1. Introduction
2. Specifications and Closer Look
3. Test Bench and Methodology
4. AS SSD Benchmark
5. ATTO Benchmark
6. AIDA64 Sequential Access Time
7. Boot Load Test
8. CrystalDiskMark Benchmark
9. HD Tune Pro Benchmark
10. Transfer Tests
11. PCMark Vantage and 7 HDD Suite Benchmarks
12. Conclusion

I really wanted to compare PCM Vantage and 7 HDD suite scores with this drive to see where do they both stand in near Real Life tests. But the benchmarks in previous pages makes it obvious that this drive more of a 1up version of WD Green+ more cooler in Idle and Load even in close pc case condition and optimized for NAS, judging by the features its offering. To be honest, I am more curious to test this unit on a NAS storage to see how they REALLY work under certain test condition.

Its not surprising. WD didn’t say its meant for performance. All they said is that its made for NAS systems and its cooler- and it does both. That’s the key selling point of this drive- networked storage with a feature that you see only in Enterprise drives that are unrealistically expensive for many types of end users. I am rating this drive because this drive is good for NAS systems- but that’s it. The true comparison would be installed in NAS and see how they really work.

I was hoping this drive would be more like “WD Blue+ NAS optimized” drive because people need a good hard drive that can store and be used as a primary OS drive with a partition where they dump their stuff in. You will need error correction and ATA streaming if you’re going to access a lot from your NAS.

But here’s the reality of things:

I know WD is not expecting this drive to be a primary drive (or else the performance would have atleast been similar to WD Blue Series), but WD already knows that the mechanical storage drive prices are choked that its affecting a lot of users- and OEM companies. Not everybody gets a large mechanical HDD and then uses it for everyone either- but a lot of people do because they it practical than having a smaller drive for OS and then a large drive for storage dump Also, the mass do not find it feasible to spend a good amount of money on 60/64/90gig SSD- its not just the money, but the space it offers. Some SSD drives show hiccups in certain tests- depending on firmware, flash NAND and controller being used. Mechanical Storage drives are more like “raw materials” for one to put a system together. If you look at things, mSATA isn’t really raising any eyebrows around.

Okay- so I am whining. But so are people who think that spending so much on a 64GB SSD- no matter how good they are.

This is all the more reason I would really like to see 2.5" drives such as WD Scorpio Blue 1TB JPVT should have significantly lower cost than the MRP (and I hope the street prices aren’t close to MRP)- and it should be available easily. Not too long ago, someone compared the HDD business scene with how cement business is in India. There was a time when many companies and agencies manufacture cement and then smaller guys were bought by the bigger guys and then they were bought by a bigger entity. Over the years, prices of cement have also increased insanely high. I’ve told this to a lot of people and many gave a nod- power users to dealers. Few decades from now, assuming that something ground-breaking and more feasible than SSD doesn’t pop up, SSD might go the same road, but then- we all would probably turn too old to remember.

But, as of now- reality is that in long term, mechanical hard drive’s future is into NAS storage. Personal NAS might be inevitable especially with NAS units as small as WD MyBook itself. There are many from NAS manufacturers that were featured in this year’s Computex. This is a good start and this is a fitting drive for Network Storage.

The Red Series comes with 3 Years Warranty Period