With storage requirements becoming bigger and bigger all the time, WD have a 6 TB drive in their Red NAS range, and here is our review.
WD Red hard drives also feature 3D Active Balance Plus, an enhanced balance control technology, which significantly improves overall drive performance and reliability. Exclusive for WD Red customers, WD offers free premium 24×7 dedicated support. By increasing NASware 3.0 capability, the WD Red 1–6 TB capacity drives are capable of supporting up to eight bays NAS systems with no negative impact to performance. The drives have a 3.5 Inch, 1.2TB / Disk; 5-Platter Design.
Who are WD?
From their website:
WE ARE THOUSANDS OF PEOPLE WORLDWIDE WORKING TO ENABLE YOU TO STORE, COLLECT, ACCESS, AND USE A VAST AND GROWING BODY OF DIGITAL INFORMATION. OUR RELIABLE HARD DRIVES AND SOLID STATE DRIVES, MARKETED UNDER THE WD AND HGST BRANDS, ARE EVERYWHERE THAT DIGITAL INFORMATION AND CONTENT IS FOUND: IN THE CLOUD, SUPPORTING YOUR MOBILE DIGITAL LIFESTYLE; IN BUSINESS AND PERSONAL COMPUTERS; IN EXTERNAL STORAGE DEVICES; IN THE DIGITAL VIDEO RECORDER IN YOUR HOME; AND IN SOPHISTICATED MEDICAL, MILITARY, AEROSPACE, AUTOMOTIVE, MANUFACTURING AND TELECOMMUNICATIONS SYSTEMS. WE ALSO MAKE MEDIA PLAYERS THAT ENABLE YOU TO ENJOY YOUR DIGITAL CONTENT ON THE BIGGEST SCREEN IN YOUR HOUSE – YOUR TV. OUR CUSTOMERS RANGE FROM SOME OF THE LARGEST COMPANIES IN THE WORLD TO INDIVIDUAL USERS LIKE YOU.
Specifications
A Closer Look at the Drive
Windows sees the drive as 5.45 TB.
Performance Tests
CrystalDiskMark
The average read speed was 177.8 MB/s and the average write speed was 172.6 MB/s (which is up on WD’s previous 4 TB Red Drive).
Final Thoughts
The WD Red drive comes in a variety of sizes from 750 GB all the way up to the new 6 TB version we are reviewing here.
This is one of the first 6 TB drives on the market so if you need a lot of storage, and a good speed, and you plan on using the drive in your NAS then you really should look at this drive closely.
Also, this drive comes with a 3 year warranty. Now this may not seem like a major selling point to some people but believe me over the years I have had my fair share of failed drives and so it’s nice to know that anytime during that 3 year period WD will replace my drive if I have a problem – after all, you are spending a lot of money on it!
Every WD Red hard drive also comes with professional support services which includes a premium dedicated 24/7 support line. I didn’t need to use them during the course of this review, but having that option there if you need it is very good.
The performance of the drive is very good – especially as these drives are optimised and designed for use in a NAS, so if you want a reliable, good performing storage drive for your NAS then this will be right up your alley.
The WD website also has a NAS Compatibility Selector which enables you to check if these drives are compatible with your NAS – it’s certainly worth checking, although you will find all the usual suspects are supported.
The retail price for the 6 TB drive (WD60EFRX) is around £240 but as usual look around for a good deal.
