Last updated at 22/06/2026 08:48:34
Western Digital 16TB WD Red Pro NAS Internal Hard Drive HDD - 7200 RPM, SATA 6 Gb/s, CMR, 256 MB Cache, 3.5" - WD161KFGX
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Western Digital 18000GB (18TB) 7200rpm 3.5" SATA-III 6Gbs HDD w. 512MB Cache - WD Red Pro Series
originally posted on bhphotovideo.com
I offer praise for WD Red in comparison to their cheaper Blue.I've have 2 Synology 4 - disk Nas systems for over a year. My primary production NAS has always WD Reds and so far no drive failures.My backup NAS unit was initially filled with WD Blue drives but after only 6 months 3 (yes three) different drives failed. The first two times. I had them replaced under warranty but the last drive to fail. I was able to reformat it and use as a windows NTFS drive.So two takeaways.1) As my remaining Blue drives fail, I'll be replacing with Reds2) Although synology reported the failures as IO Errors, I suspect that they were simply not able to handle the 24/7 I/O demands (IMHO)Thanks for reading. Your experience my be more favorable but for systems, I'm no longer ... MoreI offer praise for WD Red in comparison to their cheaper Blue.I've have 2 Synology 4 - disk Nas systems for over a year. My primary production NAS has always WD Reds and so far no drive failures.My backup NAS unit was initially filled with WD Blue drives but after only 6 months 3 (yes three) different drives failed. The first two times. I had them replaced under warranty but the last drive to fail. I was able to reformat it and use as a windows NTFS drive.So two takeaways.1) As my remaining Blue drives fail, I'll be replacing with Reds2) Although synology reported the failures as IO Errors, I suspect that they were simply not able to handle the 24/7 I/O demands (IMHO)Thanks for reading. Your experience my be more favorable but for systems, I'm no longer utilizing any drive not rated for NAS'.P.S. Haven't tested Seagate drives
originally posted on bestbuy.com
I have used many hard drive brands over the years but have always considered Western Digital to be the best brand overall. Other brands have resulted in too many failures to be acceptable. I have only had one WD hard drive out of a few thousand to fail unless it was just ancient. The Red Plus 4TB is the best value around. It appears to be plain and simple on the outside, but it is the inside that counts. This drive runs quiet and relatively cool given that its job is to run 24x7. I would definitely recommend this drive, even if you have to pay a little more for it over other brands. You won't be disappointed!
originally posted on bestbuy.com
I've bought a few of these over the past couple years, but one of them just died about 2.5 months in. I recall the last time I had a dead drive, I contacted WD and they shipped me a new drive with a return box for the old drive. In the RMA process for this drive, I'd have to pay a non-refundable $25 to get the new replacement drive first. And I have to pay for shipping! It's been 2.5 months out of the 3 year warranty, WD... I think the shipping should be on the house.This speaks to their quality and I'm reading between the lines: the drives are lacking in quality and they're passing it on to the customers. I'm feeling the lack of quality with this RMA experience.
Western Digital 16TB WD Red Pro NAS Internal Hard Drive HDD - 7200 RPM, SATA 6 Gb/s, CMR, 256 MB Cache, 3.5" - WD161KFGX
Affiliate Disclosure: We may receive a small commission for purchases made through this link at no extra cost to you. This helps support our site. Thank you!
Western Digital 18000GB (18TB) 7200rpm 3.5" SATA-III 6Gbs HDD w. 512MB Cache - WD Red Pro Series
I offer praise for WD Red in comparison to their cheaper Blue.I've have 2 Synology 4 - disk Nas systems for over a year. My primary production NAS has always WD Reds and so far no drive failures.My backup NAS unit was initially filled with WD Blue drives but after only 6 months 3 (yes three) different drives failed. The first two times. I had them replaced under warranty but the last drive to fail. I was able to reformat it and use as a windows NTFS drive.So two takeaways.1) As my remaining Blue drives fail, I'll be replacing with Reds2) Although synology reported the failures as IO Errors, I suspect that they were simply not able to handle the 24/7 I/O demands (IMHO)Thanks for reading. Your experience my be more favorable but for systems, I'm no longer ... MoreI offer praise for WD Red in comparison to their cheaper Blue.I've have 2 Synology 4 - disk Nas systems for over a year. My primary production NAS has always WD Reds and so far no drive failures.My backup NAS unit was initially filled with WD Blue drives but after only 6 months 3 (yes three) different drives failed. The first two times. I had them replaced under warranty but the last drive to fail. I was able to reformat it and use as a windows NTFS drive.So two takeaways.1) As my remaining Blue drives fail, I'll be replacing with Reds2) Although synology reported the failures as IO Errors, I suspect that they were simply not able to handle the 24/7 I/O demands (IMHO)Thanks for reading. Your experience my be more favorable but for systems, I'm no longer utilizing any drive not rated for NAS'.P.S. Haven't tested Seagate drives
I have used many hard drive brands over the years but have always considered Western Digital to be the best brand overall. Other brands have resulted in too many failures to be acceptable. I have only had one WD hard drive out of a few thousand to fail unless it was just ancient. The Red Plus 4TB is the best value around. It appears to be plain and simple on the outside, but it is the inside that counts. This drive runs quiet and relatively cool given that its job is to run 24x7. I would definitely recommend this drive, even if you have to pay a little more for it over other brands. You won't be disappointed!
I've bought a few of these over the past couple years, but one of them just died about 2.5 months in. I recall the last time I had a dead drive, I contacted WD and they shipped me a new drive with a return box for the old drive. In the RMA process for this drive, I'd have to pay a non-refundable $25 to get the new replacement drive first. And I have to pay for shipping! It's been 2.5 months out of the 3 year warranty, WD... I think the shipping should be on the house.This speaks to their quality and I'm reading between the lines: the drives are lacking in quality and they're passing it on to the customers. I'm feeling the lack of quality with this RMA experience.
Although these drive are labeled NASware 3.0 I found out after I received the drives that they use SMR technology. I intended to use the drives to increase the storage on my ReadyNAS. but in speaking to a Netgear representative he recommended against using SMR technology because they had found them troublesome for writing large files or many files continuously, and especially on RAID sync, scrub, and balance. I researched the drives further and found this was indeed the case. By this time I had already hot swapped one of the drives I'd purchased in anticipation of increasing the storage and upgrading the OS. As part of the upgrade the raid did a resync. The resync took 5 days to complete. This is exactly one of the situations I'd been cautioned about and had seen ... MoreAlthough these drive are labeled NASware 3.0 I found out after I received the drives that they use SMR technology. I intended to use the drives to increase the storage on my ReadyNAS. but in speaking to a Netgear representative he recommended against using SMR technology because they had found them troublesome for writing large files or many files continuously, and especially on RAID sync, scrub, and balance. I researched the drives further and found this was indeed the case. By this time I had already hot swapped one of the drives I'd purchased in anticipation of increasing the storage and upgrading the OS. As part of the upgrade the raid did a resync. The resync took 5 days to complete. This is exactly one of the situations I'd been cautioned about and had seen reported on the internet. In the past my resyncs have completed overnight so I find 5 days unacceptable. In short I don't have confidence in the reliability of SMR drives for my NAS. I requested an RMA be generated to exchange the drives I purchased for the CMR drives I thought I was getting but it's been 2 weeks and I'm still waiting.
Junk. Lasted exactly 10 months in a DVR. This is the second WD “NAS” that has worn out in less than a year, in this application. Not a huge sample size (and supposedly this is a CMR disk) - but I’m officially done with these WD NAS disks. Apparently, the “NAS” rating means nothing anymore.I’ll pay more for SSDs this time around and just double up for equivalent storage space. Disappointing, WD.
I have mixed opinions on this drive. I wanted to use it as an additional drive in my computer since everyone spoke so highly of it and its longevity. At first I tried to mount it as an external USB drive and it kept disconnecting. I then tried to mount it internally on a SATA port and it also periodically stopped being recognized by Windows. So I cannot tell if I have a flaky drive or something else. I had investigated that some other drive owners had similar things occur and recommended putting tape on one of the pins so it can be recognized and not locked to a NAS device. I purchased the tape and I retested and got the same results. The drive has a pretty long warranty, so I have not picked it up to try in a different computer. It is currently in the box and I am ... MoreI have mixed opinions on this drive. I wanted to use it as an additional drive in my computer since everyone spoke so highly of it and its longevity. At first I tried to mount it as an external USB drive and it kept disconnecting. I then tried to mount it internally on a SATA port and it also periodically stopped being recognized by Windows. So I cannot tell if I have a flaky drive or something else. I had investigated that some other drive owners had similar things occur and recommended putting tape on one of the pins so it can be recognized and not locked to a NAS device. I purchased the tape and I retested and got the same results. The drive has a pretty long warranty, so I have not picked it up to try in a different computer. It is currently in the box and I am not 100% trusting it. A first for me and Western Digital.I am not sure I would recommend this drive if you are not using it in a NAS.I recently purchased a new WD_Black drive that I will be trying next. I also purchased a WD_Black SSD for another computer in the last couple months and it seems to be working ok.
Needed to purchase several drives for an NVR system for my apartment management. The NVR took up to 4 hard drives and felt 4TB each drive would be sufficient enough. The NVR at the time only had a WD Purple 1TB drive and it was barely enough to record 2 days, with 15 cameras. Needed these drives ASAP and had to travel about 40 miles to another city where the Best Buy had them. These are easy to install (if you are a techy), otherwise you could put them in an enclosure but at that point just buy an external hard drive. They weren't too badly priced, at least for what I was using them for. Personally don't care if they aren't Surveillance Hard Drives. AFAIK, there isn't much of a difference as they are both 24/7. Possibly the surveillance drives are more beneficial ... MoreNeeded to purchase several drives for an NVR system for my apartment management. The NVR took up to 4 hard drives and felt 4TB each drive would be sufficient enough. The NVR at the time only had a WD Purple 1TB drive and it was barely enough to record 2 days, with 15 cameras. Needed these drives ASAP and had to travel about 40 miles to another city where the Best Buy had them. These are easy to install (if you are a techy), otherwise you could put them in an enclosure but at that point just buy an external hard drive. They weren't too badly priced, at least for what I was using them for. Personally don't care if they aren't Surveillance Hard Drives. AFAIK, there isn't much of a difference as they are both 24/7. Possibly the surveillance drives are more beneficial because of the constant read/writes.
These are rugged drives. I bought a set of four to replace the six year old set in my NAS (WD PR4100). The originals (exact same model of WD Red) ran continuously (24 x 7) for six years. Recently two of the original drives had a temporary drive fault, that cleared after restarting the NAS. Instead of waiting for them to catastrophically fail - I decided to do the slow process of replacing all four. So far two replacements have gone flawlessly - my NAS is in RAID 5 configuration, so a drive can fail and not affect the data.Since these are the exact same part number as the six year old originals, I'm guessing these will live a long life in my NAS.
Have 2 of these in my System at the Moment. Everything was good to roll. Installed Booted, Formatted. Been running for couple weeks. I run a constant Plex Server and music Audio Station off these drives. They are on pretty much all day everyday. Not Sure if I needed a NAS drive or not, but they were on sale. I actually purchased 2 blue drives just to sync to these drives so my backups are good as well. 4tb's went kind of quick, should of probably went with the 8tb but the price was better per GB on the 4tb drive. Either way very happy.
I purchased the Red 6TB drive as a replacement drive for by 5-bay Drobo connected to our home Mac server, and used for storing Time Machine backups for our 5 computers. The Drobo has only WD Red drives purchased over the past years, gradually swapping in larger Red drives as old ones fail or I needed increased storage space. This is probably at least the 10th Red drive I have swapped in to our Drobo. As soon as I swapped in this drive I noticed it wasn't as usual. The Drobo would unmount and re-mount repeatedly during the RAID rebuild phase. When it was done rebuilding I tested it out by running a Time Machine backup, which should do an incremental change to a sparse bundle file. I noticed that the entire sparsebundle file (1.7TB) was reduced to zero bytes and the ... MoreI purchased the Red 6TB drive as a replacement drive for by 5-bay Drobo connected to our home Mac server, and used for storing Time Machine backups for our 5 computers. The Drobo has only WD Red drives purchased over the past years, gradually swapping in larger Red drives as old ones fail or I needed increased storage space. This is probably at least the 10th Red drive I have swapped in to our Drobo. As soon as I swapped in this drive I noticed it wasn't as usual. The Drobo would unmount and re-mount repeatedly during the RAID rebuild phase. When it was done rebuilding I tested it out by running a Time Machine backup, which should do an incremental change to a sparse bundle file. I noticed that the entire sparsebundle file (1.7TB) was reduced to zero bytes and the backup software prompted to perform a "first backup", i.e. the historical changes were lost. I then noticed that this was the case also for all backup sets for the four other computers in our home. I now realize that the Red drive I purchased uses SMR instead of CMR and that these new Red drives don't appear to be suitable at all for our purpose. I can see that this information is on the website but how can WD make such a significant change to a product line and keep its name? Apparently, the Red is now named Red Plus but that was not obvious at all. I cannot believe how the good people at WD could allow this to happen. This is probably a decent standalone drive but it should not have been allowed to drag the Red (NAS/RAID) product line in the dirt. I am devastated, sad and angry with myself for trusting the product name so deeply that I didn't do research. And I am angry with WD for betraying that trust.
Western Digital Red Pro 3.5" 16000 GB Serial ATA
Engineered to handle high-intensity workloads1 in 24x7 environments, WD Red Pro is ideal for archiving and sharing, as well as RAID array rebuilding on extended operating systems such as ZFS or other file systems. These drives add value to your business by enabling your employees to quickly share their files and back-up folders reliably in your NAS solution. Exclusive NASware 3.0 Technology Our exclusive advanced firmware technology, NASware 3.0, enables seamless integration, robust data protection and optimal performance for NAS systems operating under heavy demand. Built into every WD Red Pro hard drive, NASware 3.0's advanced technology improves storage performance by increasing compatibility, integration, upgradeability, and reliability. Built for Optimum NAS Compatibility WD Red Pro drives with NASware technology takes the guesswork out of selecting a drive. Optimized for NAS systems, our unique algorithm balances performance and reliability in NAS and RAID environments. Simply put, a WD Red Pro drive is one of the most compatible drives available for NAS enclosures. But don't take our word for it. WD Red Pro drives are a reflection of extensive NAS partner technology engagement and compatibility-testing. Larger NAS Bay Shock Protection WD Red Pro drives are equipped with a multi-axis shock sensor that automatically detects subtle shock events and dynamic fly height technology which adjusts each read-write function to compensate and protect the data. This combination of technology further protects the drives in larger 24-bay NAS environments and helps increase hard drive reliability. 3D Active Balance Plus Our enhanced dual-plane balance control technology significantly improves the overall drive performance and reliability. Hard drives that are not properly balanced may cause excessive vibration and noise in a multi-drive system, reduce the hard drive life span, and degrade the performance over time. Error Recovery Prevention Built specifically for RAID and NAS environments, WD Red Pro drives come equipped with error recovery controls as part of NASware 3.0 technology to help reduce drive fallout in RAID applications. Extended Drive Testing A NAS environment that has up to 24 bays is very demanding on a hard drive with added vibration and heat. Desktop drives vs. WD Red Pro Do right by your NAS and choose the drive purpose-built for NAS with an array of features to help preserve your data and maintain optimum performance. Take the following into consideration when choosing a hard drive for your NAS:
Engineered to handle high-intensity workloads1 in 24x7 environments, WD Red Pro is ideal for archiving and sharing, as well as RAID array rebuilding on extended operating systems such as ZFS or other file systems. These drives add value to your business by enabling your employees to quickly share their files and back-up folders reliably in your NAS solution. Exclusive NASware 3.0 Technology Our exclusive advanced firmware technology, NASware 3.0, enables seamless integration, robust data protection and optimal performance for NAS systems operating under heavy demand. Built into every WD Red Pro hard drive, NASware 3.0's advanced technology improves storage performance by increasing compatibility, integration, upgradeability, and reliability. Built for Optimum NAS Compatibility WD Red Pro drives with NASware technology takes the guesswork out of selecting a drive. Optimized for NAS systems, our unique algorithm balances performance and reliability in NAS and RAID environments. Simply put, a WD Red Pro drive is one of the most compatible drives available for NAS enclosures. But don't take our word for it. WD Red Pro drives are a reflection of extensive NAS partner technology engagement and compatibility-testing. Larger NAS Bay Shock Protection WD Red Pro drives are equipped with a multi-axis shock sensor that automatically detects subtle shock events and dynamic fly height technology which adjusts each read-write function to compensate and protect the data. This combination of technology further protects the drives in larger 24-bay NAS environments and helps increase hard drive reliability. 3D Active Balance Plus Our enhanced dual-plane balance control technology significantly improves the overall drive performance and reliability. Hard drives that are not properly balanced may cause excessive vibration and noise in a multi-drive system, reduce the hard drive life span, and degrade the performance over time. Error Recovery Prevention Built specifically for RAID and NAS environments, WD Red Pro drives come equipped with error recovery controls as part of NASware 3.0 technology to help reduce drive fallout in RAID applications. Extended Drive Testing A NAS environment that has up to 24 bays is very demanding on a hard drive with added vibration and heat. Desktop drives vs. WD Red Pro Do right by your NAS and choose the drive purpose-built for NAS with an array of features to help preserve your data and maintain optimum performance. Take the following into consideration when choosing a hard drive for your NAS:
Engineered to handle high-intensity workloads1 in 24x7 environments, WD Red Pro is ideal for archiving and sharing, as well as RAID array rebuilding on extended operating systems such as ZFS or other file systems. These drives add value to your business by enabling your employees to quickly share their files and back-up folders reliably in your NAS solution. Exclusive NASware 3.0 Technology Our exclusive advanced firmware technology, NASware 3.0, enables seamless integration, robust data protection and optimal performance for NAS systems operating under heavy demand. Built into every WD Red Pro hard drive, NASware 3.0's advanced technology improves storage performance by increasing compatibility, integration, upgradeability, and reliability. Built for Optimum NAS Compatibility WD Red Pro drives with NASware technology takes the guesswork out of selecting a drive. Optimized for NAS systems, our unique algorithm balances performance and reliability in NAS and RAID environments. Simply put, a WD Red Pro drive is one of the most compatible drives available for NAS enclosures. But don't take our word for it. WD Red Pro drives are a reflection of extensive NAS partner technology engagement and compatibility-testing. Larger NAS Bay Shock Protection WD Red Pro drives are equipped with a multi-axis shock sensor that automatically detects subtle shock events and dynamic fly height technology which adjusts each read-write function to compensate and protect the data. This combination of technology further protects the drives in larger 24-bay NAS environments and helps increase hard drive reliability. 3D Active Balance Plus Our enhanced dual-plane balance control technology significantly improves the overall drive performance and reliability. Hard drives that are not properly balanced may cause excessive vibration and noise in a multi-drive system, reduce the hard drive life span, and degrade the performance over time. Error Recovery Prevention Built specifically for RAID and NAS environments, WD Red Pro drives come equipped with error recovery controls as part of NASware 3.0 technology to help reduce drive fallout in RAID applications. Extended Drive Testing A NAS environment that has up to 24 bays is very demanding on a hard drive with added vibration and heat. Desktop drives vs. WD Red Pro Do right by your NAS and choose the drive purpose-built for NAS with an array of features to help preserve your data and maintain optimum performance. Take the following into consideration when choosing a hard drive for your NAS:
Engineered to handle high-intensity workloads1 in 24x7 environments, WD Red Pro is ideal for archiving and sharing, as well as RAID array rebuilding on extended operating systems such as ZFS or other file systems. These drives add value to your business by enabling your employees to quickly share their files and back-up folders reliably in your NAS solution. Exclusive NASware 3.0 Technology Our exclusive advanced firmware technology, NASware 3.0, enables seamless integration, robust data protection and optimal performance for NAS systems operating under heavy demand. Built into every WD Red Pro hard drive, NASware 3.0's advanced technology improves storage performance by increasing compatibility, integration, upgradeability, and reliability. Built for Optimum NAS Compatibility WD Red Pro drives with NASware technology takes the guesswork out of selecting a drive. Optimized for NAS systems, our unique algorithm balances performance and reliability in NAS and RAID environments. Simply put, a WD Red Pro drive is one of the most compatible drives available for NAS enclosures. But don't take our word for it. WD Red Pro drives are a reflection of extensive NAS partner technology engagement and compatibility-testing. Larger NAS Bay Shock Protection WD Red Pro drives are equipped with a multi-axis shock sensor that automatically detects subtle shock events and dynamic fly height technology which adjusts each read-write function to compensate and protect the data. This combination of technology further protects the drives in larger 24-bay NAS environments and helps increase hard drive reliability. 3D Active Balance Plus Our enhanced dual-plane balance control technology significantly improves the overall drive performance and reliability. Hard drives that are not properly balanced may cause excessive vibration and noise in a multi-drive system, reduce the hard drive life span, and degrade the performance over time. Error Recovery Prevention Built specifically for RAID and NAS environments, WD Red Pro drives come equipped with error recovery controls as part of NASware 3.0 technology to help reduce drive fallout in RAID applications. Extended Drive Testing A NAS environment that has up to 24 bays is very demanding on a hard drive with added vibration and heat. Desktop drives vs. WD Red Pro Do right by your NAS and choose the drive purpose-built for NAS with an array of features to help preserve your data and maintain optimum performance. Take the following into consideration when choosing a hard drive for your NAS:
in 2 offers
The lowest price for Western Digital Red Pro 3.5" 16000 GB Serial ATA right now is $996.29 at Amazon.com.au, compared across 2 retailers.
The all-time low was $333.00 on 5 Mar 2026 — today's price is 199% above the lowest ever. It has been notably cheaper before — worth setting a price alert.
Prices last updated 22 June 2026.
