Best Hard Drives for a NAS
The best NAS hard drives for reliability and value — CMR drives rated for 24/7 operation in your home server.
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For a NAS you want CMR (not SMR) drives designed for always-on use and vibration tolerance. Buy from more than one batch to reduce simultaneous-failure risk, and always pair drives with a real backup.
Best all-rounder
Visit websiteWD Red Plus (CMR)
- CMR technology
- NAS-optimized firmware
- 3-year warranty
- Quiet
Reliable, quiet and widely trusted for home NAS builds.
Best value
Visit websiteSeagate IronWolf
- CMR up to high capacities
- Rotational vibration sensors
- IronWolf Health
Frequently the best price per terabyte for capacities of 8 TB and up.
Best price per TB
Visit websiteRecertified enterprise drives
- Enterprise CMR
- Very low cost per TB
- Sold by specialists
Great value if you have redundancy and backups. Buy from reputable sellers like ServerPartDeals and expect some noise.