INTRODUCTION

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

   Whenever the majority of people i know spends money to get a higher capacity internal HDD it's either to have more room for the installation of game titles (with many PC and console games even surpassing the 30/40GB mark that's not surprising), for backup purposes and/or to store their media (image/audio/video) libraries. However there are also people who require higher capacities for other uses whether that's to store work related data, host server/cloud data or even to use as recording media for IP cameras. For example in our lab we have a NAS server running 24/7 which is used as a email server, download server and is also currently connected to 4 IP cameras so as you can all understand using reliable and high storage capacity drives is of the outmost importance. A few months ago Seagate send us their Enterprise NAS HDD 8TB SATA III model which proved to be more than what we had hoped but since it was aimed towards enterprise use (and thus somewhat expensive) we decided to also check their regular NAS HDD 8TB SATA III models.

   Founded in 1979, Seagate is the leading provider of hard drives and storage solutions. From the videos, music and documents we share with friends and family on social networks, to servers that form the backbone of enterprise data centers and cloud-based computing, to desktop and notebook computers that fuel our personal productivity, Seagate products help more people store, share and protect their valuable digital content. Seagate offers the industry’s broadest portfolio of hard disk drives, solid-state drives and solid-state hybrid drives. In addition, the company offers an extensive line of retail storage products for consumers and small businesses, along with data-recovery services for any brand of hard drive and digital media type. Seagate employs more than 50,000 people around the world.

   If we compare the Enterprise NAS HDD 8TB model to the NAS HDD 8TB model we will see that their specifications sheet is identical in some areas and quite a bit different in others. For example both drives feature a rotational speed of 7200RPM with 256MB of cache and several identical technologies such as NAS-optimized firmware for balanced reads and writes, advanced power management and error recovery controls. The similarities however end there since the Enterprise NAS HDD scores a MTBF (Meantime Between Failures) of up to 1.2 million hours with a 180TB/year WRL (Workload Rate Limit) and is covered by a 5 year warranty as opposed to the 1 million hours MTBF, 300TB/year WRL and 3 year warranty of the NAS HDD 8TB (Seagate offers the optional rescue recovery service for both drives for the duration of the warranty). So aside its specifications and features how does the latest NAS HDD 8TB by our friends over at Seagate perform?

 

 

SPECIFICATIONS AND FEATURES

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

THE NAS HDD 8TB

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

As always our sample arrived alone inside a clear plastic package so nothing really new to see here.

 

 

Once again a very large sticker placed at the top of the drive contains useful bits of information such as barcodes, serial number, model number, part number, factory rollout date (November 9th 2015), electrical requirements and of course the firmware number.

 

 

At the rear we see the usual SATA power and data connectors right next to 4 pins (probably used for firmware updating).

 

 

All of the components are placed on the interior of the PCB and as you can see the enclosure/housing is the same we've seen quite a few times in the past with Seagate drives.

 

 

Since Seagate managed to send over two NAS HDD 8TB drives we will also be running RAID0 tests using our LSI/AVAGO MegaRAID 9271-8i card.

 

 

TEST BED

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

TESTING METHODOLOGY

 

     Thoroughly testing hard disk drives may require time and patience but that's just about it. Of course that doesn't mean that one must take it lightly, at least not when people base their decision on your results. True some choose to only use 2 or 3 benchmarking suits in order to measure the performance of a drive or drives since quite honestly most benchmarking suites do tend to agree with each other (so it's not really wrong) but we always like to take things a step further not because we have to but because we want to be almost 100% certain of the results we get and post in our charts.

     So in this kind of reviews we will use a total of 7 different benchmarking suites in an effort to bring you the most accurate results across the board. Now the only reason why i say effort is because real-world usage is not always on par with what results one gets by running several benchmarks on a drive and that's mainly because there are many variables at work from ambient temperatures to hardware configurations and even firmware versions. The benchmarking applications we use are the AIDA64 suite (former Everest Pro), HD Tune Professional, HD Tach RW, ATTO, Sisoftware Sandra Pro, Crystal Disk Mark 64bit and the PCMARK 7 (secondary storage suite). These benchmarking tools are the best in what they do and as you will also see later on their results more or less agree. Each test is performed a total of 6 times and then the average is recorded into the charts. Temperatures are recorded using Hard Disk Sentinel and after 45 minutes of continuous testing in a 23 degrees Celsius temperature controlled room. Finally we also use an ExTech HD600 dBA meter on each of the drives (5cm away) in order to accurately record their noise levels (during access), although if you don't turn off all system fans when doing so it's quite possible that you will never even hear the drive. The operating system as usual is a fresh installation of Microsoft Windows 7 Ultimate Service Pack 1 with every update installed up until the 25th of February 2016.

 

 

TEST RESULTS - AIDA64 / ATTO

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

TEST RESULTS - HD TACH RW / HD TUNE PRO

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

TEST RESULTS - SISOFTWARE SANDRA PRO / CRYSTAL DISK MARK X64

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

TEST RESULTS – PCMARK 7 / TEMPERATURES / NOISE LEVELS

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

TEST RESULTS - RAID0 PART 1

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

TEST RESULTS - RAID0 PART 2

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

CONCLUSION

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

   Based on the specs sheet given to us by Seagate and from our detailed charts the NAS HDD 8TB model has little to fear from his Enterprise Grade brother in terms of performance but the same can’t be said about its reliability something potential buyers should really take into consideration prior to making their choice. Granted not many NAS servers run 24/7 all year long and even less need over 180TB WRL per year but some do and for those is why Seagate created the Enterprise NAS HDD line (add the 200.000 hours difference in MTBF and things are even clearer). Unfortunately the NAS HDD 8TB uses the same electricity as the Enterprise NAS HDD 8TB (always according to Seagate) but as we’ve mentioned numerous times in the past unlike other manufacturers Seagate aims in high performance as well as reliability and that choice (good or bad depends on the type of demands users have) has its toll.

   Price always matters no matter what finds its way on our test bench and with a current price tag set at USD349 inside the USA (Amazon.com) and at 394Euros inside the EU (Amazon.de) the NAS HDD 8TB (ST8000VN0002) by Seagate is certainly not a low-cost drive. Leaving out the price however if you have a NAS server at home or at the office and you need it to be on 24/7 all year long then the NAS HDD line should of course be your primary choice not only because it’s ideal for that use but also because it really costs quite a bit less than the Enterprise NAS HDD line and because all of the above it gets our Golden Award.

PROS

- Build Quality (180WRL / 1 Million Hours MTBF)
- Excellent Performance
- 256MB Cache
- 8TB's Capacity
- Temperatures/Noise Levels

 

CONS

- Price (For Some)
- Power Consumption (Compared To Other NAS Drives)