Best Streaming Hard Disk Drives For DVR, NVR, TV or Plex & Emby Setup

If you are an audiophile or a videophile, then this article is for you. If you are storing large volumes of high-resolution videos locally or on your DVR, then you need a hard drive that gives you the best performance. Based on this use-case, we are listing out the best streaming hard Disk Drives For DVRs or Plex & Emby setups.

Best Streaming Hard Disk Drives: Our Recommendations

For starters, any HDD can do the job of streaming multi-media content. However, when you try to scale things, that is where the cracks start to appear. As per our observations, consumer focussed HDDs stops getting detected in the OS or stops syncing with a RAID array.

A consumer-focused hard drive typically is designed to operate for roughly 8 hours a day. On the other hand, enterprise-focused Hard drives offer 24/7 operations, 365 days in a year. It is precisely for this extended reliability and scalability that we need to focus on, for these drives for our streaming scenarios.

Also Read: Best Surveillance Hard Disk Drives

In our opinion, the following should be the target use-cases for using a streaming HDD. They are as follows:

• Network Video Recorders – (NVR)
• Video Surveillance Systems (VSS)
• Digital Video Recorders – (DVR)
• Network Video Recorders – (NVR)
• Set-Top-Box – (STBs)

From the specifications perspective, ideally a streaming HDD should have the following features:

• Large Buffer Cache
• Shorter seek times
• Silent operations
• Acceptable temperature range for 24/7 operations

Now that we have some basic understanding of the target use-case market and the feature sets, let us list them out below:

1. Toshiba V300 (Video Streaming)

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Toshiba is known for the least HDD failure rates in the mechanical HDD category from a lot of online reviewers. This particular HDD is one of a kind, video streaming focussed HDD and is best suitable for, you guessed it, videos!

The drive is ideal for repeated streaming, recording, editing or playing video content. However, at the time of publishing, the maximum capacity of these drives is 3 TB. So, we recommend RAID arrays or NAS type setups to bump it up.

The drives can handle multiple high-resolution streams simultaneously makes it ideal for NAS based setups. Check out the specifications below:

2. Toshiba N300 NAS Hard Drive

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We like the N300 because of its reliability and from our point of view, it is one of the best choices for building a NAS. On top of that, these are cost-effective when compared to its bigger rivals, Western Digital or Seagate.

Due to its high-endurance design, 24/7 operations support and auto error-recovery, these are an excellent fit for Video streaming use-cases as well.

Now, we do like to the point that these HDDs run considerably hot and near to the upper end of the operating thresholds. Also, we found these to be on the louder side. You will be able to hear them when they spin. We do not recommend using them in a fanless enclosure since adequate cooling is needed for them to operate optimally.

Check out the specifications below:

3. WD Red (NAS)

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The WD Red Pro is a series launched explicitly for the NAS market. They have the same spinning capabilities at 7200 rpm like the WD Se we discussed on a different article but differ significantly in other aspects. They come in capacities ranging up to 4 TB and are offered specifically for the larger home or office implementations such as tower or rackmount installations.

These hard drives are faster and have gone through a higher level of thermal burn in testing. Specially designed and developed for NAS systems, the hard drive comes with a more extended warranty as well. The main differentiating factor between the WD SE and WD Red Pro should lie in the fact that the WD Se is designed for the standard desktop requirements, while the Red Pro has been configured for the NAS systems. Of course, the desktop hard drives can be a good option regarding reliability, but may not be sustainable in an environment of NAS which is in an always-on 24/7 configuration, typically with RAID configured. It can even cause data loss issues with the traditional HDDs.

The WD Red Pro tackles this issue as they have been built with the NASware 3.0 technology and thus ensure improved reliability and performance. Moreover, they come with an optimized power consumption.  This ensures that the power saving is achieved to a significant level in addition to controlling the temperatures.

The specifications for the drive are –

• The Hard drive capacity – 2 TB, 3 TB, and 4 TB
• Rotational Speed – 7200 rpm
• The Interface – SATA 6 GB per sec
• The maximum Transfer Speeds – 171 MB per sec for 4 TB, 168 MB per sec for 3 TB and 164 MB per sec for 2 TB
• Cache – 64 MB
• Endurance limits – An MTBF of 1000000 hours
• Five years limited warranty
• Power Requirements –

• Read/Write – 8.6 W ( for 2 TB capacity, 6.5 W)
• Idle – 6.5 W (for 2 TB capacity, 4.9 W)

• Physical Dimensions – 1.028″ (26.1mm) x 5.787″ (147mm) x 4.00″ (101.6mm)
• Weight – 0.75 Kg

 4. Seagate SkyHawk Surveillance Hard Drive:

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It works pretty well regardless what system is being used by you. You can use it on any DVR; you can pair it with any Windows 10 PC or a Mac, whatever you have it will work just fine. The installation is a straightforward process and hardly takes even 10 minutes.

They are available in different variations in size. If you are planning to record 24×7 camera channels, you want to go with 6 GB one or more. Since the hard disk is capable of enduring much of workload; it works with DVR surveillance quite well too. Here is a glance at specs:

Conclusion

We hope you like our compilation of the best streaming Hard Disk Drives currently available. We have a good mix of dedicated video streaming drives while others listed here are either NAS or surveillance focussed.

Overall, all of them should pass the durability tests with flying colors. What it comes down to is your preferences and your brand of choice.

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