Suggestions for large internal 3.5 drive (see info within please)

[phrehdd]

I have pulled out of storage my old NAS (QNAP TS559p) and want to retire it. Internally, it has I believe 5900 RPM 4tb drives (5x).

I'm considering a two step upgrade - first, get one large drive and move the data over and put it in an external enclosure and second, find a new NAS and start to populate it with like drives of the large one just mentioned.

My guess is I'll need likely 14-16 tb drives so the first one will be temp used as a single drive. My concerns are the obvious - temp, durability and loudness. I've looked at WD Red and Seagate Ironwolf and Exos... Any suggestions? Chances are whatever I will buy will likely end up in the NAS and the enclosure refitted with a smaller drive for either backups or TM + misc files.

Thanks in advance

 

[HDFan]

1. Make sure that you have 3-2-1 backups of any important data on the QNAP before doing any migrations.

2. Why are you retiring it? What features do you want that the current models offer?

3. There are innumerable ways to migrate. Simplest would be to get the new NAS, populate it with the minimum # of disks for the RAID level you want (3 for RAID 5) and then just transfer over the data. You can also just install 1 large disk with Raid 0, add a disk later to get to RAID 1, then add a 3rd disk to get to RAID 5 as funds become available. RAID 0 will likely be a bit slower than just having a large disk in an external enclosure due to NAS overhead and you won't have any disk failure protection.

Changing the RAID Type of a RAID Group

4. A 16 TB Seagate Ironwolf drive is now less than $300 60% of the price 2 years. Some people say the Seagate Exos has better specs. QNAP supports Ironwolf health management for their Ironwolf drives. I have both and don't see much of a difference.

5. Project out the maximum amount of data that you are going to put on the NAS. If you can then purchase initial drives that will exceed that capacity once all drive bays are populated. As my capacity needs increased I moved from 4, 6, 10, 16 to 18 GB drives. In some of my RAID units that requires replacing all 8 drives with 8 drives of higher capacity at the same time which is quite expensive. Make sure you also get enough bays. As I needed more capacity I went from 4 to 5 to 8 bay units.

 

[phrehdd]

1. Make sure that you have 3-2-1 backups of any important data on the QNAP before doing any migrations.

2. Why are you retiring it? What features do you want that the current models offer?

3. There are innumerable ways to migrate. Simplest would be to get the new NAS, populate it with the minimum # of disks for the RAID level you want (3 for RAID 5) and then just transfer over the data. You can also just install 1 large disk with Raid 0, add a disk later to get to RAID 1, then add a 3rd disk to get to RAID 5 as funds become available. RAID 0 will likely be a bit slower than just having a large disk in an external enclosure due to NAS overhead and you won't have any disk failure protection.

Changing the RAID Type of a RAID Group

4. A 16 TB Seagate Ironwolf drive is now less than $300 60% of the price 2 years. Some people say the Seagate Exos has better specs. QNAP supports Ironwolf health management for their Ironwolf drives. I have both and don't see much of a difference.

5. Project out the maximum amount of data that you are going to put on the NAS. If you can then purchase initial drives that will exceed that capacity once all drive bays are populated. As my capacity needs increased I moved from 4, 6, 10, 16 to 18 GB drives. In some of my RAID units that requires replacing all 8 drives with 8 drives of higher capacity at the same time which is quite expensive. Make sure you also get enough bays. As I needed more capacity I went from 4 to 5 to 8 bay units.

Thanks for taking the time to respond with care and detail.

This QNAP is RAID 5 with 4tb drives. It is around 14 tb full. I had put it in storage for quite awhile and candidly, don't trust the drives now and also would like the ability to have more RAM, larger drives, 2.5 and 10g ports and a nice touch would be faster USB (maybe 3.2 gen 1 or 2).

I was going to simply get one large drive and transfer the data over and later use this as an additional disc in a RAID setup. I am, as stated, still investigating. I'll most likely stay with QNAP. My ideal scenario would be to place all 5 of these drives in a new QNAP and have at least one additional drive that would contain a separate entity larger drive. That drive would be the start of what would replace the original drives.

The vast majority of files are media files (mostly video/movies) with some photo stills, music, and misc. I would say that the video/movies along are about 11 tb if not more. I'm hoping to find a model that will last me for several years and thus, the far larger drives and hopefully QNAP's hardware is robust enough to be around for years.

Btw I noticed that EXOS drives are found on A zon at a lower price than IronWolf Pro yet have similar warrantees of 5 years. Any thoughts on this additional info?

 

[HDFan]

This QNAP is RAID 5 with 4tb drives. It is around 14 tb full. I had put it in storage for quite awhile and candidly, don't trust the drives now and also would like the ability to have more RAM, larger drives, 2.5 and 10g ports and a nice touch would be faster USB (maybe 3.2 gen 1 or 2).

Since you can usually move drives between QNAPs, assuming you have updated to the latest OS and checked with their support and website, you could probably buy the new QNAP system and install the existing drives. Once you get it working remove one of the drives and replace it with a larger one. As time goes on replace the other drives as you need the space or question their reliability. But, as always, make sure you have good backups of your data.

As for RAM it obviously depends on a lot of things - # of users, applications used, etc. I usually just running a single Plex 4K stream and 16 Gb does the trick. CPU is another issue. Have run some 4K transcode tests with no problems with multiple streams but today I maxed out the cpus with just one transcoding stream to a Safari client. The client that you use is very important. This was on a QNAP I7 with 6 cpus. Just checked on pricing and it looks as if this model has increased - gulp - ~$500.

QNAP has a a number of stock configurations with both Thunderbolt and 10Ge ports. Don't see much use in 2.5GE ports when 10 GbE is on the way to becoming the standard.

Never use USB ports as always transferring via thunderbolt or 10GbE but know that they exist.

I was going to simply get one large drive and transfer the data over and later use this as an additional disc in a RAID setup.

This could be one of your backup drives in the possible solution above. Once you've verified everything is OK you could add or replace a drive in the QNAP with it. If you replace a drive in a RAID configuration it may take a couple of days to rebuild everything, but you will still be able to use the NAS.

My ideal scenario would be to place all 5 of these drives in a new QNAP and have at least one additional drive that would contain a separate entity larger drive. That drive would be the start of what would replace the original drives.

You could replace an old drive or add an additional large drive. Your choice.

Btw I noticed that EXOS drives are found on A zon at a lower price than IronWolf Pro yet have similar warrantees of 5 years. Any thoughts on this additional info?

Exos drives with better specs are often priced lower than IronWolf. When asked why a Seagate representative reportedly said "I don't know". Ironwolf may have the prestige name. I have 1 18 TB Exos and had problems putting it into a Synology NAS' slot. Don't know why. Since QNAP promotes Ironwolf with the health managment I'll stay with Ironwolf drives there.

Best NAS resource I know is NasCompares which has a ton of Youtube videos as well as a website:

NASCompares

Welcome to NASCompares - Free Advice on everything NAS and DAS to Thunderbolt and the Right Network Accessories. Choosing the right data storage solution for...

www.youtube.com

NAS Compares

Simply passionate about NAS

nascompares.com

 

[phrehdd]

Since you can usually move drives between QNAPs, assuming you have updated to the latest OS and checked with their support and website, you could probably buy the new QNAP system and install the existing drives. Once you get it working remove one of the drives and replace it with a larger one. As time goes on replace the other drives as you need the space or question their reliability. But, as always, make sure you have good backups of your data.

As for RAM it obviously depends on a lot of things - # of users, applications used, etc. I usually just running a single Plex 4K stream and 16 Gb does the trick. CPU is another issue. Have run some 4K transcode tests with no problems with multiple streams but today I maxed out the cpus with just one transcoding stream to a Safari client. The client that you use is very important. This was on a QNAP I7 with 6 cpus. Just checked on pricing and it looks as if this model has increased - gulp - ~$500.

QNAP has a a number of stock configurations with both Thunderbolt and 10Ge ports. Don't see much use in 2.5GE ports when 10 GbE is on the way to becoming the standard.

Never use USB ports as always transferring via thunderbolt or 10GbE but know that they exist.



This could be one of your backup drives in the possible solution above. Once you've verified everything is OK you could add or replace a drive in the QNAP with it. If you replace a drive in a RAID configuration it may take a couple of days to rebuild everything, but you will still be able to use the NAS.



You could replace an old drive or add an additional large drive. Your choice.



Exos drives with better specs are often priced lower than IronWolf. When asked why a Seagate representative reportedly said "I don't know". Ironwolf may have the prestige name. I have 1 18 TB Exos and had problems putting it into a Synology NAS' slot. Don't know why. Since QNAP promotes Ironwolf with the health managment I'll stay with Ironwolf drives there.

Best NAS resource I know is NasCompares which has a ton of Youtube videos as well as a website:

NASCompares

Welcome to NASCompares - Free Advice on everything NAS and DAS to Thunderbolt and the Right Network Accessories. Choosing the right data storage solution for...

www.youtube.com

NAS Compares

Simply passionate about NAS

nascompares.com

HD, again thanks for your time and providing useful info with sufficient details.

Cost right now is a bit of a factor and I see as options -
1) New same-size NAS and populate it with the old NAS drives (keeping the RAID intact) + 1 large external Drive that will be a full copy of all files. Later buy a second large drive and use the two within the NAS to start the growth of the NAS from RAID 1 to RAID 5 or 01 etc.
2) Get a NAS that has at least more drive (6), and populate original drives plus 1 large drive and do similar to the option above.
3) Get a NAS with less drive space (4 drives?), populate with at least one large drive and attempt to transfer over the files via traditional cable means.
There are more variations on a theme but one of the challenges is $$$ as I need to spread this out a bit.

Ports - agreed 10g Ethernet is becoming more common. However, not many routers have it yet though 2.5g is become more common along with aggregate. I would see 10g brilliant for a direct connection to a Mac Studio or similar.

Plex vs... I always smile when I see how well Plex has done for itself. I go back to the earlier days of XBMC and Plex. Very old Plex forums may have my name still there as I suggested 2 things - built-in on-the-fly help/info to guide people using Plex and later, dividing up Plex by function. Nice to see I was in good company as they went and did both (perhaps what I had suggested became obvious to them independently). My more recent handling of media files was to let the all reside on the NAS, and the NAS would serve my Nvidia Shield TV, Macs, Oppo 103 disc player and connect to my AVR and TV. As I mentioned, I had the QNAS in storage and it was near the Oppo 103 and yes, a plasma TV. I hope you can see why I want to update to a newer NAS and drives given the age and well, lack of modern functionality (slower unit).

 

[HDFan]

1) New same-size NAS and populate it with the old NAS drives (keeping the RAID intact) + 1 large external Drive that will be a full copy of all files.

Since you have to balance cost and backups this might be the cheapest option. If I read you correctly you have 20 TB on the NAS. In terms of drive bays you have to consider what will be the maximum amount of data you will ever want to store and whether populating the NAS with the largest drives available will meet that need. Otherwise it isn't worth the cost of getting another bay, other than the fact that an additional disk will speed up your R/W speeds.

Getting a NAS with 1 less drive probably means that your 5 drives, if in a RAID configuration, won't work in the new enclosure. Not sure your comment in (3) about which source you will be transferring the data from.

10 GbE routers are dropping in price so I'd get a NAS which will support 10Gbe when you are ready to upgrade your switch.

The NAS Compares guys say that they respond to all emails so when you have narrowed down your options they might be a good resource.

(Have somewhat similar configurations - Oppo 203 & 5, Plasma TV as well).