WD introduces new, NAS-Specific Hard Drive line

WD officially doesn't support RAID user cases in more than 2-bay devices,
Here is a Link from WD that shows their stance on this.
http://wdc.custhelp.com/app/answers/det ... figuration

I'm looking forward to these drives.

I have a new ReadyNAS NV+ v2 coming to be once I select some drives. Hope these come to Edmonton fairly soon.

I don't see why these wouldn't be put on the respective HCLs fairly soon, short of needing a RAIDiator update.

evan wrote:
WD officially doesn't support RAID user cases in more than 2-bay devices, Here is a Link from WD that shows their stance on this. http://wdc.custhelp.com/app/answers/det ... figuration

Well, that certainly seems to be counter to the supposed purpose of this new line, doesn't it? It does explicitly include the new Red line in the multi-bay disclaimer (updated yesterday as shown at the top of the linked post), though the corresponding linked article about the RE drives leave out the Red line disclaimer.

Suspect what this is really is the tacit acknowledgement that I've been looking for: that these drives don't have any sort of rotational vibration safeguard. I was pretty interested at first, but I guess I'll stick with the more expensive RE series and continue my much slower progression from my Seagate 1TB drives without rotational vibration protection toward RE series 2TB drives rather than splurge on some of these new Red drives (not that they would show up on the HCL any time soon anyway?)...

I don't think there's any contradiction between the pages.

In the product page they pitch the fact that the Red drives are factory balanced in order not to create rotational vibration, and thus being specifically featured for multi-drive environments. Lower in the page they even state in big letters:

Ideal for. Specifically designed and tested for small office and home office, 1-5 bay NAS systems.

Then in the FAQ they state that Green, Blue and Black should not be used in a NAS with more than 2 drives.
Lower in the FAQ they also state that Green, Blue, Black and Red should not be used in Enterprise Grade NASes using Enterprise HBAs and for Critical enterprise applications. So, if you are running a NAS in a Bank, Airport, Hospital or any other critical activity you should prefer the RAID-Enterprise (RE) line of drives as they have time-limited error recovery (TLER), are tested extensively in 24x7 RAID applications, and include features like enhanced RAFF technology and thermal extended burn-in testing and the kitchen sink (well, that part about the kitchen sink may not be in WD's page 8) ).

So, basically, joining all the info together you get:

You have a Home/Small Office NAS up to 5 bays -> Caviar Red
You have an Enterprise/Critical Operation NAS -> RE4

WD Red Specifications

Capacities
1TB: WD10ERFX - Host to/from buffer: 150MB/s
2TB: WD20ERFX - Host to/from buffer: 145MB/s
3TB: WD30ERFX - Host to/from buffer: 145MB/s

SATA 6Gb/s interface
64MB DDR2 Cache
Intellipower low-power spindle
1TB drive platters
Operating Temperature: 0-70C
Non-Operating Temperature: -40-70C
MTBF: 1,000,000 hours
Non-recoverable read errors per bits read: <1 in 1014

Power
2TB/3TB: read/write 4.4W, idle 4.1W, standy/sleep .6W
1TB: read/write 3.7W, idle 3.2W, standby/sleep .6W

Acoustics:
2TB/3TB: idle 23 dBA, seek 24 dBA
1TB: idle 21 dBA, seek 22 dBA

3 year warranty with phone support

Review here > http://www.storagereview.com/western_digital_red_nas_hard_drive_review_wd30efrx

Though some ReadyNAS models are listed here: http://wdc.com/en/products/products.aspx?id=810 , they aren't on the Netgear HCL here (at least not yet).

In fact, all WD 3TB drives have been removed from the PRO-6 HCL. Hopefully people who bought drives on the HCL will still manage to get support, even if they have been "vanished".

Hopefully Netgear will test them soon considering they have been targeted specifically for Nas systems.

HERBIEO wrote:
Hopefully Netgear will test them soon considering they have been targeted specifically for Nas systems.

My guess is that Netgear has already tested them in the listed ReadyNAS units (Netgear would have needed to give permission for their logo to be used on the WDC site). Hopefully we will see them on the HCL soon.

I know these drives are currently being tested. I didn't get any word on the ETA when/if they will make our in the compatibility list. We will up date the compatibility list once we get final word on the tests.

Looks like they are on the HCL now.

I'm ordering 4 3TB drives. Will report back with the results once my retailer gets them in stock.