Always use CMR drives in a NAS
SMR drives can cripple RAID rebuild performance. Choose IronWolf, WD Red Plus, or other NAS-certified CMR models.
Best value hard drives right now
| # | Product | Capacity | Price | Per TB |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ★ | XBERSTAR HDD SATA Hard Disk Network Adapter Modem Adaptor For Sony PS2 Playstation 2 (No IDE) | 2TB | £22.00 | £11.00/TB |
| 2 | Synology HAS5310-20T HDD with 20TB | 20TB | £365.73 | £18.29/TB |
| 3 | Seagate EXOS X24 24TB Interne Festplatte 3.5 Zoll SATA 3 Gbit/s 512 MB, ST24000NM000C (Renewed) | 24TB | £635.38 | £26.47/TB |
| 4 | Seagate SkyHawk Surveillance HDD ST6000VX001 - Hard drive - 6 TB - internal - 3.5" - SATA 6Gb/s - buffer: 256 MB | 6TB | £158.89 | £26.48/TB |
| 5 | MDD (MDD10TSATA25672NAS) 10TB 7200RPM 256MB Cache SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5inch Internal NAS Hard Drive (Renewed) | 10TB | £267.35 | £26.74/TB |
Which capacity to buy
4TB— Entry-level NAS
£38.51/TB
£154.02
Good starting point for a 2-bay NAS if you are unsure how much space you need.
8TB— Home media servers
£27.50/TB
£219.99
Sweet spot for Plex and family storage — strong £/TB.
12TB— Large libraries
£31.25/TB
£375.00
Excellent £/TB for 4K Plex and growing archives.
What to look for in a NAS hard drive
- CMR recording — non-negotiable for RAID
- 24/7 operation rating — NAS drives handle continuous spin-up
- RV sensors — important in 4-bay+ enclosures
- Workload rating — higher TB/year for busy servers
- Warranty — 3–5 years on NAS-specific models