NAS & RAID Calculator

NAS pSEO Landing

5x 4TB RAID 6 NAS Calculator | Usable TB

Estimate usable TB, parity overhead, and fault tolerance for 5x 4TB in RAID 6. Includes reserve planning for NAS and homelab arrays.

Capacity Snapshot

Raw Capacity

20.00 TB

Usable Capacity

10.80 TB

Fault Tolerance

2 drives

Efficiency

60.0%

Safer for larger arrays with dual parity, at the cost of one extra parity disk. This scenario applies a 10% filesystem reserve.

Run Interactive Calculator

Alternative Mode Comparison

Mode Usable Tolerance Efficiency
RAID 5 14.40 TB 1 drive 80.0%
RAID 6 10.80 TB 2 drives 60.0%
RAID 10 N/A N/A N/A
RAID-Z1 14.40 TB 1 drive 80.0%
RAID-Z2 10.80 TB 2 drives 60.0%

NAS Cluster Guides

Related Long-Tail Calculators

Sequential Long-Tail Navigation

FAQ

Why include a 10% reserve when planning NAS storage headroom?

Keeping free space improves filesystem behavior for snapshots, metadata, and write performance. Full arrays often perform worse and rebuild more slowly.

Should I optimize this 5-drive plan for available space or resiliency first?

For long-lived NAS pools, resiliency first is usually safer. Capacity can be expanded later, while a risky parity choice can force migration sooner.

How many disk failures can RAID 6 tolerate in this setup?

This setup can tolerate 2 drives. Real-world survivability depends on mirror placement, rebuild stress, and drive health.

How much usable storage does 5x 4TB RAID 6 provide?

This NAS planning scenario estimates 10.80 TB usable after a 10% reserve from 20.00 TB raw.