What is the most recommanded setup for my NAS?

WD Internal Drives Internal Drives
1

Hi,
I have a synology DS420j NAS which can handle 4 disks. I have the following 4 disks:

-disk1 : WD Red 4 To
-disk2 : WD Red 4 To
-disk3 : WD Red Plus 4 To
-disk4 : WD Red Plus 4 To

I’d like to know what is the recommanded setup between the following three setup or any other you would suggest :

-Setup 1 : mount all the four disks in one unique RAID 5 volume which will offer a storage capacity of 12 To.

-Setup 2 : mount the two Red disks together in one RAID 1 volume and the two Red Plus disks together in another RAID 1 volume. This will offer a storage capacity of 4+4=8 To.

-Setup 3 : mount one Red disk and one Red Plus disk in one RAID 1 volume and same configuration for a second volume. This will offer a storage capacity of 4+4=8 To.

I have read that using Red disks in RAID volume is not recommanded. That’s why I’m asking.

In case setup 3 is the best, is there a recommanded sequence to use between the Red and Red plus disks ? Red as disk 1 and Red Plus as disk 2 or the opposite ?

Thanks.

3

I’m no expert, but the Red drives are SMR, while the Red Plus are CMR. After a class action suit claiming SMR is less effective for NAS use, I think WD withdrew SMR drives from production. Anyway, you may have to pair the SMR drives in one volume, the CMR in another. You better check with someone who actually knows about this, but I’m not sure dissimilar drives can work in a RAID.