hybrid raid ? (SSD & HDD)

[macaron95]

Hi

i am about to buy a 4-bay Synology NAS for my Mac Mini (to be connected to the router in the living room in order to be shared with my TV and my Mac using the ethernet)

i was wondering if the overall performance of the NAS would be boosted if i decide to mix 2 SSD with 2 HDD or 3 HDD with 1 SSD ?

thanks

 

[Crazy Badger]

No - performance on a NAS devices usually defaults to the lowest performing device, and if using in any kind of RAID configuration, to the capacity of the smallest disk (i.e. if you had 3x4TB HDD and 1x512GB SSD the total RAID capacity would be 4x512GB)

 

[phrehdd]

What CB posted above is correct with typical RAID set ups. You gain nothing with SSD and given they are often smaller than their standard hard drive counterparts, you may loose usable space on those drives for your RAID.

With 4 drives, a typical RAID would be RAID 5 that allows for 1 drive failure and there is also RAID 10 and RAID 01. Some NAS makers provide their own type of "RAID" that allows for mix and match of drives. These types of RAID gain tend to be only as fast as the slowest drive placed within so again, there is contention.

I recommend you go over to Smallnetbuilder site and see the reviews and tests on various 4 bay NAS units. I have used NAS units for years in home, set up for some small businesses etc. and a typical RAID 5 has plenty of speed for media purposes using low rpm drives. A friend has an old set of drives I had that are still running well and are not even made anymore. They were 5400 rpm drives. He was extremely happy at the speeds he was getting for exactly this purpose of pumping across his network media files to his HTPC and TV.

 

[macaron95]

thanks for your response and help