Recommended Hardware Setup

[dodobird]

I just bought a Dell PowerEdge R710.  I am trying to figure out what kind of hard drives to buy.  I was thinking 7200 RPMs, but then saw WD Red (recommended for NAS storage).  I plan to use the server for storage and VMs.  The one thing I did not understand was if WD Reds are for NAS, why are they only 5200 RPMs?

What is a recommended setup?  I don't need much storage; 2 TB at most.  This will be for a home environment, and I plan on doing some testing/playing around with it.

[daphnissov]

WD has the Red Pro line which are 7.2K.

[dodobird]

Would something like this work fine: WD Blue 500GB Desktop Hard Disk Drive - 7200 RPM SATA 6Gb/s 32MB Cache 3.5 Inch - WD5000AZLX - Neweg...  ?

[daphnissov]

Basically any drive will work, but if this is going to be online and servicing VMs 24 x 7 x 365 then you probably want a drive designed for NAS duties.