WD Red grows to 6TB, adds faster Pro family

jh30uk

jh30uk

jh30uk

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"WD has expanded its lineup of NAS-specific hard drives on two fronts. The Red family now includes higher-capacity 5TB and 6TB models, and there's a new batch of Red Pro units with higher spindle speeds."


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Full specifications haven't been posted online just yet. However, AnandTech indicates that the 6TB monster is a five-platter design. The drive reportedly uses traditional magnetic recording technology, and I don't see any mention of Helium-filled internals or other exotic attributes. Like the other Reds, it and the 5TB variant have ~5,400-RPM "IntelliPower" rotational speeds and three-year warranties.

They also have company. The standard Reds have been joined by a Red Pro family that cranks the spindle speed up to 7,200-RPM and the warranty up to five years. The Pros top out at 4TB, but thanks to robust vibration compensation, they're good for systems with up to 16 bays. The standard drives are only meant for machines with up to eight bays, and then only with the latest NASware 3.0 firmware. Five bays was the official maximum for the old Red firmware.

Here's how the new models stack up against WD's existing NAS drives:


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Along with the older drives, the NAS 6TB and NAS Pro 4TB are both in stock at Newegg right now. The other additions are listed as out of stock with no ETA.

WD also plans to introduce 5TB and 6TB versions of its Green drives, which are similar to the Reds but lack NAS- and RAID-specific features. I don't see the new Greens selling online, but they should appear soon and will also be found in some of WD's external storage products.
 
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Awesome news, I've been using the standard reds in my NAS 24/7 for about 18 months now and they have been spot on. I don't think my NAS can support the 6TB ones but good news for when I need a new NAS :)
 
Can this be used for normal desktop usage? My 2tb WD Black is getting full and need something bigger. Was thinking of going for a red one or for a 4tb Black but i cannot justify the black's price especially since this one will have my games and and my media, while my ssd has the os and the important game
 
These are just like every other hard drive out there. Simply plug in and go :)

I currently have 2 3tb red's in my system and they are excellent drives.
 
Nice to see the capacity being pushed on mechanical drives, I might need to think about swapping out some of my 2tb drives for some 5-6tb ones :)
 
205

Not enough for me to bite

But close

I have 12tb across 3tb greens. I can fit more drives in so I won't change to 6tb until price /gb equals out
4tb isn't worth the upgrade
More storage makes me lazy tho. I don't have to organise and delete
 
Fantastic news.

When I buy a new place I'll be building a new server and this means I wont need a huge case as I can get away with using 5x 5TB drives
 
jh30uk said:
Why do condoms comes in three's?
Click to expand...

Cos the frustration of having your backup fail when you need it is even greater.

On the subject of WD drives, don't trust the warranty. I had a 3TB red drive fail when 3 months old. Sent it off, got a replacement that would not low level format due to too many bad sectors. The sent me a replacement for the replacement and it was the same.

I checked both drives in 2 PCs and the results were the same in both. Shocking.

I reckon they basically get the drive in, reset the smart data and send it out again.
 
Hodders said:
Cos the frustration of having your backup fail when you need it is even greater.

On the subject of WD drives, don't trust the warranty. I had a 3TB red drive fail when 3 months old. Sent it off, got a replacement that would not low level format due to too many bad sectors. The sent me a replacement for the replacement and it was the same.

I checked both drives in 2 PCs and the results were the same in both. Shocking.

I reckon they basically get the drive in, reset the smart data and send it out again.
Click to expand...

I have had to send a drive off before and the sent me a new one back that was perfect.

No delivery charges either.
 
Why oh why did I buy a controller for the NAS that only supports 2TB drives.

8x6TB in RAID10 would be all the redundancy and storage I'm going to need for a very long time
 
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