COMPARE
HDD
RANKINGS
TEST
YOUR HDD
ADD TO PC
BUILD
WDWD30EFRX
WDWD20EFRX
VS
Effective Speed 
+1%
Real World Speed
Performance profile from 133,085 user samples
Benchmark your HDD here
68,726 User Benchmarks
Best Bench: 88% 4TB free
Worst Bench: 42% 2.5TB free
Poor: 42% Great: 88%
SPEED RANK: 143rd / 1015
64,359 User Benchmarks
Best Bench: 86% 2TB free
Worst Bench: 45% 2TB free (System drive)
Poor: 45% Great: 86%
SPEED RANK: 150th / 1015
Effective Speed
Effective HDD Speed 		67.3 % +1% 66.4 %
Average Score 
+2%
Read
Avg. Sequential Read Speed 		120 MB/s +1% 119 MB/s
Write
Avg. Sequential Write Speed 		114 MB/s +2% 112 MB/s
4K Read
Avg. 4K Random Read Speed 		0.81 MB/s +1% 0.8 MB/s
4K Write
Avg. 4K Random Write Speed 		2.35 MB/s +4% 2.27 MB/s
Mixed
Avg. Sequential Mixed IO Speed 		74.6 MB/s +3% 72.6 MB/s
4K Mixed
Avg. 4K Random Mixed IO Speed 		0.91 MB/s +2% 0.89 MB/s
SusWrite
Avg. Sustained Write Speed 		115 MB/s +3% 112 MB/s
Peak Score 
+2%
Read
Peak Sequential Read Speed 		160 MB/s +3% 155 MB/s
Write
Peak Sequential Write Speed 		147 MB/s +2% 144 MB/s
4K Read
Peak 4K Random Read Speed 		1 MB/s 1 MB/s
4K Write
Peak 4K Random Write Speed 		2.8 MB/s +4% 2.7 MB/s
Mixed
Peak Sequential Mixed IO Speed 		99 MB/s +5% 94.3 MB/s
4K Mixed
Peak 4K Random Mixed IO Speed 		1 MB/s 1 MB/s
SusWrite
Peak Sequential Sustained Write 60s Average 		150 MB/s +1% 148 MB/s
Value & Sentiment 
+40%
Market Share
Based on 53,323,353 HDDs tested
See market share leaders
Market Share
Market Share (trailing 30 days) 		0.26 % 0.33 % Higher market share.
+27%
Value
Value For Money 		80.9 % Hugely better value.
+150% 		32.4 %
User Rating
UBM User Rating 		52 % 52 %
Price
Price (score) 		$50 Much cheaper.
+39% 		$82
Nice To Haves 
0%
Age
Newest 		141 Months 141 Months
Specifications 
Capacity
Capacity 		3TB 2TB
Conclusion 
Average Bench 67.3%
Average Bench 66.4%
ADVERTISEMENT

With peak sequential read/write speeds of 140 and averages of 120 MB/s the 3TB WD Red is around 25% slower than the group leaders. If the Red is used in a NAS (Network Attached Storage), that won't make much difference because the vast majority of home networks still operate at Fast Ethernet (~10 MB/s), even users with faster Gigabit (~100 MB/s) networks will be limited by their network bandwidth before the drive. I could assume that any of our drives are for use in a NAS but that of course doesn't excuse sub-par performance because they could equally be used in a desktop. It's true that the power consumption (4.4W) on the Red is lower than average (6W) but the performance hit isn't justified. Even assuming continuous usage, those extra couple of watts for something like the Seagate Baracuda 7200.14 amount to a few pounds a year at most. At £133 this dive is both overpriced and offers sub-optimal performance. [Feb '14 HDrivePro]

MORE DETAILS

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 '14 HDrivePro]

MORE DETAILS

User Builds 
68,726
64,359
Custom PC Builder (Start a new build) Build your perfect PC: compare component prices, popularity, speed and value for money

CHOOSE A COMPONENT:

CPU GPU SSD HDD RAM MBD
Hard Drive Rankings (Price vs Performance) April 2024 HDD Rankings

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]

ADVERTISEMENT

Group Test Results

  • Best user rated - User sentiment trumps benchmarks for this comparison.
  • Best value for money - Value for money is based on real world performance.
  • Fastest real world speed - Real World Speed measures performance for typical consumers.
How Fast Is Your HDD? (Bench your build) Size up your PC in less than a minute

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.

UserBenchmark of the month

Gaming Desktop ProGaming

How it works

  • - Download and run UserBenchmark
  • - CPU tests include: integer, floating and string
  • - GPU tests include: six 3D game simulations
  • - Drive tests include: read, write, sustained write and mixed IO
  • - RAM tests include: single/multi core bandwidth and latency
  • - SkillBench (space shooter) tests user input accuracy
  • - Reports are generated and presented on userbenchmark.com
  • - Identify the strongest components in your PC
  • - See speed test results from other users
  • - Compare your components to the current market leaders
  • - Explore your best upgrade options with a virtual PC build
  • - Compare your in-game FPS to other users with your hardware

 Frequently Asked Questions

Storage Devices FAQ
What is sustained sequential write speed?
What’s the difference between SLC, MLC and TLC?
What is 3D XPoint and how fast is it?
What’s the difference between SATA, PCIe and NVMe?
What’s the difference between NAND and V-NAND?
What is sequential write speed?
What is sequential read speed?
What is incompressible data?
What is queue depth?
What is 4K random write speed?
What is 4K random read speed?
What is AS SSD real world copy speed?
How big is 16GB?
What does MBps mean?
Hard Drives
What is the Hard Drive value for money rating?
What is effective Hard Drive speed?
ALL FAQs »

 Best User Rated
The Best.
CPUGPUSSD
Intel Core i5-13600K $273Nvidia RTX 4060 $295Crucial MX500 250GB $40
Intel Core i5-12400F $133Nvidia RTX 4060-Ti $385Samsung 850 Evo 120GB $80
Intel Core i5-12600K $178Nvidia RTX 4070 $539Samsung 860 Evo 250GB $52
HDDRAMUSB
Seagate Barracuda 1TB (2016) $39Corsair Vengeance LPX DDR4 3200 C16 2x8GB $40SanDisk Extreme 64GB $72
WD Blue 1TB (2012) $37Corsair Vengeance LPX DDR4 3000 C15 2x8GB $43SanDisk Extreme 32GB $28
Seagate Barracuda 2TB (2016) $51G.SKILL Trident Z DDR4 3200 C14 4x16GB $351SanDisk Ultra Fit 32GB $16
If you make a purchase via one of these links, our site may earn a commission
Today's hottest
Amazon Ebay
deals
CPU GPU SSD HDD USB RAM MBD
Build Test EFps
Can You Run It?
►
YouTube
*NEW*
About  •  User Guide  •  FAQs  •  Email  •  Privacy  •  Developer  •  YouTube Feedback