I mostly use Seagate's IronWolf drives in my NAS servers, and they've served me well over the years. They're designed to be used 24/7 in a NAS server and come with vibration resistance, and even after using these drives for over 35,000 hours, I don't see any issues whatsoever.
The best time to pick up NAS drives is during a sale, and thankfully, Amazon's October Prime Day has Seagate's best-selling drives at enticing discounts. The 8TB IronWolf is back down to $149, which is on par with what we've seen during the summer Prime Day sale. The 12TB IronWolf can be bought for just $199, and it is a terrific bargain — it continues to be the best value if you want to maximize storage.
The IronWolf Pro series is also on sale, with the 16TB IronWolf Pro down to $249, and the 20TB model going at $329. This isn't new — we've seen the same prices before — but what is different this time around is that the latest 24TB model of the IronWolf Pro is getting a sizeable discount to $399, which makes it a fabulous deal.
✅Recommended if: You need NAS drives with long-term reliability in mind. I used two dozen IronWolf drives in the last ten years, and haven't had an issue with any. Most of these drives have clocked over 36,000 hours of continuous use and are still going strong.
❌Skip this deal if: You want SSD storage instead.
Seagate's IronWolf drives are among the best you can get; the 12TB model delivers transfers of up to 210MB/s, spins at 7200rpm, has a 256MB cache, and uses CMR tech to record data onto the drive. It has a 180TB/year endurance, you get a three-year standard warranty, and the vibration sensors built into the drive ensure there are no issues in 24/7 usage within a NAS environment.
I used two dozen IronWolf drives totaling over 150TB in the course of the last decade, and I didn't have any problems with any of these drives. The long-term reliability in demanding conditions is what makes the IronWolf drives stand out, and it's no wonder that they're the best-selling NAS drives globally.
IronWolf Pro drives have a lot of the same characteristics, but are filled with helium to reduce friction within the drive, and include higher endurance as well as a five-year standard warranty.
Out of all the choices, the 12TB IronWolf is the ideal option at $199 — it gives you the maximum value. The 20TB IronWolf Pro is a great choice, but the fact that you can get the 24TB drive for $399 is amazing.
Sure, not everyone needs 24TB of storage, but as I've learned over the years, once you start down this hobby, you're constantly running out of storage, and it just makes sense to get higher-storage models.
