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Best Hard Drives for your NAS or DAS and Video Editing

HDD NAS

 

When it comes to editing you need speed, reliabilty and capacity.  You also want to use CMR or conventonal magnetic recording also referred to as PMR or perpindicular magnetic recording. Avoid newer technologies that try to cram as much possible data into the platters using technologies like SMR or shingled magnetic recording.   When buying drives for your NAS we recommend the 12TB Ultrastar from Western Digital and the 12TB N300 from Toshiba.  These two offerings offer outstanding performance, low noise, low power consumption and pair well with nearly any NAS, DAS or workstation. Plus they are the most readily available in the $320-$340 price range.  That's a reasonable price for the latest helium technology, RV sensors, stable platter technology and all the other stuff that makes these work well in a multidrive environment. The Toshiba N300 looks exactly like the MG series of enterprise drives. It's likely the exact same drive with the non-enterprise features disabled. 

Yes the world is moving to SSD but when it comes digital content creation and video editing you're going to need network attached storage or direct attached storage in the form of servers and RAID arrays to store and edit terabytes and terabytes of projects. So the hard drive is as important as ever and still the most cost efficient way to online digital media.

So it's gotten simpler with only a few major players to consider. Hard drives are manufactured by Seagate, Western Digital/Hitachi and Toshiba. Each manufacturer has a variety of hard drive offerings for desktop and enterprise use. For your NAS or DAS setup we suggest using one of the enterprise offerings or a drive specifically designed for a multidrive enclosure.

QNAP, Synology, Areca, Drobo, Promise, Netgear are some of the leading suppliers of NAS and DAS products. We've done extensive tests with Synology NAS products and Areca DAS products. We also used multiple drives populating Supermicro workstations.

Over the years we've had excellent luck with Hitachi Ultrastar drives which are now sold under the Western Digital brand as Ultrastar. The Ultrastar was previosly sold as the Western Digtal Gold drive as well. Another drive to consider is the Western Digital Red Pro series. These drives are exactly like the original line of Hitachi Ultrastar drives as well such as the 7k3000, 7k4000 and 7k6000 drives which you can still find on Ebay at amazing prices.

We recommend buying new hard drives directly from Amazon or BH Photo. There are lots of third parties that sell drives however if you get something that is packaged funny or looks wonky Amazon and BH will handle it more rapidly.

We also are testing the Toshiba N300 series helium drives. They are fast and quiet and offer good performance. All manufacturers have gone to helium in higher capacities. Western Digital, Seagate and Toshiba have all been working on helium drives for several years. In general, helium allows more platters to be used for higher capacities. 16TB drives are rolling out. Helium drives also consume less power and make less noise and experience less internal turbulence. All of these factors make helium based drives ideal for multidrive systems.  We like the 12TB capacities for tried and true PMR style drives.  

In terms of speed and performance.  All of these drives are really close.  Once you put them in a RAID array there's not much difference.  

So for NAS and DAS systems in video editing environments and multiuser high traffic scenarious we advise going with enterprise level drives such as the Western Digital Ultrastar, Seagate Exos or Toshiba MG series.

For less intensive, non-critical use we'd go with the Western Digital Red Pro, Seagate Ironwolf Pro or Toshiba N300 series. We advise going with larger capacity helium based drives for long term performance, less noise and power savings. If you opt for lower capacity we'd advise sticking with 6TB and higher capacities. If you opt for higher capacity target 12TB and higher.

So let's say you're an editor that works out of your home studio and you have an 8 bay RAID array.  Any of these drives should provide the performance and reliability you need.  We'd be comfortable with any of these drives in a RAID 10 working on 4K material running large renders.  In a corporate setting with shared resources and 24/7 workload, multiple editors on same project...etc, we'd opt for the first tier line of drives. That's it.  Stick with these major players and you should have a decent experience.  Always use the same make and model in your RAID arrays.  Currently we're running 12TB ultrastars/WD Gold, Red Pros and N300s with good performance, low noise and low heat.  

The sweet spot for price/capacity/performance is 12TB as of early 2021.  There has been a run on HDDs because of the crypto mining Chia.  However you can still find the Toshiba N300 reasonably priced. Before making a purchase it's good to check the camel for pricing trends to see how the product price has been charting over time. 


FIRST TIER
More on the Western Digital Ultrastar (previosly Gold) preferred.  UPDATE:  Looks like WD is bringing back the gold brand.  "powered by Ultrastar".  We like these drives in the 4TB, 6TB and 12TB capacities.
More on Seagate Exos
More on Toshiba MG series  

SECOND TIER
More on Western Digital Red Pro preferred 
More on Seagate Ironwolf Pro 
More on Toshiba N300  we like the 6TB and 12TB capacities

Details
Category: Production and Creative
Published: 15 June 2019

H.E.R Hard Place

 

A nice little jam.

 

Details
Category: Fresh Cut Fridays
Published: 26 April 2019

Brad Paisley - My Miracle

So easy and great playing on the axe.
Details
Category: Fresh Cut Fridays
Published: 12 April 2019

Anderson Paak - King James

don't want it to end
Details
Category: Fresh Cut Fridays
Published: 05 April 2019

Death Valley POV Fly Through

This will make you want to visit death valley.
Details
Category: Mind Body and Soul
Published: 27 March 2019

MARINA - Orange Trees

Look for the orange trees next time you're in Greece.
Details
Category: Fresh Cut Fridays
Published: 22 March 2019

Skyler Stonestreet - It Kinda Hurts

Catchy
Details
Category: Fresh Cut Fridays
Published: 15 March 2019

OK Go - The One Moment



this just gets better every time we watch it.  One of our all time favorites from these guys.

Details
Category: Music Mix
Published: 18 February 2019

Asha Mevlana's Tiny Amplified House

Cool house and a beautiful soul
Details
Category: Home and Lifestyle
Published: 15 January 2019

Feel It Still - Portugal The Man ('60s "Mr. Postman" Style Cover)

Postmodern Jukebox with another good cover track to kick off 2019. They always have such nice, clean live recordings.
Details
Category: Music Mix
Published: 05 January 2019
  1. Apple Color Flood ad
  2. Zedd, Maren Morris, Grey - The Middle (Official Music Video)
  3. Bob Seger - Ramblin' Gamblin Man
  4. Sleigh Bells - "And Saints"
  5. Secret Lab Throne Gaming Chair Review
  6. Best Christmas Ever
  7. Backstreet Boys - Chances
  8. TELYKast ft. Rachel Raquel - Summertime (TELYKast VIP Remix)
  9. Genelec 8030C 5” active monitor Review
  10. RAVPower RP-PC029 6-Port Desktop Charger Review
  11. Startech DisplayPort to DVI Dual Link Active Adapter Converter Review
  12. Canon TS9120 Inkjet Printer Review
  13. A Frightening Tale
  14. Winchester Mystery House POV Fly Through
  15. Rad Beats is Always Droppin' the Latest Tracks
  16. Childish Gambino - Feels Like Summer Music Video
  17. Rad Beats is Always Droppin' the Latest Tracks
  18. Coffe Mugs Made from Recycled Coffee
  19. Key & Peele - Substitute Teacher Part 2
  20. Crucial MX500 1TB 3D NAND SATA 2.5 Inch Internal SSD Review
  21. G-Drive Mobile SSD R-Series 1TB Review
  22. Nvidia Quadro P4000 Review
  23. Kacey Musgraves Are you Sure feat Willie Nelson
  24. Moog Subsequent 37
  25. Lynx E22 Versus RME Audio HDSPe AIO - Battle for the Best PCIe Audio Card
  26. Echosmith - Goodbye
  27. Pepsi Ad SNL
  28. The Chainsmokers - Closer Acoustic
  29. Amazing A-Frame in LA
  30. The Fall Colors of New England and Michigan Will Lift Your Soul
  31. Edius 8.22 Review - Powerful Updates for Post
  32. Interpretive Drawing of White Stripes City Lights
  33. The Cars - It's All I Can Do
  34. Gorillaz - Feel Good Inc.
  35. Flume - Never Be Like You feat. Kai
  36. Drinking Scotch with Nick
  37. Macklemore & Ryan Lewis - Downtown
  38. Echosmith - Let's Love
  39. Lana Del Rey - High By The Beach Music Video
  40. Third Eye Blind - Everything is Easy
  41. Tim Akers & The Smoking Section do Uptown Funk
  42. Jim James - State of the Art Live
  43. Best Coast - Feeling Ok
  44. Everything is Awesome in This Guy's Lego Basement Remodel
  45. Incredible Bodypaint Art - This Chameleon is Two Woman
  46. Awesome Airstream Renovation of a 1976 Ambassador
  47. Iggy Azalea - Trouble ft. Jennifer Hudson
  48. FourFiveSeconds - Rihanna, Kanye and Paul
  49. Mr. Probz Waves Remix
  50. Detroit Versus Everybody - Music Video
  51. NFL Bad Lip Reading 2015
  52. Maroon 5 - Sugar Music Video
  53. Electric Sixer Polarized Sunglasses Review
  54. NVIDIA Quadro K4200 Review
  55. JBL EON206P Portable PA Review
  56. Panasonic AJ-PX270 Professional HD Camcorder Review
  57. Man Turns His House Into Indoor Cat Playland and Our Hearts Explode
  58. Monica Heldal - Boy From The North acoustic
  59. Boris FX BCC 9 Review 2014
  60. Between Two Ferns with Zach and Brad Pitt
  61. Danny Macaskill...Always Awesome
  62. The Jezabels - All You Need
  63. HP Z230 Workstation Review
  64. Rival Sons - Open My Eyes
  65. Logitech Harmony 650 Remote Review
  66. Summer Fun Canyon Slip and Slide in 4K
  67. Pearl Jam - Black Live
  68. Sony Vegas Pro 13 Review
  69. Samsung 1TB 840 EVO SSD Review
  70. Convergent Design Odyssey7Q Review
  71. Bob Mould - I don't Know You Anymore
  72. Detroit Happy
  73. Pixelan DissolveMaster Review
  74. Skylar Grey - Coming Home Part II
  75. The Best Tree House Ever
  76. 24 Hours of Happy - Just Brilliant
  77. Pentatonix - Little Drummer Boy
  78. Sweater Weather
  79. iZotope RX3 Advanced Review
  80. Original Pancake House Apple Pancake Recipe
  81. Bose QuietComfort 2 Headphones Review

Page 10 of 19

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