Western Digital partners with a wide range of NAS system vendors for extensive testing to ensure compatibility with most NAS enclosures. Something we noticed is that the test that immediately followed the file copy test was a sequential CrystalDiskMark workload: SMR CrystalDiskMark

Our next test shifts focus from a pure 4K random read or write scenario to a mixed 8K 70/30 workload. We show how performance scales in this setting from 2T/2Q up to 16T/16Q. When it came down to the drive that offered the best 8K 70/30 throughput, all drives performed very close when configured in RAID5 in our Synology NAS. Comparing first and second generation Red HDDs, the 4TB model did offer some gains over the 3TB version depending on the workload intensity, although those gains did narrow in a few spots. Slotting in between the 3TB and 4TB Red models, the 1TB 2.5″ version proved to be quite capable. I’m thinking about buying another one or two similar drives, but on closer inspection I noticed that there’s a few different WD Red 4TB drives to choose from. Western Digital Red 4TB SATA Drives Model numberPartitioning the boot drive: https://www.truenas.com/community/resources/i-have-to-waste-an-entire-drive-just-for-booting.187/ All enterprise HDDs are benchmarked on our enterprise testing platform based on a Lenovo ThinkServer RD240. The ThinkServer RD240 is configured with: Despite using less power, the drives have plenty of bandwidth to handle the mixed performance demands of multi-drive NAS systems.

Designed for both consumers and small businesses, the WD Red is a high reliability, low-power consumption device that provides 24×7 operation and now ships in a 4TB capacity that updates the line. Those features are extremely important to users in the market. WD’s NASware 2.0 firmware optimizes the drive to operate in NAS environments by reducing noise and power consumption, providing tools to resolve issues, and limiting vibration. As we were able to show in this review, many of these updates paid off in our NAS environment.Mixed workload profiles scale performance across a range of thread and queue depth combinations. In the following benchmarks, we scale the workload from 2 threads and 2 queue depth up to 16 threads and 16 queue. In the 8k 70/30 test, the WD Red 4TB generally performed near the middle of its comparables, aside from strong performance with two threads and relatively deep queues. Hard drives that are not properly balanced may cause excessive vibration and noise in multi-drive systems, which could reduce hard drive life span and degrade the performance over time. Our enhanced dual-plane balance control technology significantly improves balance and increases overall drive performance and reliability. The File Server profile puts the drives through a varying workload with a thread and queue count that scales from 2T/2Q up to 16T/16Q. The WD Red again exhibits strong performance with two threads and a deep queue, but otherwise remains in the median position. The Web Server test is comprised of 100% read activities across our range of threads and queue depths. As with most of the other benchmarks, the Red 4TB performs better than the Seagate NAS 4TB and WD Red 3TB but not as well as the Constellation CS 3TB or Se 4TB. Western Digital’s exclusive NASware™ technology fine tunes drive parameters to match NAS system workloads which helps increase performance and reliability.

In the second half of this review, we show the performance of both the new 3.5″ WD Red 4TB and the 2.5″ WD Red 1TB HDD. WD supplied StorageReview with 5 samples of both new drives, which we configured in RAID5 in our Synology DiskStation DS1513+. Leveraging SMB/CIFS shares we show how well a 50GB test sample size performed on each storage array we created. First up is the file copy test. Just a reminder, this test was performed as immediately as possible after completing the drive preparation process. File Copy Test Aside from strong performance in low thread, low queue scenarios, the Red 4TB maintains its middle position throughout the maximum latency benchmark. The 4K maximum latency benchmark is the first place the Red 4TB distinguishes itself: a 4,799ms maximum read latency is the lowest among comparables. Its 5,012ms maximum write latency represents the middle of the road. Since your NAS system is always on, a reliable drive is essential. WD Red Plus hard drives are designed for systems that operate 24x7, giving users the confidence of knowing they can reliably access their data.Our synthetic enterprise storage benchmark process begins with an analysis of the way the drive performs during a thorough preconditioning phase. Each of the comparable drives are secure erased using the vendor’s tools, preconditioned into steady state with the same workload the device will be tested with under a heavy load of 16 threads with an outstanding queue of 16 per thread, and then tested in set intervals in multiple thread/queue depth profiles to show performance under light and heavy usage.

Looking at max latency, there wasn’t really a clear winner in our 8K 70/30 test, with most drives trading positions across our different thread/queue levels. Unfortunately, while the SMR WD Red performed respectably in the previous benchmarks, the RAIDZ resilver test proved to be another matter entirely. While all three CMR drives comfortably completed the resilver in under 17 hours, the SMR drive took nearly 230 hours to perform an identical task. WD40EFAX FreeNAS Resilver As you can see, with a heavy write workload immediately preceding the CDM test, the SMR drive was notably slower. In some ways, this is like timing a runner’s sprint time after running a marathon. One could argue that you may not transfer 125GB files every day, but that is less data than the video production folder for this article’s companion video we linked at the start. Still, this is a good indicator of the drive working through its internal data management processes and impacting performance.I received a phone call from the rep this morning. They were apologetic, but then they dropped the bombshell: All Seagate 2.5″ drives are SMR, they no longer make 2.5″ PMR drives. Customers MUST be informed of this new tech, even those using EXTERNAL SINGLE DRIVES ENCLOSURES!!! I have many WD external drives, and i DON’T WANT any drive with SMR!!! Period!