The Heartbeat of NAS: NAS-Rated Drives and RAID Essentials

Quick Bytes

• NAS-rated drives are the best choice for a NAS system. They offer a balance of robustness, size, and speed at a reasonable cost.
• Make sure that the hard drive you use in in NAS are the same size. Get larger drives than you think to account for growth over the years to come
• RAID, or Redundant Array of Independent Disks, tells your NAS how to store and protect you data through reduncy.
• A Synology R1 raid is the best balance of redundancy and cost. It allows for the expansion1 disk at a time
  • Synology raids are only available on a Synology NAS. R1 is the same as a RAID 5 on other NAS products. However, you must update all of your Hard drives at one time to increase the RAID size (daunting and tricky to complete).

Deeper Dive

To better select a NAS drive and optimize the setup, we will need to look deeper into what makes the NAS drive work. Efficient data management and protection of critical data are paramount in today’s digital world. At the core of every NAS system are NAS-rated hard drives and the pivotal role that the RAID configuration plays in that setup.

Today’s blog post will explore the essentials of NAS-rated drives and RAID configurations. We will simplify the complexities, narrowing the myriad of choices and highlighting their importance in contemporary data storage practices.

Hard Drives

NAS Drives, or Network-Attached Storage Drives, may seem like simple computers at first glance. They consist of a series of hard drives connected to save data for later access. But what sets them apart from standard computers? Let’s delve into the intricacies.

While your computer may indeed store data, it typically relies on a single hard drive and isn’t configured for remote access. Moreover, accessing individual files can be cumbersome due to differences in file systems. Unlike the seamless access provided by smartphones or certain computers, retrieving files from a standard computer often involves logging into the desktop interface and manually transferring files.

NAS drives, on the other hand, are designed for internet connectivity and remote access. Through dedicated apps or web browsers, users can effortlessly access their stored files from any location. Another distinguishing feature is the RAID (Redundant Array of Independent Disks) configuration, which allows multiple hard drives to function as a single unit.

RAID configurations range from simple mirroring for real-time data duplication to complex setups distributing data across multiple drives with redundant backups. This ensures data integrity and, in some cases, enables the system to withstand the failure of multiple drives simultaneously.

To better understand NAS drives, it’s essential to grasp the different types of hard drives involved. While Solid-State Drives (SSDs) exist, they’re not practical for large-scale data storage. Instead, NAS drives predominantly utilize traditional mechanical spinning disk hard drives.

These hard drives consist of magnetized platters spinning at various speeds, with read/write heads accessing data stored in binary format. The speed at which these platters spin directly influences data transfer rates. Unlike standard computer hard drives, server-grade hard drives offer enhanced durability and built-in monitoring features to preemptively detect failures.

So, what makes NAS drives unique? They blend the robustness of server-grade drives with the flexibility and scalability required for personal or small business use. While server-grade drives are costly and limited in storage options, NAS drives offer a wider range of capacities at a more affordable price point.

However, when selecting hard drives for a NAS setup, certain considerations are crucial:

1. Opt for NAS-rated drives engineered to withstand higher temperatures, frequent usage, and seamless integration with RAID controllers. The initial cost may be higher, but it’s a worthwhile investment for long-term data security.
2. Ensure all hard drives in a NAS setup are of the same size to prevent capacity limitations imposed by differing drive sizes. Mixing different-sized drives can result in reduced overall storage capacity.
3. Consider investing in a Synology NAS with four or more bays, especially if you anticipate future expansion. Synology’s proprietary RAID configurations can efficiently utilize larger drives, offering flexibility and scalability.
4. Plan for future storage needs by investing in larger drives than currently required. This future-proofs your NAS setup and mitigates the risk of running out of storage space prematurely.

RAID Configurations

RAID, or Redundant Array of Independent Disks, serves as the blueprint for combining hard drives, essentially mapping out how and where data is stored. Understanding RAID is crucial for safeguarding vital or irreplaceable data, as it provides simplicity, data protection, and performance, especially in scenarios involving large data files or high read/write demands.

Here’s a breakdown of RAID configurations and their implications:

RAID 0 (Striping): This configuration splits data across multiple hard drives to enhance read/write speeds. However, data redundancy is nonexistent, meaning a single drive failure results in total data loss. While suitable for certain applications, RAID 0 is unsuitable for NAS setups due to the lack of data redundancy.

RAID 1 (Mirroring): In RAID 1, data is mirrored across two drives, ensuring that every bit of data saved on one drive is replicated on the other. This setup prioritizes redundancy over speed, making it ideal for NAS setups where data integrity is paramount. RAID 1 requires a minimum of two hard drives.

RAID 0 and 1 require at least 2 hard drives in even numbers

RAID 5: Offering a balance between performance and data redundancy, RAID 5 distributes data across all disks while storing parity information on separate drives. This allows for data reconstruction in the event of a single drive failure.

Data- ABC          

3 hard drives                    1                           2                           3

                                           A                          B                          C

                                           B                          C                          A

RAID 5 requires at least 3 hard drives

RAID 6: Similar to RAID 5, RAID 6 utilizes block-level striping with dual distributed parity, providing enhanced data redundancy. By writing parity data across multiple drives, RAID 6 can withstand the failure of up to two hard drives simultaneously.

DATA- ABC          REDUNDANCY- A= Ay/Az              B= By/Bz             C=Cy/Cz                                          

4 Hard Drives     1            2            3            4

                             A1          A2          Ay          Az

                             B1          By          Bz          B2

                             Cy          Cz          C1          C2

As shown here the data represented by A is split into two pieces A1 and A2 and written on two disks.  Then, complete A data is written in 1 piece on two different disks.  Creating a dual redundant system.  Three hard drives have to fail for the data to be lost.

RAID 6 requires 4 hard drives

RAID 10: Combining aspects of RAID 1 and RAID 0, RAID 10 offers improved performance and redundancy. Data is striped across mirrored pairs of drives, offering redundancy without sacrificing speed. This configuration is common in enterprise environments with demanding workloads and critical data requirements.

Synology R1 and R2: Synology offers proprietary RAID configurations, akin to RAID 5 and RAID 6, respectively. These configurations leverage the flexibility to grow and utilize additional storage space, making them advantageous for home users seeking cost-effective NAS solutions.

It’s essential to note that selecting the right RAID configuration depends on specific requirements and considerations such as data sensitivity, performance needs, and budget constraints. While the configurations mentioned above cover common scenarios, there are additional RAID types with unique purposes and applications, though they may not always be applicable or available for NAS drives.

In conclusion, RAID configurations play a vital role in data storage and protection, offering a range of options to suit diverse needs. By understanding the nuances of each RAID level and their implications, users can make informed decisions when setting up their NAS drives for optimal performance and reliability. For those seeking further information, extensive resources are available online to delve deeper into RAID technology and its applications.

Whew, that is a lot.  There is a lot of technical detail in this blog.  I felt it important to include for those that want a brief overview of what is going on.  This was brief,  there is countless our of reading out there on hard drives and raid setups.  Most of it doesn’t pertain to 90% of users.  A last note on SSD hard drives.  I have not included these because they are expensive for larger drives.  It also should be noted that SSDs have a known amount of write cycles before failure.  If you are using these most NAS drive have a place to tell the NAS that you are using SSDs and it will attempt to track the usage and recommend replacement before failure.