In this review, we are going to take a close look at the 4TB Synology Plus (HAT3300-4T) hard disk drive, and find out how well it performs!
Updated @ 2023-11-09 : Updated with operating temperature results, and minor changes. Originally posted @ 2023-10-05
Synology Plus Series (HAT3300) NAS Drives
The Synology Plus Series (HAT3300) hard disk drives are designed to populate their Network-Attach Storage (NAS) systems for homes and small businesses.
These Synology Plus Series drives are designed for light-to-intermediate use. Based on the Conventional Magnetic Recording (CMR) technology, they are similar to the WD Red and Seagate Iron Wolf range of NAS drives, with a 1 million hour MTBF and 180 TB per year workload rating.
The main advantage of these drives is that their firmware can be automatically updated using the DiskStation Manager (DSM) in Synology NAS systems.
4TB Synology Plus (HAT3300-4T) Price
The 4TB Synology Plus (HAT3300-4T) hard disk drive commands a slight premium over comparable drives like the 4TB WD Red (Price Check) and the 4TB Seagate IronWolf (Price Check).
Retailing at about $90 as of 3 October 2023, it works out to a cost of $22.50 per TB. Here are some online purchase options:
The Synology Plus series offers storage capacities of 4TB, 6TB, 8TB and 12TB. With the exception of the 12TB model, all drives in this family are air-filled, and have a 5,400 RPM spindle speed.
The baby of this family, which we are reviewing today, is the 4TB Synology Plus drive, which has a model number of HAT3300-4T. Here are its key specifications:
Specifications
4 TB Synology Plus
Model
HAT3300-4T
Capacity
4 Terabytes
Form Factor
3.5-inch
Drive Design
Air
Recording Technology
Conventional Magnetic Recording (CMR)
Interface
SATA 6 Gb/s
Cache
256 MB
Rotational Speed
5,400 RPM
Max. Data Transfer Speed
202 MB/s
Mean Time Between Failure (MTBF)
1,000,000 hours
Workload Rating
180 TB / year
Power Consumption
Idle : 3.96 W
Random Read : 4.85 W
Random Write : 4.85 W
Operating Temperature
0°C to 65°C
32°F to 149°F
Non-Operating Temperature
-40°C to 70°C
-40°F to 158°F
Operating Shock
80 Gs (2 ms duration)
Non-Operating Shock
300 Gs (2 ms duration)
Operating Vibration
10 Hz to 22 Hz: 0.25 Gs, Limited displacement
22 Hz to 350 Hz: 0.50 Gs
350 Hz to 500 Hz: 0.25 Gs
Non-Operating Vibration
5 Hz to 22 Hz: 3.0 Gs
22 Hz to 350 Hz: 3.0 Gs
350 Hz to 500 Hz: 3.0 Gs
Acoustics
Idle : 23 dBA
Seek : 27 dBA
Size
20.20 mm high
101.85 mm wide
147 mm long
Weight
490 g
Warranty
3 Years
4TB Synology Plus HDD Unboxing + Hands-On
The 4TB Synology Plus (HAT3300-4T) hard disk drive comes in a large cardboard box, with a window to let you peek inside.
On opening the box, you will see that the drive is well-protected. It’s sealed in an anti-static bag, placed within a plastic enclosure, and further protected from shock and vibration by two large foam inserts.
The 4TB Synology Plus (HAT3300-4T) hard disk drive is designed for the light-to-intermediate usage requirements of personal and SMB (small and medium business) NAS systems. Here are its key features:
Manufactured By Seagate
Synology does not make this hard disk drive, which was manufactured by Seagate. Think of this as a Seagate IronWolf hard disk drive that was customised to Synology’s requirements, and with custom firmware for Synology.
Under The PCB
In the following video, we took a look under its PCB, and here was what we found:
The 4TB Synology Plus (HAT3300-4T) comes with a large 256 MB SDRAM cache, courtesy of a Samsung K4B2G1646F memory chip. This is a DDR3-1866 SDRAM chip with 16 memory banks, and a peak transfer rate of about 466 MB/s.
It also uses a Seagate Dillon motor drive controller, which features ST Microelectronics’ proprietary Smooth Drive pseudo-sinusoidal digital drive technology. The drive controller itself has a thermal pad to help keep cool, by transferring heat to the drive chassis.
Finally, this NAS drive has two sensors on its PCB, which allow it to better detect shock and vibration events, and dynamically adjust the flying height of the read/write heads to avoid head crashes.
The 4TB Synology Plus is backed by a million hour MTBF (Mean Time Before Failure) rating, and is rated for a workload of 180 TB per year.
That works out to 15 terabytes per month, and is about par for the course for consumer-grade NAS drives.
Easy Firmware Updates
Unlike third-party NAS drives from Western Digital or Seagate, you can easily update the firmware of the 4TB Synology Plus hard disk drive using DiskStation Manager (DSM) in Synology NAS systems.
This is a convenient feature for those who use Synology NAS systems – you won’t need to remove the drive, or use a separate computer, to update its firmware.
Low Power Consumption
Power consumption is pretty low, at just under 5 watts. Even if you run this drive 24/7, it will only consume 42.5 kW per year.
Real world usage will be significantly lower, since NAS systems are designed to power down drives during periods of inactivity.
4TB Synology Plus Operating Temperature
We monitored the surface temperature of the three hard disk drives while idle, and during their benchmarks. The following chart shows their operating temperature range, from idle to maximum load.
Please note that instead of giving you the absolute numbers, we are showing the temperature delta, which is the difference between the actual temperature and the ambient room temperature.
The 4TB Synology Plus (HAT3300-4T) appears to run slightly hotter than the 4TB WD Red, but significantly cooler than the 6TB WD Red. This is good news, because it can get really hot inside the NAS enclosure!
4TB Synology Plus CrystalDiskMark Performance Results
Let’s take a look at the 4TB Synology Plus hard disk drive’s sequential read and write performance, compared to the 4TB WD Red, and the 6TB WD Red drives.
Sequential Read Performance
With a queue depth of 1, the 4TB Synology Plus (HAT3300-4T) delivered a maximum sequential read speed of 215 MB/s.
This is about 6% over its rated transfer rate of 202 MB/s, and puts it 20% ahead of the 6TB WD Red drive, and 39% ahead of the 4TB WD Red.
When queue depth increased to 8, the 4TB Synology Plus (HAT3300-4T) delivered a maximum sequential read speed of just under 217 MB/s.
This is about 7% over its rated transfer rate of 202 MB/s, and puts it 20% ahead of the 6TB WD Red drive, and 38% ahead of the 4TB WD Red.
Sequential Write Performance
With a queue depth of 1, the 4TB Synology Plus (HAT3300-4T) delivered a maximum sequential write speed of 214 MB/s.
This is about 6% over its rated transfer rate of 202 MB/s, and puts it 29% ahead of the 6TB WD Red drive, and 42% ahead of the 4TB WD Red.
When queue depth increased to 8, the 4TB Synology Plus (HAT3300-4T) delivered a maximum sequential write speed of just over 214 MB/s.
This is about 6% over its rated transfer rate of 202 MB/s, and puts it 24% ahead of the 6TB WD Red drive, and 42% ahead of the 4TB WD Red.
Now, let’s take a look at the 4TB Synology Plus hard disk drive’s random read and write performance, compared to the 4TB WD Red, and the 6TB WD Red drives.
Random Read Performance
With a queue depth of 1, the 4TB Synology Plus (HAT3300-4T) delivered a maximum random read speed of 670 KB/s.
That puts it 6% ahead of the 6TB WD Red drive, and 15.5% ahead of the 4TB WD Red.
When queue depth increased to 32, the 4TB Synology Plus (HAT3300-4T) delivered a maximum random read speed of 2.08 MB/s.
That puts it on par with the 6TB WD Red drive, and just 4% ahead of the 4TB WD Red.
Random Write Performance
With a queue depth of 1, the 4TB Synology Plus (HAT3300-4T) delivered a maximum random write speed of 1.85 MB/s.
That puts it 23% behind the 6TB WD Red drive, but 44.5% ahead of the 4TB WD Red.
When queue depth increased to 32, the 4TB Synology Plus (HAT3300-4T) delivered a maximum random write speed of just over 1.8 MB/s.
That puts it 24% behind the 6TB WD Red drive, but 43% ahead of the 4TB WD Red.
4TB Synology Plus ATTO Benchmark Performance Results
Let’s take a look at the 4TB Synology Plus hard disk drive’s peak read and write speeds, compared to the 4TB WD Red, and the 6TB WD Red drives.
Peak Read Performance
The ATTO Benchmark shows that the 4TB Synology Plus drive delivered a peak read speed of just under 205 MB/s, putting it 12% ahead of the 6TB WD Red, and 36% ahead of the 4TB WD Red.
Peak Write Performance
The ATTO Benchmark shows that the 4TB Synology Plus drive delivered a peak write speed of just over 205 MB/s, putting it 25% ahead of the 6TB WD Red, and 48% ahead of the 4TB WD Red.
Peak Read IOPS
The ATTO Benchmark shows that the 4TB Synology Plus drive delivered a peak read IOPS of just under 64.75K, putting it 50% ahead of the 6TB WD Red, and 65% ahead of the 4TB WD Red.
Peak Write IOPS
The ATTO Benchmark shows that the 4TB Synology Plus drive delivered a peak write IOPS of just over 61.25K, putting it 46% ahead of the 6TB WD Red, and an incredible 81% ahead of the 4TB WD Red.
4 TB Synology Plus Review Conclusion
The 4TB Synology Plus (HAT3300-4T) is, without doubt, a fast NAS hard disk drive. Our benchmark results show that it consistently outperforms the 4TB and 6TB Western Digital Red drives.
It may be sold at a slight price premium, but its better performance and the ability to conveniently upgrade its firmware (rare as that may be) directly using the DiskStation Manager (DSM) makes it a no-brainer choice for Synology NAS users.
If you are planning to use a Synology NAS system for your home or SMB use, you would be well-served to purchase the Synology Plus drive to populate it. We definitely think it deserves our Reviewer’s Choice Award!
4 TB Synology Plus : Where To Buy?
The 4TB Synology Plus (HAT3300-4T) hard disk drive retails at about $89.90 as of 3 October 2023, it works out to a cost of $22.50 per TB. Here are some online purchase options:
The 4TB Synology Plus (HAT3300-4T) drive also comes bundled with certain Synology NAS systems.
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You may be wondering why your WD NAS is no longer visible in Windows 10.
Where did it go? How do you get it back?
Find out why your WD NAS cannot no longer be seen in Windows, and what are the solutions!
WD NAS Can’t Be Seen In Windows : What Happened?
You may have been using your WD NAS for some time, but one day, its network share – the “drive” that you directly access – can no longer be seen in Windows 10.
The NAS links in Windows File Explorer will only lead you to the login page for the WD NAS management page, not the actual drive where you can directly read, copy, write or edit your files.
All these NAS issues are happening because Microsoft disabled the Network Browse function from Windows 10 v1709 onwards.
The problems started after Windows 10 Fall Creators Update 1709, which :
The Computer Browser service relies on the SMB 1.0 protocol to discover network devices and display them in the Windows Network Neighbourhood.
Disabling SMB 1.0 breaks the Computer Browser service, so it is automatically uninstalled and your NAS drives “disappear” from Network Neighbourhood.
Disabling guest access prevents guest or public access to your NAS drives, even to folders you specifically set to allow for public access. Hence, the Public folder they had access to earlier “disappears”.
Why Did Microsoft Disable Those Network Features?
The SMB1 network protocol was first implemented in Windows back in 1992, so it’s old… very old.
It’s so old that it lacks encryption. Everything transmitted via SMB1 can be captured and read, and even modified, by any attacker who gains access to the network.
Guest logins even on SMB2 do not support standard security features like signing and encryption. This makes them vulnerable to man-in-the-middle attacks.
That’s why Microsoft (finally) disabled them both, starting with the Windows 10 Fall Creators Update 1709.
WD NAS Can’t Be Seen In Windows : Before We Start…
Preliminary Step #1 : Update Your NAS
Before you do anything, you should log into your WD NAS management system and update its firmware, in case it’s not already set to automatically update.
Updating its firmware will ensure that your NAS supports at least SMB 2, if not SMB 3 as well.
WD NAS
Windows URL
macOS URL
My Cloud EX2100
http://wdmycloudex2100
http://wdmycloudex2100.local
My Cloud DL2100
http://wdmyclouddl2100
http://wdmyclouddl2100.local
My Cloud EX4100
http://wdmycloudex4100
http://wdmycloudex4100.local
My Cloud DL4100
http://wdmyclouddl4100
http://wdmyclouddl4100.local
Preliminary Step #2 : Use A Higher SMB Protocol
Then, enable the highest SMB protocol your WD NAS supports (Settings > Network). Set it to SMB 3 if possible.
This will ensure that both your WD NAS and your network support the most secure network protocol possible, for your security.
WD NAS Can’t Be Seen In Windows : The Solutions!
Best Solution : Map Your WD NAS By Device Name
The best way is to manually map your WD NAS by its device name. This lets you use the more secure SMB2 or SMB3 network protocols, with direct access to your files as usual.
Determine your WD NAS network path, which is based on the device name.If you changed your WD NAS device name to TechARPCloud (for example), the network name will be \\TechARPCloudHere is a list of default network paths for different WD NAS :
WD NAS
Default Network Path
My Cloud Home
\\MYCLOUD-last 6 digits of serial number
Example : \\MYCLOUD-123456
My Cloud Home Duo
My Cloud
\\WDMYCLOUD
My Cloud Mirror
\\WDMYCLOUDMIRROR
My Cloud Mirror Gen 2
My Cloud EX2
\\WDMYCLOUDEX2
My Cloud EX2 Ultra
\\MYCLOUDEX2ULTRA
My Cloud EX4
\\WDMYCLOUDEX4
My Cloud EX2100
\\WDMYCLOUDEX2100
My Cloud EX4100
\\WDMYCLOUDEX4100
My Cloud DL2100
\\WDMYCLOUDDL2100
My Cloud DL4100
\\WDMYCLOUDDL4100
My Cloud PR2100
\\MYCLOUDPR2100
My Cloud PR4100
\\MYCLOUDPR2100
Open Windows File Explorer and click on Network on the left pane.
Key in the network path of the WD NAS, which is based on its device name. Make sure you include \\ before the network path.
You will be asked to key in a user name and password.
This can be the administrator’s login, or the login of any registered user of your WD NAS.
Remember – Windows 10 no longer allows guest logins or public access. So you will need to create a password-protected account even for guests to use.
Once you successfully authenticate your user name and password, the network shares of your WD NAS will become visible in File Explorer under Network!You can stop here, but you will need to keep keying in the network path and login to access your NAS every time you boot into Windows.
For more convenience, you can create a password-protected Private Share.Start by right-clicking on a network share from your WD NAS and select Map network drive…
Select a drive letter for the network share.
Check Reconnect at sign-in if you don’t want to automatically log into the drive.
Then click Finish to map the drive.
That’s it! If you expand This PC in Windows File Explorer, you should now see that the WD NAS network drive has now been mapped by its device name!
Alternate Solution : Enable Network Discovery Without SMB1
This Windows 10 workaround can be used if your WD NAS supports SMB2 or SMB3 and you prefer not to map the network drives.
Go to Windows Services.
Start these two services :
– Function Discovery Provider Host
– Function Discovery Resource Publication
Set the Startup type for both those services to Automatic (Delayed Start).
Open Windows File Explorer and go to Network.
When prompted, enable Network Discovery.
Your WD NAS shares should now be visible in Windows File Explorer.
Worst Case Solution : Enable Network Discovery Without SMB1
This should only be attempted if your WD NAS simply cannot support SMB2 or SMB3, and can only use SMB1.
Go to Control Panel > Programs.
Click on Turn Windows features on or off.
Expand the SMB 1.0/CIFS File Sharing Support option.
Check the SMB 1.0/CIFS Client option.
Click the OK button.
Restart Windows 10
After Windows 10 restarts, your WD NAS shares should now be visible in Windows File Explorer.
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Western Digital today announced the Ultrastar DC ME200 Memory Extension Drive – their first product to deliver better in-memory system capacity and performance to drive today’s real-time analytics and business insights.
“Today’s requirement for faster analytics, data processing, cloud services and high-performance computing (HPC) is increasing demand for in-memory computing across a variety of industries, including healthcare, telecommunications and IT, and retail,” said Ashish Nadkarni, group vice president, IDC. “By expanding in-memory capacity, the Ultrastar memory drive helps alleviate the high cost of adding extra DRAM, as well as addresses the physical limitations of available DIMM slots, where scaling is either cost-prohibitive or nearly impossible.”
The WD Ultrastar DC ME200 Memory Drive
The Ultrastar DC ME200 memory drive provides cost-efficient, near-DRAM performance for companies to expand memory pools sizes up to 8X the DRAM capacity, while offering substantial CAPEX and OPEX savings.
With larger memory pools, application developers can take advantage of memory-aware performance and capacity optimizations, and expand faster data processing across many applications and workloads. The Ultrastar memory drive is ideal for in-memory applications such as Redis, Memcached, Apache Spark and large-scale databases, providing higher capacities over current storage-class memory products.
The Ultrastar memory drive is drop-in ready and PCIe-device compatible with most Intel x86 servers. Available in 1 TiB, 2 TiB and 4 TiB, the solution requires no modifications to the operating system, system hardware, firmware or application stacks.
For expandability, a 1U server can typically support up to 24TiB of system memory using the Ultrastar DC ME200 drive for in-memory compute clusters. Supported server interfaces are NVMe U.2 and PCIe AIC (add-in-card) HH-HL.
The WD Ultrastar DC ME200 Availability
The Ultrastar DC ME200 memory drive is currently available and sampling with select customers.
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The WD Black NVMe SSD may be fast, but WD is now introducing a faster WD Black 3D NVMe SSD that combines a new NVMe controller with 3D NAND! Check out the details below!
Today, they introduced the new WD Black 3D NVMe SSD, that features their own SSD architecture and controller, and paired with their 3D NAND. It was engineered from the ground up on a new NVMe architecture, using a new NVMe SSD controller paired with their 3D NAND.
The WD Black 3D NVMe SSD (Price Check) boasts a sequential read speed of up to 3.4 GB/s, and a sequential write speed of up to 2.8 GB/s! It also delivers up to 500,000 random read IOPS, and 400,000 random write IOPS, so it will easily handle any kind of workload, even the most intensive multi-threaded applications.
It comes in three capacities – 1 TB, 500 GB and 250 GB. The 1 TB model can handle up to 600 terabytes of writes (TBW) in its lifetime, while the 500 GB model can handle 300 TBW and the 250 GB model will handle up to 200 TBW.
2018 WD Black 3D NVMe SSD Specifications
Specifications
1 TB Black 3D NVMe
500 GB Black 3D NVMe
250 GB Black 3D NVMe
Model Number
WDS100T2X0C
WDS500G2X0C
WDS250G2X0C
Form Factor
M.2 2280
M.2 2280
M.2 2280
Interface
POIe 3.0 x8 (4 lanes)
POIe 3.0 x8 (4 lanes)
POIe 3.0 x8 (4 lanes)
Sequential Read
3.4 GB/s
3.4 GB/s
3.0 GB/s
Sequential Write
2.8 GB/s
2.4 GB/s
1.6 GB/s
Random Read
500,000 IOPS
410,000 IOPS
220,000 IOPS
Random Write
400,000 IOPS
330,000 IOPS
170,000 IOPS
Endurance
600 TBW
300 TBW
200 TBW
MTTF
1.75 million hours
1.75 million hours
1.75 million hours
Average Active Power
140 mW
110 mW
110 mW
Low Power (PS3)
100 mW
70 mW
70 mW
Slumber (PS4)
2.5 mW
2.5 mW
2.5 mW
Operating Temperature
0 °C to 70 °C
0 °C to 70 °C
0 °C to 70 °C
Shock
1,500 G
1,500 G
1,500 G
Operating Vibration
5.0 gRMS, 10–2000 Hz, 3 axes
5.0 gRMS, 10–2000 Hz, 3 axes
5.0 gRMS, 10–2000 Hz, 3 axes
Dimensions
22 mm wide
80 mm long
2.38 mm thick
22 mm wide
80 mm long
2.38 mm thick
22 mm wide
80 mm long
2.38 mm thick
Weight
7.5 g
7.5 g
7.5 g
Warranty
5 years
5 years
5 years
[adrotate group=”2″]
2018 WD Black 3D NVMe SSD Price + Availability
The new WD Black 3D NVMe SSD (Price Check) is available at the end of July 2018 at the following price points :
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Western Digital today launched two portable SSD drives – the My Passport Wireless SSD and the SanDisk Extreme Portable SSD. Let’s hear from WD’s Albert Chang on the key features of these new portable SSD drives. He will also introduce the upcoming G-Technology family of professional storage solutions!
The SanDisk Extreme Portable SSD
The rugged SanDisk Extreme Portable SSD (Price Check) delivers high-speed transfers with up to 550MB/s read speeds, making it perfect for saving and editing high resolution photos and videos. Its IP55 dust- and water-resistance rating mean it can stand up to hazards such as rain, splashes, spills and dust.
Offered in capacities up to 2 TB, the new SanDisk Extreme Portable SSD (Price Check) is perfect for extensive photo shoots – giving users the capacity to take their portfolio with them on the go, or back up instantly while out in the field.
High-speed transfers with up to 550MB/s read speeds
Rugged, water- and dust-resistant (IP55 rated)
Shock-resistant solid state core for greater durability
Compact and designed to fit in the palm of your hand
Works with both PC and Mac computers and comes with a 3-year limited warranty
The SanDisk Extreme Portable SSD (Price Check) delivers high-performance and capacity in a pocket-sized drive.
The SanDisk Extreme Portable SSD (Price Check) has a three-year limited warranty and is available now at all leading IT retail outlets across Malaysia & online stores including Lazada, 11street and Shopee. Here are its Manufacturer’s Suggested Retail Price (MSRP) :
G-Technology is a Western Digital brand that focuses on professional-grade storage solutions. Albert gives us a quick overview of G-Technology, and the kind of storage drives they create.
If you like our work, you can help support our work by visiting our sponsors, participating in the Tech ARP Forums, or even donating to our fund. Any help you can render is greatly appreciated!
Western Digital today launched two portable SSD drives – the My Passport Wireless SSD and the SanDisk Extreme Portable SSD. Let’s hear from WD’s Albert Chang on the key features of these new portable SSD drives. He will also introduce the upcoming G-Technology family of professional storage solutions!
My Passport Wireless SSD
The new My Passport Wireless SSD (Price Check) is an all in one portable drive that helps preserve photos and videos captured on cameras or drones. The device features one-touch card copy to enable editing and sharing of content out in the field, as well as a new capability to directly access the device within third-party mobile creative apps, like FiLMiC Pro and LumaFusion.
Built-in SD card reader with up to 65 MB/s read speeds and one-touch copy button that makes it easy to quickly back up photos and videos from an SD card without a computer or additional software
Durable, shock-resistant SSD inside that helps keep content safe from shock, vibrations and drops up to one (1) meter, even when the drive is in operation
Fast SSD transfer speeds (up to 390 MB/s read) when using the USB 3.0 port to move files to and from PC or Mac computers
All-day battery life (up to 10 hours of continuous use)
Wirelessly stream 4K videos and view photos with the My Cloud mobile app
The My Passport Wireless SSD (Price Check) is backed by a two-year limited warranty and will be available by end of July 2018 at all leading IT retail outlets across Malaysia & online stores including Lazada, 11street and Shopee. Here are its Manufacturer’s Suggested Retail Price (MSRP) :
G-Technology is a Western Digital brand that focuses on professional-grade storage solutions. Albert gives us a quick overview of G-Technology, and the kind of storage drives they create.
If you like our work, you can help support our work by visiting our sponsors, participating in the Tech ARP Forums, or even donating to our fund. Any help you can render is greatly appreciated!
The highlight of the WD Black NVMe SSD showcase at Computex 2018 was the massive 8TB SSD RAID array that is as fast as DDR4-2400 memory! Wonder how they accomplished this? Read on and find out!
Updated at 2018-06-22 : Our sincere apologies. We mixed up the system specifications for this SSD RAID Array. It’s actually an AMD Ryzen Threadripper system. We have since corrected the article to reflect this.
This 8TB SSD Is As Fast As DDR4 Memory!
As you can see here, Western Digital hit a throughput of 19 GB/s with the Western Digital Black NVMe SSDs (Price Check)! That is as fast as single-channel DDR4-2400 memory!
How To Create This Super-Fast 8TB SSD
The secret? Andrew Vo explains how they created this super-fast 8TB SSD RAID array using the Western Digital Black NVMe SSDs (Price Check) in this video.
This is what you will need, if you plan to replicate their project :
Each WD Black NVMe SSD is capable of a peak transfer rate of 2.8 GB/s (write) to 3.4 GB/s (read), so eight of them would have a theoretical throughput limit of 22.4 to 27.2 GB/s!
To hit 19 GB/s, you need to create a RAID 0 array of those eight 1 TB WD Black NVMe SSDs (Price Check), but you can’t use the motherboard’s RAID feature because you would be limited by the 32 Gbps / 4 GB/s DMI bottleneck.
Intel VROC
The ASUS Hyper M.2 X16 Card (Price Check) supports Intel Virtual RAID on CPU (VROC), which reassigns unused PCIe lanes of an Intel Skylake or Coffee Lake processor to boost transfer rates up to 128 Gbps or 16 GB/s.
Of course, those are the theoretical limits, and the actual throughput will be considerably lower than 16 GB/s. To go beyond that, you will need two ASUS Hyper M.2 X16 Cards (Price Check).
AMD Ryzen Threadripper
However, Western Digital used an AMD Ryzen Threadripper system instead. The Threadripper processor has 64 PCIe lanes – plenty for two Hyper M.2 X16 Card (Price Check).
In the end, Western Digital only hit 19 GB/s with two of these cards. This is 30% lower than the theoretical capability of a perfect RAID 0 array of eight 1 TB WD Black NVMe SSDs (Price Check), and 40% lower than the theoretical capability of two ASUS Hyper M.2 X16 Cards (Price Check).
However, without resorting to this method, a motherboard-based RAID 0 array of eight 1 TB WD Black NVMe SSDs (Price Check) would only deliver a maximum transfer rate of just 4 GB/s. Even that’s in a perfect world.
How Much Does This Super-Fast SSD RAID Array Cost?
Each 1 TB WD Black NVMe SSDs (Price Check) currently costs $399.99. So the eight SSDs alone cost a princely US$ 3,192 / € 2,765 / RM 12,779.
The ASUS Hyper M.2 X16 Card (Price Check) is much cheaper at just $59 each. That’s an additional US$ 118 / € 102 / RM 472.
All in, this 8 TB SSD RAID array will set you back US$ 3,247/ € 2,812 / RM 12,999. And that does not include the AMD Ryzen Threadripper system=.
No doubt, this is a very expensive project. But think about it – you now have a massive 8 TB SSD RAID 0 array that is as fast as DDR4-2400 memory!
If you like our work, you can help support our work by visiting our sponsors, participating in the Tech ARP Forums, or even donating to our fund. Any help you can render is greatly appreciated!
In addition to their WD Black NVMe SSD showcase, Western Digital also showed off their wide range of portable SSD drives under the SanDisk, WD and G-Technology brands. Join us for our tour of the WD Portable SSD showcase at Computex 2018!
The WD Portable SSD Showcas
Western Digital currently has portable SSDs under three brands – SanDisk, WD and G-Technology. Western Digital’s Jared Peck gives us a tour of these portable SSDs, and their key features. He even demonstrates how crushproof the G-DRIVE portable SSD is!
SanDisk Extreme Portable SSD
The SanDisk Extreme Portable SSD is a tough, IP55 dust- and water-resistant drive. It offers capacities up to 2 TB, with transfer rates of up to 550 MB/s.
WD is increasing the capacity of their My Passport SSD drive to 2 TB. It offers up to 540 MB/s in transfer rate, with 256-bit AES hardware encryption built-in.
The WD My Passport Wireless SSD is the SSD version of the WD My Passport Wireless drive. Designed for photographers on-the-go, it not only comes with an internal battery and WiFi-AC connectivity, it also has a SD card reader built-in.
The G-Technology G-DRIVE Mobile SSD has a built-in heatsink that keeps the drive cool and makes it crushproof (up to 450 kg / 1000 lbs). It is also IP67 dust- and water-resistant.
The G-DRIVE Mobile Pro SSD uses NVMe and Thunderbolt 3 technologies to achieve transfer rates of up to 2,800 MB/s! It also comes with a heatsink core that doubles as a crushproof cage (up to 450 kg / 1000 lbs).
This is a desktop version of the G-DRIVE Mobile Pro drive above, although it’s arguably portable as well. It has an enterprise-grade SSD inside, with storage capacities of up to 7.68 GB, and transfer rates of up to 2,800 MB/s. You can even daisy-chain multiple G-DRIVE Pro SSDs together.
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On our second day at Computex 2018, we visited the WD Black NVMe SSD showcase, where Western Digital showed off how they achieved a phenomenal 19 GB/s throughput with this SSD! They also showcased a number of interesting gaming PCs powered by the WD Black NVMe SSD. Let’s take a look!
WD Black NVMe SSD Showcase @ Computex 2018
Western Digital’s Andrew Vo took us on a tour of the WD Black NVMe SSD showcase. He points out that the Western Digital Black NVMe SSD (Price Check) is their first 3D NAND product in the NVMe form factor, delivering 6X the performance of SATA drives.
Here are the WD Black NVMe SSD’s specifications :
Specifications
1 TB WD Black NVMe SSD
500 GB WD Black NVMe SSD
250 GB WD Black NVMe SSD
Model Number
WDS100T2X0C
WDS500G2X0C
WDS250G2X0C
Storage Capacity
1000 GB
500 GB
250 GB
Form Factor
M.2 2280
M.2 2280
M.2 2280
Interface
PCIe x4 Gen3
- up to 8 Gb/s
PCIe x4 Gen3
- up to 8 Gb/s
PCIe x4 Gen3
- up to 8 Gb/s
Sequential Read Speed
3,400 MB/s
3,400 MB/s
3,000 MB/s
Sequential Write Speed
2,800 MB/s
2,500 MB/s
1,600 MB/s
Random Read Speed
2,000 MB/s
1,640 MB/s
880 MB/s
Random Write Speed
1,600 MB/s
1,320 MB/s
680 MB/s
Endurance
600 TBW
300 TBW
200 TBW
Reliability (MTTF)
1.75 million hours
1.75 million hours
1.75 million hours
Power Consumption (Active)
140 W
110 W
110 W
Power Consumption (Sleep)
100 mW
70 mW
70 mW
Operating Temperature
0 °C to 70 °C
32 °F to 158 °F
0 °C to 70 °C
32 °F to 158 °F
0 °C to 70 °C
32 °F to 158 °F
Non-Operating Temperature
-55 °C to 85 °C
-67 °F to 185 °F
-55 °C to 85 °C
-67 °F to 185 °F
-55 °C to 85 °C
-67 °F to 185 °F
Shock
1,500 G @ 0.5 ms half sine
1,500 G @ 0.5 ms half sine
1,500 G @ 0.5 ms half sine
Dimensions
22 mm wide
80 mm long
2.38 mm thick
22 mm wide
80 mm long
2.38 mm thick
22 mm wide
80 mm long
2.38 mm thick
Weight
7.5 g
7.5 g
7.5 g
Limited Warranty
5 years
5 years
5 years
And here are some purchase links for these Western Digital SSDs :
Andrew also showed us how they hit a throughput of 19 GB/s with the Western Digital Black NVMe SSDs (Price Check)!
The secret? Use eight 1 TB WD Black NVMe SSDs (Price Check) in a RAID array! Each of those Western Digital SSDs is capable of a peak transfer rate of 2.8 GB/s (write) to 3.4 GB/s (read), so eight of them would have a theoretical throughput limit of 22.4 to 27.2 GB/s!
Western Digital also showed off several gaming PCs at their showcase. These were set-up for the explicit purpose of letting people try out and see how fast these gaming PCs ran with the WD Black NVMe SSD,
InWin WINBOT Gaming PC
This magnificent gaming PC is built using the InWin WINBOT chassis – an aluminium and plexiglass marvel that supports the largest E-ATX motherboards, and up to four SATA drives. It is available in three colour options – Black + Red, Black + Green and White + Blue.
iBuyPower Snowblind Gaming PC
The iBuyPower Snowblind gaming PC looks like a perfectly ordinary gaming PC, until you notice the transparent LCD display on its side! This large 1280 x 1024 transparent LCD display lets you display anything you want – your favourite photos or video clips – while still letting you see your PC components through it!
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The new WD Purple microSD cards are purpose-built for the complex and dynamic data demands of modern surveillance cameras and edge systems. Check them out here!
WD Purple microSD Cards For 4K Surveillance
Optimized for 24/7 surveillance video capture, the new WD Purple microSD cards support a continuous surveillance workload. They can capture and preserve video in a variety of high-definition and next-generation formats, including 4K Ultra HD video.
The rugged and humidity-resistant design of the new WD Purple microSD cards enable video capture in a wide range of environmental conditions, including outdoors in snowy winters and indoors in hot and humid factory settings.
Optimized for Evolving Data-Centric Surveillance Demands
Designed to support a wide range of video resolutions and surveillance video recording implementations, additional highlights of the new microSD card include:
Robust Endurance for Continuous Recording : Supports up to 1,000 PE Cycles
Card Health Status Functionality for Easy Card Maintenance : In compatible cameras, a unique health monitor offers reporting capabilities to provide users and system installers valuable information, including the card’s endurance and capacity status, enabling predictive maintenance and taking the “guess work” out of when to service the card.[adrotate group=”2″]
High Performance for Next-Generation Video : Offers speeds of up to 80 MB/s sequential read and 50 MB/s sequential write and supports Speed Class 10 and UHS Speed Class 1.
Trusted Video Capture in Wide Range of Climates : Designed for use in temperatures ranging from -25°C to 85°C, it enables reliable video capture indoors and outdoors.
High Capacity to Capture and Preserve Video if Connection to Network Connection is Lost : Offered in capacities up to 64GB.
WD Purple microSD Card Price + Availability
The new WD Purple microSD card will be available in Malaysia by end April, at the manufacturer’s suggested retail price (MSRP) of RM 99 for 32GB capacity and RM 159.00 for 64GB capacity. Here are some purchase links for your convenience :
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The 1TB WD Blue 3D NAND SSD is the first Western Digital solid state drive to feature their 64-layer 3D NAND technology that delivers higher storage capacities, performance and endurance, with lower power consumption. Let’s see if the 1TB WD Blue 3D NAND SSD delivers on that promise!
The WD Blue 3D NAND SSD Family
The WD Blue 3D NAND SSD family consists of four models built upon the same technology. They mainly differ in storage capacities, with some performance characteristics. Here’s a table comparing their key specifications :
Specifications
2 TB WD Blue 3D SSD
1 TB WD Blue 3D SSD
500 GB WD Blue 3D SSD
250 GB WD Blue 3D SSD
Model Number
WDS200T2B0A
WDS100T2B0A
WDS500G2B0A
WDS250G2B0A
Storage Capacity
2048 GB (Total)
2000 GB (Effective)
1024 GB (Total)
1000 GB (Effective)
512 GB (Total)
500 GB (Effective)
256 GB (Total)
250 GB (Effective)
Overprovisioning
48 GB (2.4 %)
24 GB (2.4 %)
12 GB (2.4 %)
6 GB (2.4 %)
SSD Controller
Marvell 88SS1074-BSW2
Marvell 88SS1074-BSW2
Marvell 88SS1074-BSW2
Marvell 88SS1074-BSW2
NAND Flash Type
64-layer WD 3D NAND (BiCS3)
64-layer WD 3D NAND (BiCS3)
64-layer WD 3D NAND (BiCS3)
64-layer WD 3D NAND (BiCS3)
SDRAM Cache
None
None
512 MB DDR3
256 MB DDR3
Interface
SATA 6 Gb/s
SATA 6 Gb/s
SATA 6 Gb/s
SATA 6 Gb/s
Peak Sequential Read
560 MB/s
560 MB/s
560 MB/s
550 MB/s
Peak Sequential Write
530 MB/s
530 MB/s
530 MB/s
525 MB/s
Random Read I/O
95,000 IOPS
95,000 IOPS
95,000 IOPS
95,000 IOPS
Random Write I/O
84,000 IOPS
84,000 IOPS
84,000 IOPS
81,000 IOPS
Write Endurance
500 TB
400 TB
200 TB
100 TB
Slumber Power
56 mW
56 mW
56 mW
56 mW
DEVSLP Power
5-12 mW
5-12 mW
5-7 mW
5-7 mW
Mean Time To Failure (MTTF)
Up to 1.75 million hours
Up to 1.75 million hours
Up to 1.75 million hours
Up to 1.75 million hours
Ambient Temperature
0°C to 70°C (Operating)
-55°C to 85°C (Non-Operating)
0°C to 70°C (Operating)
-55°C to 85°C (Non-Operating)
0°C to 70°C (Operating)
-55°C to 85°C (Non-Operating)
0°C to 70°C (Operating)
-55°C to 85°C (Non-Operating)
The 1TB WD Blue 3D NAND SSD (Price Check) comes in a deceptively light cardboard box. Let’s unbox it and take a closer look!
The 1TB WD Blue 3D NAND SSD (Price Check) is a low-profile 2.5″ drive, with a thickness of only 7 mm. This is thinner than the regular 9.5 mm drives, making it suitable for all 2.5″ drive bays, even in thin laptops.
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The WD 3D NAND Technology
Western Digital first announced their 64-layer 3D NAND technology, also known as BiCS3, last year. However, it was only slated for commercial volume production in the first half of 2017.
BiCS3 was developed jointly with their technology and manufacturing partner, Toshiba. It not only uses 64-layers, but also 3-bits-per-cell technology to achieve high capacity (256 to 512 gigabits per chip) and performance at a much lower cost.
SanDisk nCache 2.0 Technology
SanDisk nCache 2.0 is a proprietary pseudo-SLC caching technology that greatly increases the write performance of the solid state drive. Here is an old infographic (from their Ultra II SSD) that shows how it works :
A small portion (about 4%) of the NAND memory blocks are set to run in the SLC mode, which allows for a much higher write speed. This SLC portion serves as a fast write cache for all writes to the drive, allowing for write speeds of up to 530 MB/s.
The data is later transferred to the TLC portion using the special On Chip Copy feature. This proprietary feature allows the transfer to occur internally on-die without affecting any other transfers.
In a 1TB drive, about 40 GB is reserved for use as the nCache 2.0 write cache. That translates into an effective write cache size of about 13 GB.
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The Marvell 88SS1074 SSD Controller
The 1TB WD Blue 3D NAND SSD (Price Check) uses the Marvell 88SS1074 SSD controller, which boasts the following key features :
Supports up to 4 NAND channels, with up to 8 NAND chips per channel
Features Marvell’s third-generation NANDEdge low-density parity check (LDPC) technology
Supports SATA 3.2 (6.0 Gbps)
Toggle 2 and ONFI2 support at up to 400 MT/s
Integrated DEVSLP (Device Sleep) mode for low power support
Supports 256-bit AES hardware encryption
Built on 28 nm CMOS process
The Marvell NANDEdge LDPC technology allows for reliable on-the-fly error correction of the 3-bit TLC flash memory, with minimal impact on latency, performance and power consumption.
However, the Marvell 88SS1074 is likely to fall short in sustained throughput, because it only supports 4 NAND channels. Competing controllers like the Phison S10, for example, boast 8 NAND channels, allowing twice as many NAND chips to be accessed simultaneously.
SATA 6 Gb/s Interface
The 1TB WD Blue 3D NAND SSD (Price Check) is a Serial ATA drive, with native support for SATA 6 Gb/s interface. It is backward-compatible, so you will have no problem using it with older SATA 3 Gb/s controllers. However, the faster SATA 6 Gb/s interface is necessary for optimal performance because this SSD is capable of a peak transfer rate of 560 MB/s.
Like all Serial ATA drives, it comes with the standard SATA data (left) and power (right) connectors, and is hot-pluggable. That means you can connect and disconnect this solid state drive while the PC is still running. There is no jumper block, because there’s really nothing for you to set. It’s just plug and play!
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SSD Endurance
The 1TB WD Blue 3D NAND SSD (Price Check) is rated for a lifetime write lifespan of 400 TBW (Terabytes Written). That does not seem like a lot (equal to overwriting the drive just 400 times), but it is considered enterprise-grade endurance. Many consumer-grade SSDs of equivalent capacity are rated at around 75-100 TBW.
Based on a typical consumer DWPD (Drive Writes Per Day) of 20 GB per day, this 1TB WD Blue 3D NAND SSD (Price Check) will last at least 54 years.
Please note that this long lifespan is due to the large capacity. The 500 GB and 250 GB SanDisk Ultra 3D SSDs are rated at 200 TBW and 100 TBW respectively. That corresponds to an estimated lifespan of 27 years and 13.5 years respectively.
Like all other current SSDs, the 1TB WD Blue 3D NAND SSD (Price Check) comes with certain features to help extend its lifespan :
Wear Levelling
Unlike hard disk drives, flash-based SSDs write and overwrite data in large blocks of 512 KB to 1 MB in size. Even if you only need to write one byte of data, it has to erase and overwrite an entire block. This causes a lot of wear on the memory cells and greatly reduces their lifespan.
To help extend the lifespan of the drive, SSDs perform wear levelling by spreading the writes, so that the flash memory cells have equal wear. The lifespan of the memory cells remain unchanged, but it prevents some of them from failing earlier due to excessive wear.
Write Combine Cache
SSDs also use a write buffer to temporarily store and combine the writes before they are actually written to the flash memory. This reduces the number of block erases required, and consequently, extends the lifespan of the flash memory cells.
The 1TB WD Blue 3D NAND SSD (Price Check) uses the aforementioned nCache 2.0 technology instead of a dedicated SDRAM write combine cache. It reserves about 4% of the NAND blocks and uses them in the SLC mode.
The resulting nCache 2.0 write cache may not be as fast as an SDRAM cache, but it is much larger in size. The 1TB WD Blue SSD, for example, boasts a large 1 GB DDR3L memory cache, but that is nothing compared to the 13 GB (or so) SLC cache in the 1TB WD Blue 3D SSD.
TRIM
Current SSDs support the TRIM command, otherwise known as the ATA8-ACS-2 DATA SET MANAGEMENT command. Operating systems that support TRIM (e.g. Microsoft Windows 7) will notify the SSD when data blocks are deleted in the file system. This allows the SSD to perform garbage collection in the background – internally erasing the affected blocks so that they are ready to be written to.
Without the TRIM command, the SSD will not know when a block of data has been deleted by the operating system. When new data is written to the same block of data, it will force the SSD to perform the time-consuming read-erase-modify-write cycle, which not only cripples performance but also increases wear on the affected memory cells.
Multi-Stream
This is a new SSD technology that was introduced in May 2015, as part of the T10 SCSI Standard. Multi-stream greatly improves performance and extends lifespan by reducing or even eliminating garbage collection.
It achieves this by marking data writes that are associated with one another, or have a similar lifetime, with a unique stream ID. This allows the SSD controller to pack all data writes with the same stream ID into the same block.
When the operating system deletes data, it is likely that they are all packed into the same block. If the block has not been written to the SSD, then this eliminates the pending write operation completely. If the block has been written to the SSD, then this would only require that single block to be erased, instead of multiple blocks (which would happen if the data was not all packed into the same block).
SSD Maintenance
First of all, you should never, ever defragment solid state drives. Spatial fragmentation of data on the SSD has no effect on its performance. Fragmented data are accessed as quickly as nicely-packed blocks, so it’s pointless to defragment the data blocks. Doing so will only reduce the lifespan of the flash memory cells by putting them under additional wear.
3D NAND flash memory will only last about 1,000 erase/write cycles – about the same as TLC NAND memory. You will want to minimise the number of times each flash memory cell is erased.
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You should also use an operating system that supports the TRIM command. If you are using one of the following operating systems, then you have nothing to worry about :
Microsoft Windows 7, or better
Microsoft Windows Server 2008 R2, or better
Linux 2.6.33, or better
FreeBSD 8.2, or better
Mac OS X Snow Leopard, or better
If not, you should consider upgrading your operating system. Otherwise, you will need to perform manual garbage collection on a regular basis, either using a manufacturer utility, or newer defragmentation software that specifically supports solid state drives.
Basically, these utilities will retrieve the list of free blocks from the operating system’s file system and pass it to the SSD in the form of TRIM commands, so that it will know which blocks to erase internally. Again, these utilities are not necessary if you are using an operating system that supports TRIM.
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We tested in both Windows 7 and Windows Vista, with the latest updates. We chose to use IO Meter 2008, AS SSD Benchmark, ATTO Disk Benchmark as well as our “old faithful”, WinBench 99 2.0, with the following tests :
Platter Data Transfer Profile
Business Disk WinMark 99
High-End Disk WinMark 99
Disk Transfer Rate (Beginning)
Disk Transfer Rate (End)
Business Disk WinMark 99 is a real-world simulation based on three office application suites – Microsoft Office 97, Lotus SmartSuite and Corel WordPerfect Suite 8, as well as a web browser, Netscape Navigator. They are quite dated, but should still reflect the usage patterns of users in an office environment using such applications. The test runs through a script that keeps multiple applications open, while it performs tasks that switches between those applications and Netscape Navigator. The result is the average transfer rate during the script run.
High-End Disk WinMark 99 is a real-world simulation based on AVS/Express 3.4, FrontPage 98, MicroStation SE, Photoshop 4.0, Premiere 4.2, Sound Forge 4.0 and Visual C++ 5.0. However, it differs by running the applications serially, instead of simultaneously. There are individual results for each application but in this comparison, we will be looking only at the weighted average score, which is the average transfer rate during the tests.
Unfortunately, WinBench 99 is not fully compatible with Microsoft Windows 7, registering a SetFilePointer error in the Disk Access Time test. So, we were not able to obtain any Disk Access Time results.
In addition, it would keep crashing if the hard drive was tested with a single partition. This is likely due to a limit on the size of the partition that is supported by WinBench 99. We came up with a workaround by dividing the hard disk drive into 5 partitions of equal sizes. We then tested each partition individually and averaged the results.
This 1TB WD Blue 3D NAND SSD (Price Check) has a maximum storage capacity of 1,024 GB, courtesy of eight 128 GB SanDisk 3D NAND chips. Of that, a mere 24 GB has been set aside for garbage collection, wear levelling and replacement of failing blocks.
Ordinarily, the limited 2.4% over-provisioning may impact long-term performance and lifespan. However, Western Digital mitigated that using a large 13 GB pseudo-SLC write cache they call nCache 2.0.
After it is formatted in NTFS, the actual formatted capacity is 1,000,202,039,296 bytes. This is slightly (202 MB) more than the official formatted capacity of 1,000 GB.
With about 124 MB of space allocated to the NTFS file system, the actual usable capacity is just above 1,000 GB.
Transfer Rate Profile
We compared the 1TB WD Blue 3D NAND SSD (Price Check) to the 1TB WD Blue SSD. As you can see, it has a sustained throughput of about 378 MB/s, which makes it almost twice as fast as the 1TB WD Blue SSD, which uses TLC NAND memory.
This chart shows you the range of memory cell-to-controller transfer rates for SSDs, or the range of platter-to-buffer transfer rates from the innermost track to the outermost track in HDDs.
Despite boasting an official peak read speed of 560 MB/s, the 1TB WD Blue 3D NAND SSD (Price Check) could only hit 386 MB/s. That is impressive in its own right, but puts it below the 256 GB OCZ Vector and the 240 GB HyperX Savage SSDs.
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The small random reads and writes are the most important tests for applications that make a lot of random accesses, so these would be key performance indicators for SSDs that are often used as boot drives.
The 1TB WD Blue 3D NAND SSD (Price Check) did incredibly well in this test, solidly beating the 1TB WD Blue SSD. Thanks to its built-in nCache 2.0 technology, it delivered almost twice the large random write performance of the 1TB WD Blue SSD!
Random Access Time
Test
1 TB WD Blue 3D NAND SSD
1 TB WD Blue SSD
Difference
512 KB Read
1.41 ms
2.19 ms
– 35.5%
512 KB Write
1.07 ms
2.04 ms
– 47.4%
4 KB Read
0.13 ms
0.17 ms
– 25.1%
4 KB Write
0.05 ms
0.08 ms
– 29.8%
The random write performance of the 1TB WD Blue 3D NAND SSD (Price Check) was truly stellar, in comparison to the 1TB WD Blue SSD.
Random CPU Utilization
Test
1 TB WD Blue 3D NAND SSD
1 TB WD Blue SSD
Difference
512 KB Read
29.50 %
7.16 %
+ 312.0%
512 KB Write
30.12 %
7.31 %
+ 312.3%
4 KB Read
32.53 %
9.94 %
+ 227.2%
4 KB Write
35.72 %
11.91 %
+ 199.9%
The only downside – the 1TB WD Blue 3D NAND SSD (Price Check) uses up a lot more CPU performance than the 1TB WD Blue SSD. About 3X more CPU performance, on average!
The sequential read and write performance indicators determine how fast you can copy and move files. This is also important in determining how fast you can launch an application or game.
The 1TB WD Blue 3D NAND SSD (Price Check) did marvellously in this test, coming in twice as fast as the 1TB WD Blue SSD in large, sequential reads and writes. It also had a large boost in small sequential read and write performance.
Sequential Access Time
Test
1 TB WD Blue 3D NAND SSD
1 TB WD Blue SSD
Difference
512 KB Read
1.03 ms
2.10 ms
– 51.2%
512 KB Write
1.06 ms
2.05 ms
– 48.3%
4 KB Read
0.05 ms
0.07 ms
– 26.7%
4 KB Write
0.05 ms
0.07 ms
– 22.4%
Sequential CPU Utilization
Test
1 TB WD Blue 3D NAND SSD
1 TB WD Blue SSD
Difference
512 KB Read
29.61 %
8.69 %
+ 240.7%
512 KB Write
29.11 %
5.76 %
+ 405.4%
4 KB Read
36.38 %
15.93 %
+ 128.4%
4 KB Write
35.69 %
15.42 %
+ 131.5%
Again, the 1TB WD Blue 3D NAND SSD (Price Check) took up a significant amount of CPU processing power.
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Even though the 1TB WD Blue 3D NAND SSD (Price Check) is rated for enterprise-class endurance, its Marvell 88SS1074 controller is just not capable of handling too many simultaneous operations. It appears to handle up to 8 simultaneous transactions.
Its nCache 2.0 technology appears to have compensated for its limited NAND channels, allowing it greatly supersede the performance of the 1TB WD Blue SSD, even though they both use the same SDD controller.
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AS SSD Benchmark
AS SSD Benchmark is a simple and easy-to-use SSD benchmark by Alex Intelligent Software. It not only tests the drive’s sequential transfer rates and access times, but also its performance at both single-threaded and multi-threaded 4K IOPS.
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ATTO Disk Benchmark
ATTO Disk Benchmark is a free benchmark that allows you to compare the performance of solid state drives using a variety of transfer sizes. It also allows us to determine if the SSD performs data compression to improve performance, and extend lifespan.
I/O Comparison
Results
Compressible Data
Non-Compressible Data
Minimum
Maximum
Minimum
Maximum
Read Speed
6.5 MB/s
145.1 MB/s
5.8 MB/s
143.6 MB/s
Write Speed
5.6 MB/s
137.2 MB/s
6.1 MB/s
134.2 MB/s
The Marvell 88SS1074 controller does not perform any data compression, which is why the performance results are the same for both compressible and non-compressible data. The 1TB WD Blue 3D NAND SSD (Price Check) reached its peak transfer rate with a block size of 1 MB.
Multiple I/O Comparison
Results
Compressible Data
Non-Compressible Data
Minimum
Maximum
Minimum
Maximum
Read Speed
8.8 MB/s
147 2 MB/s
10.2 MB/s
147.5 MB/s
Write Speed
8.3 MB/s
139.6 MB/s
9.0 MB/s
136.5 MB/s
With just 8 simultaneous transactions, the 1TB WD Blue 3D NAND SSD (Price Check) reached its peak transfer rate with a block size of 128 KB.
Our Verdict & Award
The first 1 terabyte solid state drive we tested was the 1TB WD Blue (WDS100T1B0A) SSD. While it had a large storage capacity, high endurance and a affordable price point, it was not particularly fast.
That changed with the introduction of the 64-layer 3D NAND technology, which not only increases storage capacity and performance, but also reduces cost and power consumption. Now we can have our cake and eat it too.
The 1TB WD Blue 3D SSD (Price Check) is the first Western Digital solid state drive to make use of the 64-layer 3D NAND technology and it sure impressed us with its performance.
Despite using the same SSD controller as the 1TB WD Blue, the 1TB WD Blue 3D NAND SSD (Price Check) was twice as fast in large reads and writes. It accomplished this without using any SDRAM cache, thanks to nCache 2.0 technology.
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The 1TB WD Blue 3D NAND SSD (Price Check) will work well as a boot drive, thanks to its excellent small random performance. It will be particularly attractive as an upgrade option for laptops still running on hard disk drives, or smaller SSDs.
Just note that its high performance requires a significant amount of CPU performance. So make sure you pair it with a fast processor.
We like its combination of great performance, large storage capacity and lower cost so much, we think it deserves our Editor’s Choice Award. Great work, Western Digital!
WD Blue 3D NAND SSD Prices & Warranty
The WD Blue 3D SSDs are available in storage capacities from 250 GB to 2 TB in the 2.5-inch / 7mm cased drive form factor, at the following price points :
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Western Digital colour-codes their hard disk drives not to make the drives look sexier, or to help sell more hard disk drives. They created the WD drive colours to help users understand the distinct advantages or use of each drive family. In this article, Western Digital will help us show you how to choose the best drive for your PC.
Every Drive Has A Purpose
There is no better person than Albert Chang, Senior Manager of Product Marketing at WD Asia Pacific, to explain why every drive has a purpose. He also points out a key point that users often forget to factor when consumers purchase a drive – the TCO (Total Cost of Ownership).
That’s right. The TCO is often overlooked, because that is ultimately the price you are paying over the lifetime of a drive. So make sure you don’t just buy the cheapest possible drive, because that may result in a high TCO… including the loss of priceless data.
Introducing The Five WD Drive Colours
Here is a quick primer on the five WD drive colours, and how they can help you determine the best drive for your PC.
Now, let’s take a closer look at each WD drive colour, and find out what advantages each drive colour boasts!
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WD Blue For Mainstream PCs
The WD Blue (Price Check) family are focused on offering highly-affordable drives with large storage capacities.
The WD Blue family does not just consist of hard disk drives. Western Digital also offers WD Blue SSHDs (solid state hybrid drives) and WD Blue SSDs (solid state drives).
For more information, you can read these WD Blue articles :
The WD Black family (Price Check) is targeted at power users and gamers who want the fastest possible hard disk drives for their PCs.
The WD Black drives offer a much higher spindle speed, a very large cache, and a fast processor. For more information, you can read these WD Black articles :
The WD Red (Price Check) family of NAS drives is specifically designed for the “always on” environment of a NAS enclosure. They run cooler and vibrate less, greatly increasing their reliability and lifespan in NAS enclosures.
The WD Red drives are also optimised for NAS usage patterns (80% reads, 20% writes), so you will be able to access your files faster than with a regular hard disk drive.
For more information, you can read these WD Red articles :
WD Purple drives (Price Check) are designed to handle the high-temperature, “always-on” environment of the CCTV and DVR systems. Regular drives will fail quickly under such conditions.
They are also designed to handle multiple video streams without dropped frames, or gaps in recorded footage… and do this 24/7 without rest!
For more information on the WD Purple, and why it is the best drive for surveillance and CCTV systems, please read :
Qualified for nearline storage use in datacenters, datacenter hard disk drives like WD Gold (Price Check) are designed to offer high storage capacities at maximum performance and reliability while operating continuously 24 hours a day in large drive arrays.
So if you want nothing but the best drive to secure your company’s data, there can be no doubt that the WD Gold (Price Check) is the ultimate storage solution.
For more information, you can read these WD Gold articles :
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The 1TB SanDisk Ultra 3D SSD is the first SanDisk solid state drive to feature their 64-layer 3D NAND technology that delivers higher storage capacities, performance and endurance, with lower power consumption. Let’s see if the 1TB SanDisk Ultra 3D SSD delivers on that promise!
The SanDisk Ultra 3D SSD Family
The SanDisk Ultra 3D SSD family consists of four models built upon the same technology. They mainly differ in storage capacities, with some performance characteristics. Here’s a table comparing their key specifications :
The 1TB SanDisk Ultra 3D SSD (Price Check) comes in a deceptively light cardboard box. Let’s unbox it and take a closer look!
The 1TB SanDisk Ultra 3D SSD (Price Check) is a low-profile 2.5″ drive, with a thickness of only 7 mm. This is thinner than the regular 9.5 mm drives, making it suitable for all 2.5″ drive bays, even in thin laptops.
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The WD 3D NAND Technology
Western Digital first announced their 64-layer 3D NAND technology, also known as BiCS3, last year. However, it was only slated for commercial volume production in the first half of 2017.
BiCS3 was developed jointly with their technology and manufacturing partner, Toshiba. It not only uses 64-layers, but also 3-bits-per-cell technology to achieve high capacity (256 to 512 gigabits per chip) and performance at a much lower cost.
SanDisk nCache 2.0 Technology
SanDisk nCache 2.0 is a proprietary pseudo-SLC caching technology that greatly increases the write performance of the solid state drive. Here is an old infographic (from their Ultra II SSD) that shows how it works :
A small portion (about 4%) of the NAND memory blocks are set to run in the SLC mode, which allows for a much higher write speed. This SLC portion serves as a fast write cache for all writes to the drive, allowing for write speeds of up to 530 MB/s.
The data is later transferred to the TLC portion using the special On Chip Copy feature. This proprietary feature allows the transfer to occur internally on-die without affecting any other transfers.
In a 1TB drive, about 40 GB is reserved for use as the nCache 2.0 write cache. That translates into an effective write cache size of about 13 GB.
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The Marvell 88SS1074 SSD Controller
The 1TB SanDisk Ultra 3D SSD (Price Check) uses the Marvell 88SS1074 SSD controller, which boasts the following key features :
Supports up to 4 NAND channels, with up to 8 NAND chips per channel
Features Marvell’s third-generation NANDEdge low-density parity check (LDPC) technology
Supports SATA 3.2 (6.0 Gbps)
Toggle 2 and ONFI2 support at up to 400 MT/s
Integrated DEVSLP (Device Sleep) mode for low power support
Supports 256-bit AES hardware encryption
Built on 28 nm CMOS process
The Marvell NANDEdge LDPC technology allows for reliable on-the-fly error correction of the 3-bit TLC flash memory, with minimal impact on latency, performance and power consumption.
However, the Marvell 88SS1074 is likely to fall short in sustained throughput, because it only supports 4 NAND channels. Competing controllers like the Phison S10, for example, boast 8 NAND channels, allowing twice as many NAND chips to be accessed simultaneously.
SATA 6 Gb/s Interface
The 1TB SanDisk Ultra 3D SSD (Price Check) is a Serial ATA drive, with native support for SATA 6 Gb/s interface. It is backward-compatible, so you will have no problem using it with older SATA 3 Gb/s controllers. However, the faster SATA 6 Gb/s interface is necessary for optimal performance because this SSD is capable of a peak transfer rate of 560 MB/s.
Like all Serial ATA drives, it comes with the standard SATA data (left) and power (right) connectors, and is hot-pluggable. That means you can connect and disconnect this solid state drive while the PC is still running. There is no jumper block, because there’s really nothing for you to set. It’s just plug and play!
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SSD Endurance
The 1TB SanDisk Ultra 3D SSD (Price Check) is rated for a lifetime write lifespan of 400 TBW (Terabytes Written). That does not seem like a lot (equal to overwriting the drive just 400 times), but it is considered enterprise-grade endurance. Many consumer-grade SSDs of equivalent capacity are rated at around 75-100 TBW.
Based on a typical consumer DWPD (Drive Writes Per Day) of 20 GB per day, this 1TB SanDisk Ultra 3D SSD (Price Check) will last at least 54 years.
Please note that this long lifespan is due to the large capacity. The 500 GB and 250 GB SanDisk Ultra 3D SSDs are rated at 200 TBW and 100 TBW respectively. That corresponds to an estimated lifespan of 27 years and 13.5 years respectively.
Like all other current SSDs, the 1TB SanDisk Ultra 3D SSD (Price Check) comes with certain features to help extend its lifespan :
Wear Levelling
Unlike hard disk drives, flash-based SSDs write and overwrite data in large blocks of 512 KB to 1 MB in size. Even if you only need to write one byte of data, it has to erase and overwrite an entire block. This causes a lot of wear on the memory cells and greatly reduces their lifespan.
To help extend the lifespan of the drive, SSDs perform wear levelling by spreading the writes, so that the flash memory cells have equal wear. The lifespan of the memory cells remain unchanged, but it prevents some of them from failing earlier due to excessive wear.
Write Combine Cache
SSDs also use a write buffer to temporarily store and combine the writes before they are actually written to the flash memory. This reduces the number of block erases required, and consequently, extends the lifespan of the flash memory cells.
The 1TB SanDisk Ultra 3D SSD (Price Check) uses the aforementioned nCache 2.0 technology instead of a dedicated SDRAM write combine cache. It reserves about 4% of the NAND blocks and uses them in the SLC mode.
The resulting nCache 2.0 write cache may not be as fast as an SDRAM cache, but it is much larger in size. The 1TB WD Blue SSD, for example, boasts a large 1 GB DDR3L memory cache, but that is nothing compared to the 13 GB (or so) SLC cache in the 1TB SanDisk Ultra 3D SSD.
TRIM
Current SSDs support the TRIM command, otherwise known as the ATA8-ACS-2 DATA SET MANAGEMENT command. Operating systems that support TRIM (e.g. Microsoft Windows 7) will notify the SSD when data blocks are deleted in the file system. This allows the SSD to perform garbage collection in the background – internally erasing the affected blocks so that they are ready to be written to.
Without the TRIM command, the SSD will not know when a block of data has been deleted by the operating system. When new data is written to the same block of data, it will force the SSD to perform the time-consuming read-erase-modify-write cycle, which not only cripples performance but also increases wear on the affected memory cells.
Multi-Stream
This is a new SSD technology that was introduced in May 2015, as part of the T10 SCSI Standard. Multi-stream greatly improves performance and extends lifespan by reducing or even eliminating garbage collection.
It achieves this by marking data writes that are associated with one another, or have a similar lifetime, with a unique stream ID. This allows the SSD controller to pack all data writes with the same stream ID into the same block.
When the operating system deletes data, it is likely that they are all packed into the same block. If the block has not been written to the SSD, then this eliminates the pending write operation completely. If the block has been written to the SSD, then this would only require that single block to be erased, instead of multiple blocks (which would happen if the data was not all packed into the same block).
SSD Maintenance
First of all, you should never, ever defragment solid state drives. Spatial fragmentation of data on the SSD has no effect on its performance. Fragmented data are accessed as quickly as nicely-packed blocks, so it’s pointless to defragment the data blocks. Doing so will only reduce the lifespan of the flash memory cells by putting them under additional wear.
3D NAND flash memory will only last about 1,000 erase/write cycles – about the same as TLC NAND memory. You will want to minimise the number of times each flash memory cell is erased.
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You should also use an operating system that supports the TRIM command. If you are using one of the following operating systems, then you have nothing to worry about :
Microsoft Windows 7, or better
Microsoft Windows Server 2008 R2, or better
Linux 2.6.33, or better
FreeBSD 8.2, or better
Mac OS X Snow Leopard, or better
If not, you should consider upgrading your operating system. Otherwise, you will need to perform manual garbage collection on a regular basis, either using a manufacturer utility, or newer defragmentation software that specifically supports solid state drives.
Basically, these utilities will retrieve the list of free blocks from the operating system’s file system and pass it to the SSD in the form of TRIM commands, so that it will know which blocks to erase internally. Again, these utilities are not necessary if you are using an operating system that supports TRIM.
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We tested in both Windows 7 and Windows Vista, with the latest updates. We chose to use IO Meter 2008, AS SSD Benchmark, ATTO Disk Benchmark as well as our “old faithful”, WinBench 99 2.0, with the following tests :
Platter Data Transfer Profile
Business Disk WinMark 99
High-End Disk WinMark 99
Disk Transfer Rate (Beginning)
Disk Transfer Rate (End)
Business Disk WinMark 99 is a real-world simulation based on three office application suites – Microsoft Office 97, Lotus SmartSuite and Corel WordPerfect Suite 8, as well as a web browser, Netscape Navigator. They are quite dated, but should still reflect the usage patterns of users in an office environment using such applications. The test runs through a script that keeps multiple applications open, while it performs tasks that switches between those applications and Netscape Navigator. The result is the average transfer rate during the script run.
High-End Disk WinMark 99 is a real-world simulation based on AVS/Express 3.4, FrontPage 98, MicroStation SE, Photoshop 4.0, Premiere 4.2, Sound Forge 4.0 and Visual C++ 5.0. However, it differs by running the applications serially, instead of simultaneously. There are individual results for each application but in this comparison, we will be looking only at the weighted average score, which is the average transfer rate during the tests.
Unfortunately, WinBench 99 is not fully compatible with Microsoft Windows 7, registering a SetFilePointer error in the Disk Access Time test. So, we were not able to obtain any Disk Access Time results.
In addition, it would keep crashing if the hard drive was tested with a single partition. This is likely due to a limit on the size of the partition that is supported by WinBench 99. We came up with a workaround by dividing the hard disk drive into 5 partitions of equal sizes. We then tested each partition individually and averaged the results.
This 1TB SanDisk Ultra 3D SSD (Price Check) has a maximum storage capacity of 1,024 GB, courtesy of eight 128 GB SanDisk 3D NAND chips. Of that, a mere 24 GB has been set aside for garbage collection, wear levelling and replacement of failing blocks.
Ordinarily, the limited 2.4% over-provisioning may impact long-term performance and lifespan. However, SanDisk mitigated that using a large 13 GB pseudo-SLC write cache they call nCache 2.0.
After it is formatted in NTFS, the actual formatted capacity is 1,000,202,039,296 bytes. This is slightly (202 MB) more than the official formatted capacity of 1,000 GB.
With about 124 MB of space allocated to the NTFS file system, the actual usable capacity is just above 1,000 GB.
Transfer Rate Profile
We compared the 1TB SanDisk Ultra 3D SSD (Price Check) to the 1TB WD Blue SSD. As you can see, it has a sustained throughput of about 410 MB/s, which makes it almost twice as fast as the 1TB WD Blue SSD, which uses TLC NAND memory.
This chart shows you the range of memory cell-to-controller transfer rates for SSDs, or the range of platter-to-buffer transfer rates from the innermost track to the outermost track in HDDs.
Despite boasting an official peak read speed of 560 MB/s, the 1TB SanDisk Ultra 3D SSD (Price Check) could only hit 411 MB/s. That is impressive in its own right, but puts it below the 256 GB OCZ Vector and the 240 GB HyperX Savage SSDs.
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The small random reads and writes are the most important tests for applications that make a lot of random accesses, so these would be key performance indicators for SSDs that are often used as boot drives.
The 1TB SanDisk Ultra 3D SSD (Price Check) did incredibly well in this test, solidly beating the 1TB WD Blue SSD. Thanks to its built-in nCache 2.0 technology, it delivered almost twice the large random write performance of the 1TB WD Blue SSD!
Random Access Time
Test
1 TB SanDisk Ultra 3D
1 TB WD Blue SSD
Difference
512 KB Read
1.35 ms
2.19 ms
– 38.3%
512 KB Write
1.06 ms
2.04 ms
– 48.0%
4 KB Read
0.13 ms
0.17 ms
– 22.8%
4 KB Write
0.05 ms
0.08 ms
– 29.9%
The random write performance of the 1TB SanDisk Ultra 3D SSD (Price Check) was truly stellar, in comparison to the 1TB WD Blue SSD.
Random CPU Utilization
Test
1 TB SanDisk Ultra 3D
1 TB WD Blue SSD
Difference
512 KB Read
30.21 %
7.16 %
+ 321.9%
512 KB Write
29.72 %
7.31 %
+ 306.8%
4 KB Read
32.15 %
9.94 %
+ 223.4%
4 KB Write
35.61 %
11.91 %
+ 199.0%
The only downside – the 1TB SanDisk Ultra 3D SSD (Price Check) uses up a lot more CPU performance than the 1TB WD Blue SSD. About 3X more CPU performance, on average!
The sequential read and write performance indicators determine how fast you can copy and move files. This is also important in determining how fast you can launch an application or game.
The 1TB SanDisk Ultra 3D SSD (Price Check) did marvellously in this test, coming in twice as fast as the 1TB WD Blue SSD in large, sequential reads and writes. It also had a nice boost in small sequential read and write performance.
Sequential Access Time
Test
1 TB SanDisk Ultra 3D
1 TB WD Blue SSD
Difference
512 KB Read
1.02 ms
2.10 ms
– 51.2%
512 KB Write
1.06 ms
2.05 ms
– 48.3%
4 KB Read
0.05 ms
0.07 ms
– 26.8%
4 KB Write
0.05 ms
0.07 ms
– 22.1%
Sequential CPU Utilization
Test
1 TB SanDisk Ultra 3D
1 TB WD Blue SSD
Difference
512 KB Read
30.17 %
8.69 %
+ 247.1%
512 KB Write
30.11 %
5.76 %
+ 422.7%
4 KB Read
36.07 %
15.93 %
+ 126.4%
4 KB Write
35.74 %
15.42 %
+ 131.9%
Again, the 1TB SanDisk Ultra 3D SSD (Price Check) took up a significant amount of CPU processing power.
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Even though the 1TB SanDisk Ultra 3D SSD (Price Check) is rated for enterprise-class endurance, its Marvell 88SS1074 controller is just not capable of handling too many simultaneous operations. It appears to handle up to 8 simultaneous transactions.
Its nCache 2.0 technology appears to have compensated for its limited NAND channels, allowing it greatly supersede the performance of the 1TB WD Blue SSD, even though they both use the same SDD controller.
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AS SSD Benchmark
AS SSD Benchmark is a simple and easy-to-use SSD benchmark by Alex Intelligent Software. It not only tests the drive’s sequential transfer rates and access times, but also its performance at both single-threaded and multi-threaded 4K IOPS.
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ATTO Disk Benchmark
ATTO Disk Benchmark is a free benchmark that allows you to compare the performance of solid state drives using a variety of transfer sizes. It also allows us to determine if the SSD performs data compression to improve performance, and extend lifespan.
I/O Comparison
Results
Compressible Data
Non-Compressible Data
Minimum
Maximum
Minimum
Maximum
Read Speed
11.6 MB/s
426.1 MB/s
11.6 MB/s
427.1 MB/s
Write Speed
7.6 MB/s
526.3 MB/s
7.6 MB/s
525.1 MB/s
The Marvell 88SS1074 controller does not perform any data compression, which is why the performance results are the same for both compressible and non-compressible data. The 1TB SanDisk Ultra 3D SSD (Price Check) reached its peak transfer rate with a block size of 1 MB.
Multiple I/O Comparison
Results
Compressible Data
Non-Compressible Data
Minimum
Maximum
Minimum
Maximum
Read Speed
25.8 MB/s
559 2 MB/s
26.7 MB/s
580.5 MB/s
Write Speed
16.2 MB/s
538.1 MB/s
16.1 MB/s
538.1 MB/s
With just 8 simultaneous transactions, the 1TB SanDisk Ultra 3D SSD (Price Check) reached its peak transfer rate with a block size of 128 KB.
Our Verdict & Award
The first 1 terabyte solid state drive we tested was the 1TB WD Blue (WDS100T1B0A) SSD. While it had a large storage capacity, high endurance and a affordable price point, it was not particularly fast.
That changed with the introduction of the 64-layer 3D NAND technology, which not only increases storage capacity and performance, but also reduces cost and power consumption. Now we can have our cake and eat it too.
The 1TB SanDisk Ultra 3D SSD (Price Check) is the first SanDisk solid state drive to make use of the 64-layer 3D NAND technology and it sure impressed us with its performance.
Despite using the same SSD controller as the 1TB WD Blue, the 1TB SanDisk Ultra 3D SSD (Price Check) was twice as fast in large reads and writes. It accomplished this without using any SDRAM cache, thanks to nCache 2.0 technology.
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The 1TB SanDisk Ultra 3D SSD (Price Check) will work well as a boot drive, thanks to its excellent small random performance. It will be particularly attractive as an upgrade option for laptops still running on hard disk drives, or smaller SSDs.
Just note that its high performance requires a significant amount of CPU performance. So make sure you pair it with a decent processor.
We like its combination of great performance, large storage capacity and lower cost so much, we think it deserves our Editor’s Choice Award. Great work, SanDisk!
SanDisk Ultra 3D SSD Price Check
The SanDisk Ultra 3D SSDs are available in storage capacities from 250 GB to 2 TB in the 2.5-inch / 7mm cased drive form factor.
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SanDisk just unveiled a unique fast charging and backup solution for iPhone users – the SanDisk iXpand Base! It automatically backs up your important data whenever you recharges your iPhone. Check it out!
The SanDisk iXpand Base Revealed!
An extension of the award-winning SanDisk line of iPhone mobile storage solutions, the iXpand Base is designed for consumers who are looking for a convenient way to back up their iPhone photos, videos and contacts.
With the SanDisk iXpand Base, all you have to do is simply plug your iPhone into the iXpand Base and it will automatically back up your iPhone’s content while it is charging. The iXpand Base comes with storage capacities from 32 GB all the way to 256 GB, and can be used to backup multiple iPhones.
The SanDisk iXpand Base has a built-in 15 W (5 V @ 3A) fast charger that is fully compatible with the fast charging technology introduced in the latest Apple iPhone X. However, it does not come with its own Lightning cable.
Although SanDisk does not mention it, the storage is provided via an SD card inserted into an SD card slot at the back. This means you can remove the SD card to extract the stored data if you wish, or swap out the existing SD card for a larger capacity card later.
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Price & Availability
The SanDisk iXpand Base is now available at Apple Premium Reseller stores, 11street, Lazada and Shopee across Malaysia with a Manufacturer’s Suggested Retail Price (MSRP) of :
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Western Digital just revealed their latest personal cloud solution for the layperson – the new WD My Cloud Home! It does not just support a family’s multitude of mobile devices, it’s designed to work like a home appliance – intuitively, and with minimal setup!
Introducing The WD My Cloud Home
With every family owning multiple mobile devices, there is an explosion of digital content creation with the need to consolidate and store all of that content. The demand for storage is expected to grow even more with the introduction of virtual reality content, 360-degree photos and videos, as well as 4K and even 8K video recording capability.
To address this issue, Western Digital is introducing the My Cloud Home – a new personal cloud storage solution for the layperson.
With the My Cloud Home solution, you can easily aggregate all of your photos, videos and files from every smartphone, computer, USB storage device, and even your cloud and social media accounts into one central place.
All of that is privately accessible using your smartphone, tablet or computer from anywhere with an Internet connection. But if you want, you can choose to share your content with family and friends, no matter where they are around the world!
The My Cloud Home is available as single bay, and dual-bay My Cloud Home Duo models, with storage capacities from 2 TB all the way to 16 GB. Because it has two drives, the My Cloud Home Duo models can be set to run at half capacity, for data protection using its RAID 1 mirroring feature.
Price & Availability
The My Cloud Home series is backed by a two-year limited warranty and is available now at all leading IT and consumer electronics stores across Malaysia with a Manufacturer’s Suggested Retail Price (MSRP) of:
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2TB : RM 739 / ~US$ 176
4TB : RM 1,059 / ~US$ 252
8TB : RM 1,459 / ~US$ 347
The dual-bay My Cloud Home Duo is also backed by a two-year limited warranty and is available now, with an MSRP of:
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October 13, 2017 — Western Digital just announced a breakthrough innovation for delivering ultra-high capacity hard disk drives (HDDs) to meet the future demands of Big Data with proven data center-level reliability. They also demonstrated world’s first microwave-assisted magnetic recording (MAMR) HDD and presentations from company executives and the inventor of MAMR technology, Professor Jimmy Zhu from Carnegie Mellon University.
Western Digital also showcased advancements in micro actuation and Damascene recording head technology. Western Digital expects to begin shipping ultra-high capacity MAMR HDDs in 2019 for use in data centers that support Big Data applications across a full range of industries.
The MAMR Technology
MAMR is one of two energy-assisted technologies that Western Digital has been developing for years. They recently innovated a breakthrough in material and process that provides the required reliable and predictable performance, as well as the manufacturability to accelerate areal density and cost improvements to an estimated average of 15% per year.
Developments in the other energy-assisted technology, specifically, heat-assisted magnetic recording (HAMR), present new material science and reliability challenges that are not a factor in MAMR. Only MAMR demonstrates the reliability and cost profile that meets the demands of data center operators.
At the heart of the company’s innovation breakthrough is the “spin torque oscillator” used to generate a microwave field that increases the ability to record data at ultra-high density without sacrificing reliability. Western Digital’s innovative MAMR technology is expected to offer over 4 terabits-per-square-inch over time. With sustained improvements in recording density, MAMR promises to enable hard drives with 40TB of capacity and beyond by 2025, and continued expansion beyond that timeframe.
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Western Digital’s MAMR technology is the latest innovation to significantly improve areal densities. It builds upon a number of other leading innovations from the company. In addition to HelioSeal helium-filled drive technology, MAMR also builds upon the company’s micro actuation and recording head manufacturing technologies.
Western Digital’s advanced micro actuation technology for data center applications enables hard drives to accurately and reliably position magnetic heads for writing and reading at ultra-high densities. Their head manufacturing operations are the only internal supplier to utilize Damascene processing to manufacture heads with the precise tolerances and complex structures required for reliable and cost-effective recording at ultra-high densities.
The Damascene process also provides the capability to embed the spin torque oscillator that enables the manufacturing of MAMR heads. The combination of these technologies deliver superior total cost of ownership (TCO) across all sizes of cloud and enterprise data centers.
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Western Digital earlier announced the development of 64-layer and 96-layer 3D NAND technologies, and now, they are introducing the availability of consumer-grade WD Blue 3D NAND SSDs and SanDisk Ultra 3D SSDs. These are the world’s first consumer-grade solid state drives that use the 64-layer 3D NAND technology to deliver lower power consumption with higher performance, endurance and capacities.
The WD + SanDisk SSDs With 64-Layer 3D NAND Technology
Targeting DIY enthusiasts, resellers and system builders, the WD Blue 3D NAND SATA SSDs boast an industry-leading 1.75 million hours MTTF, as well as the quality backing of WD Functional Integrity Testing Lab (F.I.T. Lab) certification.
The SanDisk Ultra 3D SSDs, on the other hand, are intended for gaming and creative enthusiasts who want to improve their PCs. The product delivers enhanced endurance and reliability, no-wait boot-up, shorter application load times, and quicker data transfers.
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The WD 3D NAND Technology
Western Digital first announced their 64-layer 3D NAND technology, also known as BiCS3, last year. However, it was only slated for commercial volume production in the first half of 2017.
BiCS3 was developed jointly with their technology and manufacturing partner, Toshiba. It not only uses 64-layers, but also 3-bits-per-cell technology to achieve high capacity (256 to 512 gigabits per chip) and performance at a much lower cost.
Availability & Pricing
The WD Blue 3D NAND SATA SSDs and SanDisk Ultra 3D SSDs are available in storage capacities from 250 GB to 2 TB in the traditional 2.5-inch / 7mm cased drive form factor. They have the same MSRP:
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In this review, we are going to look at the first helium-filled WD Red model – the 10TB WD Red (Lowest Price) NAS drive!
The WD Red Family
The popularity of Network-Attached Storage (NAS) systems has fuelled a surge in demand for large capacity hard disk drives. This interest led Western Digital to create the WD Red NAS-optimised family of hard disk drives.
The WD Red family of NAS-optimised hard disk drives, with storage capacities from 750 GB all the way to 10 TB. Here is a specification comparison of the five key models:
Specifications
10TB WD Red
8TB WD Red
6TB WD Red
5TB WD Red
4TB WD Red
Model
WD100EFAX
WD80EFZX
WD60EFRX
WD50EFRX
WD40EFRX
HelioSeal Technology
Yes
No
No
No
No
Advanced Format Technology
Yes (512-byte emulation)
Yes (512-byte emulation)
Yes (512-byte emulation)
Yes (512-byte emulation)
Yes (512-byte emulation)
Spindle Speed
5400 RPM
5400 RPM
5400 RPM
5400 RPM
5400 RPM
Cache
256 MB SDRAM
128 MB SDRAM
64 MB SDRAM
64 MB SDRAM
64 MB SDRAM
Maximum Read / Write Speed
210 MB/s
178 MB/s
175 MB/s
150 MB/s
147 MB/s
Average Read / Write Power Consumption
5.7 W
6.4 W
5.3 W
4.5 W
4.1 W
Idle Power Consumption
2.8 W
5.2 W
3.4 W
3.3 W
2.7 W
Acoustics (Seek / Idle)
29 dBA / 20 dBA
29 dBA / 20 dBA
28 dBA / 25 dBA
28 dBA / 25 dBA
24 dBA / 23 dBA
MTBF (hours)
1 million
1 million
1 million
1 million
1 million
Rated World Load (Per Year)
180 TB
180 TB
180 TB
180 TB
180 TB
Warranty
3 Years
3 Years
3 Years
3 Years
3 Years
They all share the following common features :
NAS Compatibility – Advanced firmware technology built into every WD Red drive, enables seamless integration, robust data protection and optimal performance for systems operating in NAS and RAID environments.
Exclusive NASware 3.0 Technology – WD’s exclusive NASware 3.0 technology further optimizes the WD Red for the NAS environment, allowing the WD Red to support small NAS systems with up to 8 bays!
3D Active Balance Plus – This 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 multidrive system, reduce the hard drive lifespan, and degrade the performance over time.[adrotate group=”2″]
Enhanced Reliability – With a 35% MTBF improvement over standard desktop drives, the WD Red drive is designed and manufactured to be a more reliable and robust solution.
Energy Efficient – Innovative technology reduces power consumption and lowers the operating temperature, resulting in a more reliable and affordable solution for always on 24×7 NAS environments.
Premium Support – Exclusively for WD Red drive customers, a free dedicated 24/7 support line is available in English. Other regional support hours vary.
Longer Warranty Coverage – The WD Red drive is backed by a 3-year limited warranty for greater peace of mind.
Now, let’s check out the 10TB WD Red (Lowest Price) hard disk drive!
A Quick Look At The 10TB WD Red
The 10 TB WD Red (Lowest Price) hard disk drive came in a sealed antistatic plastic pack. Notably, it lacked the usual sachet of desiccants. That’s because the drive is hermetically-sealed in the factory, and filled with helium. Also notable is their use of two gold-coloured screws to lock the PCB in place.
To remove the drive, just tear off the top or cut it open, and slide out the drive. Be sure to ground yourself before removing and handling the hard disk drive as static can damage it. In particular, you should try to avoid touching the exposed PCB located on the lower underside of the drive.
If you like our work, you can help support our work by visiting our sponsors, participating in the Tech ARP Forums, or even donating to our fund. Any help you can render is greatly appreciated!
The 10TB WD Red NAS Drive
Despite featuring a hermetically-sealed chassis, the 10 TB WD Red (WD100EFAX) drive looks deceptively like any other 3.5″ hard disk drive. In fact, it even sports the same printed label on the top plate, with an uncovered PCB on the underside.
The label has a lot of important information, like the hard disk drive model, storage capacity as well as its date and place of manufacture. This particular drive was manufactured in Thailand on the 1st of April, 2017. You can also see that the drive uses the Advanced Format Technology to achieve its high storage density.
HelioSeal Technology
The 10 TB WD Red (WD100EFAX) NAS-optimised drive is one of the few hard disk drives in the market to feature the revolutionary HGST HelioSeal technology. It is hermetically sealed at the factory, and filled with helium.
Instead of a breather hole that is present in all “air-filled” hard disk drives, it has two sealed ports that are used to extract air from inside the chassis, and replacing it with helium.
Because helium is only 1/7th the density of “regular air”, it allows for less friction conferring the following benefits :
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The lower friction reduces the amount of power required to spin the platters, reducing both energy costs and thermal output.
Internal turbulence is greatly reduced, which makes tracking more precise and reliable. This indirectly allows for greater areal density.
The lower power requirement and internal turbulence allow more platters and heads to be added in the same volume of space.
The completely sealed environment eliminates reliability issues that can occur if breather filters get clogged up with dirt.
The only things stopping helium-filled drives from becoming mainstream are the relatively high cost of helium, and the difficulty in sealing the drive.
SATA 6 Gb/s
This is a Serial ATA drive, with native support for SATA 6 Gb/s. However, it is backward-compatible so you will have no problem using it with older SATA 3 Gb/s controllers.
The SATA 6 Gb/s interface is necessary for optimal performance since the 10 TB WD Red (Lowest Price) NAS drive boasts a maximum sustained internal (platter-to-buffer) transfer rate of 210 MB/s, and a large and fast DDR3 SDRAM cache.
Like all Serial ATA drives, it comes the standard SATA data (left) and power (right) connectors and is hot-pluggable. That means you can connect and disconnect this hard disk drive to the server, computer or NAS while it’s still running.
If you like our work, you can help support our work by visiting our sponsors, participating in the Tech ARP Forums, or even donating to our fund. Any help you can render is greatly appreciated!
What’s Under The PCB?
Western Digital has a penchant for keeping all surface-mounted components on the reverse side of the PCB – to prevent static damage and to allow for better cooling. The PCB is protected by a thin foam cutout on the chassis side, with a thermal pad to help transfer heat from the HDD controller to the hard disk drive chassis.
Unfortunately, we can’t make out the hard disk drive controller Western Digital used, but we can see that it uses the ST Microelectronics L7232 motor drive controller, which features their proprietary Smooth Drive pseudo-sinusoidal digital drive technology.
The 10 TB WD Red (Lowest Price) NAS drive boasts a large 256 MB SDRAM cache, courtesy of an EtronTech EM6GD16EWXC-12H chip. This is a DDR3-1600 SDRAM chip with 8 memory banks and timings of 11-11-11. This gives it a peak transfer rate of 400 MB/s.
Finally, the 10 TB WD Red (Lowest Price) NAS drive has two shock sensors that allow it to better detect shock and vibration events, and dynamically adjust the flying height of the read/write heads to avoid head crashes.
We tested in both Windows 7 and Windows Vista, with the latest updates. We chose to use IO Meter 2008 as well as our “old faithful”, WinBench 99 2.0, with the following tests :
Platter Data Transfer Profile
Business Disk WinMark 99
High-End Disk WinMark 99
Disk Transfer Rate (Beginning)
Disk Transfer Rate (End)
Business Disk WinMark 99 is a real-world simulation based on three office application suites – Microsoft Office 97, Lotus SmartSuite and Corel WordPerfect Suite 8, as well as a web browser, Netscape Navigator. They are quite dated, but should still reflect the usage patterns of users in an office environment using such applications. The test runs through a script that keeps multiple applications open, while it performs tasks that switches between those applications and Netscape Navigator. The result is the average transfer rate during the script run.
High-End Disk WinMark 99 is a real-world simulation based on AVS/Express 3.4, FrontPage 98, MicroStation SE, Photoshop 4.0, Premiere 4.2, Sound Forge 4.0 and Visual C++ 5.0. However, it differs by running the applications serially, instead of simultaneously. There are individual results for each application but in this comparison, we will be looking only at the weighted average score, which is the average transfer rate during the tests.
Unfortunately, WinBench 99 is not fully compatible with Microsoft Windows 7, registering a SetFilePointer error in the Disk Access Time test. So, we were not able to obtain any Disk Access Time results.
In addition, it would keep crashing if the hard drive was tested with a single partition. This is likely due to a limit on the size of the partition that is supported by WinBench 99. We came up with a workaround by dividing the hard disk drive into 5 partitions of equal sizes. We then tested each partition individually and averaged the results.
If you like our work, you can help support our work by visiting our sponsors, participating in the Tech ARP Forums, or even donating to our fund. Any help you can render is greatly appreciated!
10 TB WD Red Usable Capacity
The 10 TB WD Red (WD100EFAX) NAS drive has an official formatted capacity of 10 terabytes. We checked that out by formatting it in NTFS using Microsoft Windows 7.
The actual formatted capacity was 10,000,695,029,760 bytes, which is about 695 MB higher than the official storage capacity. With about 494 MB allocated to the NTFS file system, the actual usable capacity was slightly above 10 TB.
10 TB WD Red Platter Profile
The platter profile of the 10 TB WD Red (WD100EFAX) NAS drive was pretty good. There appeared to be some use of replacement sectors, but nothing particularly significant.
We also compared its platter profile to that of the 6TB WD Red, which was the last WD Red drive we reviewed. We can see right away that the 10 TB WD Red (Lowest Price) uses higher density platters, which gave it a very high throughput.
In fact, the outermost tracks of the 6 TB WD Red only equalised the 10 TB WD Red at the 6.5 TB point. Even at its slowest tracks, the 10 TB WD Red was as fast as the 6 TB WD Red at its 5 GB point.
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Maximum Surface Temperature
We monitored the surface temperature of seven hard disk drives during their benchmarks. The following chart shows their operating temperature range, from idle to maximum load. Please note that instead of giving you the absolute numbers, we are showing the temperature delta, which is the difference between the actual temperature and the ambient room temperature.
Despite packing 2 additional platters than the 6 TB WD Black, the 10 TB WD Red (Lowest Price) drive was significantly cooler at full load. It ran a little warmer than the 8 TB WD Gold – another helium-filled drive, but was cooler at idle.
This reduced thermal output (and power consumption) is a key advantage of helium-filled hard disk drives like the 10 TB WD Red drive. When used in large NAS systems with up to 8 drives running non-stop, the lower energy costs of running them, and keeping them cool, will be very significant.
If you like our work, you can help support our work by visiting our sponsors, participating in the Tech ARP Forums, or even donating to our fund. Any help you can render is greatly appreciated!
Transfer Rate Range
This chart shows you the range of platter-to-buffer transfer rates from the innermost track to the outermost track. In other words, it shows you the range of disk transfer rates of the hard disk drives (from minimum to maximum).
The 10 TB WD Red NAS drive has an official peak throughput of 210 MB/s, which was confirmed by our tests. In fact, it actually peaked at 217 MB/s. While it was still slightly slower than the 6 TB WD Black, that puts it ahead of most of its competitors.
Both the 8 TB WD Gold and the 10 TB WD Red have 7 platters. The 10 TB WD Red (Lowest Price) use higher density 1.43 GB platters to compensate for the 8 TB WD Gold‘s higher 7200 RPM spindle speed. This proves yet again that HDD performance is not always about the spindle speed… 😉
Business Disk WinBench 99
Even though it’s not optimised for desktop applications, the 10 TB WD Red (WD100EFAX) NAS drive did very well in this benchmark, coming in faster than even the 6 TB WD Black.
If you like our work, you can help support our work by visiting our sponsors, participating in the Tech ARP Forums, or even donating to our fund. Any help you can render is greatly appreciated!
The small random reads and writes are the most important tests for applications that make a lot of random accesses, so those would be key performance indicators for drives that are used as boot or system drives, but not very important for NAS systems.
With the exception of small reads, the 10TB WD Red (Lowest Price) was far superior than the 6 TB WD Red in all other aspects. Most impressively, it was 3X faster at small writes, most likely due to its large, fast cache.
Test
WD Red
(10 TB)
WD Red
(6 TB)
Difference
512 KB Read
27.92 MB/s
18.70 MB/s
+ 49.3%
512 KB Write
31.65 MB/s
20.81 MB/s
+ 52.1%
4 KB Read
0.27 MB/s
0.26 MB/s
+ 3.8%
4 KB Write
0.76 MB/s
0.24 MB/s
+ 216.7%
Random Access Time
Test
WD Red
(10 TB)
WD Red
(6 TB)
Difference
512 KB Read
18.78 ms
28.04 ms
– 33.0%
512 KB Write
16.56 ms
25.19 ms
– 34.2%
4 KB Read
15.24 ms
15.81 ms
– 3.6%
4 KB Write
5.36 ms
17.29 ms
– 69.0%
The access times dropped significantly across the board. The small decrease in the 4KB read access time is more than compensated by the incredibly large decrease in the 4KB write access time.
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Random CPU Utilisation
Test
WD Red
(10 TB)
WD Red
(6 TB)
Difference
512 KB Read
28.79 %
0.41 %
+ 6922%
512 KB Write
29.07 %
0.44 %
+ 6507%
4 KB Read
28.83 %
0.38 %
+ 7487%
4 KB Write
28.82 %
0.39 %
+ 7290%
We are not sure what HDD controller Western Digital used for the 10TB WD Red (Lowest Price) NAS drive, but they appeared to have decided to focus on performance at the expense of CPU utilisation. This is not a problem for NAS systems because they have a processor that is dedicated to such operations. Such high CPU utilisation though means the 10 TB WD Red (WD100EFAX) would not make for a very good desktop drive.
If you like our work, you can help support our work by visiting our sponsors, participating in the Tech ARP Forums, or even donating to our fund. Any help you can render is greatly appreciated!
This is the most important test for the NAS drives because it shows their ability to read and write files sequentially. The large sequential transfer performance is particularly important since many NAS system deal with large files (larger than 512 KB in this context).
Without a doubt, the 10 TB WD Red (WD100EFAX) is much faster than the 6 TB WD Red in all aspects. The biggest boost was in small sequential reads.
Sequential Access Time
Test
WD Red
(10 TB)
WD Red
(6 TB)
Difference
512 KB Read
2.43 ms
3.03 ms
– 19.8%
512 KB Write
2.43 ms
3.03 ms
– 19.7%
4 KB Read
0.05 ms
0.08 ms
– 39.2%
4 KB Write
0.06 ms
0.08 ms
– 30.0%
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Sequential CPU Utilisation
Test
WD Red
(10 TB)
WD Red
(6 TB)
Difference
512 KB Read
29.84 %
0.96 %
+ 3008%
512 KB Write
29.49 %
1.14 %
+ 2487%
4 KB Read
35.77 %
8.52 %
+ 319.8%
4 KB Write
35.17 %
9.15 %
+ 284.4%
Even in sequential accesses, the 10 TB WD Red (WD100EFAX) took up an excessive amount of CPU utilisation. Again, this is not a problem for NAS systems, but will be an issue for those who choose to use this drive in their desktop systems.
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Although we don’t know what hard disk drive controller used in the 10 TB WD Red (WD100EFAX), we can see that it is significantly faster than the Marvell 88i1047-NDB2 controller used in the 6 TB WD Red. Its performance was particularly impressive in the 4 KB random write test.
If you like our work, you can help support our work by visiting our sponsors, participating in the Tech ARP Forums, or even donating to our fund. Any help you can render is greatly appreciated!
The 10 TB WD Red (WD100EFAX) was much faster than the 6 TB WD Red in all aspects. Its performance was particularly impressive in the 4 KB sequential read test.
If you like our work, you can help support our work by visiting our sponsors, participating in the Tech ARP Forums, or even donating to our fund. Any help you can render is greatly appreciated!
Our Verdict & Award
This is our second review of a helium-filled hard disk drive (after the 8 TB WD Gold), and we continue to be impressed. Even from its specifications alone, we can already see a significant reduction in power consumption and noise levels. These are not minor either.
The 10 TB WD Red (WD100EFAX) boasts 11% lower power consumption than the air-filled WD Red models at peak loads, and an astounding 46% lower power consumption during idle! It accomplished this despite packing 2-4 more platters than the other WD Red drives.
The platters of the 10 TB WD Red (WD100EFAX) still spin at a relatively sedate 5400 RPM, but they have a very high areal density, boasting a storage capacity of 1.43 GB per platter. This high areal density gave it a very high throughput, allowing it to beat even the 8 TB WD Gold, which has a spindle speed of 7200 RPM.
Our benchmarks show that it is one of the fastest hard disk drives in the market, beating even high-performance drives like the 6 TB WD Black. This is very impressive performance for a 5400 RPM drive that is optimised for NAS systems.
The downside though is its high CPU utilisation. This is not a problem if you intend to use it in a relatively new NAS system, but it may be a problem if you pack more than two of them in an old NAS system with a slow processor. The high CPU utilisation will also be an issue if you intend to use this drive in your desktop PC.
Despite the high CPU utilisation, its stellar performance deserves our Reviewer’s Choice Award. Congratulations, Western Digital!
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The 10TB WD Red Specifications
Specifications
10 TB WD Red NAS Hard Disk Drive
Model
WD100EFAX
Form Factor
3.5 inch
Platter And Head Count
7 Platters with 14 Read/Write Heads
Advanced Format Technology
Yes (512-byte emulation)
Formatted Capacity
10 TB
Native Command Queuing
Yes
Interface
SATA 6 Gb/s
Spindle Speed
5400 RPM
Sustained read / write performance
210 MB/s (maximum)
Cache
256 MB DDR3-1600 SDRAM
Average Power Consumption
Read / Write : 5.7 W
Idle : 2.8 W
Temperature Rating
0 to 65 °C (Operating)
-40 to 70 °C (Non-Operating)
Shock Rating
Operating : 65 G (half-sine wave, 2 ms)
Non-Operating : 250 G (half-sine wave, 2 ms)
Acoustics
Seek : 29 dBA (average)
Idle : 20 dBA
Load / Unload Cycles
600,000
Non-Recoverable Read Errors per Bits Read
<1 in 1014
MTBF (Maximum Time Before Failure)
1,000,000 hours
Rated Workload (Per Year)
180 TB
Warranty
3 Years
Physical Dimensions
101.6 mm (4.0") wide x 147.0 mm (5.787") long x 26.1 mm (1.028") high
If you like our work, you can help support our work by visiting our sponsors, participating in the Tech ARP Forums, or even donating to our fund. Any help you can render is greatly appreciated!
On April 20, 2016, Western Digital launched the new WD Gold family of hard disk drives. These hard disk drives are designed for maximum performance and reliability in the highly demanding conditions of a datacenter. In fact, they are rated to handle workloads of up to 550 TB per year (1.5 TB per day), with a MTBF rating of up to 2.5 million hours!
Today, we are going to take a look at the 8TB Western Digital Gold hard disk drive. This is one of the two helium-filled WD Gold models to feature a hermetically-sealed chassis with an internal helium environment. That’s not what’s different though. For your convenience, we created a specification comparison of the WD Gold family of datacenter drives :
The 8TB WD Gold (WD8002FRYZ) hard disk drive came in a sealed antistatic plastic pack. Notably, it lacked the usual sachet of desiccants. That’s because the drive is hermetically-sealed in the factory, and filled with helium. Also notable is their use of two gold-coloured screws to lock the PCB in place.
To remove the drive, just tear off the top or cut it open, and slide out the drive. Be sure to ground yourself before removing and handling the hard disk drive as static can damage it. In particular, you should try to avoid touching the exposed PCB located on the lower underside of the drive.
If you like our work, you can help support our work by visiting our sponsors, participating in the Tech ARP Forums, or even donating to our fund. Any help you can render is greatly appreciated!
The 8TB WD Gold Datacenter Drive
Despite featuring a hermetically-sealed chassis, the 8TB WD Gold (WD8002FRYZ) datacenter drive looks deceptively like any other 3.5″ desktop hard disk drive. In fact, it has the same label on the top plate, with an uncovered PCB on the underside.
The label has a lot of important information, like the hard drive model, storage capacity as well as its date and place of manufacture. This particular drive was manufactured in Thailand on the 26th of March, 2016. You can also see that the drive uses the Advanced Format Technology to achieve its high storage density.
HelioSeal Technology
The 8TB WD Gold datacenter drive is one of the few hard disk drives in the market to feature the revolutionary HGST HelioSeal technology. It is hermetically sealed at the factory, and filled with helium. The hole, which normally serves as the breather hole in a normal “air-filled” hard disk drive, is likely the port through which the air is extracted and replaced with helium.
Because helium is only 1/7th the density of “regular air”, it allows for less friction conferring the following benefits :
The lower friction reduces the amount of power required to spin the platters, reducing both energy costs and thermal output.
Internal turbulence is greatly reduced, which makes tracking more precise and reliable. This indirectly allows for greater areal density.
The lower power requirement and internal turbulence allow more platters and heads to be added in the same volume of space.
The completely sealed environment eliminates reliability issues that can occur if breather filters get clogged up with dirt.
The only things stopping helium-filled drives from becoming mainstream are the relatively high cost of helium, and the difficulty in sealing the drive.
Media Caching Technology
This feature was mentioned only perfunctorily in the Western Digital press release, which led many writers to assume that they added a NAND flash cache, like the ones used in SSHDs (examples : 4TB WD Blue SSHD, 1TB WD Blue SSHD). Unfortunately, that’s not true.
The media caching technology used in the WD Gold datacenter drives are also a HGST technology, like HelioSeal. It doesn’t use any additional components, just the existing SDRAM cache and the hard disk drive platters. This is how it works :
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Small media cache areas are created in regular intervals across the platters. These are only visible to the drive controller, and are hidden to the computer and operating system.
Data written to the SDRAM cache are combined and regularly written down to the nearest media cache areas at a higher internal queue depth.
These dispersed media cache areas boost write performance by greatly reducing head movements as data is written to the drive.
The write data is simultaneously de-staged, which eliminates burst activity and their impact on reads from the platters.
In the event of a sudden power-off event, the media cache areas is used to quickly restore the SDRAM cache.
Generally, the media caching technology increases random write performance with a slight boost in read performance.
If you like our work, you can help support our work by visiting our sponsors, participating in the Tech ARP Forums, or even donating to our fund. Any help you can render is greatly appreciated!
SATA 6 Gb/s
This is a Serial ATA drive, with native support for SATA 6 Gb/s. However, it is backward-compatible so you will have no problem using it with older SATA 3 Gb/s controllers.
The SATA 6 Gb/s interface is necessary for optimal performance since the 8TB WD Gold datacenter drive boasts a maximum sustained internal (platter-to-buffer) transfer rate of 205 MB/s, and a large and fast DDR3 SDRAM cache.
Like all Serial ATA drives, it comes the standard SATA data (left) and power (right) connectors and is hot-pluggable. That means you can connect and disconnect this hard disk drive to the server, computer or NAS while it’s still running.
What’s Under The PCB?
Western Digital has a penchant for keeping all surface-mounted components on the reverse side of the PCB – to prevent static damage and to allow for better cooling. The PCB is protected by a thin foam cutout on the chassis side, with a thermal pad to help transfer heat from the HDD controller to the hard disk drive chassis.
