There are faster and more durable drives available but they also cost more to buy and operate in power requirements. I'm not sure it makes a lot of difference for a home server. Drive requirements are certainly an issue when choosing a NAS though.

jvincent, what was the name of that package for the WD drives? A search turns up some recommendations from WD to reduce the head parking.

I have created a new thread to summarize what I did to fix the problem with the WD drives. Since it involves compiling and installing a S/W utility on the QNAP, I figure that is of general interest.

New thread: http://www.digitalhome.ca/forum/showthread.php?t=148388

Given the flexibility that the QNAP seems to offer, I can highly recommend it.

I think the album "Stillmatic" was probably his best work.