Specifically designed for those with medium or large businesses, WD Red Pro hard drives are available for NAS systems with up to 24 bays.
Designed to handle high-demand workloads in 24/7 work environments, the WD Red Pro is ideal for archiving and sharing, as well as for rebuilding RAID arrays in advanced operating systems like ZFS or other file systems.
These units add value to your business by enabling your staff to quickly share their files and reliably back up folders with your existing NAS solution.
Desktop Hard Drives vs WD Red Pro Units
Do the best for your NAS system and choose a hard drive specifically designed for NAS systems with a range of features that allow you to store your data and maintain optimal performance. Consider the following when choosing a hard drive for a NAS system:
Compatibility: Unlike desktop drives, these drives have been specifically tested for compatibility with NAS systems for optimal performance.
Reliability: NAS or RAID environments that operate continuously generate high heat, and desktop drives are typically not designed and tested under these conditions, as is the case with WD Red Pro drives.
Error Recovery Settings: WD Red Pro hard drives for NAS are specifically designed with error recovery settings for RAID, so as to reduce errors in the NAS system.
Noise and Vibration Protection: Designed to operate independently, desktop hard drives usually offer little to no protection from the noise and vibrations prevalent in a multi-drive system. WD Red Pro drives are designed for high performance in multi-bay NAS system environments.
Exclusive NASware 3.0 Technology
The exclusive advanced technology of Western Digital's NASware 3.0 software allows seamless integration, robust data protection, and optimal performance in highly demanding NAS environments.
Embedded in every WD Red Pro hard drive, the advanced NASware 3.0 technology enhances system performance in storage by increasing compatibility, integration, upgradeability, and reliability.
Greater shock protection
WD Red Pro drives feature a multi-axis shock sensor that automatically detects any subtle shock events and dynamic fly height technology that adjusts the read-write head operations to compensate and protect data.
This combination of technologies further protects the drives in larger 24-bay NAS environments and increases the reliability of the hard drives.
3D Active Balance Plus
The improved technology of Western Digital for dual-plane balance significantly enhances the overall performance and reliability of the unit. If hard drives do not have proper balance, excessive vibrations and noise may occur in systems with multiple units, reducing the lifespan of the hard drives and degrading their performance over time.
Prevention for Error Recovery
Specifically designed for RAID and NAS environments, WD Red Pro drives feature error recovery settings, which are integrated into NASware 3.0 technology, thus reducing disk errors in RAID applications.
Extensive disk testing
A NAS environment with up to 24 bays is very demanding for a hard drive, as there are additional vibrations and heat. That is why every WD Red Pro drive is shipped after undergoing extensive thermal cycle testing, to ensure that each drive is tested for extended and reliable operation.
Specifications are collected from official manufacturer websites. Please verify the specifications before proceeding with your final purchase. If you notice any problem you can
report it here.
Bought for 350€, you can't call it cheap. I waited for a while hoping that the prices of HDs would drop like NVMEs, but in vain.
It was plugged into an Asus X570e gaming motherboard, the performance is very good.
It makes noise, as if it's writing with a pencil.
I have a 4Tb and a 2Tb, I put them in the NAS DS918+. I won't talk about the strange noise like boiling water, but the 4tb after 5 hours of verifying was at 79%.
The 2tb crashed after 7 months!!!!
I literally wear them out with write-delete. I have never had a problem with a WD drive. From all the other well-known companies, I have had unpleasant experiences. For conventional drives, WD is the best, in my opinion.
1 year of use in raid 1, (2x6TB). Very fast on the internal network with a Gbit switch. Right from the start of setting up the POOL, one of them showed signs of bad sectors, which increased daily as data was written to it. It was replaced by the company within warranty, without any data loss and the re-creation of the POOL without any issues in the existing Raid 1. As for noise, I don't have a strong opinion, as the fans cooling the PC are already noisy and the PC is "abandoned" in the storage room.
Good gold and holy I don't say, 220mb/sec in an external box with usb3 but .... guys I was shocked by the noise it makes when you use it! It reminded me of a 25-year-old HDD! I didn't keep it, I sold it in a month because I wanted it mainly for backup use and when I opened it at night, it could be heard in the next room! I'm looking at the purple series now, which is supposed to be quieter.
In operation for 3 months as a third disk on a PC for file backup only. With very little activity, it already has bad sectors and cannot be repaired with a simple chkdsk /f/r. I transferred as many files as I could, but I had losses. I had told myself never again WD, but I was swayed by its features, the PRO, and other comments I read on the internet.
They were installed on Synology NAS 220+. They have not shown any malfunction, they are quiet and have not increased the temperature. Time will tell about their durability.
Located on a Synology without RAID. Simple NAS operating 24/7 without Hibernation.
So far, after 1 year, it is working perfectly without any bad sectors, etc.
By the way, please note that the entire WD RED series from 2TB-6TB is not recommended for RAID.
Its reading speed is flawless.
Regarding writing, due to SMR, it has crazy fluctuations, which can be annoying during the transfer of large amounts of files. In other words, it depends on the purpose you want to use it for.
edit:
After experiencing the exact same conditions, on the exact same machine, in the exact same position, with the Seagate IronWolf 4TB VN008,
the "Western Digital 2TB Red Pro NAS WD2002FFSX 7200RPM" is noticeably noisier than the "Seagate IronWolf 4TB VN008 5900rpm".
I am not modifying the review regarding the noise because it still doesn't bother you, nor do I consider it unbearable (at a distance of 1.5m). It's just that with the WD, when you shut down the NAS, you barely notice that something was working before, while when you shut down the NAS with the Seagate, you don't notice any sound difference, it is completely silent.
Also, under the exact same conditions, I also tested 2 Seagate Barracuda Green 1.5TB L003 7200RPM (not suitable for NAS!) and they were also completely silent.
Good and fast but with 2 power outages it short-circuited and it's useless. It's better to spend the extra money on someone more reliable even if it has less space.
It rattles (crack crack) when you read it and this vibration is transmitted to the box. I had to put it in a case and use it as an external one. The only other significant problem.