Western Digital's Red Pro 24 TB HDDs: A Game-Changer in High-Capacity Storage
Western Digital's latest offering in its WD Red Pro line of NAS HDDs provides an impressive 24 terabytes of storage capacity in a conventional 3.5-inch form factor.
Nowadays, highest-capacity hard drives are predominantly targeted at cloud service providers (CSPs) and large-scale enterprises. However, this trend does not negate the burgeoning storage requirements of creative professionals and everyday users. Recognizing this demand, Western Digital has commenced shipments of its Red Pro 24 TB HDDs, specifically designed for high-end NAS usage by creative professionals.
While solid-state storage drives have largely replaced HDDs in personal computing systems, NAS devices continue to utilize traditional magnetic units. These HDDs offer significantly higher capacities than SSDs, and with the advent of new technology solutions, they are designed to provide superior reliability levels.
WD Red Pro: A New Era of Storage
Western Digital's latest offering in its WD Red Pro line of NAS HDDs provides an impressive 24 terabytes of storage capacity in a conventional 3.5-inch form factor. Engineered for high performance and reliability, these enterprise-class drives are designed to handle intense workload conditions in non-stop operation mode.
The Red Pro 24 TB hard drives, which hit the market approximately 20 months after their 22 TB predecessor in 2022, offer an incremental improvement to Western Digital's highest-capacity NAS and consumer hard drive offering. These drives employ conventional magnetic recording (CMR), feature a 7200 RPM rotating speed, are equipped with a 512 MB cache, and utilize OptiNAND technology to enhance reliability and optimize performance and power consumption. With a rated media to cache transfer rate of up to 287 MB/s, these HDDs are among the fastest on the market, albeit slightly slower compared to CSP and enterprise-oriented HDDs.
WD240KFGX Technical Specifications
The latest WD Red Pro model of NAS hard drives (WD240KFGX) employs a SATA 6 Gbps interface and a 7200 RPM rotation speed to deliver reliable performance. The WD Red Pro drives are filled with helium for capacities between 14TB and 24TB, and with air for capacities between 2TB and 12TB, providing data transfer speeds up to 287 MBps. Similar to other high-end NAS-aimed HDDs, the Red Pro 24 TB hard drives use helium-filled platforms akin to those designed for enterprise drives. These drives are equipped with rotation vibration sensors to proactively counteract disturbances caused by increased vibration and multi-axis shock sensors to detect subtle shock events and automatically offset them with dynamic fly height technology, ensuring that the heads do not scratch the disks.
ArmorCache: Enhanced Protection and Performance
Despite not being listed in datasheets, Western Digital asserts that WD Red Pro fully supports the ArmorCache feature, similar to WD Gold and Ultraster 22 TB and 24 TB drives for enterprises and cloud datacenters. The ArmorCache feature provides protection against power loss when write-cache is enabled (WCE mode) and enhances performance when write-cache is disabled (WCD mode). This feature further underscores the commitment of Western Digital to deliver high-performance, reliable storage solutions to its diverse consumer base.
In the realm of high-capacity storage, Western Digital has set a new benchmark with its Red Pro 24 TB HDDs. These drives are rated for 550TB annual workloads and come with a 5-year limited warranty, reflecting their robustness and reliability. The 24TB model boasts a Mean Time Between Failures (MTBF) of 2,500,000 hours, while a 512MB cache facilitates efficient data transfer.
Western Digital employs its proprietary OptiNAND technology on the 22TB and 24TB models to enhance reliability and optimize performance and energy consumption. The power consumption ranges from a mere 1.2W in standby/sleep mode to 6.4W during I/O operations, making these drives an energy-efficient choice.
NAS Advanced Technologies
The WD Red Pro drives are equipped with advanced technologies to ensure optimal performance under stressful conditions. This includes NASware, WD's exclusive fine-tuning technology designed to match NAS system workloads. Additionally, the drives are fitted with rotation vibration (RV) sensors to anticipate and proactively counter excessive vibrations, and a multi-axis shock sensor to detect subtle shock events and compensate accordingly.
Western Digital asserts that the WD Red Pro HDDs have undergone extensive testing on a wide range of NAS devices, thanks to its partnerships with major vendors. This rigorous testing procedure ensures compatibility with most NAS enclosures currently available on the market.
Reliability and Power Consumption
On the reliability front, the Red Pro 24 TB HDDs are designed for 24/7 operation in vibrating environments, such as enterprise-grade NAS with multiple bays. They are rated for up to 550 TB/year workloads and up to 600,000 load/unload cycles, aligning with the reliability standards of Western Digital's WD Gold and Ultrastar hard drives.
The WD Red Pro 24 TB model (WD240KFGX) consumes up to 6.4W during read and write operations, up to 3.9W in idle mode, and up to 1.2W in standby/sleep mode. These drives, built on a SATA 6 Gbps interface, are filled with helium for capacities between 14TB and 24TB, and with air for capacities between 2TB and 12TB. They provide data transfer speeds up to 287 MBps, ensuring a reliable level of performance.
Western Digital's new, large-capacity WD Red Pro drives are ideal for multimedia creative professionals, medium-to-large business ventures, and commercial and enterprise-class NAS systems. However, such spacious hard disks come with a hefty price tag, with the newest 24TB model featuring an official price of $570. The HDDs are now shipping to resellers and NAS manufacturers, and consumers should be able to purchase them soon. Despite the cost, the Red Pro 24 TB HDDs offer a slightly more affordable alternative to the WD Gold 24 TB model, making high-capacity storage more accessible to a wider range of users.
Recovering Your Precious Data: ACE Data Recovery for WD NAS Drives
Data loss from a Western Digital (WD) Network Attached Storage (NAS) drive can be a heart-stopping experience. Those irreplaceable photos, business documents, or music libraries can feel lost forever. But fear not, there's still hope! ACE Data Recovery offers a lifeline for your WD NAS data.
ACE Data Recovery: A Trusted Name in Data Retrieval
For over 30 years, ACE Data Recovery has been a leader in data recovery services. They boast a team of experts with a proven track record of retrieving data from all sorts of storage devices, including WD NAS drives. They've even partnered with Western Digital themselves, highlighting their expertise in this specific area.
Why Choose ACE Data Recovery for Your WD NAS?
Here's what makes ACE Data Recovery a compelling choice for recovering your WD NAS data:
- Free Diagnostics: They'll thoroughly examine your WD NAS drive at no cost, allowing you to make an informed decision before moving forward.
- "No Data, No Charge" Guarantee: ACE Data Recovery only gets paid if they're successful. This takes the financial risk out of the equation for you.
- Advanced Technology & Expertise: Their team utilizes advanced tools and techniques to tackle even the most complex data recovery challenges specific to WD NAS devices.
- Transparent Pricing: You'll receive a guaranteed quote upfront, so there are no hidden fees or surprises.
- Fast Turnaround Time: Time is of the essence when it comes to data recovery. ACE Data Recovery strives to get your data back to you as quickly as possible.
Taking Action: Recovering Your Data from Your WD NAS Drive
Here's how to get started with ACE Data Recovery:
- Contact ACE Data Recovery: Reach out to them via phone or their website.
- Free Diagnostic Evaluation: Send your WD NAS drive to their secure lab for a free analysis.
- Approval & Recovery Process: Once they diagnose the issue, you'll receive a no-obligation quote. If you approve, they'll get to work recovering your data.
- Data Return: Upon successful recovery, you'll receive your precious data back on a secure new drive.
Don't Wait - Get Your WD NAS Data Back Today!
Data loss can be stressful, but with ACE Data Recovery, there's a solution. Their expertise, transparent pricing, and success rate make them a top choice for recovering your data from your WD NAS drive. Visit their website or contact them today to discuss your specific needs and get started on the road to data recovery.