Western Digital Red 1TB 2.5" HDD Review

Introduction

Before July 2012, choosing the correct drive for your NAS left you with limited options. On one hand, you had the WD Green, which carried a lot of power saving features, but lacked high-end performance. Then there was the WD Black, a drive that offered tremendous performance with the side effect of increased heat and power consumption. Additionally, on the other side there was the Seagate Barracuda that found its way into many NAS systems as well, but in the hot summer month of July 2012, Western Digital changed the landscape of high capacity, performance NAS storage solutions and carved a path for an entire industry.

Today, along with increasing the capacity of their WD Red 3.5" drives to 4TB, Western Digital announced two new SKUs for their 2.5" drive lineup. These new drives include the WD7500BFCX (750GB) and the drive we have in house today the WD10JFCX (1TB) both of which are the foundation of the new 2.5" WD Red lineup.

With this new generation of drives, Western Digital has brought in a new level of reliability to the 2.5" form factor with a 35% increase in MTBF over existing solutions. WD has also equipped these drives with its latest version of IntelliPower, enabling increased power savings and decreased thermal output and noise.

Furthermore, with the launch of these new drives, Western Digital sees the second generation NASware firmware come to life. The new NASware 2.0 offers increased storage performance by addressing concerns in key areas like compatibility, integration and upgradeability.

Specifications, Pricing and Availability

Specifications for the WD10JFCX has WD utilizing the SATA 6Gb/s interface, with 16MB of cache complimenting the drive. Load/Unload cycles have been set at 600,000, followed by a one million hour MTBF. Average power requirements are listed at 1.4 watts for read/write operations, 0.6 watts for idle and 0.2 watts in standby.

Environmental specifications allow for a 0 to 60 Celsius operating temperature extending that even further to -40 to 65 Celsius in a non-operating condition. Shock tolerance extends as far as 400Gs during operation and 1000Gs non-operational, while acoustics allow for just 25dBA of operational noise.

The new 2.5" WD Red comes in the 9.5mm z-height and two capacities; 750GB and 1TB. Pricing of the 750GB model is a set at $79.99, with the 1TB drive model coming in at $99.99. Both drives carry a full three-year warranty from Western Digital.