WD RED 3TB concersns

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OlafSicky

Platinum Member
Feb 25, 2011
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I got some WD reds and testing them now before I put them in service. I am concerned that one of the drives is a bit slower than the other ones in Cristal Disk Mark.

Sequential Read : 156.761 MB/s
Sequential Write : 154.520 MB/s
Random Read 512KB : 46.804 MB/s
Random Write 512KB : 90.306 MB/s
Random Read 4KB (QD=1) : 0.557 MB/s [ 135.9 IOPS]
Random Write 4KB (QD=1) : 1.556 MB/s [ 379.8 IOPS]
Random Read 4KB (QD=32) : 2.035 MB/s [ 496.7 IOPS]
Random Write 4KB (QD=32) : 1.594 MB/s [ 389.2 IOPS]

The bad one
Sequential Read : 146.251 MB/s
Sequential Write : 144.951 MB/s
Random Read 512KB : 48.329 MB/s
Random Write 512KB : 89.438 MB/s
Random Read 4KB (QD=1) : 0.560 MB/s [ 136.7 IOPS]
Random Write 4KB (QD=1) : 1.600 MB/s [ 390.6 IOPS]
Random Read 4KB (QD=32) : 1.958 MB/s [ 478.0 IOPS]
Random Write 4KB (QD=32) : 1.645 MB/s [ 401.7 IOPS]

I have ran the test several times 1000mb 5x and this is what i get on average. I have tested all of them in the same port and with the same cable. Is this something I should be worried about. smart looks the same for all of them.
Does anyone recommend any burn in programs? So do i use this one or keep testing?
 
Seba

Seba

Golden Member
Sep 17, 2000
1,599
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Maybe they are different revisions.

I have two WD Blue 1TB EZEX (bought approximately 1 year apart) which are slightly different (like yours, they have slightly different speeds on the same PC).
 
Charlie98

Charlie98

Diamond Member
Nov 6, 2011
6,298
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91
Do they have the same FW? Just because they were born on the same date doesn't mean they are the same...

Personally, I don't think there is a problem... they may be the same drives, but they are not identical... if you see what I mean.
 
Phynaz

Phynaz

Lifer
Mar 13, 2006
10,140
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Looks like one drive is spinning a couple of percent slower than the other. Perfectly normal for an intellipower drive
 
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OlafSicky

Platinum Member
Feb 25, 2011
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Thanks for your answers. Yes the drivers were made on the same day and have the same firmware.
Would you guys test them with anything else ? I used the WD tools .
 
Z

Zxian

Senior member
May 26, 2011
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Phynaz said:
Looks like one drive is spinning a couple of percent slower than the other. Perfectly normal for an intellipower drive
Click to expand...

How exactly? "Intellipower" = 5400RPM. End of story.

Intellipower drives do not vary the rotational speed of the platters during operation, nor are they set at different rotational speeds depending on the make or model of the drive. It's a marketing term for 5400 RPM when everyone else was pushing 7200RPM drives or 10K with Raptors.

I'd also be curious to see HDTune graphs to see if the performance is consistently lower, or if there are trouble spots on the drive.
 
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OlafSicky

Platinum Member
Feb 25, 2011
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here is the info you guys wanted HD Tune: WDC WD30EFRX- Benchmark

Transfer Rate Minimum : 97.4 MB/sec
Transfer Rate Maximum : 142.2 MB/sec
Transfer Rate Average : 121.9 MB/sec
Access Time : 12.0 ms
Burst Rate : 110.9 MB/sec
CPU Usage : -1.0%

I don't have a host for screenshots

smart data


ID Current Worst ThresholdData Status
(01) Raw Read Error Rate 200 200 51 0 Ok
(03) Spin Up Time 100 253 21 0 Ok
(04) Start/Stop Count 100 100 0 5 Ok
(05) Reallocated Sector Count 200 200 140 0 Ok
(07) Seek Error Rate 200 200 0 0 Ok
(09) Power On Hours Count 100 100 0 29 Ok
(0A) Spin Retry Count 100 253 0 0 Ok
(0B) Calibration Retry Count 100 253 0 0 Ok
(0C) Power Cycle Count 100 100 0 5 Ok
(C0) Power Off Retract Count 200 200 0 1 Ok
(C1) Load Cycle Count 200 200 0 8 Ok
(C2) Temperature 126 117 0 24 Ok
(C4) Reallocated Event Count 200 200 0 0 Ok
(C5) Current Pending Sector 200 200 0 0 Ok
(C6) Offline Uncorrectable 100 253 0 0 Ok
(C7) Ultra DMA CRC Error Count 200 200 0 0 Ok
(C8) Write Error Rate 100 253 0 0 Ok

Power On Time : 29
Health Status : Ok
 
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Zxian

Senior member
May 26, 2011
579
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Oubadah said:
'Intellipower' does mean variable rotational speed in some drives though, doesn't it. I've heard what definitely sounded like disk speed fluctuation in some green drives.
Click to expand...

No, it does not. Read the review I linked earlier. Every WD Intellipower drive is 5400 RPM. What you've more likely heard is a beat frequency. This is common to have in computers that multiple hard drives with different spindle speeds (120 Hz - 90 Hz = 30 Hz = 1 beat every 2 seconds).

WD7500AACS - 2007 - 90 Hz = 5400 RPM
WD20EADS - 2009 - 90 Hz = 5400 RPM (you can see the Seagate rated at 5900 RPM have a tonal spike at 96 Hz ≈ 5800 RPM)
WD10EFRX and WD30EFRX - 2012 - 90 Hz = 5400 RPM
WD40EFRX - 2013 - 90 Hz = 5400 RPM

This has been tested time and time again on multiple drives, all listed with "Intellipower". The rotational speed of WD "Intellipower" drives does not vary from drive to drive, nor does it vary on a day-to-day basis. Can we please put this to rest now? :p
 
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OlafSicky

Platinum Member
Feb 25, 2011
2,364
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This is the slow one and it's connected on it's own the other hd in the system is a ssd. Like I mentioned earlier the "good" drives have the typical speed you see in reviews and I have tried different cables and ports.
 
Z

Zxian

Senior member
May 26, 2011
579
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Phynaz said:
Sorry but you are incorrect. Intellipower drives are spec'd to approximately 5400 RPM. Thats why WD doesn't list their rotational speed in any data sheets.
http://techreport.com/news/23235/wd-red-drives-target-network-attached-storage

They most certainly can, and do, vary from one drive to another.
Click to expand...

I'd love to see proof of this, instead of just an author making a statement. Where's the documentation that says "approximately 5400"? All of the review sites that say "approximately" and state that they vary their speed during operation are flat out wrong and based on speculation (NCQ requires a constant rotational speed to function properly - Reds have this).

The links I showed were from multiple Intellipower drives, and all of them show the same rotational speed. There's no approximation there.

Even AnandTech's own article on the WD Red drives links to SPCR.
How does the WD Red achieve power optimization? The secret lies in IntelliPower. The WD Red drives spin at 5400 rpm as per the analysis done by the folks at SPCR. It is the combination of these features which allow the WD Reds to balance performance and also reduce power.
Click to expand...

Honestly, if either of you can find me definitive proof that the spindle speed varies from one drive to the next, I'll believe you. The TechReport article you linked is one of many where reviewers haven't done their homework. The testing that I've seen (and done! - I helped with some of those reviews mentioned earlier) shows otherwise. Six drives reviewed over seven years all show the same distinctive peak at 90 Hz. How is that approximate? I'll take data in hand over speculation any day of the week.


@Oubadah - I'm not sure how else to convince you. Your own scenario could have been multiple things. It may have been the drive beginning to power down (as they do without access after a certain period of time) and then getting an I/O request, causing it to power back up. This spin-down timeout is determined by your operating system, not the drive firmware, and has nothing to do with the head parking timeout discussed elsewhere. It's hard to say without knowing more, but I've already given you quite a bit of evidence to say that the drives don't vary their rotational speed.


@OlafSicky - You could return the drive and get a new one if it's causing you that much concern. Who did you buy the drives from.
 
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Zxian

Senior member
May 26, 2011
579
0
0
Do you have the graph for the "good" drive? It could indicate an issue with the memory cache.

Have you verified that the cache settings in Device Manager are the same for the two drives? I've had Windows enable this on some drives and disable it on others.
 
Phynaz

Phynaz

Lifer
Mar 13, 2006
10,140
819
126
Zxian said:
The TechReport article you linked is one of many where reviewers haven't done their homework. The testing that I've seen (and done! - I helped with some of those reviews mentioned earlier) shows otherwise. Six drives reviewed over seven years all show the same distinctive peak at 90
Click to expand...

It's obvious that we would never be able supply sufficient "proof" to overcome your bias, so there will be no point in continuing.
 
VirtualLarry

VirtualLarry

No Lifer
Aug 25, 2001
56,587
10,227
126
Phynaz said:
Sorry but you are incorrect. Intellipower drives are spec'd to approximately 5400 RPM. Thats why WD doesn't list their rotational speed in any data sheets.
http://techreport.com/news/23235/wd-red-drives-target-network-attached-storage

They most certainly can, and do, vary from one drive to another.
Click to expand...

No, they don't. HDD spindle motor speeds are tightly controlled for RPM speed. They don't just throw any old motor on there, and run it at "whatever" the motor spins at.

Edit: This is why drives have a "motor controller chip", rather that just running a straight line from +12v power to the motor.
 
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