Since the Recommended Builds page is woefully out of date (June 2011), I was wondering what the current preferred 2 TB drives are?

 

Currently I have 7,200 RPM 500GB drives, but looking to expand, starting with the parity first.

 

thanks

I don't really think it makes a difference.

any drive will do.

I'd recommend the WD Red or the Seagate NAS drive.    Both of these are excellent drives that have superb performance and a 3 year warranty.    Both use 1TB platters, so have much higher data transfer rates than drives with lower areal density.

 

They're not the cheapest, but the price differential is modest; and they're well worth the extra few $$

 

I'd recommend the WD Red or the Seagate NAS drive.    Both of these are excellent drives that have superb performance and a 3 year warranty.    Both use 1TB platters, so have much higher data transfer rates than drives with lower areal density.

 

They're not the cheapest, but the price differential is modest; and they're well worth the extra few $$

 

Thanks garycase. Do you notice any speed issues with 5,400 RPM drives?

The Red spins at 5400; the Seagate NAS at 5900.    Both are plenty fast enough to saturate a Gb LAN connection, as they have very high areal density (remember, they're both 1TB/platter units).

 

Obviously the seek times are slower than with 7200 rpm units;  but I'm VERY happy with the NAS-oriented drives.  They run much cooler than 7200 rpm units; and the performance is certainly good enough.

 

The Red spins at 5400; the Seagate NAS at 5900.    Both are plenty fast enough to saturate a Gb LAN connection, as they have very high areal density (remember, they're both 1TB/platter units).

 

Obviously the seek times are slower than with 7200 rpm units;  but I'm VERY happy with the NAS-oriented drives.  They run much cooler than 7200 rpm units; and the performance is certainly good enough.

 

Okay, I'll take your advice. I just bought a 7,200 RPM drive for the parity, but I'll replace the rest of them with the NAS drives. As long as they can saturate a 1GB link I'm happy.

 

Thank-you.

My 3TB WD Reds easily outperform my 2TB 7200rpm WD Black -- thanks to the areal density of the 1TB platters.    Of course a newer 1TB/platter WD Black would outperform the Reds.

 

But the NAS units use much less power; run a lot cooler; and easily have "good enough" performance.  They'll easily outperform your older 500GB drives.

 

My 3TB WD Reds easily outperform my 2TB 7200rpm WD Black -- thanks to the areal density of the 1TB platters.    Of course a newer 1TB/platter WD Black would outperform the Reds.

 

But the NAS units use much less power; run a lot cooler; and easily have "good enough" performance.  They'll easily outperform your older 500GB drives.

 

Great, thank-you. I'm looking forward to swapping them out.