FAQ

Q: What's the difference between Recertified HDD and Refurbished HDD
A: In a nutshell, Recertified HDD is refurbished and tested by the manufacturer, for example a Seagate recertified HDD often comes with a green/white label, while Refurbished HDD is renewed by a third party vendor, and comes with original OEM/Retail label.
For example:

To elaborate a bit more: A recertified hard drive is a previously owned device that has been returned to the manufacturer. The reasons for return vary, from minor technical issues to a simple change of mind from the customer. The manufacturer then puts these hard drives through a rigorous refurbishing process to ensure they meet the same stringent standards as a new device.

For more details about a recertified HDD, please see to our blog post: https://neology.com.au/blogs/news/unveiling-value-and-reliability-the-benefits-of-manufacturers-official-recertified-hard-drives
Q: What's the difference between SATA and SAS HDD?A:  SATA and SAS are two different drive interfaces used mainly in servers and storage systems. They are not compatible and cannot be used interchangeablely 

 

SATA (Serial ATA) -- Most Home and Small Business NAS are fit with SATA HDD 

  • More affordable
  • Common in NAS and desktops
  • 6 Gb/s speed
  • Ideal for home and small business storage

SAS (Serial Attached SCSI) -- For datacenter storage servers or customise build NAS with SAS controller card

  • Higher performance (up to 12 Gb/s)
  • Better reliability features
  • Supports dual data paths (redundancy)
  • Requires a SAS controller

In simple terms:
👉 SATA = Most commonly used and Best value for most NAS users
👉 SAS = Enterprise-grade for high-performance servers

For most NAS builds in Australia, high-quality enterprise SATA drives (like Exos or Ultrastar SATA models) are the smarter and more cost-effective choice.

 

 

Q: How can I plan my RAID capacity in NAS?

A: Before buying hard drives, ask:

  • How much data do I have today?
  • How fast is my data growing?
  • Will I use RAID redundancy?
  • Will I run Plex, backups, VM storage, or surveillance?

Remember:

If you run RAID 5 or RAID 6, usable capacity will be less than total raw capacity.

Example:
4 x 12TB in RAID 5 ≠ 48TB usable
You’ll get roughly 36TB usable (one drive parity).

Plan for future growth — upgrading later is more expensive than sizing correctly from the start.

Here are some useful tools to help you plan your capacity with your NAS: