Best NAS hard drive buying guides

Most reliable NAS hard drives

NAS-suitable CMR drives ranked by Backblaze annualized failure rate (AFR), computed from hundreds of thousands of drive-days. The lowest measured failure rates first.

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Fastest NAS hard drives (7200 RPM)

The fastest NAS-ready hard drives - 7200 RPM CMR models with the highest sustained throughput - ranked by Backblaze reliability.

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Quietest NAS hard drives

Current NAS hard drives ranked by published idle noise (A-weighted sound power, dB). The quietest drives for a NAS that lives in a room you sit in.

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Best helium-filled NAS hard drives

Helium-filled NAS drives run cooler, quieter and denser than air drives. The best helium CMR models (12TB and up), ranked by Backblaze failure rate.

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Best Toshiba NAS hard drives

Toshiba's NAS-ready CMR drives - the N300 consumer line and the MG enterprise series - ranked by reliability and price per TB. Often the value pick against Seagate and WD.

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Best hard drives for a UGREEN NAS

UGREEN's NASync DXP units take standard 3.5-inch SATA drives. The best CMR NAS drives for a UGREEN NAS, ranked by reliability and price per TB.

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Best NAS hard drives for Plex

The most reliable high-capacity CMR drives for a Plex media server, ranked by real-world failure rate.

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Best NAS hard drives for Synology

NAS-rated CMR drives that work reliably in Synology DiskStation units, ranked by Backblaze failure rate - IronWolf, Red Plus and Ultrastar compared.

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Best budget NAS hard drives

The lowest cost-per-terabyte CMR NAS drives that don't cut corners on reliability - IronWolf, Red Plus and Ultrastar compared by $/TB and Backblaze AFR.

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Best high-capacity NAS hard drives (16TB+)

The largest CMR drives for maximizing storage per bay - 16TB, 20TB and 24TB picks ranked by capacity and Backblaze failure rate for dense NAS builds.

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Best surveillance hard drives

Drives built for 24/7 write-heavy surveillance NVR workloads - SkyHawk and WD Purple ranked by reliability and price for camera and recording builds.

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Best enterprise hard drives for NAS

Datacenter-grade CMR drives with the highest endurance and longest warranties, ranked by Backblaze failure rate - for builds where downtime has a real cost.

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Best 8TB NAS hard drives

The most reliable 8TB CMR NAS drives, ranked by real-world failure rate - a value sweet spot for home NAS builds.

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Best 12TB NAS hard drives

The most reliable 12TB CMR NAS drives, ranked by real-world failure rate - a strong capacity-per-dollar pick for growing arrays.

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Best 16TB NAS hard drives

The most reliable 16TB CMR NAS drives, ranked by real-world failure rate - high density for fewer-bay builds.

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Best 20TB NAS hard drives

The most reliable 20TB CMR NAS drives, ranked by Backblaze failure rate - maximum density per bay for high-capacity builds and expanding arrays.

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Best NAS hard drives for TrueNAS (ZFS)

CMR drives suited to TrueNAS and ZFS, ranked by real-world reliability. Why CMR matters even more for ZFS.

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Best NAS hard drives for Unraid

CMR drives for Unraid arrays - especially the parity drive - ranked by Backblaze failure rate. Why CMR matters for parity and how SMR can stall a rebuild.

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