As well as purchasing the best NAS for Plex or setting up a small PC yourself, you will need some hard drives to store everything on. Just like we do with general NAS usage, it's strongly recommended you upgrade from desktop-class hard drives to specific NAS versions. We've rounded up a few options for best hard drive for Plex that you should consider trying.
What's the best hard drive for Plex?
Dedicated NAS drives are a middle ground between desktop and enterprise drives. They're durable enough for shared storage deployment and usually come optimized for NAS use. Increased performance and better power efficiency can also be found in NAS drives compared to their desktop counterparts.
You can use the same drives as you would on a desktop PC, but it's not recommended. These discs aren't designed for continuous use for months, if not years. Ideally, you'll want to look for a drive with a 7200 RPM motor and 64MB of cache.
The drives we rounded up will perform similarly between brands, but you'll want to pay attention to reviews, as well as features and specifications, to pick a drive that will handle everything you throw at it. Capacity only really matters if you plan on storing plenty of files.
Plex will run just fine with a slower hard drive, but you may encounter some stuttering and buffering while loading larger 4K movies with multiple people streaming content.
The Western Digital Red Plus series offers hard drives with capacities of 1TB, 2TB, 3TB, 4TB, 6TB, 8TB, 10TB, 12TB, and 14TB. If you're not going to be storing much at all, it's possible to pick up the 1TB drive for about $50. That's more money than you'd pay for a desktop-class drive, but you're paying for enhanced reliability and additional features.
Each drive comes with the company's NASware 3.0. A drawback is an omission of mounting brackets or screws, speed, and support for up to only eight bays. Still, for most storage needs, the Red Plus series is more than enough.
| Hard drive | Max bays | Speed | Workload | Warranty | Price | $ per GB |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Western Digital Red Plus 1TB | 8 | 150MB/s | 180 TB/yr | 3 years | $50 | $0.06 |
| Western Digital Red Plus 2TB | 8 | 175MB/s | 180 TB/yr | 3 years | $60 | $0.04 |
| Western Digital Red Plus 3TB | 8 | 175MB/s | 180 TB/yr | 3 years | $75 | $0.03 |
| Western Digital Red Plus 4TB | 8 | 175MB/s | 180 TB/yr | 3 years | $85 | $0.03 |
| Western Digital Red Plus 6TB | 8 | 175MB/s | 180 TB/yr | 3 years | $135 | $0.02 |
| Western Digital Red Plus 8TB | 8 | 210MB/s | 180 TB/yr | 3 years | $210 | $0.03 |
| Western Digital Red Plus 10TB | 8 | 215MB/s | 180 TB/yr | 3 years | $275 | $0.03 |
| Western Digital Red Plus 12TB | 8 | 196MB/s | 180 TB/yr | 3 years | $300 | $0.04 |
| Western Digital Red Plus 14TB | 8 | 210MB/s | 180 TB/yr | 3 years | $387 | $0.03 |
If you want a little more from Western Digital's Red series, the Pro family of drives supports NAS servers with up to 24 bays. With support for up to a 300TB per year workload rate, these drives are reliable and capable with 7200 RPM motors. Other handy features you'd also find in Seagate's IronWolf Pro range include error recovery and anti-vibration tech.
| Hard drive | Max bays | Speed | Workload | Warranty | Price | $ per GB |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Western Digital Red Pro 2TB | 24 | 164MB/s | 300 TB/yr | 5 years | $85 | $0.05 |
| Western Digital Red Pro 4TB | 24 | 217MB/s | 300 TB/yr | 5 years | $138 | $0.03 |
| Western Digital Red Pro 6TB | 24 | 238MB/s | 300 TB/yr | 5 years | $251 | $0.03 |
| Western Digital Red Pro 8TB | 24 | 235MB/s | 300 TB/yr | 5 years | $270 | $0.04 |
| Western Digital Red Pro 10TB | 24 | 265MB/s | 300 TB/yr | 5 years | $323 | $0.03 |
| Western Digital Red Pro 12TB | 24 | 240MB/s | 300 TB/yr | 5 years | $390 | $0.03 |
| Western Digital Red Pro 14TB | 24 | 255MB/s | 300 TB/yr | 5 years | $425 | $0.04 |
| Western Digital Red Pro 16TB | 24 | 259MB/s | 300 TB/yr | 5 years | $500 | $0.04 |
| Western Digital Red Pro 18TB | 24 | 272MB/s | 300 TB/yr | 5 years | $550 | $0.04 |
Similarly to the Red series, IronWolf drives come in 1TB, 2TB, 3TB, 4TB, 6TB, 7TB, 8TB, 10TB, 12TB, and 14TB versions and sport three-year warranties. The most affordable choice is the 1TB drive, which will cost you $60. Your Plex will last for a long time with a million hours mean time between failure (MTBF). Just don't expect to install more than eight of them in a NAS as this isn't supported.
| Hard drive | Max bays | Speed | Workload | Warranty | Price | $ per GB |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Seagate IronWolf 1TB | 8 | 180MB/s | 180 TB/yr | 3 years | $60 | $0.06 |
| Seagate IronWolf 2TB | 8 | 180MB/s | 180 TB/yr | 3 years | $80 | $0.04 |
| Seagate IronWolf 3TB | 8 | 180MB/s | 180 TB/yr | 3 years | $95 | $0.03 |
| Seagate IronWolf 4TB | 8 | 180MB/s | 180 TB/yr | 3 years | $90 | $0.03 |
| Seagate IronWolf 6TB | 8 | 180MB/s | 180 TB/yr | 3 years | $167 | $0.02 |
| Seagate IronWolf 8TB | 8 | 180MB/s | 180 TB/yr | 3 years | $220 | $0.03 |
| Seagate IronWolf 10TB | 8 | 180MB/s | 180 TB/yr | 3 years | $286 | $0.03 |
| Seagate IronWolf 12TB | 8 | 180MB/s | 180 TB/yr | 3 years | $300 | $0.03 |
| Seagate IronWolf 14TB | 8 | 240MB/s | 180 TB/yr | 3 years | $401 | $0.03 |
The IronWolf Pro range is for those wanting a little more from their NAS storage drives. Starting from $140, these advanced drives can be installed in NAS servers with up to 24 bays. SSDs remain relatively expensive compared to mechanical drives, but more affordable options are coming to NAS owners.
| Hard drive | Max bays | Speed | Workload | Warranty | Price | $ per GB |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Seagate IronWolf Pro 4TB | 24 | 214MB/s | 300 TB/yr | 5 years | $140 | $0.03 |
| Seagate IronWolf Pro 4TB | 24 | 214MB/s | 300 TB/yr | 5 years | $200 | $0.05 |
| Seagate IronWolf Pro 8TB | 24 | 214MB/s | 300 TB/yr | 5 years | $280 | $0.03 |
| Seagate IronWolf Pro 10TB | 24 | 214MB/s | 300 TB/yr | 5 years | $430 | $0.03 |
| Seagate IronWolf Pro 12TB | 24 | 250MB/s | 300 TB/yr | 5 years | $410 | $0.03 |
| Seagate IronWolf Pro 14TB | 24 | 250MB/s | 300 TB/yr | 5 years | $410 | $0.03 |
| Seagate IronWolf Pro 16TB | 24 | 250MB/s | 300 TB/yr | 5 years | $461 | $0.03 |
| Seagate IronWolf Pro 18TB | 24 | 260MB/s | 300 TB/yr | 5 years | $625 | $0.03 |
The Western Digital Red SA500 series comes in 500GB, 1TB, 2TB, and 4TB capacities, so not quite as much as what you'd find in mechanical drives, but these drives are rapid. They're not cheap but offer data rates of up to 560MB/s. They also do not have any moving parts and should last longer than NAS hard drives.
How to pick the best NAS for Plex
Plex requires a solid server to get the most out of the service, though a capable network-attached storage (NAS) solution will suffice. It's possible to build your own, which is the desired method for those with the know-how. What if you simply wish to purchase a product, plug everything in, and get going?
This list will aid you in choosing the best NAS for Plex Media Server. Throw in two or more of the hard drives recommended, and you'll be singing ... quite literally to your favorite tunes being streamed.
