Synology rack NAS fill calculator

What It Costs to Fill a Synology RS11626xs+

RS11626xs+ is a large enterprise RackStation, so drive choice quickly becomes a capital expense decision. The first sixteen data bays alone can shift by thousands of dollars based on capacity, support status and whether you buy Synology-listed drives.

This calculator reuses the central RS11626xs+ chassis data and current DatacenterDisk HDD prices. It does not invent chassis or expansion shelf prices when no current price is available.

Direct answer
To fill the first sixteen RS11626xs+ data bays, multiply sixteen drives by the current capacity-specific drive price, then compare raw and usable capacity under RAID 6 or RAID 10. For larger targets, add RX1222sas expansion units as required, but treat expansion-unit pricing as unavailable unless a current price exists.
Share:WhatsAppFacebookPost on X
Base data bays
16 HDD bays
16 x 3.5-inch SATA HDD / 2.5-inch SATA SSD bays
Dedicated SSD bays
4 SATA SSD bays
4 x 2.5-inch SATA SSD bays
Max modelled HDD bays
112 data bays
16 built-in plus eight 12-bay expansion shelves.
Maximum shown RAID 6 usable
3,520TB
Using the largest current SATA CMR/ePMR capacity in the price table: 32TB.
Interactive RS11626xs+ fill calculator
Drive count
16
Raw capacity
384TB
Estimated usable
336TB
Drive media cost
$11,024.00
Drive $/TB
$28.71/TB
Expansion units
None

Chassis and expansion-unit prices are shown as unavailable unless a current price exists. The calculator does not add a hidden zero-dollar chassis line.

WD Ultrastar 24TB SATA WUH722424ALE604Buy/View Price
First 16 data bays: live drive-size scenarios
Drive sizeDrive pickDrivesRawRAID 6 usableRAID 10 usableDrive cost$/usable TBOffer
12TBMDD 12TB SATA 6G 7200RPM Enterprise
$27.50/TB
16192TB168TB96TB$5,279.20$31.42/TBBuy/View Price
16TBSeagate IronWolf Pro 16TB NAS ST16000NE000
$26.87/TB
16256TB224TB128TB$6,879.84$30.71/TBBuy/View Price
18TBMDD 18TB SATA 6G 7200RPM NAS
$25.00/TB
16288TB252TB144TB$7,199.84$28.57/TBBuy/View Price
20TBMDD 20TB SATA 7200RPM NAS
$25.00/TB
16320TB280TB160TB$7,999.84$28.57/TBBuy/View Price
22TBWD Red Pro 22TB NAS WD221KFGX
$26.85/TB
16352TB308TB176TB$9,449.92$30.68/TBBuy/View Price
24TBWD Ultrastar 24TB SATA WUH722424ALE604
$28.71/TB
16384TB336TB192TB$11,024.00$32.81/TBBuy/View Price
32TBSeagate SkyHawk AI 32TB ST32000VE000
$36.25/TB
16512TB448TB256TB$18,559.84$41.43/TBBuy/View Price

Chassis and RX1222sas expansion-unit pricing are not treated as zero when unavailable. The table above is drive media only.

Build by target capacity

Target-capacity mode chooses a current drive size and drive count that can reach the requested RAID 6 usable capacity at the lowest current drive-media cost. It counts expansion units once the first sixteen data bays are exceeded, but it does not add an expansion chassis price unless a current price is available.

Usable targetRAIDDriveDrive countRawUsableExpansion unitsDrive cost
100TBRAID 6HGST HUS724030ALA640 3TB SATA Enterprise (3TB)36108TB102TB2 RX1222sas$2,159.64
250TBRAID 6HGST HUS724030ALA640 3TB SATA Enterprise (3TB)86258TB252TB6 RX1222sas$5,159.14
500TBRAID 6MDD 14TB SATA 6G 7200RPM 256MB Enterprise (14TB)38532TB504TB2 RX1222sas$12,539.62
1,000TBRAID 6MDD 14TB SATA 6G 7200RPM 256MB Enterprise (14TB)741,036TB1,008TB5 RX1222sas$24,419.26
2,000TBRAID 6MDD 20TB SATA 7200RPM NAS (20TB)1022,040TB2,000TB8 RX1222sas$50,998.98
3,520TBRAID 6Seagate SkyHawk AI 32TB ST32000VE000 (32TB)1123,584TB3,520TB8 RX1222sas$129,918.88
Official Synology support cost comparison
CapacityOfficial Synology partOfficial basketOpen-market enterprise basketPremium
4TBHAT5320-4TSupported-drive price unavailableWD Ultrastar 7K4000 4TB SATA NAS
$1,583.84
Economic/specification comparison only; not official Synology support.
Price comparison unavailable
8TBHAT5320-8TSupported-drive price unavailableWD WD Gold 8TB
$3,344.00
Economic/specification comparison only; not official Synology support.
Price comparison unavailable
12TBHAT5300-12TSupported-drive price unavailableMDD 12TB SATA 6G 7200RPM Enterprise
$5,279.20
Economic/specification comparison only; not official Synology support.
Price comparison unavailable
16TBHAT5310-16TSynology HAT5310 16TB SATA
$16,193.12
Seagate IronWolf Pro 16TB NAS ST16000NE000
$6,879.84
Economic/specification comparison only; not official Synology support.
$9,313.28 (135.4%)
20TBHAT5320-20TSupported-drive price unavailableMDD 20TB SATA 7200RPM NAS
$7,999.84
Economic/specification comparison only; not official Synology support.
Price comparison unavailable
24TBHAT5320-24TSupported-drive price unavailableWD Ultrastar 24TB SATA WUH722424ALE604
$11,024.00
Economic/specification comparison only; not official Synology support.
Price comparison unavailable
7TBSAT5210-7000GSupported-drive price unavailableOpen-market price unavailablePrice comparison unavailable

What does official Synology drive support cost?

Synology support status can be a procurement requirement on an enterprise RackStation. The comparison table uses Synology-listed part numbers where current prices exist and compares them with open-market enterprise SATA drives at the same capacity. The third-party calculation is an economic/specification comparison only; it does not mean those drives are officially supported for this model.

RAID modes for a large RackStation

RAID 6 is the default comparison here because sixteen large drives make single-parity RAID a weak default. RAID 10 trades half the raw capacity for simpler mirror-stripe behavior and strong rebuild characteristics. Real deployments may use Synology-specific pool and volume layouts, but the calculator keeps the assumptions visible.

RAID 6 formula(drive count - 2) x drive capacity
RAID 10 formula(drive count / 2) x drive capacity, with an even drive count
Raw $/TBDrive media cost / raw marketed TB
Usable $/TBDrive media cost / estimated usable TB

Expansion cost

RS11626xs+ expansion planning depends on RX1222sas units. The calculator counts how many expansion units are required for a target drive count, but expansion-unit price is shown as unavailable unless a current price exists. Treating an unavailable chassis as free would make the system total misleading.

SSD tier cost

The four dedicated SATA SSD bays are separate from the main HDD pool. Use them for cache or hot data only when the workload needs it. For SSD pricing context, compare NAS SSD recommendations and enterprise NVMe prices rather than folding SSDs into the HDD bay count.

RS11626xs+ specs
Central chassis specs, 25GbE path and expansion context.
RS11626xs+ compatible drives
Official support list versus third-party cost comparison.
Synology drive policy
How support boundaries affect drive choice.
NAS HDD prices
Current CMR NAS drive rankings by $/TB.
SATA HDD prices
Current enterprise SATA drive pricing.
NAS builder
General NAS capacity and RAID planning.

Frequently asked questions

What does it cost to fill a Synology RS11626xs+?

The first sixteen data bays are priced from current DatacenterDisk SATA CMR/ePMR HDD offers. The total changes as drive prices change, and chassis or expansion-unit prices are not treated as zero when unavailable.

How many drives does RS11626xs+ use?

The chassis has sixteen main SATA data bays, four dedicated 2.5-inch SATA SSD bays and expansion to a much larger bay count using RX1222sas units. This calculator models main data-bay HDD capacity separately from SSD tiers.

Should I use RAID 5 on a large RS11626xs+ array?

For large enterprise HDD pools, RAID 6 or another dual-parity design is usually the safer comparison point. The calculator includes RAID 10 as a mirror-stripe alternative.

Are third-party drives officially supported?

This page does not label third-party drives as officially supported. It compares open-market enterprise drive economics against Synology-listed parts while keeping support status visible.

Sources checked: Synology RS11626xs+ official product page, Synology compatibility search.