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]
I don't understand the pricing on this drive, on the face of it, it looks seriously overpriced. Although the Black has a marginal speed advantage compared to a 3TB Barracuda, one 4TB Caviar Black costs more than two 3TB Barracudas! I have only seen benchmarks from 3 user samples for the 4TB 2012 Black so I will re-visit this recap over the coming months by which time I should have a better sample size. Additional samples may indicate far better performance than I have seen so far. [Aug '13HDrivePro]
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 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 value for money upgrades.