Synology Finally Reveals their HAT3300 Plus Series HDDs
Synology continues its ever-expanding ecosystem of both hardware and software with the long-overdue reveal of their regular class NAS drive media, the HAT 3300 Plus series hard drives. Originally revealed here in an article back in February, Synology have been slowly working on this new expansion of their storage media selection for quite a while, and although the reaction to their enterprise-level media was perhaps a little mixed, I think there is definitely going to be a warmer and more engaged response to these new drives. Designed for users of value, prosumer, and SMB NAS hardware, these drives are designed for light to intermediate level use and are comparable to those of WD Red and Seagate Iron Wolf drives. Arriving in four separate capacities, as well as including several of the benefits of their enterprise brethren in the HAT 5300 series, those looking at a pure Synology-supported ecosystem network storage solution are definitely going to consider these in their next purchase. But what do we know about them? Let’s go through everything we know and also how these compare with previous hard drives in the Synology portfolio right now.
What Are the Hardware Specifications of the Synology HAT3300 Plus Hard Drives?
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.
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| Classification | Domestic SATA |
| Series Name | PLUS |
| Model | HAT3300 |
| Interface | SATA 6Gb |
| Recording | CMR/PMR |
| Capacity (5/23) | 4/6/8/12TB |
| RPM | 5400RPM (7200 on 12TB) |
| Cache | 256MB |
| Sector Size | 512e |
| Max Transfer Speed (Capacity Dependant) | 202/240MB/s |
| Drive Sealing | AIR/AIR/AIR/Helium |
| Power Use (Idle) | 3.96/3.4/3.4/5.07W |
| Power Use (Active) | 4.85/5.3/5.3/8.33W |
| Load/Unload Cycles | 600K |
| Workload Rating | 180TB (Annual) |
| MTBF (Hrs) | 1Million |
| Warranty | 3 Years |
How Do Synology HAT3300 Plus HDDs Compare with HAT5300 Enterprise HDDs?
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:
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| 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 |
Synology HAT3300 Plus HDDs – How Has Synology Approached NAS Compatibility on these drives?
This is one area in presentation by Synology that I really think they have done considerably better with the launch of the HAT3300 than previous Synology storage media releases. Previously, when Synology rolled out new enterprise hardware in both NAS and media form, one area of contention was limited compatibility. It makes sense and is largely industry practice for high-level enterprise solutions to arrive as complete single ecosystem solutions whereby both the server and media are supplied by a single provider, and Synology has certainly pursued the unified storage market in this way by limiting official support of their enterprise-grade systems to only support their enterprise drives. However, for users in the mid-range, prosumer and even SMB markets that want to stretch their budget towards Synology hardware designed a little more for enterprise, the restrictions towards these drives have made budgeting a little more difficult. This is in stark contrast with the arguably more flexible approach that Synology has taken towards support on their Plus series drives with mid-range and value series Synology NAS hardware. The Synology HAT3300 Plus series is chiefly designed for their Plus, Standard, Value, and DVA systems. However, CRUCIALLY, you are not fixed to only use these drives in these more affordable systems. The HAT3300 drives arrive as a choice between them and the WD/ Seagate/ Toshiba alternatives.
Key: ✗ = Not Compatible, ✓ = Compatible, L/C Limited Compatibility
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| Classification | Enterprise SATA | Enterprise SAS | Domestic SATA |
| Series Name | Enterprise/XS | Enterprise/XS | PLUS |
| FS / All-flash array | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ |
| HD / High density | ✗ | ✓ | ✗ |
| SA / High scalability | ✓ | ✓ | ✗ |
| UC / iSCSI/FC SAN | ✗ | ✓ | ✗ |
| RS XS / Rackstation Ent | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ |
| RS+ / Rackstation SMB | ✓ | ✗ | L/C |
| DS XS / Desktop Ent | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ |
| DS+ / Desktop SMB | L/C | ✗ | ✓ |
| DVA / AI Powered NVR | L/C | ✗ | ✓ |
| DS / Value | ✗ | ✗ | ✓ |
| J / Entry Level | ✗ | ✗ | ✓ |
Interestingly, it is when we look at deploying the Synology HAT3300 drives in more enterprise-level systems that we see Synology opt-in to not support these drives in these higher-end systems. There are both pros and cons to this move that I can see. On the plus side, it would have been very easy for Synology to allow the use of these drives in their enterprise-level systems and present users with the illusion of choice of opting between enterprise or regular class drives in their higher-end systems and make these higher-tier servers more palatable as a single ecosystem solution. I am therefore impressed that the brand did not opt for this easy/quick buck that would have been almost immediately highlighted by critics as a cash grab and undermining the key arguments the brand has stated regarding only enterprise drives in their enterprise systems to date. However, there is no denying that some are going to be disappointed and hope you could use these more affordable first-party drives in larger Synology SA/XS/UC systems and leverage their budget a little bit more towards power than storage. It’s going to be a point of contention to some. Regardless, overall, I think Synology has made the right call on this occasion in compatibility in order to maintain their position on enterprise-level systems, whilst not restricting or locking compatibility on lower and mid-tier solutions.
When Will the HAT3300 Plus HDDs be released, and How Much Will They Be?
The release of the new Synology HAT 3300 hard drive is clearly very imminent. Information on these drives has been directly and indirectly appearing online now for a number of weeks and with the recent rollout of Synology DSM 7.2 and a number of key mid to high-level Synology NAS hardware seeing refreshes in the next 6 months, now is a very good time to roll out these new regular class NAS hard drives and..well.. they did! Launch day is today (31/-5/23). Thanks to price feeds and listings for these drives appearing on multiple websites online, the pricing of all four capacities of the HAT3300 drives that will be launched can be confirmed moderately accurately and are as follows:
Synology HAT3300-4TB = $89 (Check Amazon)
Synology HAT3300-6TB = $149 (Check Amazon)
Synology HAT3300-8TB = $189 (Check Amazon)
Synology HAT3300-12TB = $249 (Check Amazon)
Does this mean that Synology may be considering releasing some solutions pre-populated? Not necessarily. Synology rolled out their enterprise-grade storage media close to 2 years ago now and we have still yet to see pre-populated solutions from the brand be rolled out, outside of deal registration and large-scale B2B deployments. As long as Synology maintains a balance with these Plus series regular class hard drives as an option rather than a fixed all or nothing choice, I genuinely approve of these new drives by the brand as there will always be a market for buyers who just want a simple setup solution. Stay tuned for full reviews and comparison of these drives in the near future!
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