I'm looking at 4TB drive. I'd really want to go for a 8TB but since I have it in RAID I need to buy 2.

I usually select one with 7200 RPM. I see some NAS with those specs. Are those recommendable options?
Are there any other specs that I should look for?

 

SSD

 

Too small too expensive

 

Get 2 of these and call it a day
https://www.amazon.com/HGST-Ultrast...ywords=hgst+6tb+renewed&qid=1586184931&sr=8-4

Mine are working flawlessly even though they are renewed.

 

Thank you for the suggestion. I'm tempted especially given the one I'm considering
(Toshiba X300 4TB Performance Desktop and Gaming Hard Drive 7200 RPM SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5 Inch Internal Hard Drive (HDWE140XZSTA)
is out of stock until early May.

I must say I'm weary about buying refurbished drives but this would be cheaper and give me extra 2TB and I would get it much sooner. Reviews of that product are mixed though.
How long have you had yours?
You are using them to stream samples?

 

Last edited: Apr 6, 2020

I've been using these for awhile. Replaced my kontakt, and sample libraries with these and have no issues. I believe they also have a year warranty. In all seriousness though drives no matter what brand, new or referb can guarantee life expectancy so I would have a back up.

 

True enough. I used them in RAID so as long as they don't both fail at the same time I'm good

 

If you are on a budget the Toshiba X300 is the cheapest 7200rpm drive. If you 're looking for the best performance in a hdd, the Seagate BarraCuda Pro is the fastest drive along with the WD Black in the 4tb capacity. NAS/server drives are good for raid partitions but not really fast unless you go for something that 'll be even more expensive than a performance desktop drive. Keep in mind nas and server oriented drives are spec'd for raid - desktop drives aren't.

 

I still say SSD due to speed. I will be saving up to get a 2tb. I get Samsungs every time. Only speaking from experience yet I dont want to sway you.

 

I think OP needs something for libraries I'm guessing that exceeds 4tb. SSD are way to expensive for that big of a capacity.

 

I'm looking for the best compromise between price and performance. What other specs are important Data rate, cache? What should they be? I'm not knowledgeable on the difference between a desktop 7200RPM drive and a NAS 7200RPM. I have all my data drives in RAID1 so I have a copy if one fails or could I go with one high performance desktop drive like a WD Black and RAID it with a NAS or is it recommended to use identical drives? I'm not clear on RAID1 works if I can select which is the main active drive I read off data from and which one is the copy. Maybe that would be the most cost effective solution but I'm not sure if that's a good idea.
Thanks for the insights

 

Typically NAS drive are more reliable as they are drive made to be constantly transferring. This being said NAS drive usually come with a longer warranty period than standard desktop drives. I could be wrong but higher the cache the better.

 

https://hdd.userbenchmark.com/

you're interested in 4k Read

 

If size is key, and money is an object, I would go with an enterprise rated 7200 drive with the best speed and ratings that you can google.

 

What are enterprise HD exactly?

 

You can of course go higher than 7200rpm. Still pretty cheap.

 

I did not know there was faster! WHat is it?

 

You'll have to check on eBay, which is where I saw them. My connection is really shlooooow right now.
May have some bookmarked pages in browser though. Hang on a mo'.

 

Ah. Not in browser. Must be saved in my eBay watchlist! Which I won't be able to get to right now due to bandwidth probs. I keep losing connection even here!
But they're like 10,000rpm or so. And there are even faster, too.
I've done what you've done. I have 2x 4tb in RAID, so two 2x2tb backed up, but some libraries really need to have SSD, so I have a few SSDs also.
If I didn't, I'd constantly be having to instantly print those tracks to get anywhere!

 

Ok I'll look up those 10,000 rpm. Thanks. Is that what your 2 4TB are? Just curious which libraries you need to have SSD to use?