Picking the best NAS hard drives is boring right up until your “movie server” starts clicking like a metronome at 2 a.m. This guide is the simple way to choose a NAS HDD tier that fits your setup, your ears and your rebuild anxiety. You will see what to buy for a 2 to 4 bay home NAS, when “Pro” models are worth it, and which specs actually matter.
NAS drives are not about winning a desktop benchmark. They are about staying stable in a box that runs 24/7, sits next to other vibrating drives and gets hammered by backups, Plex scans, photo and security cams. The three specs that keep you out of trouble are CMR recording (predictable RAID behavior), a workload rating that matches your usage and a warranty that does not bail early. For a first build, this internal guide pairs well: First-Time NAS Setup with OpenMediaVault Explained.
Before you buy anything, this side by side video is worth it because it gets into the stuff you feel in real life, like noise and power draw, not just “it copies a file.”
Seagate Ironwolf vs WD Red NAS Hard Drives
Here is the practical rule: most home NAS boxes are perfectly happy on the standard NAS lines (WD Red Plus, Seagate IronWolf). They are rated for up to 180TB per year workloads, which is plenty for backups, media, and a few users. Step up to Pro drives (WD Red Pro, Seagate IronWolf Pro) when your NAS acts like a small server, with heavy writes, lots of users and long rebuild windows. Those are built for up to 550TB per year workloads and typically come with longer warranties.
NAS hDDs comparison table
Prices checked Dec 16, 2025 (deals move fast).
| Drive family (example 8TB) | Recording | RPM | Workload rating | Warranty | Example price (8TB) | $/TB | Best for |
| WD Red Plus 8TB (WD80EFPX) | CMR | 5640 | 180TB/yr | 3 years | $174.99 | $21.87 | Quiet-ish home NAS, backups + Plex |
| Seagate IronWolf 8TB (ST8000VN004) | CMR (model listing) | 7200 | Up to 180TB/yr | (varies by model) | $199.99 | $25.00 | Home and SMB NAS with steady multi user use |
| WD Red Pro 8TB (WD8005FFBX) | CMR | 7200 | 550TB/yr | 5 years | $199.99 | $25.00 | Bigger arrays, heavier writes, longer warranty |
| Seagate IronWolf Pro 8TB (ST8000NT001) | All CMR | 7200 | Up to 550TB/yr | 5 years | $219.99 | $27.50 | Busy NAS, creative workflows, frequent ingest |
Spec sources are the WD and Seagate official pages and the Dec 16, 2025 price snapshots are from Newegg listings.
If you want the easy answer: WD Red Plus or Seagate IronWolf are the safe default for most home NAS builds. Go Pro if you expect constant writes, multiple users or you hate the idea of a rebuild taking forever while the drive sweats. Whatever you buy, stick to CMR for RAID and keep one spare on hand if uptime matters.
