Can this drive be installed into an external HD case and used as a single drive media server or does it have to be installed in a NAS case?
1455386
The WD Red can be used as a standard drive. The WD Red is a standard SATA drive optimized for NAS operation, but it will work just like any other hard drive.
1455387
I have a router with an eSATA port that can used for a media drive. Can this HD be used in an eSATA stand alone enclosure with an 80mm fan for cooling? Thank you in advance for any information.
1455388
it fits anywhere a hard drive can fit. its just made to run longer then a standard drive that is why they are used in NAS
1455389
There doesn't seem to be an indication that this drive had to be used as a NAS setup. My personal application is a NAS setup but is used primarily as a media host for an Apple TV2.
1455390
Standard SATA connectors, will work with any SATA port. May not be the cheapest drive you can buy for what you're describing, but that's your call.
1812321
There is space for only 2 HDD's in this unit. If both slots are used, then you would need to add larger drives. If you have (2) 1TB drives mirrored and needed more space, you could remove one 1TB drive, add a 4TB drive, rebuild the mirror, then removed the second 1TB drive and add a second 4TB drive then rebuild. This would keep the data online while you upgrade. After the HDD swapping and rebuilding, the new 6TB of space (3TB from each disk) could be made into another volume (mirrored or striped). Adding drive by the USB port is good for backing up your data to an external device, but I haven't tried to use a USB attached device to share data as it it's part of the NAS unit.
259040
Sorry...don't know. I only have a Synology NAS, so no experience on the external USB HDs
489485
I would guess with about 99.998% certainty....no. You will need to back up those drives. I'd say preferrably, you will buy all new drives for this or any NAS enclosure you're setting up. HTH.
1703173
This is a single bay NAS, and only contain one HDD inside. So it didn't support RAID.
1002600
Yes, the device can be used as a NAS (Network Attached Storage) if you connect a USB HHD, SD card, USB drive. I am not sure if it has a program to do automatic backups, but it will serve as the NAS no problem!
2138931
This is a diskless NAS, so it has no storage. You will need to purchase your own HDD, and each bay supports 4 TB
729023
You can us it as a normal drive. The main difference between a desktop drive and a nas drive are some modifications to the firmware, like TLER:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Error_recovery_control
461501
You don't "get the fact that its diskless". This simply means that the NAS is not shipped with hard disks. They must be purchased separately. I would suggest the WD NAS rated drives. Make sure to get 2 of them. Same size.
673759
Yes. For example, I have my NAS adapter attached to 3.5-in laptop hard drive that is in an external case which only has a USB port. Follow the instructions and format the portable storage using the NAT adapter utility. By default, it creates 3 folders for you: Music, Photo, and Video. Plus there is a Media Server utility. So, again, I would have to say, yes.
1688459
No, it can work in as standard desktop drive. Being designed for NAS though means it will tolerate being in close proximity to a lot of other disks, for both heat dispersion and resistance to vibrations caused by the other drives. You may be able to get a drive that has better overall performance and a larger cache in a non-NAS version for the same or lower price.
124815
I used it as an external drive. Even if you can take the HD out, you still need a sata connecting cable ($8.66 for 2). It has a USB-3 cable which is faster than the conventional USB-2. I wonder why you would pay the price of an external drive and use it as an internal drive, which usually costs less for the same capacity. I bought a WD 4 TB internal drive as D:
1235419
The drives must be the same size and yes you can put only 4 drives in the NAS. In order to configure as a RAID 5 though you will need at least three drives. I used 5 drives and configured 4 of them as RAID5 leaving the 5th drive as a "hot spare".
1834716
I used 2 in external storage boxes and 2 in an NAS. All worked fine. All the data sheet on the following link shows is SATA 3Gb/s interface. http://www.hgst.com/hard-drives/enterprise-hard-drives/enterprise-sata-drives/ultrastar-a7k2000
1962488
Yes, these are used for NAS situations, although they can also be used as regular hard drives. The reason I purchased the "Red" drives, is that they have a 5 year warranty instead of a 2 or 3 year warranty
388114
One answer said you should get one with good consumer reviews. Forget it. Get one with a good sturdy case and a built-in fan. Multiple RAID drives as well. Too expensive? Right. Forget NAS and get a better solution.
1236892
It's best to get this NAS it's own set of drives. The point of this NAS is to RAID the drives to protect against failures, swapping drives won't work as you'll just be constantly rebuilding the array. I suppose you could just have 1 drive and move it back and forth between two of these NAS units, but what would be the point there?