Very good data plate

With hard drives There is always a bit tricky. How solid is a series or a model, we learn usually only when the model has long since disappeared from the shelves. For these reasons this Review also only one is shooting. Nobody knows whether the WD40EFRX perhaps stops tomorrow with failures.

My primary focus when purchasing this plate was a potential 24/7 operation (in addition to specific models of Hitachi it looks as usually very bleak) and a very quiet IDLE run with low fuel consumption and reasonable price.

The 4TB RED is not my first and only 4TB disk. In addition to the RED, I have a Hitachi 4TB with 7K and 5K revolutions. Both boards do their job reliably, but in particular the 7200 / min Hitachi coincides with a high-frequency noise and quite a not despising noise levels.

The HDDs run with me mostly in sleep mode and shut down after about 45mins of inactivity. Accordingly, I can not give any information to a full-time 24/7 operation.

What is striking, however, very positive in this plate the low noise level. With only the adjusted speed the HDD remains quiet and cool. On average, the WD is with me (same cooling in the housing) close to 3 degrees cooler than my 7200 Hitachi, about 2C ° cooler than the 5400 Hitachi and about as cool as my 2TB large Seagate Green. However, the latter is likely to have fewer spindles and therefore technically in advantage.

The 5400 series boards is indeed often rumored that they are rather sluggish fellows. Due to the high data density and IntelliPower (dynamic 5400-7200 U / m) but it is also here on relatively ordinary sequential read / write rates. The latter I have appended times (50/500 / 2000MB TestFiles). Of course, small requests can not be compared with a 7200 / min HDD or even a SSD. However, in order draufzukopieren fast large files, it is sufficient, however, without problems.

Very commendable is the way the 3-year warranty WD is on the RED series. This has now become very rare. The hard disk is also ready for use very quickly. Until the Hitachi 7K HDD is awakened from sleep takes a few seconds the WD tinkers here much faster.

Overall, a very useful HDD for use in storage area. I even think that in a quiet office PC with lots of memory required, the Red would also function as a system disk still good. Ideally, however, you build it into a NAS or a "File Server".

Important note from a reviewer here: For slightly older batches very important to check the firmware version or download the tool from the official IDLE3 WD website and apply. Otherwise it may be that the Parkpostion the read / write heads is disproportionately claimed and thus come to a foreseeable and creeping death in continuous operation can.

Would I recommend this HDD? -> Yes, but only in the designated area of ​​use

Pro / Neutral / Con:

+ Volume
+ Capacity
+ Temperature behavior
+ Power consumption
+ Warranty period
O sequential transfer rate
O Price
- Access times for small files
- IDLE3 problem in the first models on the market -> Final inspection
- Difficult to assess, however, disk is optimal only for special applications

Here again the throughput values ​​at a glance:
Test System with Core i3, 8GB RAM, Windows Server 2012

-------------------------------------------------- ---------------------
* MB / s = 1,000,000 bytes / sec [SATA / 300 = 300,000,000 bytes / s]

Sequential Read: 181 534 MB / s
Sequential Write: 119 486 MB / s
Random Read 512KB: 115 512 MB / s
512KB Random Write: 176 341 MB / s
4KB Random Read (QD = 1): 1,662 MB / s [405.7 IOPS]
Random Write 4KB (QD = 1): 2,245 MB / s [548.1 IOPS]
4KB Random Read (QD = 32): 3,209 MB / s [783.5 IOPS]
Random Write 4KB (QD = 32): 2,246 MB / s [548.3 IOPS]

Test: 50 MB [G: 52.1% (1942.8 / 3725.9 GB)] (x3)

Sequential Read: 129 246 MB / s
Random Read 512KB: 39 969 MB / s
512KB Random Write: 78,126 MB / s
4KB Random Read (QD = 1): 0.456 MB / s [111.4 IOPS]
Random Write 4KB (QD = 1): 1,620 MB / s [395.5 IOPS]
4KB Random Read (QD = 32): 1,609 MB / s [392.9 IOPS]
Random Write 4KB (QD = 32): 1,583 MB / s [386.4 IOPS]

Test: 500 MB [G: 52.1% (1942.8 / 3725.9 GB)] (x3)

Sequential Read: 125 925 MB / s
Sequential Write: 123 536 MB / s
Random Read 512KB: 36 481 MB / s
512KB Random Write: 67,226 MB / s
4KB Random Read (QD = 1): 0.419 MB / s [102.2 IOPS]
Random Write 4KB (QD = 1): 1,304 MB / s [318.5 IOPS]
4KB Random Read (QD = 32): 1,186 MB / s [289.6 IOPS]
Random Write 4KB (QD = 32): 1,332 MB / s [325.3 IOPS]

Test: 2000 MB [G: 52.1% (1942.8 / 3725.9 GB)] (x3)