The 2TB version of WD's Red NAS range of hard drives has a performance profile that is similar to that of its larger 3TB sibling. Both drives lag behind the group average significantly in terms of overall performance. With an average read speed of 108 MB/s the 2TB Red is 36% slower than the group leaders which manage an average of 147 MB/s. There is a huge amount of hype around the "NAS" aspects of these drives but there is very little substance in terms of specific characteristics that make this drive better suited to a NAS than any other. The obvious factors such as energy efficiency and operating temperature are only marginally improved on these drives. I would personally prefer one of the far better performing Seagate Barracudas as when looking at a direct comparison of the Barracuda vs the Red it's clear that the performance of the Barracuda is better across the board. [Feb '14HDrivePro]
This is the most recent version (2013 FZEX) of Western Digital's best performing consumer storage drive, its predecessor was the WD1002FAEX which is now four years old. With average sequential read/write speeds of 150 MB/s this version outperforms its predecessor by a whopping 50%. Small file random 4K speeds have remained broadly unchanged with average read/write rates of 0.9/2.19 MB/s. Overall the 2013 WD Black has a very good performance profile and it also represents reasonable value for money, at least in the 1TB category. There are some good alternatives to the 2013 Black including the 2012 Blue. Looking at the 2013 Black vs 2012 Blue shows that both drives have similar performance. Power consumption (6.8/6.1 Watts active/idle) and noise levels (29.5 dBA) are also identical making it a tough call between the two. There is however, as always, better value amongst the larger capacities. [Feb '14HDrivePro]
We calculate effective speed which measures performance for typical consumers. Effective speed is adjusted by current cost per GB to yield value for money. Our calculated values are checked against thousands of individual user ratings. The customizable table below combines these factors to bring you the definitive list of top HDDs. [HDrivePro]
Welcome to our freeware PC speed test tool. UserBenchmark will test your PC and compare the results to other users with the same components. You can quickly size up your PC, identify hardware problems and explore the best upgrades.