Follow-Up re RAID Configuration and Drive Selection
Hello,
This is a multi-part question, so please bear with me.
Background
I am considering purchasing a 6-month old used Synology DS1512+ NAS that would come with 5 Seagate Barracuda 3TB desktop drives. In a previous question I asked for recommendations on the best RAID configuration. Based on input, I decided on using all 5 drives in a RAID6 configuration.
The thought occurred to me that maybe I would be better off with fewer enterprise-class drives in a simpler configuration. I have had an SBS server that has been running for over 6 years with just 2 mirrored drives and so far I have not had any problem. Those two drives are enterprise class SAS drives.
Question #1
I suspect the Seagate desktop drives that come with the NAS will be far more likely to develop bad sectors over time than enterprise class drives. I may be able to purchase the NAS without the drives. Ignoring the difference in usable space, which of the following two drive configurations would be best in terms of protecting against disk problems?
Option A) 5 Seagate 3TB Barracuda ST3000DM001 desktop drives in RAID 6 (yields 9 TB usable space)
Option B) 3 Western Digital 2TB RE4-GP WD2002FYPS Enterprise-class drives configured in RAID 5 (yields 4TB usable space)
Again, ignore the 5TB difference in usable space. For the next 12 months 3TB will be more than enough to meet my needs. Note that in all cases the NAS will be backed up to external hard drives. I will not consider RAID a substitute for backup.
Question #2
I found an online retailer who is selling "new" Western Digital RE4-GP WD2002FYPS 2 TB for $145 each. These drives are 3GB/sec drive. I believe they have been discontinued and replaced by 6GB/sex drive which sell for about $210. As I understand it, there is little advantage in using the faster drives because the drives cannot get anywhere near those speeds.
Assuming these WD drives are new, is it safe to buy new drives that have been sitting for a year or two? Will WD still honor the warranty in case of a problem?
Question #3
Let's say I go with 3 drives in RAID 5. Then a year from now I decide to add two more 2TB drives. Will these 2 new drives be absorbed into the RAID 5 array as if they were all installed at the same time?
Question #4
I need to keep the total cost of this purchase to $1,000 or less. NewEgg is selling a 5 Bay device from SansDigital for $300. This device supports RAID 5. I believe it is more of a DAS product that I would connect to my server via eSATA. Here is a link:
http://www.newegg.com/Prod
Assuming the $145 drives above are safe to buy, I could buy this SansDigital NAS and four of these 2TB drives for about $900. This way I would be getting a new NAS enclosure. Any thoughts on this product versus the Synology DS1512+?
I hope its OK that I am asking four questions at once. :)
Thanks!!
This is a multi-part question, so please bear with me.
Background
I am considering purchasing a 6-month old used Synology DS1512+ NAS that would come with 5 Seagate Barracuda 3TB desktop drives. In a previous question I asked for recommendations on the best RAID configuration. Based on input, I decided on using all 5 drives in a RAID6 configuration.
The thought occurred to me that maybe I would be better off with fewer enterprise-class drives in a simpler configuration. I have had an SBS server that has been running for over 6 years with just 2 mirrored drives and so far I have not had any problem. Those two drives are enterprise class SAS drives.
Question #1
I suspect the Seagate desktop drives that come with the NAS will be far more likely to develop bad sectors over time than enterprise class drives. I may be able to purchase the NAS without the drives. Ignoring the difference in usable space, which of the following two drive configurations would be best in terms of protecting against disk problems?
Option A) 5 Seagate 3TB Barracuda ST3000DM001 desktop drives in RAID 6 (yields 9 TB usable space)
Option B) 3 Western Digital 2TB RE4-GP WD2002FYPS Enterprise-class drives configured in RAID 5 (yields 4TB usable space)
Again, ignore the 5TB difference in usable space. For the next 12 months 3TB will be more than enough to meet my needs. Note that in all cases the NAS will be backed up to external hard drives. I will not consider RAID a substitute for backup.
Question #2
I found an online retailer who is selling "new" Western Digital RE4-GP WD2002FYPS 2 TB for $145 each. These drives are 3GB/sec drive. I believe they have been discontinued and replaced by 6GB/sex drive which sell for about $210. As I understand it, there is little advantage in using the faster drives because the drives cannot get anywhere near those speeds.
Assuming these WD drives are new, is it safe to buy new drives that have been sitting for a year or two? Will WD still honor the warranty in case of a problem?
Question #3
Let's say I go with 3 drives in RAID 5. Then a year from now I decide to add two more 2TB drives. Will these 2 new drives be absorbed into the RAID 5 array as if they were all installed at the same time?
Question #4
I need to keep the total cost of this purchase to $1,000 or less. NewEgg is selling a 5 Bay device from SansDigital for $300. This device supports RAID 5. I believe it is more of a DAS product that I would connect to my server via eSATA. Here is a link:
http://www.newegg.com/Prod
Assuming the $145 drives above are safe to buy, I could buy this SansDigital NAS and four of these 2TB drives for about $900. This way I would be getting a new NAS enclosure. Any thoughts on this product versus the Synology DS1512+?
I hope its OK that I am asking four questions at once. :)
Thanks!!
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Wow, very interesting comments. I too am a bit concerned about such large 3TB consumer level drives. That is why I was looking to downsize to 2TB drives.
Based on feedback from others, I really should drop RAID 5 from consideration. So that leaves me with RAID 6 which according to the article will soon become problematic.
NewEgg sells a WD 1TB RAID-specific enterprise drive for $120. These are drives WD currently sells. I could buy 5 of these and fill up the DS1512+. Configured in RAID 6 this would give me about 3TB of usable space. That would work for now, but what happens if in a year I need more space?
Can I replace one or two of the 1TB drives with 2TB drives to give me a boost in capacity? I think Synology's hybrid RAID let's me do that. But can I upgrade individual drives to higher capacity without losing the data stored on the NAS?
I should point out that the NAS will have one user (me) and will be used to store family pictures and movies.
Based on feedback from others, I really should drop RAID 5 from consideration. So that leaves me with RAID 6 which according to the article will soon become problematic.
NewEgg sells a WD 1TB RAID-specific enterprise drive for $120. These are drives WD currently sells. I could buy 5 of these and fill up the DS1512+. Configured in RAID 6 this would give me about 3TB of usable space. That would work for now, but what happens if in a year I need more space?
Can I replace one or two of the 1TB drives with 2TB drives to give me a boost in capacity? I think Synology's hybrid RAID let's me do that. But can I upgrade individual drives to higher capacity without losing the data stored on the NAS?
I should point out that the NAS will have one user (me) and will be used to store family pictures and movies.
You MUST replace 2 drives, ONE AT A TIME OF COURSE, to gain any space with an SHR device. Only upgrading ONE gives no benefit at all.
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pgm554,
Thanks for joining the discussion. One thing I need to do later today is contact the seller to see 1) would he sell the DS1512+ w/o the drives and 2) how much would it cost. If he will only sell the NAS with the drives, then this discussion is moot unless I buy a different NAS. Assuming I can buy the NAS by itself for around $500, the WD Red drives are potentially an option. Here are the three choices for these NAS drives at NewEgg:
1TB = $90 on sale (cost per TB = $90)
2TB = $160 on sale (cost per TB = $80)
3TB = $210 (cost per TB = $70)
==> The 2TB drive for $160 is only slightly more than the discontinued "new" Western Digital RE4-GP WD2002FYPS 2 TB for $145 each. I would opt for the Red drives for peace of mind getting new products.
==> Even though the 3TB is the best bang for the buck, there is the issue of how long it would take rebuild the drive. If I went this way I would start with two drives mirrored (since mirroring has worked well for me for 6+ years and 3TB would be fine for the next year. Also, 4 3TB drives would run $800 by themselves, putting me way over budget). Then as my needs grew I would add two more drives and go to RAID 6.
Tough call. I just wish the drives being sold with the NAS were a little higher quality...
Thanks for joining the discussion. One thing I need to do later today is contact the seller to see 1) would he sell the DS1512+ w/o the drives and 2) how much would it cost. If he will only sell the NAS with the drives, then this discussion is moot unless I buy a different NAS. Assuming I can buy the NAS by itself for around $500, the WD Red drives are potentially an option. Here are the three choices for these NAS drives at NewEgg:
1TB = $90 on sale (cost per TB = $90)
2TB = $160 on sale (cost per TB = $80)
3TB = $210 (cost per TB = $70)
==> The 2TB drive for $160 is only slightly more than the discontinued "new" Western Digital RE4-GP WD2002FYPS 2 TB for $145 each. I would opt for the Red drives for peace of mind getting new products.
==> Even though the 3TB is the best bang for the buck, there is the issue of how long it would take rebuild the drive. If I went this way I would start with two drives mirrored (since mirroring has worked well for me for 6+ years and 3TB would be fine for the next year. Also, 4 3TB drives would run $800 by themselves, putting me way over budget). Then as my needs grew I would add two more drives and go to RAID 6.
Tough call. I just wish the drives being sold with the NAS were a little higher quality...
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Thank you both for your help. Well, the used Synology 1512+ was sold to another buyer. The more I thought about it, the more I felt like buying a used unit with the wrong drives would not have given me the full peace of mind I was looking for.
I looked at lower costs NAS devices by Thecus, but see that they have much lower performance scores than Synology. I suppose like anything else, you get what you pay for.
I now plan to buy a new Synology - either the 412+ or the 1512+. Both support link aggregation and hot swap drives among other things. I just have to decide if I want to spend the extra $$ for 5 bays vs. 4. I will configure 4 drives, likely the 2TB WD Red drives in RAID 6. Then I need to find a viable backup solution for the NAS.
I looked at lower costs NAS devices by Thecus, but see that they have much lower performance scores than Synology. I suppose like anything else, you get what you pay for.
I now plan to buy a new Synology - either the 412+ or the 1512+. Both support link aggregation and hot swap drives among other things. I just have to decide if I want to spend the extra $$ for 5 bays vs. 4. I will configure 4 drives, likely the 2TB WD Red drives in RAID 6. Then I need to find a viable backup solution for the NAS.
Look at the WD DX4000,it runs windows storage server and has a built in backup
http://www.storagereview.com/western_digital_sentinel_dx4000_review
http://www.storagereview.com/western_digital_sentinel_dx4000_review
3TB drives in a riad array means a VERY VERY long rebuild time if you lose a disk.
it is thought better to have 9 1TB drives than to have 3 3TB drives for BOTH of the above reasons.