Best hard drives for a UGREEN NAS
UGREEN's NASync DXP line takes standard 3.5-inch SATA hard drives, so there's no compatibility list to chase - the choice is the same one it always is: a CMR drive (never SMR) with a low failure rate at a price you like. These are the picks, ranked by measured Backblaze failure rate.
| Drive | Capacity | Tech | Class | Interface | AFR | $/TB | Price | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |
ST16000NM000J
Seagate Exos X18
|
16 TB | CMR | Enterprise | SATA | 0.22% | $39.80 | $637 |
| 2 |
WUH722626ALE6L4
WD Ultrastar DC HC590
|
26 TB | CMR | Enterprise | SATA | 0.40% | $41.27 | $1,073 |
| 3 |
WUH722222ALE6L4
WD Ultrastar DC HC570
|
22 TB | CMR | Enterprise | SATA | 0.47% | $37.73 | $830 |
| 4 |
ST16000NM001G
Seagate Exos X16
|
16 TB | CMR | Enterprise | SATA | 0.54% | $62.50 | $1,000 |
| 5 |
MG10ACA20TE
Toshiba MG10
|
20 TB | CMR | Enterprise | SATA | 0.59% | $41.25 | $825 |
| 6 |
MG11ACA24TE
Toshiba MG11
|
24 TB | CMR | Enterprise | SATA | 0.68% | - | - |
| 7 |
WUH721816ALE6Lx
WD Ultrastar DC HC550
|
16 TB | CMR | Enterprise | SATA | 0.80% | $43.40 | $694 |
| 8 |
WUH721414ALE6L4
WD Ultrastar DC HC530
|
14 TB | CMR | Enterprise | SATA | 0.81% | $42.48 | $595 |
| 9 |
ST12000NM001G
Seagate Exos X16
|
12 TB | CMR | Enterprise | SATA | 0.96% | - | - |
| 10 |
MG07ACA14TE
Toshiba MG07
|
14 TB | CMR | Enterprise | SATA | 1.18% | - | - |
Ranked by measured failure rate (Backblaze AFR). $/TB shows once live prices are wired.
Picking drives for a UGREEN NAS
UGREEN entered the NAS market recently and its DXP boxes use ordinary SATA bays, so any NAS-suitable drive on this site fits. Ignore the marketing around "recommended" drives - the only specs that matter are CMR (RAID-safe), a low real-world failure rate, and price per TB.
Buy all your array drives at the same capacity, lead with reliability, then compare price per TB across Seagate, WD and Toshiba before you commit. For fault tolerance, prefer double parity once the drives get large - rebuilds take longer the bigger the drive.
Frequently asked questions
- What hard drives are compatible with a UGREEN NAS?
- The DXP 3.5-inch bays take any standard SATA hard drive - there's no vendor lock-in. Stick to CMR NAS-rated drives (Seagate IronWolf, WD Red Plus, Toshiba N300) or enterprise drives (Exos, Ultrastar, MG) and you're set. The DXP models also have M.2 NVMe slots for SSD caching, separate from the hard-drive bays.
- Can I use SMR drives in a UGREEN NAS?
- Avoid them. SMR drives slow to a crawl during RAID rebuilds and sustained writes - exactly when a NAS needs them most. We flag recording technology on every drive page; pick CMR every time.
- How many drives does a UGREEN NAS hold?
- It depends on the model - the NASync range runs from 2-bay up to 6- and 8-bay units. Buy identical-capacity CMR drives for the array and keep at least one parity drive (two once you run several large drives, so a rebuild has a safety margin).