NAS, DAS and SOHO server owners will have a performance option through Western Digital Red series. The WD Red Pro will forgo its “Intellipower” feature and crank up RPMs up to 7200.
I wouldn’t get one. I’m perfectly happy with my Western Digital Red drives running at 5400 RPM while sipping power. I care about reliability and power efficiency more when it comes to network storage solutions.
While reading up on these Western Digitals, I ran into the HGST Helium filled drives. These drives made by Hitachi (a subsidiary of Western Digital now) use helium to reduce friction which means these drives should use less power to spin those many platters encased within.
Sounds like a good idea but it’s also an expensive idea which is why it debuted in the enterprise market first. I’m curious when we’ll see it in the consumer market.