WD Red - new NAS optimized product line

[gorbachev]

http://www.anandtech.com/show/6083/wd-introduces-red-nas-optimized-hdd-line

 

The press release information from WD certainly sounds good.

[theone]

The green are more power efficient in idle.

 

I wonder if the WD NASware will be compatible with unraid and won't cause problems...

 

[c3]

unRAID is less sensitive to the issue addressed by NASware. Hence the wide success in using desktop drives. I am not sure the NASware feature would be worth a price premium for unRAID usage. Of course there may not be a price premium, especially if warranty is different etc.

[mrcsx]

newegg.ca has the new red 3tb listed with a 3 year warranty.  Same price (179.99) as the 3tb green drive which lists a 2 year warranty.  Hopefully the price will fall a little in the coming weeks as more retailers get stock.  I don't even mind a slight premium for the extra year warranty!

[fxfuji]

Here's a more detailed review of WD's new "Red" product line:

http://www.storagereview.com/western_digital_red_nas_hard_drive_review_wd30efrx

 

It seems that the advantages of going "red" over "green" are not confined to the ones in the anandtech article.  For example, vibration reduction/elimination, engineered to run 24/7, power consumption, etc.

 

 

unRAID is less sensitive to the issue addressed by NASware. Hence the wide success in using desktop drives. I am not sure the NASware feature would be worth a price premium for unRAID usage. Of course there may not be a price premium, especially if warranty is different etc.

 

Could you elaborate?  It seems to me that ATA streaming might be of benefit in either a RAID or an unRAID usage scenario.  (I agree that a drive dropping out of the array probably wouldn't come into play for unRAID, which might make the NASware error correction optimizations moot.)

[c3]

unRAID vs RAID - a file read or write requires 1 vs all drives to perform. Pretty big operation difference.

 

unRAID reading a file or even files spins up and moves fewer disks/heads. This lowers the need for vibration compensation (3d balancing).

 

There are articles out there on the costs of vibration ie http://storagemojo.com/2010/05/19/shock-vibe-and-awe/

[Dephcon]

Reds only $20 more than Greens here, I feel like it's worth ti just for the extended warranty.

 

I have another Seagate 1.5TB dying on me, I think I might grab a 3TB Red for to replace my 2TB Green parity disk.

[hdkhang]

An online store I usually purchase hardware from has put the WD RED drives up. Pricing is dear enough that I'd have to consider whether it is actually worth the extra year of warranty and other benefits.

 

3TB RED - $219

3TB GREEN - $175

 

A 25% premium is no longer a no-brainer decision.

[Dephcon]

eww that's just wrong, I would probably go with the green.  I just learned about wdidle today so now I feel slightly more confident in the longevity of my greens.

 

I was able to get the Red from newegg.ca for $179.99 CAD.

[Nathaniel]

This review/test certainly makes me a lot more interested in the Red: http://www.pcper.com/reviews/Storage/Western-Digital-Red-3TB-SATA-SOHO-NAS-Drive-Full-Review

[redbeard]

Here's another review

http://www.storagereview.com/western_digital_red_nas_hard_drive_review_wd30efrx

 

[hdkhang]

This review/test certainly makes me a lot more interested in the Red: http://www.pcper.com/reviews/Storage/Western-Digital-Red-3TB-SATA-SOHO-NAS-Drive-Full-Review

 

Especially the bit about load balancing and improved longevity and apparently dead silent seek. 25% premium here in Australia makes me lean more towards the Greens right now. For every 4 reds I could have 5 greens so if I apply the WDIDLE fix, I should be reasonably OK for the near future, or at least until the RED drives come down in price. Which hopefully will be soon as a $10 premium in the US sounds perfectly reasonable (for me it sounds like a no brainer at that price).

 

The thing is, why does WD even bother with the Greens then? All situations in which the GREEN drives are used in would be more suitably covered with RED drives.

[BetaQuasi]

It makes me wonder... Seagate have recently dropped out of the Green market, so maybe we'll see WD do the same (maybe they have a large amount of existing stock?).  Let's hope so, and yes the Aussie prices for reds are crap at the moment   I was very hopeful when I saw them listed on Newegg with that $10 premium.

[neilt0]

It makes me wonder... Seagate have recently dropped out of the Green market, so maybe we'll see WD do the same (maybe they have a large amount of existing stock?).  Let's hope so, and yes the Aussie prices for reds are crap at the moment   I was very hopeful when I saw them listed on Newegg with that $10 premium.

 

"Green" drives are essentially 5400rpm or 5900rpm drives.

 

Seagate dropped 5x00rpm drives completely. WD added a new line of 5x00 drives, doubling the lineup. WD are doing the opposite of dropping out of the market.

[BetaQuasi]

Thanks, I'm well aware of all that - I was simply theorising that wd might follow seagate's example, and that bringing the red models online might pave the way for just that.

 

Do you have evidence that shows WD is committed to green drives? It sounds like you do? 

[neilt0]

Thanks, I'm well aware of all that - I was simply theorising that wd might follow seagate's example, and that bringing the red models online might pave the way for just that.

 

Do you have evidence that shows WD is committed to green drives? It sounds like you do?

The red models are "Green"!

[c3]

The red models are "Green"!

 

I know the wide assumptions that the WD Red product line is intelli or 5900rpm, but none of the sheets I have so far include that detail.

 

Have you got one with power and speed details?

[theone]

I know the wide assumptions that the WD Red product line is intelli or 5900rpm, but none of the sheets I have so far include that detail.

 

Have you got one with power and speed details?

 

just look under specs:

http://www.wdc.com/global/products/specs/?driveID=1086&language=1

 

[BetaQuasi]

The red models are "Green"!

 

Ok now we are seriously splitting hairs. Again my original point was that perhaps WD would replace the "green" line with the "red" line and retire the current "green" line.  I'm referring to their labels, not whether or not they are considered green in terms of their functionality or feature set.

 

In any case, I won't post further. It's sometimes wiser (and less frustrating) to just shut up!

[hdkhang]

The red models are "Green"!

 

Ok now we are seriously splitting hairs. Again my original point was that perhaps WD would replace the "green" line with the "red" line and retire the current "green" line.  I'm referring to their labels, not whether or not they are considered green in terms of their functionality or feature set.

 

In any case, I won't post further. It's sometimes wiser (and less frustrating) to just shut up!

 

I understood quite well what you meant in your post regarding WD and green drives.

 

I think with SSD prices dropping, WD only really needs their REDs and BLACKs... roulette anyone? Oh and also their Raptors.

[mrow]

The red models are "Green"!

 

Ok now we are seriously splitting hairs. Again my original point was that perhaps WD would replace the "green" line with the "red" line and retire the current "green" line.  I'm referring to their labels, not whether or not they are considered green in terms of their functionality or feature set.

 

In any case, I won't post further. It's sometimes wiser (and less frustrating) to just shut up!

 

I understood quite well what you meant in your post regarding WD and green drives.

 

I think with SSD prices dropping, WD only really needs their REDs and BLACKs... roulette anyone? Oh and also their Raptors.

 

Wouldn't SSD prices dropping lead to them only needing the Red drives? What need is there for spinning disks these days besides massive storage? For the price of a 300GB raptor you can get a 240GB SSD for around the same price if you keep your eyes open and the SSD will smoke it in every aspect.

[c3]

I think with SSD prices dropping, WD only really needs their REDs and BLACKs... roulette anyone? Oh and also their Raptors.

 

Wouldn't SSD prices dropping lead to them only needing the Red drives? What need is there for spinning disks these days besides massive storage? For the price of a 300GB raptor you can get a 240GB SSD for around the same price if you keep your eyes open and the SSD will smoke it in every aspect.

 

SSDs, two things;

1) WD does not make them.

2) they are the highest cost/size.

 

WD  Raptor, high cost/size, high power/size, limited capacity.

WD  Black, good cost/size, ok good power/size, good capacity.

WD  Red, low cost/size, low power/size, high capacity.

WD  Green, lowest cost/size, low power/size, high capacity. 

 

I think WD wisely stepped up into the gap created by Seagate leaving low power drives. The use of "consumer" drives in arrays has been around a long time and the needed for online storage continues to grow, so Red should do well. Green still has a place as the lowest cost, just get me a drive. Black is "the drive", you only got one and it probably came with the CPU/video/etc. Raptor has the most limited market, and probably the highest margins.

[hdkhang]

The red models are "Green"!

 

Ok now we are seriously splitting hairs. Again my original point was that perhaps WD would replace the "green" line with the "red" line and retire the current "green" line.  I'm referring to their labels, not whether or not they are considered green in terms of their functionality or feature set.

 

In any case, I won't post further. It's sometimes wiser (and less frustrating) to just shut up!

 

I understood quite well what you meant in your post regarding WD and green drives.

 

I think with SSD prices dropping, WD only really needs their REDs and BLACKs... roulette anyone? Oh and also their Raptors.

 

Wouldn't SSD prices dropping lead to them only needing the Red drives? What need is there for spinning disks these days besides massive storage? For the price of a 300GB raptor you can get a 240GB SSD for around the same price if you keep your eyes open and the SSD will smoke it in every aspect.

 

For many people that would be fine. But there are those that won't be served by removal of the black or raptor drives.

 

Black drives are for those that need massive storage at reasonable prices.

 

e.g $189 for 2TB black vs. $189 for possibly a 240GB SSD. When you need 8 of those SSDs to make up the capacity vs. needing many of the Blacks to make up for the sequential read/write speed (but you still have more storage) it comes down to individual work loads. e.g. editing of videos may be somewhat faster on SSDs, but they are fast enough on large arrays of spinning drives and when it comes to uncompressed video, 240GB doesn't get you very far.

 

As for the raptors, they are more specialised, but $349 for a 1TB drive will buy you maybe a 512GB SSD in a years time (or even less). You do lose half the capacity, and for many like myself, I don't put data on arrays that aren't mirrored/parity protected so I'd have to buy 2 in RAID1 at the very least. That would be a very costly proposition with SSDs right now.

 

Then there is the issue of SSD longevity, which for the typical scenarios is a non issue over the average lifespan of a computer. But those that demand performance tend to also demand more of their hardware. e.g. if the drives were for a large OLTP database then I'd go raptors over the SSDs for the data drives. If the workload was mostly reads, then SSDs would make more sense.

 

The raptors will be the first to go. The Blue drives, I don't really see staying around much longer either... so they go next. The greens will go before the REDs as I think we will get to a point where $10 with a better warranty and lower power usage and promised better longevity will sell itself. Once SSDs can take over the Blacks like they do with the Raptors, then only the REDs will remain. A lot can change in a short time, so much of what I write might turn out to be completely wrong.

[c3]

Yes, in the distant future only the largest, cheapest, most reliable drives will remain.

[hdkhang]

Another review has been posted:

 

http://www.tweaktown.com/reviews/4842/western_digital_red_series_review_a_low_cost_validated_nas_specific_hdd/index13.html

 

They seem to really like it. Especially the price... which unfortunately for those in Australia, do not get to benefit from.