IO Meter

We compared the 3 TB Western Digital Red (WD30EFRX) to the 3 TB Western Digital Caviar Green (WD30EZRX), because it was the closest match and would have been used instead of the WD Red in a NAS system. For more performance comparisons, please take a look at The Hard Disk Drive Performance Comparison Guide.

Throughput (Sequential Access)

This is the most important test for the WD Red because it shows its 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).

Thanks to its much higher areal density, the 3 TB Western Digital Red boasts a much higher sequential transfer rate for large reads and writes, delivering close to 20% better performance than the WD Green. Its small sequential write performance was somewhat of a disappointment - it was slightly slower at writes than the WD Green and significantly slower at reads. However, this is not of much significance in a NAS system.

Sequential Access Time

CPU Utilization (Sequential Access)

Support Tech ARP!

If you like our work, you can help support out work by visiting our sponsors, participate in the Tech ARP Forums, or even donate to our fund. Any help you can render is greatly appreciated!