WD Launches New Red SSDs for NAS, 14TB Red HDDs

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By Sean Webster
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WD bulks up its storage offerings for NAS users.

WD launched updates to the company’s NAS (network attached storage) portfolio. These include two new 14TB Red and Red Pro HDDs along with an all-new Red SA500 SSD.

(Image credit: WD)

WD Red SA500 SATA SSD

Due to growing speed demands and the increased availability in 10GbE connectivity, WD saw a need to provide both home users and small businesses with some flash for their NAS devices. WD’s new Red SA500 is a SATA based SSD that is targeted to compete against Seagate’s IronWolf 110 NAS SSD. It is stated to be a great option for caching and with high endurance, it can handle heavy read and write workloads 24/7.

(Image credit: WD)

It comes in both 2.5” 7mm and M.2 2280 form factors and capacities range from 500GB up to 4TB (2.5” only). Price-wise, these SSDs come with MSRPs of $72 at 500GB up to $600 for the largest capacity. They are currently available in limited quantities at the WD store, but will be widely available in November.

14TB WD Red and Red Pro SATA HDDs

In addition to the new SSD, the company is expanding the Red and Red Pro HDDs up to 14TB. Like the SA500, they will be widely available in November and are rated for 24/7 operation.

The 14TB WD Red, part number WD140EFFX, is designed to be used in NAS with up to 8 bays, making it ideal for small and home office environments. It operates at 5,400rpm and is rated to handle a workload rate of up to 180TB a year. Like the other WD Reds, the 14TB model comes with a three-year warranty. It releases with an MSRP of $450.

WD’s 14TB Red Pro, part number WD141KFGX, is a bit faster than the normal Red, 7200 RPM rather than 5400 RPM. It is ideal for big businesses and is supported to be used in NASes with up to 24-bays. It features 3D Active Balance Plus technology, and error recovery controls with NASware 3.0 technology for enhanced reliability. MSRP for this model is $525 and comes with a five-year warranty.

Sean Webster
Sean Webster
Storage Reviewer

Sean is a Contributing Editor at Tom’s Hardware US, covering storage hardware.

2 Comments Comment from the forums
  • JordonB
    I hope that they are more reliable then WD's Red has been in the past. One simply needs to look at the many 1 star reviews on New Egg or Amazon to see the problems in reliability. I use WD Blacks in both of my QNAP units a 4 drive raid 5 and a 8 drive raid 6 with almost uncanny reliability all though they are enterprise blacks. The regular WD Blacks I sold when I operated a business were very reliable.
    Reply
  • mickrussom
    JordonB said:
    I hope that they are more reliable then WD's Red has been in the past.

    agree. i also dont buy drives with less than a 5 year warranty and always consider data from backblaze's hard drive reliability reports.see https://www.backblaze.com/blog/hard-drive-stats-q2-2019/ ]
    there should be more legal protections for consumers against hard drive failures as well and also legal protections against grey market goods. so many people get burned by having a failing hard drive only to find out their serial number doesnt have a valid warranty. always check your warranty within the return window folks and stick to drives with 5+ year warranties or be very careful with your data on these cheap chinese built garbage drives.
    Reply