Finding the Right Hard-drive for UDMPro : Seagate – SkyHawk AI – ST16000VE000

Recently I have upgraded from Cloud Key Gne 2 Plus to UDM Pro (Unifi Dream Machine Pro) because of storage capacity limitations with Cloud Key Gen 2 Plus, with 15 G3 Flex Cameras.

The Cloud Key Gen 2 Plus is great investment for small environment with limited cameras. It’s got a 1TB hard drive built in with Unifi Protect controller built in. It’s easy to setup and administer. The only downside is that the limitation of hard drive. In my case of 15 G3 Flex cameras, if I configure them to recording at all time, the maximum storage is good for 3.5 days and then it starts to rolling removal of old videos. Less than a few days is definitely not ideal.

I have two options. One is to upgrade the 1TB to 5TB but still using Cloud Key Gen2. This option will give 5x storage without too much hassle to change any network controller etc. Should be a easy and safe upgrade. But still leaves me with less than 30 days of storage.

The other option is to upgrade the entire network to the new Unifi Dream Machine Pro, with advanced gateway functionality like Access and Phone, in addition to the built in gateway, controller, and protect. For the MSRP $379.00 price tag, it does not have any hard disk built in. You can purchase any compatible disks the Unifi listed on their website. The maximum capacity is 16TB. That should be good for 40-60 days of recording in my scenario.

Here is the link to the Unifi site for the compatible disk page. You can check back for any latest updates there.

https://help.ui.com/hc/en-us/articles/360037340954-UniFi-Protect-Hard-drive-compatibility

I am copying their list here for quick reference, as of today:

UniFi Dream Machine Pro and UniFi Protect Network Video Recorder

The UDM-Pro and UNVR require the HDD to have one partition of ext4 filesystem format. If the HDD isn’t pre-formatted when inserted, the device will format it to be one partition of ext4 filesystem.

Compatible Hard Drives

Vendor	Series	Model	Capacity	Spindle Speed	Notes
Seagate	SkyHawk AI	ST16000VEZ00	16TB	7200RPM
Seagate	SkyHawk	ST14000VX0004	14TB	7200RPM
Seagate	SkyHawk	ST8000VX0004	8TB	7200RPM	No middle screw, but drive fits tray.
Western Digital	Red PRO	WD101KFBX	10TB	7200RPM
Western Digital	Red	WD10EFRX	1TB	5400RPM
Western Digital	Red Enterprise	WD2004FBYZ	2TB	7200RPM	Only non-SMR drives are compatible
Western Digital	WD Gold	WD2005FBYZ	2TB	7200RPM
Western Digital	Red	WD80EFAX	8TB	5400RPM
Western Digital	Purple	WD81PURZ	8TB	5400RPM
Western Digital	Purple	WD82PURZ	8TB	7200RPM

Incompatible Hard Drives

Vendor	Series	Model	Capacity	Spindle Speed	Notes
Seagate	SkyHawk	ST10000VX0004	10TB	7200RPM	Does not fit drive tray.
Seagate	Ultrathin	ST500LT032	500GB	5400RPM	Does not have bottom screws.
Western Digital	UltraSlim	WD5000MPCK	500GB	5400RPM	Does not have bottom screws and connector not fit tray.
Any	Any	SMR Drives	Any	Any	Drives fit tray but cause issues.

Cloud Key Gen2 Plus

Compatible Hard Drives

Vendor	Series	Model	Capacity	Spindle Speed	Notes
Seagate	BarraCuda	ST5000LM000	5TB	5400RPM

Incompatible Hard Drives

Vendor	Series	Model	Capacity	Spindle Speed	Notes
Seagate	Ironwolf	ZA960NM10001	960GB	N/A	Does not meet Power Requirements*
Seagate	Ironwolf	ZA1920NM10001	1.92TB	N/A	Does not meet Power Requirements*
Seagate	Ironwolf	ZA3840NM10001	3.84TB	N/A	Does not meet Power Requirements*

* The Cloud Key Gen2 Plus does not support hard drives that require a 12V supply in addition to the default 5V supply.

One of the challenge was that I can’t find the exact 16TB drive listed: Seagate – SkyHawk AI – ST16000VEZ00

Out of urgency, I purchased a slightly different version of the drive: Seagate – SkyHawk AI – ST16000VE000 To my delight, I had that drive dropped in and worked like a charm! No issues or complains and I could see all 16 TB capacity once Protect was setup!

Here is the link to the Amazon listing in case you need. It’s still available for sale at this time, at bout $377.00 with free shipping.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07XBTS8S1

Best of luck getting your Unifi Protect upgraded!