RAID 1 & HDD type: Desktop vs. Enterprise

[ntepperman]

On Synology's web site in the HDD compatibility section, they state the following:

"Hard drive manufacturers do not recommend installing desktop class hard drives for the RAID environment regarding to these reasons."

With 2TB drives, this means I'd be paying a price premium of as little as $70 and as much as $150 for approved Enterprise class drives vs. approved Desktop class drives.

I'll be using the DS-710+ for SOHO purposes, w/ file storage, media sharing, iTunes server, Time Machine back-up.

My question is this:
Is there a real (material) risk using 2 Desktop class drives for a RAID-1 set-up on a DS-710+, or am I OK to use Desktop class drives for this purpose?

 

[claykin]

Enterprise disks are usually better built and more robust for 24/7 use. They also typically have a 10^15 unrecoverable read error rate which is far better than the 10^14 URE rate of most desktop class disks. Finally, Enterprise class disks support a TLER type feature which is why they are recommended for RAID use. (search SNB or Wikipedia for more info on TLER and and URE)

However, if Synology has approved the disk (and they have plenty of desktop class disks on their HCL) its OK to use. That means they've tested it and approved it for use with their NAS.

So, at minimum make sure you use a desktop class disk from the Synolgoy HCL. If you want to hedge your bet and buy higher reliability disks then go for Enterprise class. i usually recommend either the Seagate Constellation or Hitachi Enterprise disks.

 

[ntepperman]

That's great- really helpful. Thank you!