMR)$69-379
If you are looking to populate a compact, modestly powered, desktop NAS system (so a 1-Bay or 2-Bay NAS drive), then you have quite a large range of Hard Drives on offer. It is worth highlighting though that larger and more enterprise drives (i.e faster and longer warranty) will be noticeably noisier. Additionally, you will need to factor in that your maximum storage is going to be capped at either a single drive OR (in a 2-Bay NAS with RAID 1) your storage halved to maintain redundancy. Finally, you will need to factor in that most 2-Bay NAS devices will either have a smaller external network connection (1/2.5Gbe) or are not really capable of saturating a full connection externally. So, baring these factors in mind, I would recommend the WD Red series of NAS hard drives for small NAS systems. They do not typically have more aggressive hardware internally, so the ambient noise when these drives are running will be remarkably low.
The performance, due to the lower rotations per minute (RPM) and cache might not seem spectacularly high, but in a 1-Bay or 2-Bay NAS, you likely could not push much performance externally anyway, so why spend much more on something that in most cases you will not be able to take advantage of. Be warned though, as you reach the much higher capacities above 8TB, the general background noise of the drives will increase incrementally.
+ Affordable Price Tag
+ Low Noise and Power Consumption in 24×7 Use
+ Good base level of Capacities Available
– Some Drive feature Shingled Magnetic Recording (SMR)
– Performance is fairly average in the smaller capacities
DEAL WATCH – Is It On Offer Right Now?
WD Red Plus Internal NAS HDD 3.5\" - 12TB WesternDigital USA 2 HDD for $399 [LINK] WD 8TB WD RED PLUS HDD B&H USA £159.99 ($49 off) [LINK] WD Red Plus 4TB NAS Hard Drive (BF) Amazon USA 29% OFF, Now $84.99 (was $119.99) [LINK] Western Digital 6TB WD Red Plus HDD (BF) Amazon USA $99.99 (33% OFF) [LINK]
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Affordable Hard Drives for a RAID 5 Desktop 4-Bay NAS – Toshiba N300
A 4-Bay NAS drive is generally when home and small/medium business users start to take their storage seriously. There are such a wide variety of hardware options that arrive at this storage tier, ranging from powerful Intel/AMD processors and DDR4 memory, to 10Gbe and PCIe upgrades. This arrives with the utility if RAID 5, that allows users to have a much larger potential capacity and performance, but still have a single drive of redundancy to fall back on in the event of drive failure. At this degree of NAS storage, you have a much greater potential to not only largely saturate a 10Gbe connection, but alternatively, you can also look into installing 2.5Gbe and 5Gbe upgrades and fill multiple plus gigabit connections directly or via a switch. In order to maximize this connection, but to also not max out your budget, I recommend the Toshiba N300 range of Hard Drives. Although they are a brand that is generally held commercially in the 3rd place when it comes to NAS media drives, their N300 range arrives at a similar/lower price point than Seagate Ironwolf and WD Red, but also arrives with 7200RPM on all capacities, with the lowest capacity arriving with 128MB caching and scaling up to 256MB quickly in the series. The increase in RPM will increase the background clicks, hums and whirs of the drive, but at 4-Bays, this is something that the NAS enclosure itself will begin to generate too. A high performing and often overlooked drive that, at the top capacity, can hit performance of up to 274MB/s.
+ Well Priced for a 7200RPM and 128/256/512 Cache Drive
+ Available in up to 18TB, even in non-Pro N300 Series
+ Error Recovery Control
– Will Generate More Noise at 7200RPM
– Not As Widely Available
– Not as well regarded as Seagate or WD
The 3.5-inch N300 NAS Hard Drive offers unprecedented reliability for NAS and other high-performance storage systems. It is optimized to meet the reliability, endurance, performance and scalability requirements of 24-hour x 7-day high-capacity storage for personal, home office and small business use. The N300 is available in capacities of up to 18 TB.
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Best Hard Drives for a Small Rackmount NAS – WD Red Pro
Now we move onto the Rackmount NAS compatible hard drives, we have to start looking squarely at two main factors – Performance and Durability. If you are a business or established Prosumer user, then chances are that your NAS system is going to be used for a much larger % per day than most average users. Whether it is for surveillance, virtual machines, business file-sharing or just a combination of all of them every day, you want drives that are going to give you a good level of performance internally AND externally. Likewise, as the hard drives in even a modest rackmount NAS will be on for extended periods, you need to know that the drive can maintain the promising performance indefinitely AND without braking. This is where we start to look at specifications such as TBW (Terabytes Written), Mean time between failure, workload cycles and the warranty in more detail. For those looking at 10Gbe equipped or at least ’10Gbe Ready’ modest rackmount systems, I would recommend the WD Red Pro series of compatible NAS hard drives. Generally, one of the first Pro series NAS hard drives to arrive on the market, the WD Red Pro series is designed for NAS systems up to 24Bays and is available up to 18TB currently.
What did we say about the WD Red Pro 22TB highest tier model? We reviewed it back on September ’22 and whichever way you look at it, the WD Red Pro 22TB Hard drive is a stone-cold WINNER of a drive – both in terms of what it brings to the end user AND what this new 10-platter/OptiNAND drive design means for the future of the WD drive line up. WD does not over promise with this drive (with performance exceeding the brands reported benchmarks in almost every one of my tests, even using mid-range equipment) and they even nailed the price point in line with previous drives in the portfolio (though there is simply no avoiding that you are going to need deep pockets to fully populate any system with these 22TB drives). That said, much like any other WD Red Pro drive, the more industrial architecture still leads to a slightly higher running temp, noisier operation and slight increased power use. This is to be expected, but with no non-Pro alternative available at this capacity, the feasibility of fully populating a smaller scale system with the WD Red Pro 22TB is going to be both expensive AND noisy. I definitely recommend this drive to larger-scale NAS and SAN environments that need sustained RAID performance, high capacity and storage reliability – just maybe buy some earplugs if you plan on working in the same room as them.
Certainly one of the most expensive NAS HDDs out there, but provides a very good level of storage, performance, durability and overall is a very dependable drive for SMB users (Small/Medium Business) that want a drive they can rely on.
+ Top Tier NAS Drive Performance
+ 300TB/Y Workload
+ Build for up to 24-Bay Servers
– Certainly Noiser than non-Pro equivalents
– More Expensive than the Seagate Pro Option
DEAL WATCH – Is It On Offer Right Now?
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Best Hard Drives for an SMB Rackmount NAS 12-Bay – Seagate Ironwolf Pro
4-24TB, 7200RPM, 256MB Cache, 300 TBW (Newer NT version rates at 550TBW), 5yr Warranty, Rescue Data Recovery Services Included $79-399
When it comes to the move into Rackmount storage for businesses (novices stop here) then not only do you have to only consider Pro/Enterprise-class drives only, but you can also start to look at drives that include certain business level advantages in terms of coverage and service. Much like the non-PRO series of hard drives mentioned earlier, the Seagate Ironwolf Pro series of HDDs include the Rescue+ data recovery services but also includes an impressive 5 years of the manufacturers warranty. However, it is in terms of performance, capacity and durability that the difference between these two ranges become apparent. For a start, the Ironwolf Pro HDD range arrives in capacities of up to 18TB (26-30TB promised for later in 2024/2025 thanks to Energy Assisted Magnetic Recording – with 50TB slated by end of the decade), with ALL drives in the PRO range arriving with 7200RPM and 256/512MB of cache. The result is that these drives will hit up to an impressive 260MB/s, which even in smaller RAID 5 groups will easily saturate a 10Gb connection with just 4-5 drives.I performed te sts on 64MB, 256MB, 1GB and 4GB test files, as well as mixed 70/30% R/W. The results were consistent and largely lived up to Seagate’s claims here.
What did we think of the Seagate Ironwolf Pro larger capacities? We reviewed the new NT series (higher durability at 550TBW over 300TBW in the previous revisions) 20TB version and Straight out the gate, the Seagate Ironwolf Pro 20TB HDD comfortably delivers on it’s promises of performance. This alongside full tested and confirmed compatibility with Synology and QNAP NAS devices means that you have a drive here that can turn any 4-Bay NAS into a 60TB RAID5 Storage colossus – let alone once you start thinking about rackmounts and hyperscale. The pricing at the time of writing is a little muddled (the result of having two SKUs/Model IDs floating around in the market and eTailers having to play catch up) but that should hopefully iron out over time. I particularly appreciate that the workload discussion surrounding ‘Pro’ Class drives at 300TB/yr vs rapid HDD capacity growth is being addressed here with a 550TB/yr version to rival that of ‘Ent’ class drives – whatever the reason/motivation. The value of the Ironwolf Health Management tool is going to be something of debate and the inclusion of 3yrs data recovery services is a nice extra that (with any luck) few will need to use – but having them included in a 20TB HDD that still manages to maintain a similar level of Price per TB vs the bulk of NAS HDDs in the Pro tier increases the value notably. As HDDs continue to increase in scale and Seagate (among other brands) continues to outline their plans to hit 50TB by the end of the decade, the Seagate Ironwolf Pro ST2000NT001 is another good example of an HDD that finds a sweet spot between price, durability and value. Just be aware that this is a drive designed for large-scale use and that means high operational noise and higher than typical power use than non-Pro and smaller cap drives!
In recent years we have seen Seagate reshuffle their range of available capacities to align the capacities from 1-12TB to arrive in the standard Ironwolf range and Capacities of up to 18TB and 22TB to arrive on the PRO series (likely due to those larger capacity options requiring the more enterprise hardware as standard and making a non-PRO version impossible without purposely nerf’ing the lesser drives intentionally. There is crossover in 4-12TB models in between, however, the distinction in RPM, cache, build design and TBW rating is wide enough to justify this. The noise level of the Ironwolf HDD series in PRO is noticeable higher, but given these are designed for larger arrays, this noise increase will be less noticeable over the ambient noise of the whole system generally.
+ Excellent Price Point vs Ironwolf NON-Pro in the Portfolio
+ Rescue Data Recovery Services
+ New NT Version Available with 550 TB Annual Workload
+ Seagate Ironwolf Health Management
+ ONLY CMR/PMR Drives in their NAS Range
– Smallest Drive Capacity is 4TB
– Noticeable Boot Up Noise
DEAL WATCH – Is It On Offer Right Now?
Seagate 24TB Ironwolf Pro $439 B&H USA $439.99 ($210 off) [LINK] Seagate 24TB Ironwolf PRO HDD (BF) Amazon USA 38% OFF - Now $399 [LINK] Seagate Ironwolf (non-Pro) 8TB NAS HDD (BF) Amazon USA $149.99 (17% OFF, was $179.99) [LINK]
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Best Hard Drives for an Enterprise Rackmount NAS Server – Seagate EXOS
1-24TB, 72000RPM, 256-512MB Cache, SAS & SATA Options, 550 TBW, 5yr Warranty, $99-519
Now we finally move into the class of hard drive that is more classically defined at ‘Data Center’ and/or Hyperscale environments. Often choosing between a PRO class and Enterprise-class drive can be ticky at a glance. However, Pro class drives generally arrive with a much longer terabytes written rating per year (ie the amount of data that can be written to the drive throughout its lifespan per annum), arrive in numerous interfaces (so both SAS and SATA generally) and typically arrive with numerous format and encryption standard versions available. These are available because some industries and organizations insist on drive media that features in-built protection and secure erase on the drive itself. Of all the enterprise and data centre-class media in the market, I generally recommend the Seagate EXOS series for any hyper scale system environment. They are very, VERY closely followed by the Western Digital UltraStar class of drives, but the Seagate EXOS series is a little clearer to understand, has larger capacity options available earlier, with several variations of their Mach.2 available (dual actuator/arm SATA drives at 400MB/s+ and even triactuator drives in development) and generally arrive a pinch lower in price too in like-for-like comparisons against the Ultrastar.
Sound Test Video Live Soon (Below)
Changes by Synology in their 2021/2022 series of rackmounts systems onwards to ONLY support their own range of HDD media has led to their own drives featuring on their own respective hardware, so make sure to check that your intended NAS rackmount system supports Seagate EXOS drives before you head to checkout, as this is a trend that has continued right up to the most recent releases this year, as well as reduced HDD compatibility listings for home/SMB solutions such as the DS224+ and DS423+.
+ Huge Range of Architecture Options (FIPS, Military Encryp, 4KN, SED, SAS and more)
– Availability Can Be Difficult + Some Models Are ‘Bulk Purchase’ Only
– Noisy!
DEAL WATCH – Is It On Offer Right Now?
Seagate EXOS Enterprise Server 24TB Hard Drive (BF) Amazon USA 20% off – $479.99 (was $599.99) [LINK]
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Best Hard Drives for a Business Synology NAS – Synology HAT5300
8-20TB, 7200RPM, 256/512MB Cache, 550TBW, 5yr Warranty, Synology System ONLY, Firmware Control on Synology DSM $199-599
Arriving on the scene in Jan 2021 originally, the Synology branded range of Hard drives for enterprise server use took ALOT of people by surprise! Synology has always had a long-standing reputation with the production of network-attached storage, so in efforts to produce a complete first-party storage system that includes the software, the network hardware AND the media inside is very what their brand has been all about. In their defence too, these are not just cash-grab drives and are in-fact enterprise-class drives that are being priced at PRO series drives (so an Ultrastar/EXOS drive that is at the price tag of a WD Red or Ironwolf Pro). The drives themselves arrive (at launch anyway) with just three capacities available (8TB, 12TB and 16TB) and the architecture of them is quite eye-catching. A 550TBW per year rating, a 2.5Million MTTF, 256/512MB cache and performance ranging across the capacities from 230MB/s to a reported 270MB/s+. The drives are originally Toshiba M06/07/08 Enterprise drives that have a tweaked Synology NAS firmware onboard, so they are geared specifically towards utilization inside the Synology ecosystem. You can even check and upgrade the individual drive firmware directly from with the Synology DSM graphical user interface too, which is quite a unique and convenient feature for those larger arrays with differing drive versions being installed throughout your server’s lifespan.
You cannot really question the quality of the hardware architecture featured on the Synology HAT5300 rangeof hard drives. We clearly find here a range of drives that have been designed by Toshiba (an HDD vendor with decades of experience and Synology are not being coy about highlighting the partnership on this media), combined with one of the biggest providers of modern NAS in Synology, with media that is tweaked for use within their NAS systems and despite arriving at a Pro series price tag, arrive with hardware far more comparable to that of Seagate EXOS and Western digital Ultrastar hard drives. With a terrifically impressive annual workload, an approach to drive firmware and upgrades relatively unseen from any other drive for NAS’ and remarkable transparency from Synology in the marketing of these drives on day one certainly needs to be acknowledged. Moreover, Synology is not the first brand to champion the use of locked hard drive media in their service systems and they certainly won’t be the last. Overall, I am happy with the new Synology hard drives and despite possible reservations about where the logic of locked drives and exclusivity on this product and range will be extended to in the future (standard class versions?), I still happily recommend the Synology HAT5300 media series alongside other champions of NAS hard drive in 2024/2025
The move towards hard drive locking by Synology is something that has impressed some and disappointed others – but if you were going to be installing drive media inside a NAS system for business anyway, then ultimately these are still a very solid and well-performing product for you.
+ Enterprise Drives at a PRO class Price
+ 550TBW on ALL Capacities
+ Drive Firmware can be Updated from within the Synology DSM GUI
– Using them in not Synology NAS Hardware is not Supported
– More Expensive than other Enterprise Class HDDs from Seagate & WD
– Noisy Operation
DEAL WATCH – Is It On Offer Right Now?
Synology DS1621+/96TB HAT5300 6 Bay Amazon UK 37.37 OFF (WAS 5458) [LINK] Synology DS1821+/128TB HAT5300 8 Bay Amazon UK 64.02 OFF (WAS 6641) [LINK]
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Best Hard Drives for a Business QNAP NAS – WD Ultrastar
1-26TB, 7200RPM, 256-512MB Cache, 550TBW, 5yr Warranty, FIPS and SED Options, SATA, SAS and U.2 NVMe SSD Options $70-550
Finally, we move onto possibly the most well known of the enterprise-class of Hard Drives on the market. When it comes to data center and hyper-scale storage environments, Western Digital’s UltraStar range has the same reputation and long-running recognition as IBM has in the computer industry. They have been the go-to drive media of choice in the huge storage environment’s for years, thanks in large part to the fact they have been designed, developed and improved at the same time as the systems they were going into. In recent years, competitors have taken chunks of the market from them (as they are a larger and slightly slower behemoth to suddenly change tactic) and feature larger product runs that have to last extensive lengths of time to facilitate data center replacement media as needed. Nevertheless, in recent years the Ultrastar brand under WD has diversified hugely and alongside the popular WD Gold label has branched into a vast array of interface types, form factors, media variants and scales. Typically the first drive series to crack into a new capacity tier (the first to crack 20TB too – as well as rolling out the 24TB and 26TB HDD media to data centers before everyone else).
Sound Test Video Live Soon (Below)
The Ultrastar series of hard drives will often be compared against the WD Red Pro range of NAS hard drives when considering populating a server. It is worth remembering that the Ultrastar series is designed for both a higher performance AND a much more enduring performance – i.e it can maintain that level, as well as switch between processes, for much longer. Indeed in testing, the Ultrastar even features a much higher Read and Write performance than pretty much any other drive that peaks as high as 280MB/s in our ATTO DiskBenchmark testing below with just a single HDD. Even the IOs (IOPS_ went as high as 19,000, which although low when compared with modern high-end SSDs, for a single HDD is really impressive).
The drives themselves are fantastically dull in appearance of course, as one might expect from the enterprise tier and also feature quite an aggressive spin up noise. However, in much larger scale environments, you will almost certainly not hear the drive media over the ambient system fan noise. Overall still an oldie but a goodie!
+ Consistently High Performance
+ Well-established HDD Drive and Brand
+ Numerous Interfaces, in-Drive Encryption Systems and Choices
– DEFINITELY one of the most confusing product ranges
– Noticeably Noisy at boot
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Best Hard Drives for a Home or Small Business x23/x24 Gen Synology NAS – Synology HAT3300 Plus Series
4/6/8/12TB, 5900-7200RPM, 64-256MB Cache, 180TBW, 3yr Warranty, Synology NAS Designed, Firmware Update in DSM $109-189
There is most certainly a clear design choice here to mirror that of the existing regular-class server drives on the market right now. The Synology HAT 3300+ series has been reported several times, not just here on the blog, to be built using Seagate Iron Wolf drive media with specific Synology firmware on board. Arriving with 180-terabyte annual workloads, 5400rpm, 256-megabyte cache, arriving in a CMR architecture and air-sealed – the specifications we see here are all quite standard. The 12TB benefits from an increased RPM and helium sealing, as per most 12 TB drives in the market, but apart from that the Synology Plus hard drive series are going to run quieter than most pro or enterprise-class drives, as well as have a slightly lower power consumption, but are also going to have a slight performance decrease than that of the HAT5300 and HAT3300. But that is only going to be of significance in larger RAID configurations realistically.
The differences between the Synology HAT3300, HAT5300/HAS5300 are pretty much exactly as you would find if you compared WD Red and Seagate IronWolf versus that of Seagate Exos and WD Ultrastar. Indeed, I am a little surprised that Synology has not introduced a middle ground in the form of a pro series drive, but perhaps this is something that will roll out later down the line. Nevertheless, this results in quite a void of performance, durability, and scale between these two ranges when compared to long-term established server hard drive ranges from these other companies filling the gaps of capacity and pro middle ground choices. It should be immediately highlighted that regardless of which Synology hard drive you opt for, you still benefit from firmware updates being actionable from within the Synology DSM software, easier and more streamlined warranty support, and firmware optimization that is specifically tailored towards Synology hardware deployment. We have discussed this at length previously when discussing the Synology enterprise hard drives and SSDs, and although you pay a premium for Synology’s own branded drives when compared to third-party alternatives that people have been using for decades, there are nonetheless merits in using drives specifically geared towards your NAS system rather than requiring a slightly broader design that suits more diverse servers. Here is how the Synology enterprise SATA, enterprise SAS, and mid-range plus hard drives differ in their specifications:
Classification
Enterprise SATA
Enterprise SAS
Domestic SATA
Series Name
Enterprise/XS
Enterprise/XS
PLUS
Model
HAT5300
HAS5300
HAT3300
Interface
SATA 6Gb
SAS 12Gb
SATA 6Gb
Recording
CMR/PMR
CMR/PMR
CMR/PMR
Capacity (5/23)
4/8/12/16/18TB
8/12/16/18TB
4/6/8/12TB
RPM
7200RPM
7200RPM
5400RPM (7200 on 12TB)
Cache
256/512MB
256/512MB
256MB
Sector Size
512e
512e
512e
Max Transfer Speed (Capacity Dependant)
254/260/253/274/281MB/s
241/253/274MB/s
202/240MB/s
Drive Sealing
AIR/AIR/Helium/Helium/Helium
AIR/Helium/Helium/Helium
AIR/AIR/AIR/Helium
Power Use (Idle)
4.07/5.61/4.25/4.00/4.16W
6.62/4.36/4.46W
3.96/3.4/3.4/5.07W
Power Use (Active)
7.76/9.29/7.83/7.63/8.35W
9.87/7.80/8.12W
4.85/5.3/5.3/8.33W
Load/Unload Cycles
600K
600K
600K
Workload Rating
550TB (Annual)
550TB (Annual)
180TB (Annual)
MTBF (Hrs)
2.0/2.5Million
2.5Million
1Million
Warranty
5 Years
5 Years
3 Years
+ Much more affordable than the HAT5300 Series
+ Better range off smaller capacities than HAT5300
+ Drive Firmware can be Updated from within the Synology DSM GUI
– Not Supported on Bigger Synology NAS Systems (eg XS or SA Series)
– Lacks Data Recovery Service of Seagate Ironwolf HDDs
– 12TB Maximum Capacity (at time of writing)
DEAL WATCH – Is It On Offer Right Now?
Synology DS224+ 32TB 2 Bay NAS Solution installed with 2 x 16 HAT3300 Drives Amazon UK 96.85 OFF (WAS 968) [LINK]
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IMPORTANT! Compatibility of Hard Drives with Synology NAS Systems
An increasingly important factor when selecting NAS hard drives is their compatibility with specific NAS systems. Over the last 18-24 months, there has been a noticeable trend, especially with Synology, towards reducing the range of compatible, supported, or verified HDDs. Synology has shown a preference for their own HAT3300 and HAT5300 drives, somewhat limiting the choice for users of their systems. This shift marks a departure from the traditionally open approach where most NAS brands, including Synology, supported a wide range of third-party drives.
This change in policy is significant for users needing specific storage solutions or those accustomed to a broader choice of drives. It contrasts with other NAS brands, which continue to support a variety of third-party drives, including the latest high-capacity models. When choosing a NAS hard drive in 2024/2025, it’s crucial to consider not just the drive’s specifications but also its compatibility with your NAS system. This ensures that you can take full advantage of the NAS’s features and avoid potential compatibility issues.
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La Black Friday est officiellement lancé ! Les enseignes n’ont pas attendu pour ouvrir les hostilités : les promotions ont déjà démarré depuis plusieurs jours. Mais aujourd’hui, nous sommes le 29 novembre, date officielle du Black Friday 2024. Avec Noël qui approche à grands pas, c’est le moment idéal pour dénicher les meilleures offres et anticiper vos achats de cadeaux à prix réduit. Le Black Friday 2024 promet des opportunités uniques pour faire de bonnes affaires. Nous avons sélectionné pour vous les promotions les plus intéressantes du moment…. NAS L’excellent Synology DS923+ passe à 544,99€ (prix conseillé : 635€) […]