readynas pro 6 WD40EFRX

There have been some issues with some WD40EFRX where the LCC rises rapidly. There is a WD tool to fix this though and possibly later batches might not be affected.

What is the best way to be notified when WD40EFRX is on the compatibility list?

I don't think there is any system for sending out notifications re updates to the compatibility list.

I'm not sure when/if that model will be added.

I have WD40EFRX. They seem to work fine. I had once a kernel crash, reported to Netgear they told me the HDDs are not on the compatibility list - obviously - and that they've seen cases where RED 4TB were causing trouble. Not sure if that was just something mentioned to prevent any further arguments. I have been testing and testing these drives on my NAS for weeks not and I could not reproduce the issue. That said, I am having some network speed concerns at the moment, but I do not know if it's HDDs related.

Netgear told me they are being tested on OS6 and there are no plans to test them on older units yet. They suggested that if the tests on OS6 go well, they may decide to test them on OS4 as well, but it was just a speculation. As others have pointed out, I can't see why they shouldn't work.

Tony, Thanks for info.
How long have you been running RED for Pro 6?
Is there a specific firmware that you need to have for RED to run on Pro 6?
Do you know the drives are running any cooler after switch to RED?
Any noticeable read/write performance change?

Before I spend 1K+, I like to know if it will reduce any heat from the unit. I have 2 types of drives:
Disk 1 Seagate ST33000651AS 2794 GB , 45 C / 113 F , Write-cache ON OK
Disk 2 Seagate ST33000651AS 2794 GB , 47 C / 116 F , Write-cache ON OK
Disk 3 Seagate ST33000651AS 2794 GB , 44 C / 111 F , Write-cache ON OK
Disk 4 Seagate ST33000651AS 2794 GB , 46 C / 114 F , Write-cache ON OK
Disk 5 Seagate ST3000DM001-1CH166 2794 GB , 42 C / 107 F , Write-cache ON OK
Disk 6 Seagate ST3000DM001-9YN166 2794 GB , 40 C / 104 F , Write-cache ON OK

REDs are VERY cool. Max temp is 42°C under stress. The fan will never speed up (it speeds up at 46°C). When idle they stay at 34°C (if memory serves, I've taken them out for a test today). They are very quite and their read/write performance basically are over the Gigabit performance.
You do not need a firmware but there is a tool to make sure the timer to park the heads is set to 300s. Some units came out of the factory with a value of 8 seconds!

http://support.wd.com/product/download.asp?groupid=619&sid=201&lang=en

You can run it from the NAS.

Overall I'm very happy. That kernel crash hasn't happened again but I am not using the NAS very much yet.

below two write/read sessions. First is with two 1TB drives (1xSamsung, 1xHitachi). Second is 2x4TB WDC Red.

No massive improvement but there is definitely an improvement.

tony359 wrote:
You do not need a firmware but there is a tool to make sure the timer to park the heads is set to 300s. Some units came out of the factory with a value of 8 seconds! http://support.wd.com/product/download.asp?groupid=619&sid=201&lang=en

Just as a data point my Red was manufactured in March 2014 and the update stated it wasn't needed when I tried to update the drive. I believe the update was release 12/20/2013. My firmware version is (3TB) 80.00A80. Don't know if the firmware number reflects the update or not. I know their support stated the updated isn't applied to any drives and it's optional which obviously isn't the case as mine knew it wasn't required.

All my 3 TB Reds say firmware 80.00A80, and they were manufactured at various times over the past couple of years. Not sure, but I suspect they didn't re-release the firmware itself.

The tool to set the head parking threshold doesn't update the firmware.