How long does it take to rebuild a 16TB drive in a NAS?
As a theoretical floor, a 16TB drive read or written flat-out at 180–260 MB/s sustained takes roughly 17–25 hours. Real rebuilds run longer — parity, concurrent use and throttling add time, and SMR can multiply it. At this capacity strongly prefer RAID 6 / SHR-2, and use CMR drives.
Last verified July 22, 2026 · 2 official sources checked Updated
This is a floor, not a promise: it assumes the drive reads or writes flat-out at the rate you set, with nothing else happening. Real rebuilds run longer — parity computation, using the NAS during the rebuild, and drive throttling all add time, and an SMR drive can multiply it. Sustained rates for current 3.5-inch NAS drives run roughly 180–280 MB/s (see each drive’s datasheet); 200 MB/s is a reasonable middle default.
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At 16 TB a rebuild is measured in the better part of a day or more, which is exactly why large arrays lean on double parity.
The theoretical floor
Capacity ÷ sustained transfer rate gives the fastest possible rebuild. Current 3.5-inch NAS drives publish sustained rates around 180–260 MB/s. A 16 TB drive: 16,000,000 MB ÷ (180–260 MB/s) ≈ 17–25 hours as a floor. Try your drive's rate in the estimator above.
Why real rebuilds run longer
- Parity computation, concurrent use and throttling all add hours.
- SMR drives can extend this into several days.
Why it matters
A single-parity 16 TB rebuild leaves you unprotected for a day or more. At this capacity the case for RAID 6 / SHR-2 is strong — the rebuild is long enough that a second failure during it is a genuine risk, and double parity survives it. Use CMR drives and start the repair immediately. The table lists in-stock 16 TB CMR drives by price per terabyte.
16 TB CMR drives, by CA$/TB
Live Amazon.ca prices in CAD, ranked by price per terabyte. The Recording column is verified against manufacturer documentation.
| Model | Capacity | Recording | Price | Price per TB | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Seagate IronWolf Pro 3.5-inch 16TB Internal Hard Disk HDD CMR 3.5-inch Data Recovery ST16000NT001 PC 6Gb/s 256MB 7200rpm 24-Hour Operationbest price per TB | 16 TB | CMR ✓ | CA$740 | CA$46.24/TB | On Amazon.ca |
| Seagate IronWolf Pro 16TB Enterprise NAS Internal HDD Hard Drive – CMR 3.5 Inch SATA 6Gb/s 7200 RPM 256MB Cache for RAID Network Attached Storage, Rescue Services (ST16000NTZ01/ST16000NT001) | 16 TB | CMR ✓ | CA$750 | CA$46.87/TB | On Amazon.ca |
| Western Digital 16TB WD Red Pro NAS Internal Hard Drive HDD - 7200 RPM, SATA 6 Gb/s, CMR, 256 MB Cache, 3.5" - WD161KFGX | 16 TB | CMR ✓ | CA$890 | CA$55.62/TB | On Amazon.ca |
| Toshiba 16TB N300 Internal Hard Drive – NAS 3.5 Inch SATA HDD Supports Up to 8 Drive Bays Designed for 24/7 NAS Systems, New Generation (HDWG31GUZSVA) | 16 TB | CMR ✓ | CA$2,023 | CA$126.44/TB | On Amazon.ca |
Related questions
Sources
Every technical claim on this page is checked against manufacturer and standards documentation. Dates are when each source was last reviewed.
- Seagate — IronWolf Pro datasheet (Max Sustained Transfer Rate OD, up to ~285 MB/s) — checked 2026-07-22
- Synology KB — Repair a Storage Pool — checked 2026-07-22