Setting up RAID 1: Which hard disk?

Ideally, you should use an identical pair of hard drives for a RAID system. Anyone installing a RAID 1 system – whether in the NAS or the computer – should not save on the data carriers. Although RAID 1 works with all hard drives, it is more important to rely on drives that are optimized for a long service life as well as a high performance. It is therefore a good idea to use hard disks that are designed for NAS devices.


Lesetipp: NAS-Test 2017 - Compare products in comparison


For our guide, Seagate has provided us with two Enterprise NAS HDDs. These meet industrial standards: they are very high perform- ing and offer a very high level of security against failures. For most users, these professional hard disks will be oversized. However, if you want to have a maximum data security, you should not have to hit the next online sale when you buy the hard drives.


The Seagate Enterprise HDDs are ideal for applications with a high workload - that is, high demands on access and fast data transmission. In synthetic benchmarks, we measure up to 240 megabytes per second for reading and writing. Under RAID 1, the Enterprise NAS is only slightly slower. The difference is marginal and can also disappear depending on the RAID controller. Seagate provides the MTBF (Mean Time Between Failure) with 1.2 million operating hours.


A 5-year warranty, as well as rescue data recovery plans available for as long, should convince users who place great importance on your data security. The price starts at about 130 euros for a 2TB hard drive.


But there are also cheaper alternatives, Seagate recommends the next smaller NAS HDDs or the Red series from Western Digital. Here you get a 2 TB hard drive for 80 to 90 euros. 2 TB in RAID 1 range for photo archives by average users. Anyone who wants to keep his films from the wedding, holidays or other memorable moments safe should go to larger hard drives.


However, our recommendation for particularly cautious users with a high performance requirement is clear to the Enterprise HDD. The optional Rescue Plans provide an additional plus of data security, should it ever be a damage.


On the next page, we will explain how to set up RAID 1.