WD expands family of purpose-built NAS drives

• WD Red drives now available in 2.5in form factor offering 1TB and 750GB capacities
• Compatibility-tested with top NAS system manufacturers; optimised for reduced power consumption

WD, a Western Digital company, has announced the expansion of its WD Red line of SATA hard drives specifically designed for home and small office NAS (network attached storage) systems with one- to five-drive bays.
 
WD Red hard drives are now available in a 2.5-inch form factor offering 1TB (terabyte) and 750GB (gigabyte) capacities and a new 3.5-inch 4TB capacity.
 
Powered by NASware 2.0 technology, WD Red is compatibility-tested with top NAS system manufacturers and optimised for performance and reduced power consumption, the company said in a statement.
 
“WD defined the NAS drive category by leading the development of hard drives specifically built for small NAS environments,” said Matt Rutledge, vice president of client storage for WD.
 
“The WD Red product line serves the unique environment of NAS and meets the growing demand for affordable, reliable, and compatible storage,” he said.
 
Top industry analysts see NAS continuing to represent one of the fastest-growing segments of the worldwide SOHO (small office, home office) storage systems market, WD said.
 
From both revenue and terabyte perspectives, NAS will continue to experience strong growth through the forecast period (to 2015), driven by a major shift of storage deployments toward IP-connected systems (Worldwide Personal and Entry Level Storage Tracker IDC 2013).
 
The next generation of WD Red hard drives delivers the best NAS experience for customers with a new version of NASware 2.0, which further improves drive reliability and protects customer data in the event of a power loss or disruption, WD claimed.
 
WD Red hard drives also feature 3D Active Balance Plus, an enhanced balance control technology, which significantly improves overall drive performance and reliability.
 
Integrating with WD NAS solutions, WD Red hard drives are qualified to work with a wide array of WD OEM partners. A regularly updated list of WD Red-qualified products and manufacturers is available on the WD website here.
 
Shipping now through WD distributors in Malaysia – Amble Action Sdn Bhd, Achieva Technology Sdn Bhd and Eternal Asia (M) Sdn Bhd, and selected resellers, WD Red hard drives are covered by a three-year limited warranty.
 
MSRP for the new 2.5-inch WD Red 1 TB, model #: (WD10JFCX) is RM 349; the 750 GB, model #: (WD750BFCX) is RM 269 and the 3.5-inch 4 TB, model #: (WD40EFRX) is RM 699.
 
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