First off, I’d normally ask this question on a datahoarding forum, but this one is way more active than those and I’m sure there’s considerable overlap.
So I have a Synology DS218+ that I got in 2020. So it’s a 6 year old model by now but only 4 into its service. There’s absolutely no reason to believe it’ll start failing anytime soon, and it’s completely reliable. I’m just succession planning.
I’m looking forward to my next NAS, wondering if I should get the new version of the same model again (whenever that is) or expand to a 4 bay.
The drives are 14 TB shucked easy stores, for what it’s worth, and not even half full.
What are your thoughts?
Packaging a drive for sale in an external enclosure doesn’t make it any more prone to failure compared to one that wasn’t.
except you don’t know what you’re buying.
the fact it’s typically cheaper than buying the naked drive should tell you everything you need to know about the risk involved.
This is misinformation, I have always known what drives to expect when shucking. Not only that, but you can tell what drive is inside just by plugging it in before shucking to check. I’ve shucked over 16 drives so far and all were exactly as expected.
The drives for WD are white label, but they’re WD Reds. They’re cheaper because they’re consumer facing, no more, no less. Have you been bitten by shucking in the past? I’m confused why else you’d be saying it’s a risk. The only risk associated is warranty related.
You have an idea of what you’re buying and you know what you have once you’ve shucked it. The worst case scenario is that it’s not what you expected, isn’t suited for that use case, you can’t find another use for it, and you can’t return it… but it’s not like anyone is forcing you to add an unsuitable drive to your setup.
There is not even any proof from any independent media that special certified drives have a longer lifespan. You can see it when you compare OEM prices for different drives. Quite often Data Center labeled cards are more expensive then the prosumer drives, because consumers are idiots and buy into marketing.
There are other problems with shucking like warranty but the dice role is not certainly it.
That the market buying internal drives is generally willing to pay more for the product vs the people buying an external drive? Because cost of the parts (AKA Bill of Materials, or BOM) is only a small part of what determines the price on the shelf.
The fact the WD has a whole thing about refusing to honor the warranty (likely in violation of the Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act) should tell you what you really need to know.
They’re cheaper because they sell a higher volume of them to consumers but that doesn’t mean they’re any worse than bare drives. I’ve been running numerous shucked drives in my PC 24/7 since 2018 and have had zero issues thus far. Folks from r/datahoarder/ have collectively been buying large quantities of these drives for years and still recommend them. If they were a bunch of lemons, you’d think people would have made a big stink online about it by now.