Western Digital Red WD20EFRX 2TB $119.99

Quote from pbmpharmacist : I mean, I'd much rather have the WD Red 3 TB drive for $40 more.

Got it! Are those 160 for 3TB red drive deals still available anywhere?

In for a couple of these. Might be lower but I am shifting to a larger box for my server and need to populate. Thanks!

Quote from w3bCraw1er : Got it! Are those 160 for 3TB red drive deals still available anywhere?

Check US NCIX or search here for the deal.

FWIW, I got mine a few days ago. I slapped them into my server (one at a time), resilvered, and away we go...

No issues so far, but then again, I can say the same thing about the other drive in the system (a ST2000DM001).

All of them are faster than the 3 y.o. 750GB drives that they are replacing. I saw a max read speed on them today of 120MB/s whereas the 750GB Seagates could only muster speeds in the 80MB/s range.

I opted for these for my home server (mostly NFS share for video on these drives) as opposed to the cheaper Seagates. I think there really is something to the warranties. Yes, the ST2000DM001 has a 1 year warranty that expires April, 2013, but not for that reason. I had 3x 750GB Seagates, one (newest of the 3) with a three year warranty and two with a 5 year warranty. The 5 year is about to expire on the 2x 5 years and the 3 year expired over a year ago. Yet the 5 years are still running fine, but the 3 year failed 6 months ago. Go figure.

If I could afford it, I would have gone with the RE4-GP's, but the extra $80/drive or so just didn't seem worth it (to me).

I can't really offer any rationale of why to buy these other than WD's word that they're better (I still really don't trust WD after being bit by numerous failed drives) but I like the Black/RE4 line. So, I'll just say that I'm leery, but trusting that they'll be good drives. Unfortunately, only time will tell.

I can only say that they weren't D.O.A., but for everything else, ask me in 3 years.

Quote from pbmpharmacist : Check US NCIX or search here for the deal.

Okay. The deal is not available right now. Also for me Adorama charges no tax in CA so it is better deal for me.

Quote from pbmpharmacist : Check US NCIX or search here for the deal.

I couldn't find it perhaps they sold out.

NCIX showed they had them about a week or two back but when I called about my order they said that their supplier was shorting them and they weren't going to be getting more. It's possible that could have changed, but I haven't seen any different.

Quote from Superocean : How does the red compare to the blue and green series?

Quote from inventix1136 : Red is specifically designed for RAID/NAS type scenarios. It does not park the heads like some drives do, which increases lifespan, and are designed for 24/7 operations. From performance standpoint, they are faster than the greens, but slower than the blues.

You can change/remove head parking on non-red drives using wdidle.

These drives are also not faster than greens in all cases, only in some (see review: http://www.tomshardware.com/revie...,3248.html).

They do, however use a lot less power and their operating parameters are optimized for a small non-enterprisey RAID/NAS. They run cooler & quieter, have better harmonics, good warranty, good support, good power consumption, good throughput, built to be on 24/7, low TLER for hardware RAID and I'm sure I'm forgetting a few points.

Quote from w3bCraw1er : Got it! Are those 160 for 3TB red drive deals still available anywhere?

No, they sold out and only allowed 2 drives per customer.

So these use less power then the WD greens?

I have a 3tb green in an HTPC that runs 24/7 and i have changed the head parking with wdidle. Extra assurance with lower temps and lower power consumption is always a good thing... In my case would a red drive be worth it for me?

Do these work well with WHS v1? Worried about "advanced format" issues.

Quote from pbmpharmacist : I disagree. I'm using the Reds in a PC desktop setup (HTPC). I believe the Reds are more reliable than most mechanical drives. The pro reviews have shown them to be superior to the WD Green drives. THey have a 3 year warranty (versus 2 for Greens). They have 24/7 phone support. That's well worth the price premium to me.

I agree they're miles better than the greens, but blacks are excellent drives and don't have the price premium of the reds. Not sure on their warranty though. IIRC they are faster than the reds also.

Quote from shamowfski : I agree they're miles better than the greens, but blacks are excellent drives and don't have the price premium of the reds. Not sure on their warranty though. IIRC they are faster than the reds also.

While this is true, the reason you get the Reds is for TLER for raid controllers and "enterprise" grade drives (cheaper version of RE4s). Most consumer drives are okay on raid controllers for raid5, but TLER makes the world of difference on those raid controllers that are cranky (like my perc6i with samsung 2tb 4k drives).

Quote from cptcrunch : While this is true, the reason you get the Reds is for TLER for raid controllers and "enterprise" grade drives (cheaper version of RE4s). Most consumer drives are okay on raid controllers for raid5, but TLER makes the world of difference on those raid controllers that are cranky (like my perc6i with samsung 2tb 4k drives).

Yeah. I run blacks in my gaming PC and Reds in my NAS.

Quote from SeattleScott : You can order via Adorama Camera at Amazon.com for the same price to avoid TAX in CA, WA, TX. PA, and etc . Adorama has tax for New York and New Jersey only.

Not sure if Adorama Camera is an authorized dealer for WD.

Their name does not appear on the list:

http://wdc.com/en/buy/


This may impact the warranty.