Buy The Right Hard Drive For Your Diskless ReadyNAS Duo
Some people will buy a Diskless ReadyNAS Duo home NAS because they already have some hard drives, others so they can get the hard drives they want, or maybe the price point was just more favorable that way.
So what hard drive should you buy for your Diskless ReadyNAS Duo?
(Note: All of these drives, except 1, noted in the “notes field”, are also compatible with the newer ReadyNAS Ultra 2 and ReadyNAS Ultra 2 Plus)
Jump to 2TB NAS Hard Drive List
Jump to 1TB NAS Hard Drive List
If you already own a ReadyNAS Duo, I would suggest matching the hard drives already installed. Otherwise, you definitely want to buy NAS hard drives that are on the Netgear hardware compatibility list (HCL) – see below.
On this particular post, I am only going to cover the 2TB NAS hard drives and 1TB NAS hard drives as I feel those are going to be the most appropriate and most popular.
While I ordinarily like to spend a little more now and avoid having to upgrade later, sometimes finances just don’t allow it..
High Speed, High Quality, High Price
Since a ReadyNAS Duo is typically a home unit, I will not harp on you to buy more expensive enterprise grade hard drives with the 5 year warranty. A good quality drive will have a 3 year warranty and hopefully last even longer than that. The drive spindown option during inactivity, set in the ‘FrontView’ configuration on the NAS, can help save power expense and the life of the drive.
Just do not make the mistake of thinking that since RAID is protecting your data against hard drive failure that you can buy cheap NAS hard drives and not worry about if they fail.
Not only is it possible for two hard drives to fail within a short time frame – they are probably the exact same age with the same amount of wear and tear, but going through the warranty replacement process is not only a big hassle, it can take a couple of weeks before you get the replacement drive.
Saving Money On 5900rpm NAS Hard Drives
There is only one new “green” hard drive, they spin at 5900rpm instead of 7200rpm, and may save you some money on power.
But according to one of the Netgear ReadyNAS support team, expect to lose about 10% or in the performance category. For some, that tradeoff in cost saving may be appropriate and appreciated.
How We Chose These Particular NAS Hard Drives
There are not too many companies even making hard drives, let alone finding themselves on the Netgear hardware compatibility list. All of them are reputable.
All of these drives are 3Gb/s SATA.
The primary distinction is between 1TB and 2TB in size and Enterprise Class versus Consumer in price. Using a NAS in a home environment will not be as demanding anyway; consumer grade should not be a problem.
2TB Hard Drives from the ReadyNAS Duo HCL
| Vendor | Class | Model # | RPM | Cache | Vibration Safeguard |
Warranty (Years) |
Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hitachi | UltraStar A7K2000 (Enterprise $$) |
HUA722020ALA330 | 7200 | 32MB | Y | 5 | |
| Western Digital | Caviar Green Consumer | WD20EARS | # | 64MB | Y | 3 | Firmware 80.00A80, Model # WD20EARS-00S8B1, See Tech Bulletin |
| Seagate | Barracuda LP Consumer |
ST32000542AS | 5900 | 32MB | N | 3* | |
| Hitachi | DeskStar 7K2000 Consumer |
HDS722020ALA330 | 7200 | 32MB | N | 3 |
Footnotes: Some information taken from Netgear HCL and NOT Vendor’s incomplete website or product specification pdf
* Seagate consumer drives have a 3 year warranty if bare drive, 5 year if purchased as drive “kit”
# Western Digital claims “Intellipower” for rotation speed. Translation: “We care more about your impact on the environment than we do your satisfaction with our product” or “So slow we don’t want to admit it“. Take your pick.
1TB Hard Drives from the ReadyNAS Duo HCL
| Vendor | Class | Model # | RPM | Cache | Vibration Safeguard |
Warranty (Years) |
Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Seagate | Barracuda ES.2 (Enterprise $$) |
ST31000340NS | 7200 | 32MB | Y | 5 | RAIDiator 4.01+ req’d if firmware is SN03 or SN04 |
| Hitachi | DeskStar E7K1000 (Enterprise $$) |
HDE721010SLA330 | 7200 | 32MB | Y | 5 | |
| Western Digital | RE3 (Enterprise $$) |
WD1002FBYS | 7200 | 32MB | Y | 5 | |
| Hitachi | UltraStar A7K2000 (Enterprise $$) |
HUA722010CLA330 | 7200 | 32MB | Y | 5 | |
| Seagate | Barracuda LP Consumer |
ST31000520AS | 5900 | 32MB | N | 3* | |
| Seagate | Barracuda 7200.12 Consumer |
ST31000528AS | 7200 | 32MB | N | 3* | ! NOT compatible with Ultra 2 and Ultra 2 Plus |
| Seagate | Pipeline HD Pro – Video |
ST31000533CS | 7200 | 32MB | N | 3 | Optimized for DVR, Video, Home Media |
| Western Digital | Caviar Green Consumer |
WD10EACS | # | 16MB | Y | 3 | |
| Hitachi | DeskStar 7K2000 Consumer |
HDS721010KLA330 | 7200 | 32MB | N | 3 | |
| Hitachi | DeskStar 7K1000.C Consumer |
HDS721010CLA332 | 7200 | 32MB | N | 3 |
Footnotes: Some information taken from Netgear HCL and NOT Vendor’s incomplete website or product specification pdf
* Seagate consumer drives have a 3 year warranty if bare drive, 5 year if purchased as drive “kit”
# Western Digital claims “Intellipower” for rotation speed. Translation: “We care more about your impact on the environment than we do your satisfaction with our product” or “So slow we don’t want to admit it“. Take your pick.
After reading the footnotes (*, #) above, do you see why I like enterprise drives?
Conclusion
Buying NAS hard drives for a Diskless ReadyNAS Duo or adding hard disks to the NAS you own can be an exercise in frustration. Specifications can be hard to find and then once you decide on a drive you may have trouble finding a brand new one in stock at your favorite online store.
I have done my best here to dig through the confusion and lay things out as clearly as possible.
Again, these are not the only hard drives on the ReadyNAS hardware compatibility list (HCL) but it is almost all of the 1TB and 2TB ones on the list as of this date. Hopefully that helps you pickup some NAS hard drives for your Diskless ReadyNAS Duo that will work well for you and bring years of faithful service.
