4 things you should know before shucking external hard drives for your NAS

You’re looking to flesh out your storage capacity and just checked your favorite online retailer for prices. After recovering from shock, one easily learns just how expensive this hobby can become, with drive prices reaching the thousands, depending on specs and storage type. It doesn’t have to cost you a small fortune as there are some ways to save money without missing out on anything vital. Purchasing external enclosures with installed drives for “shucking” is one way, which involves extracting the drive and using it in a network-attached storage (NAS) device or server.

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You’re playing with fire the warranty

Be very careful when shucking

One thing to bear in mind when shopping around for external enclosures to “shuck” is the warranty (or lack thereof). Most of these devices will only be supported for one year, which is a far cry from the three to five years often applied to NAS drives. This warranty is easily voided when taking apart the enclosure. Brands don’t want you doing this, which is why you should be extra careful when extracting the internal drive from the enclosure. Any damage or signs that it has been tampered with could void your warranty.

Should you need to send the drive and the external casing back to the manufacturer, you’ll want no signs that it was taken apart in the first place. This also means you’re running with shorter warranties for your drives, so you’ll need to weigh this up against purchasing a drive outright or going with certified refurbs.

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Only the drive matters!

When extracting drives out of purchased prebuilt sealed enclosures, only the drive matters. The rest of the specs are irrelevant, but you must ensure the drive can handle the loads you plan for it. Not all enclosures are built the same. Some will have advanced NAS-grade HDDs, while others may have simple and affordable drives found in a budget-friendly gaming PC. This is why reviews and coverage of a specific external enclosure model should be analyzed.

The last thing you’d want is to spend $100 on an enclosure only to find it has a $50 hard drive inside. You’re not saving anything compared to buying a NAS drive outright.

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Test the drive before shucking

Check that the drive performs as expected

When buying an enclosure to remove the drive, you should connect it to your PC to see how it performs. This is important to ensure it’s good for the rated speeds, and a stress test will check that it won’t fail under heavy loads. You should also reference S.M.A.R.T. data that can show any anomalies before you make the move to extract it. If anything seems off about the drive from these tests, returning it to the store may be the better option.

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Refurbished enterprise storage may be better

Save money and potential headaches

Shucking drives from external enclosures can be a great way to save money and pick up some absolute deals, especially when promotions or sales such as Amazon Prime Day or Black Friday are underway, but they can also include shingles and potential headaches. This would make it more difficult to feel like you’re gaining something out of the process or getting one up over NAS drives at MSRP, which is where certified refurbished enterprise storage can come into play.

Refurbished storage drives can come with extended warranties, which should provide additional peace of mind over shucking a drive from an enclosure that may not be designed for NAS usage or have a voided/limited warranty. Sources such as Server Part Deals are great for picking up just about everything at discounted prices.

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Buying cheaper storage for your NAS

It’s important to consider what you’re purchasing for your NAS or home lab server. Refurbished and certified enterprise hardware can be a good route to take to ensure you’re buying high-quality parts, which will be better value in the long run compared to consumer-grade equivalents not designed for these applications. Shucking drives from external enclosures can prove invaluable if you’re able to score a deal on the entire unit being cheaper than a standalone NAS or enterprise-grade drive.

I recommend shopping around to see what other deals are available before shucking a drive. Always do your research on the enclosure and look at reviews, as others may have had the same idea and purchased one to see what drive was inside. You don’t want to save $10 on an enclosure only to find an unsuitable drive inside. And sometimes, buying a standalone drive can be cheaper, even at full MSRP, especially when you factor in risk and potential issues.