Synology NAS hard drive speed
Firstly I’ve come across your website as I’m looking to change my NAS, thanks for a great site full of useful info. I have a DS211J which has been great but looking to upgrade to a DS218 (probably DS220+ if it arrives) as I want to run Plex and Home Assistant in a Virtual Machine along with media and file backup storage in RAID 1 (or SHR?). I’m in a quandry over hard drives. I currently run WD 7200rpm drives but the recommended drives from Synology for a 2 bay + series are all 5400rpm. I’m concerned I may not see the speed difference as much if I run slower drives but not experienced enough to know if that’s true. Looked all over the net for advice but can’t find if I could run 7200 drives without any issues. Synology were, as expected, not very forthcoming, told to look at compatible drives.
Yes, any Synology model will work with HDD 5400rpm , 7200rpm, and also SSD. You need to make a choice between bigger noise bust faster response times, or slower drives, more energy-efficient and quieter performance. Or go for SSD which combines speed and no noise.
It is recommended to go for 5400rpm drives in a NAS up to 8 bays. Most of these NAS feature Gigabit connection which is similar or slower than a single drive data transfer speed. So there is no much point having faster drives since speed would be bottlenecked by LAN anyway.
- These energy-efficient, slower spinning drives are WD Red and Seagate Ironwolf drives.
- Faster response 7200rpm drives would be WD Red Pro and Seagate Ironwold Pro or Exos drives.
- And silent and fast response/speed SSD like Samsung EVO Plus, Seagate Ironwolf SSD.
Here is aditional comparison:
WD Red / Red Pro
| Price/TB | Price | Capacity | MTBF | RPM | read/write | Bells(idle/seek) | Watt | cache | W | url |
| £23 | £92 | 4TB | 1M hours MTBF | 5400 | 180/ | 2.3/2.7 | 4.8 | 256 | 3yr |
Western Digital WD Red (SMR) WD40EFAX 3.5″ SATA 6Gb/s 4TB 5400rpm
|
| £24 | £96 | 4TB | 1M hours MTBF | 5400 | 150/ | 2.5/2.8 | 4.5 | 64 | 3yr |
Western Digital WD Red WD40EFRX 3.5″ SATA 6Gb/s 4TB 5400rpm
|
| £24.25 | £194 | 8TB | 1M hours MTBF | 5400 | 210/ | 2.7/2.9 | 8.8 | 256 | 3yr |
Western Digital WD Red WD80EFAX 3.5″ SATA 6Gb/s 8TB 5400rpm
|
| £24.5 | £245 | 10TB | 1M hours MTBF | 5400 | 215/ | 3.4/3.8 | 8.4 | 256 | 3yr |
Western Digital WD Red WD101EFAX 3.5″ SATA 6Gb/s 10TB 5400rpm
|
| £24.83 | £149 | 6TB | 1M hours MTBF | 5400 | 180/ | 2.3/2.7 | 4.8 | 256 | 3yr |
Western Digital WD Red (SMR) WD60EFAX 3.5″ SATA 6Gb/s 6TB 5400rpm
|
| £24.9 | £249 | 10TB | 1M hours MTBF | 5400 | 210/ | 2.0/2.9 | 5.7 | 256 | 3yr |
Western Digital WD Red WD100EFAX 3.5″ SATA 6Gb/s 10TB 5400rpm
|
| £25.79 | £361 | 14TB | 1M hours MTBF | 5400 | 210/ | 2.0/2.9 | 6.5 | 512 | 3yr |
Western Digital WD Red WD140EFFX 3.5″ SATA 6Gb/s 14TB 5400rpm
|
| £25.83 | £155 | 6TB | 1M hours MTBF | 5400 | 175/ | 2.5/2.8 | 5.3 | 64 | 3yr |
Western Digital WD Red WD60EFRX 3.5″ SATA 6Gb/s 6TB 5400rpm
|
| £27 | £81 | 3TB | 1M hours MTBF | 5400 | 180/ | 2.3/2.7 | 4.8 | 256 | 3yr |
Western Digital WD Red (SMR) WD30EFAX 3.5″ SATA 6Gb/s 3TB 5400rpm
|
| £28.25 | £339 | 12TB | 1M hours MTBF | 5400 | 196/ | 2.0/2.9 | 6.3 | 256 | 3yr |
Western Digital WD Red WD120EFAX 3.5″ SATA 6Gb/s 12TB 5400rpm
|
| £28.67 | £86 | 3TB | 1M hours MTBF | 5400 | 147/ | 2.3/2.7 | 4.1 | 64 | 3yr |
Western Digital WD Red WD30EFRX 3.5″ SATA 6Gb/s 3TB 5400rpm
|
| £30.25 | £242 | 8TB | 1M hours MTBF | 5400 | 175/ | 2.0/2.9 | 6.4 | 128 | 3yr |
Western Digital WD Red WD80EFZX 3.5″ SATA 6Gb/s 8TB 5400rpm
|
| £30.3 | £303 | 10TB | 1M hours MTBF | 7200 | 240/ | 2.0/2.9 | 5.7 | 256 | 5yr |
Western Digital WD Red Pro WD101KFBX 3.5″ SATA 6Gb/s 10TB 7200rpm
|
| £30.6 | £306 | 10TB | 1M hours MTBF | 7200 | 240/ | 2.0/2.9 | 5.7 | 256 | 5yr |
Western Digital WD Red Pro WD102KFBX 3.5″ SATA 6Gb/s 10TB 7200rpm
|
| £31.42 | £377 | 12TB | 1M hours MTBF | 7200 | 240/ | 2.0/2.9 | 6 | 256 | 5yr |
Western Digital WD Red Pro WD121KFBX 3.5″ SATA 6Gb/s 12TB 7200rpm
|
| £31.43 | £440 | 14TB | 1M hours MTBF | 7200 | 255/ | 2.0/3.6 | 6.2 | 512 | 5yr |
Western Digital WD Red Pro WD141KFGX 3.5″ SATA 6Gb/s 14TB 7200rpm
|
| £32.25 | £258 | 8TB | 1M hours MTBF | 7200 | 235/ | 2.9/3.6 | 8.8 | 256 | 5yr |
Western Digital WD Red Pro WD8003FFBX 3.5″ SATA 6Gb/s 8TB 7200rpm
|
| £33 | £66 | 2TB | 1M hours MTBF | 5400 | 180/ | 2.1/2.6 | 4.1 | 256 | 3yr |
Western Digital WD Red (SMR) WD20EFAX 3.5″ SATA 6Gb/s 2TB 5400rpm
|
| £33.5 | £67 | 2TB | 1M hours MTBF | 5400 | 147/ | 2.3/2.4 | 4.1 | 64 | 3yr |
Western Digital WD Red WD20EFRX 3.5″ SATA 6Gb/s 2TB 5400rpm
|
| £34.17 | £205 | 6TB | 1M hours MTBF | 7200 | 238/ | 2.9/3.6 | 7.2 | 256 | 5yr |
Western Digital WD Red Pro WD6003FFBX 3.5″ SATA 6Gb/s 6TB 7200rpm
|
| £37.25 | £149 | 4TB | 1M hours MTBF | 7200 | 217/ | 2.9/3.6 | 7.2 | 256 | 5yr |
Western Digital WD Red Pro WD4003FFBX 3.5″ SATA 6Gb/s 4TB 7200rpm
|
| £49.5 | £99 | 2TB | 1M hours MTBF | 7200 | 227/ | 2.9/3.6 | 9.1 | 128 | 5yr |
Western Digital WD Red Pro WD2002FFSX 3.5″ SATA 6Gb/s 2TB 7200rpm
|
| £52 | £52 | 1TB | 1M hours MTBF | 5400 | 150/ | 2.1/2.2 | 3.3 | 64 | 3yr |
Western Digital WD Red WD10EFRX 3.5″ SATA 6Gb/s 1TB 5400rpm
|
| £72 | £54 | 750GB | 5400-7200 | 144/ | 2.4/2.5 | 1.4 | 16 | 3yr |
Western Digital WD Mobile Red WD7500BFCX 2.5″ SATA 6Gb/s 750GB 5400-7200
|
|
| £74 | £74 | 1TB | 5400-7200 | 144/ | 2.4/2.5 | 1.4 | 16 | 3yr |
Western Digital WD Mobile Red WD10JFCX 2.5″ SATA 6Gb/s 1TB 5400-7200
|
Seagate Ironwolf / Pro
| Price/TB | Price | Capacity | MTBF | RPM | read/write | Bells(idle/seek) | Watt | cache | W | url |
| £21.75 | £87 | 4TB | 1M hours MTBF | 5900 | 180/ | 2.3/2.5 | 4.8 | 64 | 3yr |
Seagate IronWolf (NAS) ST4000VN008 3.5″ SATA 6Gb/s 4TB 5900rpm
|
| £23 | £276 | 12TB | 1M hours MTBF | 7200 | 210/ | 1.8-2.0/2.6-2.8 | 7.8 | 256 | 3yr |
Seagate IronWolf (NAS) ST12000VN0008 3.5″ SATA 6Gb/s 12TB 7200rpm
|
| £23.5 | £235 | 10TB | 1M hours MTBF | 7200 | 210/ | 1.8-2.0/2.6-2.8 | 7.8 | 256 | 3yr |
Seagate IronWolf (NAS) ST10000VN0008 3.5″ SATA 6Gb/s 10TB 7200rpm
|
| £23.5 | £141 | 6TB | 1M hours MTBF | 5400 | 190/ | 2.6/2.7 | 5.3 | 256 | 3yr |
Seagate IronWolf (NAS) ST6000VN001 3.5″ SATA 6Gb/s 6TB 5400rpm
|
| £23.63 | £189 | 8TB | 1M hours MTBF | 7200 | 210/ | 2.8/3.2 | 6.8 | 256 | 3yr |
Seagate IronWolf (NAS) ST8000VN004 3.5″ SATA 6Gb/s 8TB 7200rpm
|
| £24.81 | £397 | 16TB | 1M hours MTBF | 7200 | 210/ | 2.8-3.0/3.2-3.4 | 7.9 | 256 | 3yr |
Seagate IronWolf (NAS) ST16000VN001 3.5″ SATA 6Gb/s 16TB 7200rpm
|
| £25 | £150 | 6TB | 1M hours MTBF | 7200 | 210/ | 2.7/2.8 | 8.8 | 256 | 3yr |
Seagate IronWolf (NAS) ST6000VN0033 3.5″ SATA 6Gb/s 6TB 7200rpm
|
| £25.25 | £404 | 16TB | 1.2M hours MTBF | 7200 | 250/ | 2.8-3.0/3.2-3.4 | 7.6 | 256 | 5yr |
Seagate IronWolf Pro (NAS) ST16000NE000 3.5″ SATA 6Gb/s 16TB 7200rpm
|
| £25.36 | £355 | 14TB | 1M hours MTBF | 7200 | 210/ | 2.8-3.0/3.2-3.4 | 7.9 | 256 | 3yr |
Seagate IronWolf (NAS) ST14000VN0008 3.5″ SATA 6Gb/s 14TB 7200rpm
|
| £25.5 | £306 | 12TB | 1.2M hours MTBF | 7200 | 250/ | 2.8-3.0/3.2-3.4 | 7.8 | 256 | 5yr |
Seagate IronWolf Pro (NAS) ST12000NE0007 3.5″ SATA 6Gb/s 12TB 7200rpm
|
| £25.67 | £77 | 3TB | 1M hours MTBF | 5900 | 180/ | 2.3/2.5 | 5.6 | 64 | 3yr |
Seagate IronWolf (NAS) ST3000VN007 3.5″ SATA 6Gb/s 3TB 5900rpm
|
| £25.71 | £360 | 14TB | 1.2M hours MTBF | 7200 | 250/ | 2.8-3.0/3.2-3.4 | 7.6 | 256 | 5yr |
Seagate IronWolf Pro (NAS) ST14000NE0008 3.5″ SATA 6Gb/s 14TB 7200rpm
|
| £26.33 | £316 | 12TB | 1.2M hours MTBF | 7200 | 250/ | 2.8/3.2 | 7.8 | 256 | 5yr |
Seagate IronWolf Pro (NAS) ST12000NE0008 3.5″ SATA 6Gb/s 12TB 7200rpm
|
| £26.5 | £212 | 8TB | 1.2M hours MTBF | 7200 | 214/ | 1.8/2.8 | 9.8 | 256 | 5yr |
Seagate IronWolf Pro (NAS) ST8000NE001 3.5″ SATA 6Gb/s 8TB 7200rpm
|
| £27.42 | £329 | 12TB | 1M hours MTBF | 7200 | 210/ | 2.8-3.0/3.2-3.4 | 7.8 | 256 | 3yr |
Seagate IronWolf (NAS) ST12000VN0007 3.5″ SATA 6Gb/s 12TB 7200rpm
|
| £27.63 | £221 | 8TB | 1M hours MTBF | 7200 | 210/ | 2.7/2.8 | 9 | 256 | 3yr |
Seagate IronWolf (NAS) ST8000VN0022 3.5″ SATA 6Gb/s 8TB 7200rpm
|
| £27.7 | £277 | 10TB | 1.2M hours MTBF | 7200 | 214/ | 2.8/3.2 | 7.8 | 256 | 5yr |
Seagate IronWolf Pro (NAS) ST10000NE0008 3.5″ SATA 6Gb/s 10TB 7200rpm
|
| £27.75 | £222 | 8TB | 1.2M hours MTBF | 7200 | 214/ | 1.8/2.8 | 7.4 | 256 | 5yr |
Seagate IronWolf Pro (NAS) ST8000NE0004 3.5″ SATA 6Gb/s 8TB 7200rpm
|
| £30 | £180 | 6TB | 1.2M hours MTBF | 7200 | 214/ | 2.8-3.0/3.2-3.4 | 8.1 | 256 | 5yr |
Seagate IronWolf Pro (NAS) ST6000NE000 3.5″ SATA 6Gb/s 6TB 7200rpm
|
| £30.9 | £309 | 10TB | 1.2M hours MTBF | 7200 | 214/ | 2.8-3.0/3.2-3.4 | 6.8 | 256 | 5yr |
Seagate IronWolf Pro (NAS) ST10000NE0004 3.5″ SATA 6Gb/s 10TB 7200rpm
|
| £31.5 | £63 | 2TB | 1M hours MTBF | 5900 | 180/ | 1.9/2.1 | 5 | 64 | 3yr |
Seagate IronWolf (NAS) ST2000VN004 3.5″ SATA 6Gb/s 2TB 5900rpm
|
| £32.25 | £129 | 4TB | 1.2M hours MTBF | 7200 | 214/ | 2.8-3.0/3.2-3.4 | 9 | 128 | 5yr |
Seagate IronWolf Pro (NAS) ST4000NE001 3.5″ SATA 6Gb/s 4TB 7200rpm
|
| £33.17 | £199 | 6TB | 1.2M hours MTBF | 7200 | 214/ | 2.8-3.0/3.2-3.4 | 8.1 | 256 | 5yr |
Seagate IronWolf Pro (NAS) ST6000NE0023 3.5″ SATA 6Gb/s 6TB 7200rpm
|
| £37.25 | £149 | 4TB | 1.2M hours MTBF | 7200 | 214/ | 2.8-3.0/3.2-3.4 | 8.5 | 128 | 5yr |
Seagate IronWolf Pro (NAS) ST4000NE0025 3.5″ SATA 6Gb/s 4TB 7200rpm
|
| £37.5 | £75 | 2TB | 1.2M hours MTBF | 7200 | 195/ | 2.2-2.4/2.6-2.8 | 7.5 | 128 | 5yr |
Seagate IronWolf Pro (NAS) ST2000NE001 3.5″ SATA 6Gb/s 2TB 7200rpm
|
| £38 | £76 | 2TB | 1.2M hours MTBF | 7200 | 195/ | 2.2-2.4/2.6-2.8 | 7.5 | 128 | 5yr |
Seagate IronWolf Pro (NAS) ST2000NE0025 3.5″ SATA 6Gb/s 2TB 7200rpm
|
| £46 | £46 | 1TB | 1M hours MTBF | 5900 | 180/ | 2.1/2.3 | 3.6 | 64 | 3yr |
Seagate IronWolf (NAS) ST1000VN002 3.5″ SATA 6Gb/s 1TB 5900rpm
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