In this article, we’re going to look at the best SSD for NAS devices. In general, NAS devices normally use mechanical hard drives due to their longevity (check out our list of the best NAS hard drives), price, and reliable performance.
A lot of NAS devices also have 1GbE NICs, meaning that you won’t receive network transfers faster than ~125 MB/s, so SSD performance isn’t needed and is potentially a waste of money.
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Why is a Solid-State Drive (SSD) a Good Option for NAS Devices?
A solid-state drive (SSD) is a great choice for NAS devices for a few reasons. First, SSD devices have no moving parts, unlike traditional hard disk drives (HDDs). It’s important to keep in mind that this is in regard to mechanical failure, as drive wear-out can potentially occur with SSD devices – something that’s not traditionally a problem with HDDs.
Next, SSDs provide faster and more responsive performance (faster read and write speeds), which is helpful for network-attached storage (NAS) devices used in tasks such as file sharing, media streaming, or hosting virtual machines. The increased read and write speeds of SSDs allow for faster data transfers, which minimizes latency and enhances the overall efficiency of the system.
Another advantage of SSDs is their energy efficiency, as they consume less overall power than HDDs do. This is helpful for NAS devices as they’re generally online 24/7, which can have a legitimate impact on your electricity bills.
While SSDs are a great option for NAS devices, it’s important to select the correct device and ensure they have enough endurance to handle the workload, as consumer SSDs will burn out significantly quicker than NAS SSD devices, making them a poor choice for NAS owners.
Just keep in mind that if you want faster network transfer speeds, you’ll have to increase your networking equipment as well (networking performance can be increased by using a 2.5GbE Switch or a 10GbE Switch).
Best SSD for NAS Devices
We will look at the best options below, but I want to be extremely clear on one thing before we proceed. Consumer-grade SSD drives should not be used in NAS devices. In the same way that you would purchase a NAS hard drive if you were interested in purchasing a mechanical hard drive, you need to purchase a NAS SSD drive.
Another important point to keep in mind is the endurance (TBW) of drives is very important. This is generally what the warranty goes off of and is the expected lifetime of an SSD drive. While a higher endurance doesn’t necessarily mean the drive will last longer, it’s a good indicator of the expected lifetime (or warranty) and is something to certainly consider depending on your needs.
Western Digital SA500 SSD
The Western Digital SA500 SSD comes with either 500GB, 1TB, 2TB, or 4TB of storage space. The WD SA500 has 560 MB/s sequential read speeds and 530 MB/s sequential write speeds with the endurance (TBW) listed below and a 5-year limited warranty.
Click here to purchase the WD SA500 on Amazon
Seagate IronWolf 125 SSD
The Seagate IronWolf 125 SSD comes with either 250GB, 500GB, 1TB, 2TB, or 4TB of storage space and is what I consider to be the best option you can buy. The IronWolf 125 SSD has 560 MB/s sequential read speeds and 540 MB/s sequential write speeds, with drastically higher endurance (TBW) than the Western Digital SA500 SSD. The Seagate IronWolf 125 SSD also comes with a 5-year limited warranty.
Click here to purchase the Seagate IronWolf 125 on Amazon
Synology SAT5200 SSD
The Synology SAT5200 SSD is a true enterprise SSD. Generally, enterprise devices have extremely high endurance (TBW) ratings as they’re designed for long and sustained performance. This might be overkill depending on your requirements, but it’s certainly not bad to have an SSD drive of this caliber.
The Synology SAT5200 SSD comes with either 500GB, 1TB, 2TB, or 4TB. The Synology SAT5200 has 530 MB/s sequential read speeds and 500 MB/s sequential write speeds. These SSD devices come with a 5-year warranty and extremely high endurance (TBW).
Click here to purchase the Synology SAT5200 on Amazon
Best NVMe SSDs for NAS Cache
The benefits of SSD cache drives for NAS devices are often times highly debated as they’re generally slightly confusing. For example, most people assume that cache drives will increase network transfer speeds, but oftentimes have absolutely no impact whatsoever on network transfer speeds.
This is because there are far more factors that impact local network transfer speeds and adding a cache drive won’t impact any of those other factors. However, there certainly are benefits, and if you want to use a cache drive, these are two of the best drives you can use.
If you’re interested in learning more, please check out our article on SSD Cache to learn some of its benefits!
Seagate IronWolf 510
The Seagate IronWolf 510 is a 2TB NVMe SSD drive with 3,150 MB/s sequential read speeds and 850 MB/s sequential write speeds. It also has a 3,500 TB endurance (TBW) and is an absolutely awesome NVMe cache drive.
Click here to purchase the Seagate IronWolf 510 NVMe SSD Drive on Amazon
Western Digital Red SN700
The Western Digital SN700 is a 2TB NVMe SSD drive with 3,400 MB/s sequential read speeds and 2,900 MB/s of sequential write speeds.
It has a 2,500 TB endurance (TBW) which is slightly less than the Seagate IronWolf 510. This point shouldn’t be dismissed, as total endurance (TBW) is extremely important for cache drives.
Click here to purchase the Western Digital Red SN700 NVMe SSD Drive on Amazon
Conclusion & Final Thoughts
If you’re planning on purchasing and using SSD drives in your NAS, I’d look into 10GB switches as well. If you pair five total SSD drives with something like RAID 5, you can come close to maxing out 10GbE hardware and truly see the benefits of the SSD drives.
It’s not a necessity, but without better networking equipment, the benefits of SSD drives will be minimized.
