TS-431 and ST4000NM0033

[sboutsis]

Hi,
I just bought a TS-431 and I want to know if I can use Seagate Constellation ES.3 4TB drives (ST4000NM0033). This type of disk is not currently included in the compatibility list.
Thanks.

[Toxic17]

Please Submit a Ticket with QNAP. I dont think you will see any official response here from QNAP.

[sboutsis]

Thanks for the advice.
So I submitted a ticket and got back a reply saying that I should choose HGST disks, because if I go ahead and buy the Seagate ones and I run into a problem, I won't be able to get support since these disks are not officially supported.

Seriously? I'm talking about one of top enterprise product lines of Seagate, which is compatible with most of the other QNAP NAS products (according to their compatibility lists), and their official suggestion is to use HGST ones? Shouldn't they try these disks and update the compatibility list accordingly? Am I being irrational?

[schumaku]

We're living in a free world, well - most of us at least. We can install whatever we like. If experiencing issues - being HDD not recognized, being intermittent HDD failures, being high HDD temperatures paired with high system temperatures (not: you will for sure...) ... you are on your own. No vendor will investigate on unsupported configurations.

I'm talking about one of top enterprise product lines of Seagate, which is compatible with most of the other QNAP NAS products (according to their compatibility lists), and their official suggestion is to use HGST ones?

Somewhat strange they talk of HGST only - somebody was probaly blinded by the Backblaze - What Hard Drive Should I Buy? blog. HGST was forced to sell-off some of their business mid 2012 when they had been acquired by WDC for - so the desktop class 3.5" products and manufacturing lines were sold off to Toshiba. Please note: Backblaze does talk and list "consumer-grade drives" - and they operate lots of em...

Shouldn't they try these disks and update the compatibility list accordingly?

Why should QNAP certify "top enterprise product lines of Seagate" (your words, not mine...) in an average home & SOHO NAS?

There is virtually no advantage in using these expensive enterprise drives (higher rotational speed, greater heat dissipation [enterprise translates to A/C computer rooms and data centers], and higher performance to some extent) on this model line.

Am I being irrational?

Hm.... on the subject issue, probably yes.

[sboutsis]

We're living in a free world, well - most of us at least. We can install whatever we like. If experiencing issues - being HDD not recognized, being intermittent HDD failures, being high HDD temperatures paired with high system temperatures (not: you will for sure...) ... you are on your own. No vendor will investigate on unsupported configurations.

Of course. I'm not complaining about the fact that I'm not going to get support on any issues, I'm just pointing out their reluctance to test that product line for compatibility issues. I would expect more from a serious company like qnap (especially since they have a form where you can suggest a product for them to test, in their compatibility page).

Somewhat strange they talk of HGST only - somebody was probaly blinded by the Backblaze - What Hard Drive Should I Buy? blog. HGST was forced to sell-off some of their business mid 2012 when they had been acquired by WDC for - so the desktop class 3.5" products and manufacturing lines were sold off to Toshiba. Please note: Backblaze does talk and list "consumer-grade drives" - and they operate lots of em...

Yes, that's exactly the link they provided in their response.

Why should QNAP certify "top enterprise product lines of Seagate" (your words, not mine...) in an average home & SOHO NAS?

There is virtually no advantage in using these expensive enterprise drives (higher rotational speed, greater heat dissipation [enterprise translates to A/C computer rooms and data centers], and higher performance to some extent) on this model line.

Because they did so for their other "average home & SOHO NAS" products, like TS-420, TS-220 and TS-120. That's why I believe that they just haven't tested these disks *yet* (TS-431 is quite new). I'm pretty sure they're going to add them to their compatibility list in the future.

Regarding the advantage of using these "expensive enterprise drives". I've been using these for a few years and I can say that they are the most reliable ones I've ever dealt with, especially compared to WD drives (I don't have any experience with HGST). I'm going to store critical data on them, so this matters a lot.

[schumaku]

I would expect more from a serious company like qnap (especially since they have a form where you can suggest a product for them to test, in their compatibility page).

This can't and won't happen one day to another, and probably not on low request volumes, too.

Yes, that's exactly the link they provided in their response.

Completely unrelated to enterprise class HDD - and not applicable as there are no more HGST 3.5" desktop class drives in the market except of old old stock if any.

I've been using these for a few years and I can say that they are the most reliable ones I've ever dealt with, especially compared to WD drives (I don't have any experience with HGST). I'm going to store critical data on them, so this matters a lot.

No doubts about that part - don't have a view on a larger number of HDD. To me, the HGST and Seagate enterprise class HDD are about on the same level. One thing worth mentioning is the warranty ... this can be up to five years on this (expensive) class of drives.

[QNAPJason]

Hi sboutsis,
The enterprise HDD will not be a problem as it already passed on other NAS models.
We can finish verifying it on Feb. 7 for TS-x31 series.

Jason

[sboutsis]

That's great, Jason, thanks for the info!
So I will go ahead and get the Seagate drive.
That's the response I was expecting from qnap.