New WD Red 2.5-inch and 4TB 3.5-inch NAS drives now available from DCC

Distributor Drive Control Corporation (DCC) has announced the availability of the WD’s new Red drives specifically designed for home and small office Network Attached Storage (NAS) systems with one- to five-drive bays. These drives are now available in 4 Terabyte (TB) capacities as well as the world’s first 2.5-inch NAS drives in capacities of 750 Gigabyte (GB) and 1TB. The new drives are powered by the latest NASware 2.0 technology and are compatibility tested with top NAS system manufacturers, optimised for performance and reduced power consumption.

“NAS is experiencing significant growth in the home and Small to Medium Business (SMB) market, and as people download and store more and more digital content, there is not only demand for higher capacity storage, but also for smaller form factor NAS enclosures. The new WD Red drives meet both of these requirements, delivering additional storage for NAS enclosures, as well as catering to the growing compact NAS enclosure market. This is providing customers with the opportunity to harness the power of the WD brand in a premium, purpose-built 2.5-inch NAS drive designed for smaller format NAS enclosures,” says Farhad Alli, WD Product Specialist at DCC.

The WD Red 3.5-inch 4TB drives provide users with up to 20TB NAS storage in a five bay enclosure, catering to increasing demand for higher capacity networked storage. While most servers and NAS enclosures use the 3.5-inch format, there is also a growing segment of small form factor NAS enclosures that make use of 2.5-inch drives. These smaller drives are also ideal for data centres that require the 2.5-inch form factor. All WD Red drives also come with free access to a premium 24-hour international help line, ensuring that customers always get the most out of their NAS drives.

The new generation of WD Red hard drives also feature NASware 2.0, the latest version of WD’s NAS software, designed to improve drive reliability and protect customer data in the event of a power failure. Other reliability and durability features include 3D Active Balance Plus, an enhanced balance control technology that significantly improves overall drive performance and reliability, and a 35% Mean Time between Failure (MTBF) improvement over standard desktop drives.

“WD’s new Red drives are also highly energy efficient, with innovative technology to reduce power consumption and lower operating temperatures, extending the longevity of the drives and reduce utility costs for a reliable and affordable system. All WD Red drives feature a three-year limited warranty for added peace of mind,” Alli concludes.

The WD Red 2.5-inch and 4TB 3.5-inch drives are now available from DCC.