Can you mix 2 different Seagate HDD

English Storage
1

Hi,

I’m hoping someone can help me with a tiny question.

I have a QNAP TS-453D-4G and I already have 2 Seagate Ironwolf already in place.

my question is can I place Seagate Ironwolf pro for my next cartridge or do I have to stay with original 2 I’ve been using.

thank you

2

In short yes. As long as the size are the same, the model, even disk brand can be different.

I personall mix SG IronWolf and WD RED in the same RAID group, and works normally.

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In general though, although you “can” mix drives, it is best to TRY and stick with the same model. It also partly depends on your usage. If the drives are all part of the same RAID array, then keep in mind other factors. If the new drive is slower (either spin speed or read speed or write speed) or has different caching levels, then all these factors CAN POSSIBLY affect the overall performance of the RAID array and POSSIBLY lead to other issues such as integrity or error rates.

You didn’t mention the model of size of the drives in question, or what you are looking at adding. This would be useful information. The actual NAS model is less important in this scenario.

The age of your original drives is also something to consider.

Also, the reasons as to why you are adding another drive is important. Are you looking just to add space or are you looking to move to RAID or are you looking for a performance gain?

Also, of EXTREME importance would be the SIZE of the drives and the intended configuration.

As you can see, a simple question leads to many more and not necessarily a simple answer.

4

A very surprising answer, particularly from a staff member, and with almost no details provided by the OP.

As I mentioned, while theoretically possible, there are MANY factors to consider which may easily lead to problems down the road.

Depending on the size and configuration, the answer could be simply “no”. For example if the OP is trying to add a smaller drive into an existing array.

5

Thank you.

I’ve added the model etc

Looking to add one more to last me couple more years before filling the last bay.

Currently almost filled with the 2 I have currently.

Model QNAP TS-453D-4G 4-Bay Diskless NAS Intel
Celeron Quad-Core 2.0GHz CPU 4GB RAM

Had this one since 2021.
Only have the 2 following it thr bays atm

Seagate ST10000VN0008 10TB IronWolf 3.5"
SATA3 NAS Hard Drive

Seagate ST16000VN001 16TB IronWolf 3.5"
SATA3 NAS Hard Drive

Main question is can I place the following or stick to the above drives

Seagate ST20000NT001 20TB Iron Wolf Pro 3.5" SATA NAS Hard Drive

6

A very surprising answer, particularly from a staff member, and with almost no details provided by the OP.

In my case I do mix drives, but the size shall be the same. And several reasons:

  1. My current NAS is 8 years old and I use 2TB drives to build it. After ages it is hard to find exactly same models. And sometimes it cost too much to stick at same brand. Finding a drive which is NAS-grade, with same size will be easier.
  2. Usually I assume drives from same batch might dead at similiar operation time. I don’t use drives which comes from same batch to avoid this issue.

However in my build, although the brand/models can be different, the SIZE will always be the same. Just like you said, add smaller drive into existing array will cause the system refuse to re-build.

From your case you already mix the 10TB and 16TB drive?

You will only have 10TB space if using RAID 1. And the extra 6TB will be wasted.

Or you did not create RAID at all? Depend on your configuration the answer could be different.

But usually you should keep the drive at same “size” to avoid waste of storage.

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Side-question: does QTS (and QuTS) allow for drive size discrepancies when building arrays? Does it “pad out” or reduce the size of the arrays at creation time in case a future drive of (almost) the same size is used, so the new drive isn’t refused just because it has slightly less capacity?

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Does QTS (and QuTS) allow for drive size discrepancies when building arrays? Does it pad out the array in case a future drive of (almost) the same size is used, so the new drive isn’t refused just because it has slightly less capacity?

I am not working on that part of design but just my experience:

When the size from HDDs are about the same, in my case I purchase drives labeled 2TB it was always (well, at least 8 times) accepted by the QTS. So I am not worried about the slight block size difference. Maybe at the creation time the blocks used in RAID are actually slightly reduced for flexibility? Not sure on this.

By the way when select RAID with siginificantly different size of disk, it will pick the smallest one to calculate the capacity of the RAID. Remaining spaces are keep unused.

1 Like
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Cheers mate. :nerd_face: