What HDD is best for the Uniti Core?

Posted by: transformer man on 16 June 2017

Having just returned home with a brand new Uniti Core, I need to buy a hard drive to go in it!  Naim recommend a Seagate Pipeline drive but which one?  Looking online, there seems to be quite a few to choose from, i.e. speed, transfer rate, cache etc.  The Seagate ST1000VM002 looks like the most popular - its spec is 1TB, 5900 rpm, 6Gb/s, 64MB etc.  Your opinions would be most welcome! 

Posted on: 16 June 2017 by Gazza

I use the st4000vm000 bought on amazon at approx £125 for 4tb, no issues so far.

Posted on: 16 June 2017 by Huge

Does the Core have a list of compatible HDDs?

If not then the WD Red HDDs have a good record in NAS enclosures and similar uses.

Posted on: 16 June 2017 by nbpf

Congratulations for the new Core! I doubt that one can really nail down a "best" HDD but I am wandering whether a SSD would bring any advantages (or perhaps disadvantages) over a HDD. Does Naim provide any guidelines on the subject?

Posted on: 16 June 2017 by Klout10

Good point, after all the HDX and also UnitiServe benefitted from the SSD option. I wonder if this still goes for the Core ...

 

Posted on: 16 June 2017 by Gazza

Yes Naim recommend the seagate pipeline series. I remember Phil giving reasons why the WD red was not as suitable, cannot remember at this time but was on a previous thread. The pipeline series are slow, but quiet and used for video applications. This is on the Naim website for the core.

Posted on: 16 June 2017 by French Rooster
nbpf posted:

Congratulations for the new Core! I doubt that one can really nail down a "best" HDD but I am wandering whether a SSD would bring any advantages (or perhaps disadvantages) over a HDD. Does Naim provide any guidelines on the subject?

naim recommends also the samsung evo 850 ssd, i don't remember if it is 2,5 or 3,5.  Personally i would put more silent ssd...

Posted on: 17 June 2017 by Richard Dane

I had a spare 2TB Toshiba E300 HDD that seemed to be a good candidate for fitment to the Core.  So far after a few months use it seems to work well and is quiet, so seems to be a safe enough choice.

Posted on: 17 June 2017 by Huge
Gazza posted:

Yes Naim recommend the seagate pipeline series. I remember Phil giving reasons why the WD red was not as suitable, cannot remember at this time but was on a previous thread. The pipeline series are slow, but quiet and used for video applications. This is on the Naim website for the core.

I just remembered:
Some years ago WD changed the default operation of TLER on the Red series.  Since then both the Red and Red Pro series have had TLER on by default.

So yes, since then you'll do better with a surveillance type drive.

Posted on: 17 June 2017 by David Hendon
Keler Pierre posted:
nbpf posted:

Congratulations for the new Core! I doubt that one can really nail down a "best" HDD but I am wandering whether a SSD would bring any advantages (or perhaps disadvantages) over a HDD. Does Naim provide any guidelines on the subject?

naim recommends also the samsung evo 850 ssd, i don't remember if it is 2,5 or 3,5.  Personally i would put more silent ssd...

The Samsung EVO 850 series is 2.5 inch and Naim supplies the screws you need to fit it in the caddy. Apart from being silent, it runs cool, which is not the case with HDDs. Unless you put the Core into deep sleep, I which case you can only wake it by pressing the front panel button, the HDD runs 24/7.

No-one on the forum has ever said that they could hear any difference between SSD and HDD in terms of SQ in a Core.

Obviously the SSD costs a lot more per TB than the HDDs, but for a few hundred to a thousand or so albums, SSD is still affordable.

best

David

Posted on: 17 June 2017 by French Rooster
David Hendon posted:
Keler Pierre posted:
nbpf posted:

Congratulations for the new Core! I doubt that one can really nail down a "best" HDD but I am wandering whether a SSD would bring any advantages (or perhaps disadvantages) over a HDD. Does Naim provide any guidelines on the subject?

naim recommends also the samsung evo 850 ssd, i don't remember if it is 2,5 or 3,5.  Personally i would put more silent ssd...

The Samsung EVO 850 series is 2.5 inch and Naim supplies the screws you need to fit it in the caddy. Apart from being silent, it runs cool, which is not the case with HDDs. Unless you put the Core into deep sleep, I which case you can only wake it by pressing the front panel button, the HDD runs 24/7.

No-one on the forum has ever said that they could hear any difference between SSD and HDD in terms of SQ in a Core.

Obviously the SSD costs a lot more per TB than the HDDs, but for a few hundred to a thousand or so albums, SSD is still affordable.

best

David

it would be interesting to have some feedbacks on ssd on the core...high end servers as aurender, melco, cad, uses ssd not hdd. But perhaps there is no real differences in sound quality....

Posted on: 17 June 2017 by Pcd

I use a Seagate Pipeline 2TB as recommended by Naim very good value for money and is extremely quiet in fact you can't hear it.