Which WD RED is better for WD my Cloud

[nf24eg]

Hello, I bought WD my cloud PR4100 16GB Ram diskless,
now I look to buy disks my target was 2 tb But I got confused that WD Red have differences like
The Cache memory are from 64 to 256
the RPM 5400 or 7200
SMR or CMR
I don't want to pay for something that won't make a difference ..

I was plan to buy WD Red 2tb but I found that it is 64 Cache, 5400 RPM (and I will try to get the CMR)
or is it better to go for a higher cache
WD Red 4tb 265 Cache, 5400 Rpm CMR ?

or the PRO will make a huge difference by the 7200RPM .. because this will change my plans totally since WD don't have 2tb 7200 RPM

so may someone guide me what may effect the performance
I'm going to use RAID 10 or RAID 5

 

[microchip]

Avoid the SMR Reds. They're usually indicated with EFAX in the product name

 

[nf24eg]

so I still have the options
2tb 5400 RPM with 64 cache
or
4tb 5400 RPM with 265 cache ?
and if I will go for 4tb, shall I take 5400 RPM or 7200
I know what is higher is better, but I don't know about that on the NAS, and if it will make a difference or not .. I have 16GB ram .. I also not sure if there is a connection or not

 

[microchip]

most Reds spin at 5400 RPM and the 7200 RPMs ones generate more heat than the former. Cache is not that important for a NAS. I'd go for the 4TB one

 

[bbunge]

I have bought two Synology NAS. The first was for home use and the "package" I bought came with WD Red 4 TB drives (5400 RPM). The drives were CMR. The second NAS came with WD Red 4 TB, 5400 RPM, SMR drives. Honestly I found no difference in performance between the CMR and SMR drives in the Synology NAS.

My reading tells me that while many are complaining about the SMR drives they will only give you problems with some of the "advanced" file systems such as ZFS. Might be best, however, if you have a choice to go with the CMR drives.

As for the RPM, the 5400's should do just fine in most NAS devices. They also run at a lower temp and use less energy than a 7200 RPM drive.

Go with the WD Red and buy more storage than you think you will need. Two 4 TB drives mirrored will store a lot of videos and pictures! Seagate Ironwolf drives are supposed to be good unless you do not like the Seagate brand (I have had terrible results/reliability with Seagate)

 

[OzarkEdge]

Hello, I bought WD my cloud PR4100 16GB Ram diskless,
now I look to buy disks my target was 2 tb But I got confused that WD Red have differences like
The Cache memory are from 64 to 256
the RPM 5400 or 7200
SMR or CMR
I don't want to pay for something that won't make a difference ..

I was plan to buy WD Red 2tb but I found that it is 64 Cache, 5400 RPM (and I will try to get the CMR)
or is it better to go for a higher cache
WD Red 4tb 265 Cache, 5400 Rpm CMR ?

or the PRO will make a huge difference by the 7200RPM .. because this will change my plans totally since WD don't have 2tb 7200 RPM

so may someone guide me what may effect the performance
I'm going to use RAID 10 or RAID 5

I can't speak to the NAS application, but given you want WD Red (I also prefer WD HDDs), I would compare their Pro and non-Pro specs for the capacity you want, and consider the drive with faster RPM, faster access rate, larger cache, and longer warranty... within your budget.

Me, I'd get the 7200 RPM Pro drive with 5-year warranty. Or consider a possibly less expensive but still comparably spec'd Black drive (or whatever model color this might be).

Also compare acoustic noise... sometimes the larger capacity drives are noisier, so may be a consideration.

This approach typically yields the sweet spot choice since there are not too many options to begin with.

WD Red Pro: https://documents.westerndigital.co...duct-brief-western-digital-wd-red-pro-hdd.pdf

WD Red Plus: https://documents.westerndigital.co...uct-brief-western-digital-wd-red-plus-hdd.pdf

WD Red: https://documents.westerndigital.co.../product-brief-western-digital-wd-red-hdd.pdf

Closing point... HDD can be re-purposed later on, so you may or may not choose to spec them out more generously.

Edit: Fixed the data sheet links.

OE

 

[L&LD]

Unless the NAS is servicing a half a dozen to a dozen users concurrently, 5400RPM drives are more than fast enough. With multiple drives working together, drive speeds are not as important as when a single drive is being considered.

You do not want SMR drives. Ever.

List of WD CMR and SMR hard drives (HDD)

List of WD CMR and SMR hard drives (HDD) If you know an SMR type of drive, share it with others in a table below! PMR, also known as conventional magnetic recording (CMR), works by aligning the poles of the magnetic elements, which represent bits of data, perpendicularly to

nascompares.com

The best price to capacity ratio right now is an 8TB WD RED when it goes on sale. The 'Pro' drives do not last any longer, nor are they worth the extra cost in the long term.

Lower temps, lower prices and higher capacities (by allowing you to buy 'up' if your budget allows) make the WD CMR RED drives a good buy.

 

[nf24eg]

most Reds spin at 5400 RPM and the 7200 RPMs ones generate more heat than the former. Cache is not that important for a NAS. I'd go for the 4TB one

If cache is not important i would then go for 2tb which is 64 cache and the rpm is 5400 .. but if its not that important why they make this variety, if 7200 make more heat then because my device is small i would go for 5400 .. But wd said that Reds is for cooling !!
Thats why its all confusing me

 

[bbunge]

Confusing yes.
But for a Network Attached Storage go for the WD Red Plus 3.5". Will do what you need.

See: https://www.westerndigital.com/products/internal-drives/wd-red-hdd

Note: Red Plus is the new name for the Red drives with CMR technology. CMR is what you want. Use the 5400 RPM drives. Plenty of info on the web comparing SMR and CMR

 

[HWDan]

I have bought two Synology NAS. The first was for home use and the "package" I bought came with WD Red 4 TB drives (5400 RPM). The drives were CMR. The second NAS came with WD Red 4 TB, 5400 RPM, SMR drives. Honestly I found no difference in performance between the CMR and SMR drives in the Synology NAS.

My reading tells me that while many are complaining about the SMR drives they will only give you problems with some of the "advanced" file systems such as ZFS. Might be best, however, if you have a choice to go with the CMR drives.

As for the RPM, the 5400's should do just fine in most NAS devices. They also run at a lower temp and use less energy than a 7200 RPM drive.

Go with the WD Red and buy more storage than you think you will need. Two 4 TB drives mirrored will store a lot of videos and pictures! Seagate Ironwolf drives are supposed to be good unless you do not like the Seagate brand (I have had terrible results/reliability with Seagate)

SMR isnt noticeable until the drive starts filling up AND it has to rewrite populated blocks to reshingle them. That's when the write latency goes through the roof.

 

[elorimer]

WD Red 4tb 265 Cache, 5400 Rpm CMR

I don't think this exists. The 256 cache at 6T and below is SMR.

 

[OzarkEdge]

This post about WD misrepresenting the HDD RPM spec is timely:

WD Misrepresenting certain 7200 RPM Reds as 5400 RPM drives.

Looks like WD is misrepresenting certain 7200 RPM Drives as 5400 RPM. First the CMR/SMR mess with the Red NAS drives and now this, hopefully they’re more transparent from now. This is annoying for those who take it for face value that they’re getting a lower power draw and noise drive...because...

www.snbforums.com

I wonder what this means to the build construction when they run a "5400 RPM Class" drive at 7200 RPM. Presumably the acoustic noise, power consumption, construction, and warranty remain at '5400 RPM Class' as spec'd... less than those of 7200 RPM Class; so what's the point... why not just call it a lessor built 7200 RPM drive. Puzzling... the answer must come down to money.

I'm still blissfully partial to 7200 RPM Class and it's stronger specs and warranty (promise of durability) despite the noise/power/heat cost. But then I have not operated a NAS. A NAS in my home would mostly sleep!

OE

 

[avtella]

Power consumption and noise according to the Techreport article was actually much higher than a 5400 RPM drive from both Seagate or WD, so I’m not sure what RPM Class fully entails. Maybe, we get the worst of both worlds, power draw of a 7200 RPM drive at the performance of a 5400 RPM drive lol?

 

[nf24eg]

Now I would like to make Raid 10 so I need at least 4 hdd,
will it be slow if I used 3 hdd WD Red 4tb CMR + 1 hdd WD Red 4tb SMR ?

 

[HWDan]

Now I would like to make Raid 10 so I need at least 4 hdd,
will it be slow if I used 3 hdd WD Red 4tb CMR + 1 hdd WD Red 4tb SMR ?

Good question; I wouldn't do it. Not sure if the controller would freak out and throw a error if the i/o to one drive wrote normally and the same i/o to the other slowed down to reshingle a series of blocks.