Specifications and Feature Set Comparison

Prior to getting into the performance evaluation, we will take a look at the specifications of the 6 TB HGST Deskstar NAS and see how it compares against the other NAS-specific hard drives that we have looked at before.

The Deskstar NAS sports a SATA III (6 Gbps) interface. As is customary for the high capacity drives in this market segment, it can only emulate 512-byte sectors (natively 4K). The interesting aspect is the presence of a 128 MB cache similar to the Seagate drives, and unlike the WD Red. The obvious selling point for its price target is the 7200 RPM speed, which should easily give it the lead in most benchmarks over the WD Red. The other aspects (such as the URE ratings, MTBF, warranty etc.) are as expected. The table below presents the data for the drive against the others in our evaluation database.

Comparative HDD Specifications
Aspect
Model Number HDN726060ALE610 HDN726060ALE610
Interface SATA 6 Gbps SATA 6 Gbps
Sector Size / AF 512E 512E
Rotational Speed 7200 RPM 7200 RPM
Cache 128 MB 128 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) 29 dBA 29 dBA
Physical Parameters 14.7 x 10.16 x 2.61 cm; 715 g 14.7 x 10.16 x 2.61 cm; 715 g
Warranty 3 years 3 years
Price (in USD, as-on-date) $300 $300

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).

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 Supported; Disabled Supported; Disabled
Software Settings Preservation Supported; Enabled Supported; Enabled
Streaming Supported; Enabled Supported; Enabled
Tagged Command Queuing Not Supported Not Supported
Introduction and Testbed Setup Performance - Raw Drives
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  • Guspaz - Tuesday, December 23, 2014 - link

    $300 for a 6TB drive doesn't seem very cost-effective when 8TB drives sell for $260, and 4TB drives sell for $140. Heck, even the 4TB HGST DeskStar NAS sells for only $165. This isn't really a fault with the HGST drive specifically (since other 6TB drives aren't any cheaper), but more a fault with the 6TB capacity point.

    Of course, the 8TB drive in question is using SMR, and so ought to be rather slow for writes, but when you've got a bunch of them in a server with some SSDs for caching, it shouldn't be so bad.
  • insz - Tuesday, December 23, 2014 - link

    Can you please provide a link to an 8TB drive for $260?
  • Dreamwalker - Tuesday, December 23, 2014 - link

    Here in EU you can get the Seagate Archive 8TB for ~226EUR (275USD with vat). It targets cloud/cold storage market but I think it should be great for a HTPC too...
    https://geizhals.at/eu/seagate-archive-hdd-v2-8tb-...
  • patrioteagle07 - Tuesday, January 6, 2015 - link

    You do not want that drive... it is cheap because it is SMR. SMR is for COLD storage not NAS.
  • BeAi - Wednesday, January 7, 2015 - link

    Hi there, we are Premium Reseller of HGST, about these disks i could give some more inputs... First, the Seagate is a SMR Disk, only good for Backupszenarios, further they have only 3 years warranty.
    The HGST 8TB Disk is not a SMR Disk, HGST has got the 10 TB SMR Disk for Backupsolutions. Than the HGST Disk have got 5 Years warranty, for business solutions is that an argument. Last but not least, HGST has released on all SAS3 Disk the Media Caching Technologie, the disk are probably up to 3 times faster than other disk on the market. We have tested disks in our Lab, with a 1.2TB media caching 10k Disk, it will be faster than a 15k normal 2,5 inc disk. For more information, feel free to visit our online Shop: shop.storagespace.ch Kind Regards.
  • BeAi - Wednesday, January 7, 2015 - link

    Sorry i have forget that the HGST 8TB also have the Helium 8 Technologie, its also a He8 Plate, the Seagate havent got helium inside...
    Benefit of HGST Helium: up to 50% less energy cost, and less heat from the plate... If you wanna have an offer or more informations: info@storagespace.ch
  • takeshi7 - Tuesday, December 23, 2014 - link

    I think he's citing this article. That $260/8TB is bulk pricing for buying 20 drives it looks like.
    http://www.extremetech.com/computing/195543-seagat...
  • nandnandnand - Tuesday, December 23, 2014 - link

    The $260 8 TB drive isn't out yet. But it is a good thing
  • realwarder - Friday, December 26, 2014 - link

    Having a higher performance 6TB drive now is worth the extra money in the time saved over upgrading a 4TB drive later. It may be twice the price, but in $ it's not really much compared to reworking an entire setup later to add storage (unless you have a 8+ disk array with lots of room to grow)
  • hlmcompany - Tuesday, December 23, 2014 - link

    Regardless of the capacity, this HGST drive is in the same category as a WD Red Pro, NOT a WD Red.

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