Best hard drives for NAS 2024: Synology, QNAP, TerraMaster

The best hard drives for NAS enclosures are designed to run 24/7 and deliver solid day-to-day performance. Brands like Seagate and Western Digital offer several NAS-focused hard drives that excel at long-term reliability, and the Seagate IronWolf series in particular stands out. I've used all the drives on this list, and considering I have a 200TB home server, I know a thing or two about picking the right HDD for a NAS enclosure. These are the best hard drives you can buy for your NAS today. 

So what are the best NAS hard drives?

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You can't go wrong with any of these NAS hard drives

Regardless of whatever drive you pick from the list above, you're going to get 24/7 reliability and long-term stability. My go-to recommendation for a NAS drive currently is the Seagate IronWolf series. Seagate delivers that little bit extra in terms of reliability. Having used IronWolf drives totaling over 60TB of storage for several years, I can confidently say that these drives are ideal for most NAS users. With options available from 1TB all the way to 16TB, you'll find a drive that is ideal for the best home NAS

If you need the added security of a 5-year warranty or are interested in building a NAS for Plex streaming, then the IronWolf Pro is the obvious choice. The best part is that you get a two-year data recovery plan with each hard drive as standard. I use a few IronWolf Pro drives in the DiskStation DS1520+, and they have been going great.

Finally, with Synology now selling its own HDDs, the HAT5300 is the default option for models like the DiskStation DS1522+. The NAS isn't tested with the IronWolf Pro or Red Plus series, so if you're looking to build a high-end server, the HAT5300 is the way to go. 

These drives include custom firmware that delivers 23% increased write speeds over similar NAS-focused HDDs, and they're designed for Synology NAS servers. But if you're interested in home use, the Red Plus or standard IronWolf drives should be more than adequate. 

Harish Jonnalagadda
Senior Editor - Asia

Harish Jonnalagadda is a Senior Editor overseeing Asia at Android Central. He leads the site's coverage of Chinese phone brands, contributing to reviews, features, and buying guides. He also writes about storage servers, audio products, and the semiconductor industry. Contact him on Twitter at @chunkynerd.