Hard drives for the Ubiquiti UCG Fiber
UCG Fiber storage: No SATA bays — NVMe SSD only (up to 2 TB, UACC-SSD-Tray required), plus 1 M.2 NVMe slot. Ubiquiti publishes storage requirements — capacity, CMR recording, spindle speed — rather than a per-drive whitelist. Requirements below are from help.ui.com, cross-checked 2026-11-03.
No per-drive whitelist — spec-based
Official storage requirements (apply to the UCG Fiber)
| Storage type | Ubiquiti's requirement |
|---|---|
| M.2 NVMe SSD | Requires Ubiquiti's M.2 SSD tray. Works with all SSDs but performance is limited to PCIe Gen3 x2 lanes; published ceiling 2 TB. For UniFi Protect, a DRAM cache and ≥ 0.3 DWPD endurance are required. |
Source: Ubiquiti Help Center, "UniFi Storage Requirements and Compatibility". Ubiquiti updates requirements without notice — verify before purchase.
Why there is no drive list here: unlike Synology, QNAP, Asustor, TerraMaster and UGREEN, Ubiquiti does not publish a per-drive compatibility matrix for the UCG Fiber. Any standard SATA drive meeting the requirements above is accepted — the practical risks are 5400 RPM drives in parity RAID, SMR drives in rebuild-heavy arrays, and 2.5-inch drives that exceed the 5 V budget.
Full hardware specs: Ubiquiti's official UCG Fiber page.
Drives that meet the spec — cross-checked against five official HCLs
Ubiquiti won't tell you which part number to buy, so here is the strongest public signal there is: CMR NAS/enterprise drives that Synology, QNAP, Asustor, TerraMaster and UGREEN list most widely on their own official compatibility lists.
| Drive | Brand | Series | Listed on | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| MG04ACA400E | Toshiba | MG04ACA**** | 451 machines/series | price |
| WD1005VBYZ | Western Digital | Gold | 451 machines/series | price |
| WD2005VBYZ | Western Digital | Gold | 451 machines/series | price |
| MG04ACA300E | Toshiba | MG04ACA**** | 418 machines/series | price |
| MG04ACA200E | Toshiba | MG04ACA**** | 416 machines/series | price |
| MG05ACA800E | Toshiba | MG05ACA**** | 393 machines/series | price |
| WD4003FFBX | Western Digital | Red Pro | 390 machines/series | price |
| ST6000NM021A | Seagate | Exos 7E8 | 389 machines/series | price |
UCG Fiber storage — quick answers
Can I use a WD Red Plus or Seagate IronWolf in the UCG Fiber?
Yes, provided the specific part number is CMR and (for multi-bay RAID) 7200 RPM-class. The drives in the table above are the most widely listed NAS and enterprise lines across five vendors' official HCLs — the same properties UniFi's requirements ask for. Check each drive's page for exact recording technology and RPM.
Do I have to buy Ubiquiti's Enterprise HDD?
No. Ubiquiti's 8/16/24 TB Enterprise HDD is the vendor-validated option, but the published requirements are vendor-neutral. Third-party CMR NAS drives are not firmware-blocked. What matters is CMR recording, adequate capacity (≥ 1 TB) and 7200 RPM for parity RAID.
Which NVMe SSD fits the UCG Fiber?
Any M.2 NVMe SSD mounted in Ubiquiti's SSD tray works, though bandwidth caps at PCIe Gen3 x2 and the published capacity ceiling is 2 TB. For Protect recording, pick a drive with a DRAM cache and ≥ 0.3 DWPD endurance.
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