WD Red Pro 4TB NAS Drive: How Reliable Is It?

In this guide, we'll explore these aspects in detail. Here’s a table of contents to help you navigate through the article.

Table of Contents:

1. What are NAS Drives?
2. The Western Digital Hard Drive Lineup
3. WD Red Vs. WD Red Pro NAS Hard Drives
4. The WD Red Pro 4TB NAS Hard Drive
5. FAQs

Let’s get started.

What are NAS Drives?

Western Digital Hard Drive Lineup

WD has eight main lines of hard drives; here is a table explaining them.

As you can see, the “Red” range of drives is purpose-built for NAS systems. 

A common question is how WD Red drives compare to WD Black drives for NAS use. Indeed, WD Black drives generally offer better performance than their Red counterparts. However, we advise against using WD Black or other non-NAS-specific hard drives in NAS systems. Accepting a slight performance trade-off for the benefits of drives designed specifically for NAS operations. The WD Red Pro 4TB NAS hard drive, for example, is built to handle the unique demands of NAS environments, as is the WD Red 3.5 SATA 4TB NAS drive.

You might also wonder about the differences between "Red" and "Red Pro" drives. We'll delve into that in the next section.

WD NAS Hard Drives: Red vs. Red Pro

As the name suggests, the Red Pro is a beefed-up version of WD’s regular “Red” line of drives from WD. While both “Red” and “Red Pro” drives are designed for NAS systems, the latter offers some key improvements. 
These differences are outlined in the following table. 

In short, the WD Red Pro version is specifically engineered for higher-demand scenarios, offering better performance, higher capacities, and greater reliability for medium—to large-sized businesses. 

The most popular version of the Red Pro is the WD Red 4TB NAS drive.

So let's talk specifics about the WD Red Pro 4TB NAS hard drive.

The WD Red Pro 4TB NAS Hard Drive

The WD Red Pro 4TB NAS hard drive is an excellent choice for NAS systems. These drives and the regular WD Red 4TB NAS drives offer a perfect balance of performance, reliability, and cost. 

Their capacity is large enough for business operations and can reach a maximum size of 14 to 18 TB. Even the regular WD Red 4TB NAS hard disk drive operates at 5000+ RPM. The pro version is 40% faster, operating at 7,400 RPM.
 
The WD Red Pro 4TB NAS hard drives are quite reliable for storing lots of data safely, especially in business settings. 

Here are a few reasons.

1. Fast and Strong: The drives work quickly, which means they can handle a lot of information at once without slowing down. This is great for businesses that need to access their data constantly.
2. Built Tough: The WD Red 4TB NAS hard drives (and others in the lineup) are made to handle shakes and bumps better than “regular” drives like the blue or green. When lots of drives are used together, they can shake each other, but the WD Red and Red Pro can take this without getting damaged.
3. Warranty-Protected Longer than Others: The 4TB WD Red NAS comes with a 5-year warranty, which is longer than many other hard drives. In contrast, when you compare drives from Toshiba NAS vs. WD Red, you’ll see that Toshiba drives only come with a 3-year limited warranty. This shows that WD believes your Red NAS drive will last a long time, and they stand behind their product.
4. Made for Constant Use: The WD Red Pro is designed to work well all day, every day. This is important for businesses that use their drives often and can't afford interruptions. Even if a drive fails, which is uncommon, these drives are compatible with data recovery software and data recovery services, ensuring that your data can be retrieved with ease. This makes the WD Red Pro a dependable choice for maintaining smooth operations and safeguarding critical information.