Yorick
Wizard
- Joined
- Nov 4, 2018
- Messages
- 1,912
If you’ve been living under a rock: WD Red 2TB through 6TB became SMR drives in their EFAX variant, which is unsuitable for use with ZFS.
After the considerable blowback this created, WD have bound up this wound by bringing back the EFRX (CMR) 2-6TB drives and creating a clear branding distinction.
WD Red: All SMR drives
WD Red Plus: All CMR drives (this is the original all-CMR Red lineup, before SMR was introduced into the Red line)
WD Red Pro: Unchanged, all CMR
WD’s usage guidance calls Red “SoHo” and Red Plus “SMB, also ZFS”. That’s clear.
See https://blocksandfiles.com/2020/06/...shingling-kerfuffle-gets-red-rebrand-bandaid/
It took them a good long while to get there, and they only got there because their use of SMR drives in a NAS line was exposed.
Still, this is the right way to go. Now there is a clear demarcation, and people know that all SMR are over in Red, and “Red Plus” is all CMR and will stay that way.
I trust that WD will stick to that promise, only because they are not suicidal. Every reviewer now knows what SMR is and how to test for it, and every channel would love to scoop the next stealth SMR. WD isn’t going to purposefully blow their own foot off. Again.
After the considerable blowback this created, WD have bound up this wound by bringing back the EFRX (CMR) 2-6TB drives and creating a clear branding distinction.
WD Red: All SMR drives
WD Red Plus: All CMR drives (this is the original all-CMR Red lineup, before SMR was introduced into the Red line)
WD Red Pro: Unchanged, all CMR
WD’s usage guidance calls Red “SoHo” and Red Plus “SMB, also ZFS”. That’s clear.
See https://blocksandfiles.com/2020/06/...shingling-kerfuffle-gets-red-rebrand-bandaid/
It took them a good long while to get there, and they only got there because their use of SMR drives in a NAS line was exposed.
Still, this is the right way to go. Now there is a clear demarcation, and people know that all SMR are over in Red, and “Red Plus” is all CMR and will stay that way.
I trust that WD will stick to that promise, only because they are not suicidal. Every reviewer now knows what SMR is and how to test for it, and every channel would love to scoop the next stealth SMR. WD isn’t going to purposefully blow their own foot off. Again.