HGST Deskstar NAS 4 TB Review
by Ganesh T S on November 22, 2014 2:00 PM ESTSpecifications and Feature Set Comparison
Prior to getting into the performance evaluation, we will take a look at the specifications of the 4 HGST Deskstar NAS and see how it compares against the other NAS-specific hard drives that we have looked at before.
Unlike other consumer NAS HDDs, the HGST Deskstar NAS doesn't skimp on performance by lowering the rotational speeds. We have a standard 7200 rpm drive with a SATA 6 Gbps interface. There is a 64 MB cache, but the reliability ratings in terms of MTBF and UREs are the same as the other consumer NAS drives. The 4 TB version is a 5-platter design with 800 GB/platter. Warranty period (3 years) and other aspects closely track the other consumer NAS drives that we have evaluated before. The table below presents the data for the drive against the others in our evaluation database.
| Comparative HDD Specifications | ||
| Aspect | ||
| Model Number | HDN724040ALE640 | HDN724040ALE640 |
| Interface | SATA 6 Gbps | SATA 6 Gbps |
| Sector Size / AF | 512E | 512E |
| Rotational Speed | 7200 RPM | 7200 RPM |
| Cache | 64 MB | 64 MB |
| Rated Load / Unload Cycles | 600 K | 600 K |
| Non-Recoverable Read Errors / Bits Read | < 1 in 1014 | < 1 in 1014 |
| MTBF | 1 M | 1 M |
| Rated Workload | N/A | N/A |
| Operating Temperature Range | 5 to 60 C | 5 to 60 C |
| Acoustics (Seek Average - dBA) | N/A | N/A |
| Physical Parameters | 14.7 x 10.16 x 2.61 cm; 690 g | 14.7 x 10.16 x 2.61 cm; 690 g |
| Warranty | 3 years | 3 years |
| Price (in USD, as-on-date) | $185 | $185 |
A high level overview of the various supported SATA features is provided by HD Tune Pro.
We get a better idea of the supported features using FinalWire's AIDA64 system report. The table below summarizes the extra information generated by AIDA64 (that is not already provided by HD Tune Pro). Readers interested in understanding what each of these features mean to the end-user can refer to our earlier coverage of NAS drives.
| Comparative HDD Features | ||
| Aspect | ||
| DMA Setup Auto-Activate | Supported; Disabled | Supported; Disabled |
| Extended Power Conditions | Supported; Enabled | Supported; Enabled |
| Free-Fall Control | Not Supported | Not Supported |
| General Purpose Logging | Supported; Enabled | Supported; Enabled |
| In-Order Data Delivery | Supported; Disabled | Supported; Disabled |
| NCQ Priority Information | Supported | Supported |
| Phy Event Counters | Supported | Supported |
| Release Interrupt | Not Supported | Not Supported |
| Sense Data Reporting | Not Supported | Not Supported |
| Software Settings Preservation | Supported; Enabled | Supported; Enabled |
| Streaming | Supported; Disabled | Supported; Disabled |
| Tagged Command Queuing | Not Supported | Not Supported |
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cen - Saturday, November 22, 2014 - link
Bought 4 of these for my home NAS and they really are great for the price. The only negative thing is the noise.. I wouldn't have 4 of these in my room for sure.Laststop311 - Sunday, November 23, 2014 - link
I use a 2TB version of this drive in 1 of my pc's and I don't notice any offending noise. The case does have noise dampening foam all around it and the hard drive is elastically suspended and isolated from the frame but I use all noctua fans and a fanless psu so if the HDD was making a lot of noise it should be audible. Maybe it's just your set up. You need to properly suspend the drive off the case with rubber so no vibrations are transferred to the case which is the main cause of noise.Laststop311 - Sunday, November 23, 2014 - link
Maybe the GPU drowns it out but even when the GPU is not in use i still don't hear the HDD even with large file transfers with no gpu activitycen - Sunday, November 23, 2014 - link
You only use a single one, I have 4 of these. This is a big difference.ddriver - Sunday, November 23, 2014 - link
Well, you do have an even number of disks, arrange them the right way and their noise will cancel out ;)melgross - Sunday, November 23, 2014 - link
That would be nice, if it actually worked.ddriver - Sunday, November 23, 2014 - link
Yeah, except it would generate extra heat. If the drives operate in synchrony theoretically they could be arranged in such a manner that their noise cancel out, but it be quite the feat of engineering. It would be tremendously easier to simply dampen and absorb the noise.Zertzable - Sunday, November 23, 2014 - link
Is that why datacenters are so quiet? ;)jota83 - Monday, November 24, 2014 - link
I am getting 60 of those by the end of the week :) Let's see how they perform within a JBOD (Quanta M4600H)NightShade00013 - Saturday, January 16, 2016 - link
I just got done doing a burn in with five of these for my FreeNAS and inside a 4U sitting on my kitchen table the fans were louder than the drives by far. The case is a rosewill RSV-L4500, the two rear 80mm fans have been changed out to PWM fans but the 120's are the ones that came with the case. Not that it's loud at all but the drives were the least on my mind.Burn test was done with BadBlocks and took about 65 hours to run completely. Running a smart long test now and that is the only thing that is a little different. Drives are ranging from 548 minutes to 582 minutes to complete.
Got the drives for less than a 4TB WD Red (not the pro version) so I am loving it. Still need to get two more to finish out my pool but RaidZ3 should be great with a set of seven drives.