Synology HAT5300 Hard Drives for NAS – FULL Specifications Confirmed

The Synology HAT5300 Hard Drives for NAS Officially Launched

Well, it’s official – Synology has launched themselves into the NAS storage media industry with the release of their HAT5300 range of HDDs. In a move that might not have surprised a huge number of people (given their progression into the server industry), arguably the biggest brand in NAS have unveiled their range of 3.5″ hard disk media for their systems. We already covered early rumblings on this topic a few weeks ago here on NASCompares (he said, arrogantly) but it is now 100% confirmed. Synology already launched their range of SSD media in both SATA (the SAT5200) and m.2 NVMe (the SNV3400 and SNV3500) but whereas those were a little more tipped towards caching and flashstation utilization, the Synology HAT5300 seems to be a very much larger endeavour and one that Synology has clearly thrown a great deal of budget at! Currently, there are three capacities being made available in 8TB, 12TB and 16TB and each one is heavily defined as an enterprise-class drive (7200RPM, 256/512MB Cache size, 550TB Workload, 5yr warranty, etc) and are very much what we were all expecting in terms of the storage media Synology might release (focusing on long term endurance and stability over much else, just as they did with the SAT5200/SNV series of SSD previously). So, let’s take a good look at these specifications and find out if these drives deserve a place inside your NAS Drive in 2021?

Review of the Synology HAT5300 NAS Hard Drives is now LIVE (Click Below)

How Does the Synology HAT5300 Drive Compare with Seagate Ironwolf Pro and WD Pro? Click Below

What Are the Specifications for the Synology HAT5300 Hard Drives?

As mentioned, the Synology HAT5300 drives are largely enterprise in architecture, comparable to the likes of Seagate Ironwolf Pro, WD Red Pro and even some of the UltraStar series in their architecture. We will of course be covering comparisons of these drives in the coming weeks both here on the blog and on youtube, but it is worth taking a moment to look through the official specifications that these drives arrive with and see if they are comparable to your preferred media. To save you going all the way through the specifications, here are the highlights:

  • Hard Drive Firmware Updates actioned within Synology DSM
  • Upto 274MB/s Sustained Performance, with 230MB-262MB/s reported on individual capacity drives below
  • Reported 23% sequential Read performance in a Synology NAS hardware environment
  • 7200 RPM (rotations per minute) on all capacities
  • 256MB and 512MB cache on the range, scaling with capacity
  • Designed around 24×7 use – duh!
  • Tested for 300K hours to ensure performance is maintained in stress testing conditions
  • 2.5 Million MTTF (Mean Time to Failure) rating on all drives
  • 550 TB (terabyte) per year workload
  • 5 Year Warranty (as long as it is only used in a compatible Synology NAS System) that includes technical support and replacement services where required

Synology is not a company with a known lineage of hard drive experience, so almost certainly the HAT5300 drives were developed in partnership with one of the big HDD companies (Toshiba, WD or Seagate), so it will be very interesting to see how the big Hard Disk manufacturers take to one of the biggest brands in NAS producing their own media for their enclosures. Here are the key hardware specifications of the Synology HAT5300 Hard Drives:

 

Hardware Specifications

 

HAT5300-8T

Check Amazon for Availability

HAT5300-12T

Check Amazon for Availability

HAT5300-16T

Check Amazon for Availability

Capacity 8 TB 12 TB 16 TB
Form Factor 3.5″ 3.5″ 3.5″
Interface SATA 6 Gb/s SATA 6 Gb/s SATA 6 Gb/s
Sector Size 512e 512e 512e
Rotational Speed 7,200 rpm 7,200 rpm 7,200 rpm
Interface Speed 6.0 Gb/s, 3.0 Gb/s, 1.5 Gb/s 6.0 Gb/s, 3.0 Gb/s, 1.5 Gb/s 6.0 Gb/s, 3.0 Gb/s, 1.5 Gb/s
Buffer Size 256 MB 256 MB 512 MB
Maximum Sustained Data Transfer Speed (Typ.) 230 MB/s 242 MB/s 262 MB/s
Mean Time to Failure (MTTF) 2.5 million hours 2.5 million hours 2.5 million hours
Workload Rating 550 TB Transferred per Year 550 TB Transferred per Year 550 TB Transferred per Year
Warranty 5 Years 5 Years 5 Years
Notes The warranty period starts from the purchase date as stated on your purchase receipt. (Learn more)
Supply Voltage 12 V (± 10%) / 5 V (+10/-7%) 12 V (± 10%) / 5 V (+10/-7%) 12 V (± 10%) / 5 V (+10/-7%)
Active Idle (Typ.) 6.38 W 4.25 W 4.00 W
Random Read / Write (4KB Q1) (Typ.) 9.10 W 7.83 W 7.63 W
Notes Power consumption may differ according to configurations and platforms.
Operating 5°C to 60°C (41°F to 140°F) 5°C to 60°C (41°F to 140°F) 5°C to 60°C (41°F to 140°F)
Non-operating -40°C to 70°C (-40°F to 158°F) -40°C to 70°C (-40°F to 158°F) -40°C to 70°C (-40°F to 158°F)
Operating 686 m/s2 {70 G} (2 ms duration) 686 m/s2 {70 G} (2 ms duration) 686 m/s2 {70 G} (2 ms duration)
Non-operating 2,450 m/s2 {250 G} (2 ms duration) 2,450 m/s2 {250 G} (2 ms duration) 2,450 m/s2 {250 G} (2 ms duration)
Operating 7.35 m/s2 {0.75 G} (5 to 300Hz), 2.45 m/s2 {0.25 G} (300 to 500 Hz) 7.35 m/s2 {0.75 G} (5 to 300Hz), 2.45 m/s2 {0.25 G} (300 to 500 Hz) 7.35 m/s2 {0.75 G} (5 to 300Hz), 2.45 m/s2 {0.25 G} (300 to 500 Hz)
Non-operating 29.4 m/s2 {3.0 G} (5 to 500 Hz) 29.4 m/s2 {3.0 G} (5 to 500 Hz) 29.4 m/s2 {3.0 G} (5 to 500 Hz)
Operating -305 m to 3,048 m -305 m to 3,048 m -305 m to 3,048 m
Non-operating -305 m to 12,192 m -305 m to 12,192 m -305 m to 12,192 m
Operating 5% to 90% R.H. (No condensation) 5% to 90% R.H. (No condensation) 5% to 90% R.H. (No condensation)
Non-operating 5% to 95% R.H. (No condensation) 5% to 95% R.H. (No condensation) 5% to 95% R.H. (No condensation)
Size (Height x Width x Depth) 26.1 mm x 101.85 mm x 147 mm 26.1 mm x 101.85 mm x 147 mm 26.1 mm x 101.85 mm x 147 mm
Weight 770 g 720 g 720 g

But what do these specifications mean in terms of performance and suitability for NAS systems bog and small? Let’s discuss.

Synology HAT5300 Hard Drives – Durability, Performance and Compatibility

A heavy focus from Synology when you even casually glance the specifications pages on the HAT5300 NAS HDDs is on sustained performance and durability. This is completely understandable, given that these drives are for their more enterprise-led systems that will likely be working hard 24×7 for their whole system life – so you would only want to install hard drive media that can maintain any promised performance highs CONSISTENTLY as they are accessed – regardless fo the NAS server hardware or RAID configuration. In their pages, Synology performs comparisons with ‘unnamed HDD brands’ to demonstrate how their drive maintained it’s performance over time (measuring as more user access sessions are added):

Adding the note sensibly that the Performance testing was conducted by Synology using 12 drives on an SA3600, configured using RAID 5, against similar class drives (Enterprise) with IOMeter (64KB blocks). Results are for reference only. Actual performance may vary depending on workload, testing methods, and how devices and software are configured. So, although compelling, needs to be taken in context. I am genuinely looking forward to seeing how these drives compare with those of Seagate and WD in future testing (big and small) here on NASCompares, as I have high hopes for these drives, but must remain sceptical till I see the proof of the pudding is in the eating! Then there is compatibility. Synology has been quick to add these drives to their compatibility lists on practically all products (the DS920+ is an example below, arguably a more Prosumer/SMB NAS, but certainly a more mainstream example):

 

As you can see, Synology has understandably placed their media at the top of the list (it’s not alphabetical – don’t @ me!), which is hugely relieving for those users who wondered if a Synology HDD would push the brand to start treating storage media in the same way as they have with SSD media on some of their expansion cards and the memory modules in their NAS systems (i.e. if it is not official, they cannot support your unsupported configuration).

However, there are continued indications that the much larger scale solutions in the Synology Rackstation portfolio (namely the XS, SA, FC and UC series) will be limited to ONLY using the new Synology HAT5300 Hard Drive series (both reports on other sites and the compatibility list of the newer generation devices – shown above). This limit will only be applied on the newer generation enterprise rackmount devices (such as the RS3621xs+, RS3621RPxs and RS4021xs+), so older generation devices in this product family can use any drives that are on the mixed compatibility list (as well as hard drives in a pre-existing RAID to be migrated from an older gen unit to its respective new-gen counter-part). Some might not be thrilled by this move by Synology and although there are arguments in terms of performance optimization and product experience, many users will not love the idea of being locked in on a single drive choice moving forward. It’s a bold move and I look forward to seeing how this plays out. Close checking of the specifications heavily indicates that these drives are Toshiba MG06, MG07 and MG08 drives (to be fully confirmed), applied with a Synology firmware.

 

Finally, there are the details on testing regimes by Synology on these drives prior to release (a reported 1000+ cycles over 300,000 hours of stress testing) that is always of benefit to know when investing in a new drive for future-proofing your access and the drive robust-ness. The reported 2.5 Million Mean Time to Failure (MTTF, though MTBF is also often used) is nice to see, but as a measurement has fallen out of favour in modern media durability measurements in 2020/2021. However, the two big standouts for me are the reported 550TB per year workload (so the amount of data the drive can handle in write, rotated of course, annually in the 5 year warranty period) is impressive and the ability to update the HAT5300 hard drive firmware DIRECTLY from the Synology DSM NAS GUI is going to be very appealing for IT managers (ESPECIALLY those of you who have ever attempted to update the firmware on a Seagate or WD NAS hard drive, having to remove from your NAS system and into a separate client dock with official tools running on Windows/Mac OS/Linux – NOT fun). Ultimately, it is still early days to see what these drives are going to offer over the already well established NAS hard drives in WD Red, Seagate Ironwolf, Toshiba N300 and their respective enterprise drive alternatives.

When will the Synology HAT5300 NAS Hard Drive Be released and Price?

The Synology HAT5300 Hard drives for NAS are now officially released, but I can imagine taht stock will not be fully available in any kind of bulk available quantity for a week to two. Regarding pricing, it does seem rather different depending on where you look, with the Synology HAT5300-8T being listed in some U.S stores at around $250 and the HAT5300-16T being listed at around $350. How this will translate in to pounds and euros, as well as their availability will become clearer in the next few days.

 

📧 SUBSCRIBE TO OUR NEWSLETTER 🔔


    🔒 Join Inner Circle

    Get an alert every time something gets added to this specific article!


    Want to follow specific category? 📧 Subscribe

    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.

      By clicking SEND you accept this Privacy Policy
      Question will be added on Q&A forum. You will receive an email from us when someone replies to it.
      🔒Private Fast Track Message (1-24Hours)

      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 check HEREIf you need to fix or configure a NAS, check Fiver Have 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.

      ☕ WE LOVE COFFEE ☕

        This description contains links to Amazon. These links will take you to some of the products mentioned in today’s video. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases

       

      locked content ko-fi subscribe
      Summary
      Review Date
      Reviewed Item
      Synology HAT5300 Hard Drives for NAS - FULL Specifications
      Author Rating
      51star1star1star1star1star

      DISCUSS with others your opinion about this subject.
      ASK questions to NAS community
      SHARE more details what you have found on this subject
      CONTRIBUTE with your own article or review. Click HERE
      IMPROVE this niche ecosystem, let us know what to change/fix on this site
      EARN KO-FI Share your knowledge with others and get paid for it! Click HERE

      ASK YOUR QUESTIONS HERE!

      One thought on “Synology HAT5300 Hard Drives for NAS – FULL Specifications Confirmed

      1. I have a ds418 with 8 Gb Seagate Ironwolf Pro drives that I will be upgrading to a ds920+ soon. I like the firmware updates right from DSM, 7200 RPM and larger cache. I will be replacing my old drives and putting my ds418 at my friend’s house and replicate—can’t wait!!
        REPLY ON YOUTUBE