Seagate IronWolf Pro and WD Red Pro NAS drives are all discounted — here's why I'd buy the most expensive model

High-capacity NAS drives are far from cheap, so it's often easy to focus on the sticker price rather than the long-term value.

<![CDATA[ <article> <p>High-capacity NAS drives are far from cheap, so it's often easy to focus on the sticker price rather than the long-term value. I was looking through a selection of NAS drives on sale at Best Buy and Newegg when something occurred to me.</p><p>Although the <a href="https://www.bestbuy.com/product/seagate-ironwolf-pro-24tb/J37C5H5HQ2" target="_blank">24TB Seagate IronWolf Pro costs the most upfront at $859.99 down from $911.99</a>, it actually works out at just $35.83 per terabyte, the lowest price in this selection and a terrific option if you're trying to maximize storage without filling every drive bay.</p><p>If 24TB is more than you need, <a href="https://www.bestbuy.com/product/seagate-ironwolf-pro-st12000nt001-12tb-7200-rpm-256mb-cache-sata-3-5-inch-internal-hard-drive/J37C5H5GJQ" target="_blank">Seagate's 12TB IronWolf Pro offers a more affordable alternative at $459.99, equating to $38.33 per terabyte</a>. It delivers the same Pro-grade platform while keeping the overall cost much lower for smaller home or business NAS systems.</p><h2 class="article-body__section" id="section-today-s-best-seagate-and-wd-nas-deals"><span>Today's best Seagate and WD NAS deals</span></h2><div class="product"><a data-dimension112="05d96baa-8128-11f1-bf73-2722044c21f3" data-action="Deal Block" data-label="This NAS hard drive combines massive capacity with a SATA interface, 3.5-inch form factor, and a reassuring five-year warranty, making it an excellent choice for long-term storage expansion." data-dimension48="This NAS hard drive combines massive capacity with a SATA interface, 3.5-inch form factor, and a reassuring five-year warranty, making it an excellent choice for long-term storage expansion." data-dimension25="$859.99" href="https://www.bestbuy.com/product/seagate-ironwolf-pro-24tb/J37C5H5HQ2" target="_blank" rel="nofollow"><figure class="van-image-figure " ><div class='image-full-width-wrapper'><div class='image-widthsetter' style="max-width:1024px;"><p class="vanilla-image-block" style="padding-top:146.48%;"><img id="4J4mAhwuGeAkSDuhDPEEtD" name="Seagate IronWolf Pro 24TB HDD" caption="" alt="" src="https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/4J4mAhwuGeAkSDuhDPEEtD.png" mos="" align="middle" fullscreen="" width="1024" height="1500" attribution="" endorsement="" credit="" class=""></p></div></div></figure></a><p>This NAS hard drive combines massive capacity with a SATA interface, 3.5-inch form factor, and a reassuring five-year warranty, making it an excellent choice for long-term storage expansion.<a class="view-deal button" href="https://www.bestbuy.com/product/seagate-ironwolf-pro-24tb/J37C5H5HQ2" target="_blank" rel="nofollow" data-dimension112="05d96baa-8128-11f1-bf73-2722044c21f3" data-action="Deal Block" data-label="This NAS hard drive combines massive capacity with a SATA interface, 3.5-inch form factor, and a reassuring five-year warranty, making it an excellent choice for long-term storage expansion." data-dimension48="This NAS hard drive combines massive capacity with a SATA interface, 3.5-inch form factor, and a reassuring five-year warranty, making it an excellent choice for long-term storage expansion." data-dimension25="$859.99">View Deal</a></p></div><div class="product"><a data-dimension112="05d96c2c-8128-11f1-b2d3-275f6bf6978b" data-action="Deal Block" data-label="This 12TB hard drive delivers 7,200RPM performance, a 256MB cache, SATA connectivity, and a five-year warranty, making it a dependable choice for backups and always-on storage." data-dimension48="This 12TB hard drive delivers 7,200RPM performance, a 256MB cache, SATA connectivity, and a five-year warranty, making it a dependable choice for backups and always-on storage." data-dimension25="$459.99" href="https://www.bestbuy.com/product/seagate-ironwolf-pro-st12000nt001-12tb-7200-rpm-256mb-cache-sata-3-5-inch-internal-hard-drive/J37C5H5GJQ" target="_blank" rel="nofollow"><figure class="van-image-figure " ><div class='image-full-width-wrapper'><div class='image-widthsetter' style="max-width:500px;"><p class="vanilla-image-block" style="padding-top:100.00%;"><img id="w3Hcs7UTJHmiE5sCdZ29M8" name="seagate-ironwolf-pro-12-tb-enterprise-na-5e21deeb-37f6-4eb3-bb1a-f9c0080c10ad.jpg" caption="" alt="" src="https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/w3Hcs7UTJHmiE5sCdZ29M8.jpg" mos="" align="middle" fullscreen="" width="500" height="500" attribution="" endorsement="" credit="" class=""></p></div></div></figure></a><p>This 12TB hard drive delivers 7,200RPM performance, a 256MB cache, SATA connectivity, and a five-year warranty, making it a dependable choice for backups and always-on storage.<a class="view-deal button" href="https://www.bestbuy.com/product/seagate-ironwolf-pro-st12000nt001-12tb-7200-rpm-256mb-cache-sata-3-5-inch-internal-hard-drive/J37C5H5GJQ" target="_blank" rel="nofollow" data-dimension112="05d96c2c-8128-11f1-b2d3-275f6bf6978b" data-action="Deal Block" data-label="This 12TB hard drive delivers 7,200RPM performance, a 256MB cache, SATA connectivity, and a five-year warranty, making it a dependable choice for backups and always-on storage." data-dimension48="This 12TB hard drive delivers 7,200RPM performance, a 256MB cache, SATA connectivity, and a five-year warranty, making it a dependable choice for backups and always-on storage." data-dimension25="$459.99">View Deal</a></p></div><div class="product"><a data-dimension112="05d96ca4-8128-11f1-9adb-cf9015f6c34a" data-action="Deal Block" data-label="Built for demanding NAS systems, WD's 16TB hard drive combines 7,200RPM performance, read and write speeds up to 259MB/s, a 512MB cache, SATA connectivity, and a five-year warranty for reliable always-on storage." data-dimension48="Built for demanding NAS systems, WD's 16TB hard drive combines 7,200RPM performance, read and write speeds up to 259MB/s, a 512MB cache, SATA connectivity, and a five-year warranty for reliable always-on storage." data-dimension25="$739.99" href="https://www.bestbuy.com/product/wd-red-pro-16tb-nas-internal-hard-drive/JXTHCJVX89" target="_blank" rel="nofollow"><figure class="van-image-figure " ><div class='image-full-width-wrapper'><div class='image-widthsetter' style="max-width:1064px;"><p class="vanilla-image-block" style="padding-top:134.30%;"><img id="HdwMhmtFjPX4hyQAxFikTR" name="western-digital-16tb-wd-red-pro-nas-inte-15610019-7c3b-444e-a58f-3aebb86b708c.jpg" caption="" alt="" src="https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/HdwMhmtFjPX4hyQAxFikTR.jpg" mos="" align="middle" fullscreen="" width="1064" height="1429" attribution="" endorsement="" credit="" class=""></p></div></div></figure></a><p>Built for demanding NAS systems, WD's 16TB hard drive combines 7,200RPM performance, read and write speeds up to 259MB/s, a 512MB cache, SATA connectivity, and a five-year warranty for reliable always-on storage.<a class="view-deal button" href="https://www.bestbuy.com/product/wd-red-pro-16tb-nas-internal-hard-drive/JXTHCJVX89" target="_blank" rel="nofollow" data-dimension112="05d96ca4-8128-11f1-9adb-cf9015f6c34a" data-action="Deal Block" data-label="Built for demanding NAS systems, WD's 16TB hard drive combines 7,200RPM performance, read and write speeds up to 259MB/s, a 512MB cache, SATA connectivity, and a five-year warranty for reliable always-on storage." data-dimension48="Built for demanding NAS systems, WD's 16TB hard drive combines 7,200RPM performance, read and write speeds up to 259MB/s, a 512MB cache, SATA connectivity, and a five-year warranty for reliable always-on storage." data-dimension25="$739.99">View Deal</a></p></div><div class="product"><a data-dimension112="05d96d94-8128-11f1-9992-a168711ad661" data-action="Deal Block" data-label="This 18TB hard drive delivers 7,200RPM performance, a 512MB cache, CMR technology, NASware 3.0, and support for workloads up to 300TB per year with a five-year warranty." data-dimension48="This 18TB hard drive delivers 7,200RPM performance, a 512MB cache, CMR technology, NASware 3.0, and support for workloads up to 300TB per year with a five-year warranty." data-dimension25="$784.99" href="https://www.newegg.com/red-pro-wd181kfgx-18tb-enterprise-nas-hard-drives-7200-rpm/p/N82E16822234430" target="_blank" rel="nofollow"><figure class="van-image-figure " ><div class='image-full-width-wrapper'><div class='image-widthsetter' style="max-width:1280px;"><p class="vanilla-image-block" style="padding-top:137.11%;"><img id="uJurhmTQ8cjAVdHgSxyHKf" name="wd-red-pro-18tb-7200-rpm-35-internal-har-ec1456d2-0329-4765-be14-ba8210be3494.webp" caption="" alt="" src="https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/uJurhmTQ8cjAVdHgSxyHKf.webp" mos="" align="middle" fullscreen="" width="1280" height="1755" attribution="" endorsement="" credit="" class=""></p></div></div></figure></a><p>This 18TB hard drive delivers 7,200RPM performance, a 512MB cache, CMR technology, NASware 3.0, and support for workloads up to 300TB per year with a five-year warranty.<a class="view-deal button" href="https://www.newegg.com/red-pro-wd181kfgx-18tb-enterprise-nas-hard-drives-7200-rpm/p/N82E16822234430" target="_blank" rel="nofollow" data-dimension112="05d96d94-8128-11f1-9992-a168711ad661" data-action="Deal Block" data-label="This 18TB hard drive delivers 7,200RPM performance, a 512MB cache, CMR technology, NASware 3.0, and support for workloads up to 300TB per year with a five-year warranty." data-dimension48="This 18TB hard drive delivers 7,200RPM performance, a 512MB cache, CMR technology, NASware 3.0, and support for workloads up to 300TB per year with a five-year warranty." data-dimension25="$784.99">View Deal</a></p></div><p>Western Digital's WD Red Pro range is always worth considering, and we get a lot of interest whenever the price drops. The 18TB model has been <a href="https://www.newegg.com/red-pro-wd181kfgx-18tb-enterprise-nas-hard-drives-7200-rpm/p/N82E16822234430" target="_blank">reduced to $784.99 at Newegg, or $43.61 per terabyte.</a></p><p>The slightly smaller 16TB version <a href="https://www.bestbuy.com/product/wd-red-pro-16tb-nas-internal-hard-drive/JXTHCJVX89" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">costs $739.99, which includes a $74.75 (9%) reduction off the usual $814.74</a>, and works out at $46.25 per terabyte.</p><p>Both WD drives are great choices for demanding multi-bay storage systems, but neither comes close to Seagate's value on a cost-per-terabyte basis.</p><p>Looking purely at capacity, performance, and value, the 24TB IronWolf Pro is easily the drive I'd choose.</p><p>You get the largest capacity available here, the lowest storage cost per terabyte, and enough space to postpone future upgrades for much longer than smaller drives.</p><p>If your budget can stretch to $859.99 for a single NAS drive, then this is the one that makes the strongest long-term case, and I have no hesitation at all in recommending it.</p><p>For more picks, take a look at guides to the <a href="https://www.techradar.com/news/the-10-best-nas-devices-reviewed" target="_blank">best NAS devices</a>, <a href="https://www.techradar.com/best/best-nas-hard-drives" target="_blank">best NAS hard drives</a> (including the WD Red Pro) and <a href="https://www.techradar.com/best/best-nas-and-media-server-distros" target="_blank">best NAS and media server distros</a>.</p> </article> ]]>