Is it ok to use a Seagate Ironwolf HDD to run games?

[Mechajunkie]

So I already have it installed and operating and so far things seem OK.

But with it being a NAS drive which is something I'm not at all familiar with, I was wondering if there might be any issues I should be aware of, because I'm not using it in the role it was intended for, and it is my understanding that a NAS drive functions somewhat different from a standard HDD.

I tried doing a search for an answer before posting, but I couldn't find much info beyond:

Annon1: Cahunnahuuse?
Annon2: yahss.



Thanks for any help.

[Cathulhu]

Can you? Yes.
But NAS drives are not exactly designed for performance so expect longer load times.

[Norman Schwarzkopf Jr.]

You can use it as a normal HDD.
Be aware of the fact, that a HDD is slow as hell and shouldnt be used as a drive for your gaming-files. Loading games will take forever and delayed textures in games are also a issue with HDDs.

[emoticorpse]

I think a NAS hdd is just a marketing term isn't it?. I mean for the most part, you can forget it's a NAS hdd and just look at it as similar to most other HDD's with maybe a few different characteristics, but it's not so different that it's NOT an hdd and closer to an sdd right?.

If don't think games run well off hdd's in general, then you really shouldn't be running one on a NAS hdd?

That's what I'm thinking. Not sure if I'm wrong on this but might be.

[Zef]

You can, but why would you want to?

Most NAS rated HDD's have lower RPM compared to their desktop variants (WD Black vs WD red), other then that they have a few different additions like

- optimized for RAID configurations
- anti vibration sensors for when you have multiple drives in a NAS/server.
- more reliable for 24/7 spinning operations

since you will be using this drive standalone and wanting to play games on it there is litteraly no added benefit from using a NAS drive.

and also why still use HDD's in a desktop PC? i can get not wanting to splurge on high capatity NVME drives for old games and photo's but old school SATA SDD's are cheap in comparison these days.

I would get a NVME for your Windows OS/ next gen open world titles, and then one or more SATA SDD's for everything else (photo's, documents, archival stuff, old games).

[Cathulhu]

emoticorpse původně napsal:

I think a NAS hdd is just a marketing term isn't it?

It is not. They use a different firmware and often hardware designed for continous running. It's not drastically different from a "normal" HDD, but there are differences.

[Viking2121]

You can, I use to do just this on a HGST 6tb drive, it was cheaper as a refurb than even a 500GB SSD at the time and was using it for just games, so no data sensitive stuff on it. There will be some games that may take a long time to load if its the 5400rpm variant, and there is a handful of modern games that just wont perform well when on a HDD.

If you have not hooked it up yet, and if it doesn't work or read in Windows/Linux, you may have to use an adapter, like Molex to sata power or sata male to female, basically you want to eliminate the orange wire or 3.3v wire, most consumer grade PSU's don't support the Power Down Feature that a lot of servers have.

[HypersleepyNaputunia]

its really nice to fit everything on 1 hdd, os, all games, movies, music on a 12 tb $100 drive

simple uncomplicated

[Zef]

HypersleepyNaputunia původně napsal:

its really nice to fit everything on 1 hdd, os, all games, movies, music on a 12 tb $100 drive

simple uncomplicated

It's even better if you were to install that 12TB drive in a NAS enclosure so you can acces that data from every client device in your home from a centralized location.

unless you're only playing games from before 2006 why the hell would you still use a HDD for gaming.

[Mr White]

hdd-Good for files
SSD- Better for games.

[_I_]

Casual Gamer původně napsal:

hdd-Good for files
SSD- Better for games.

hes asking about a drive designed to be used in nas or for server/raid config

if its a low rpm or 2.5in drive, no do not use it for games

3.5in 7200rpm with 128+mb cache, will be ok, even if its designed for server/nas uses

[MonkehMaster]

assuming you are using it, cause you need and have it, but dont want to buy a new one...

then it will be fine using it, but expect it to be slow on loading games.

that being said, hdd's now a days, are generally used for storage and/or backups.

[Mechajunkie]

Thanks for the answers guys.

For clarification, I'm capping-off whatever can be done to upgrade my old HP Envy 750-229 desktop into a semi-decent machine for playing mostly indie games and some older AAA games at 1080p with a solid 60-72FPS(using mid or even high graphics settings) for a few more years.


This is what I've done so far:

-replaced stock 300W PSU with Corsair CX750M 750W 80+Bronze PSU

-replaced stock 8GB RAM(single channel) with Timetec 16GB RAM(dual channel)

-replaced stock internal 1TB HDD C-drive with Samsung 870 EVO 2TB SATA SSD

-replaced secondary internal 2TB HDD Seagate Barracuda with internal 8TB HDD Seagate Ironwolf

-replaced Zotac 2GB GT 1030 Zone Edition with Asus 8GB RTX 3050 Dual OC


As of this post, the only thing left to do is replace the i5-6400 2.7GHz with a i7-6700k 4GHz.

THIS part I'm still summoning up the courage to do, as this will be the first time I have ever replaced a CPU. Maybe I'll do it this evening, maybe sometime tomorrow....

If anyone is curious and want to look at the individual specs for themselves, the model numbers for the Seagate HDDs that I have are ST2000DM006(2TB Barracuda), and ST8000VN004(8TB Ironwolf).

[Lord Flashheart]

Mechajunkie původně napsal:

So I already have it installed and operating and so far things seem OK.

But with it being a NAS drive which is something I'm not at all familiar with, I was wondering if there might be any issues I should be aware of, because I'm not using it in the role it was intended for, and it is my understanding that a NAS drive functions somewhat different from a standard HDD.

I tried doing a search for an answer before posting, but I couldn't find much info beyond:

Annon1: Cahunnahuuse?
Annon2: yahss.



Thanks for any help.

I use NAS drives to run games off, but they are in a Server running a NAS, for what they were designed.
Oh and a 1/2TB nvme and primocache software also.
I suggest looking into a caching setup, so an NVME cacheing the slow NAS hard drive.

Running games directly off a NAS drive I expect would be an awful expereience, with very long load times & stutter.

[Midnight Aurais]

alot of people don't take in account that the majority of games are build with a harddrive in mind for newer games ssd's are recommended older games unless it is a crap ton of loose files aka bethesda games it is alot better to just store them on a harddrive

the problem comes due to the games being build around the harddrive the loading screens often stick around for some time even while in truth if you were to be able to look behind the loading screen the game is already loaded yet you cant press a button to continue as it says it is still loading in cases like these it visually loaded at the same time

that said were a ssd could help with in older games is texture pop in but again that depends on the game

so just use some logic behind the use case of your ssd/m.2 majority of older games basically 1 year still after ssd's became mainstream as there is some time between the game adoption of new hardware go to the harddrive the rest to the ssd

exception would be large scale games like gta, watch dogs and such also the games were ssd's benefit the most are the majority of mmorpg's

it is just funny that people act like we always had ssd's harddrive gaming impossible! probably also just ease of use to not care about managing were what game goes

[DevaVictrix]

To some extent, it's up to you to tell us. If it works for you with the games you play then 'yes', if not, 'no'.

HDDs for gaming are coming to a close though for new games. God of War was terrible on a HDD for me and my 2tb Barracuda drive became a NAS drive at that point. Same discussion in reverse, but it'll be OK ( !, ?)