WD Red SA500 SATA SSD

Due to growing speed demands and the increased availability in 10GbE connectivity, WD saw a need to provide both home users and small businesses with some flash for their NAS devices. WD’s new Red SA500 is a SATA based SSD that is targeted to compete against Seagate’s IronWolf 110 NAS SSD. It is stated to be a great option for caching and with high endurance, it can handle heavy read and write workloads 24/7.

It comes in both 2.5” 7mm and M.2 2280 form factors and capacities range from 500GB up to 4TB (2.5” only). Price-wise, these SSDs come with MSRPs of $72 at 500GB up to $600 for the largest capacity. They are currently available in limited quantities at the WD store, but will be widely available in November.

14TB WD Red and Red Pro SATA HDDs

In addition to the new SSD, the company is expanding the Red and Red Pro HDDs up to 14TB. Like the SA500, they will be widely available in November and are rated for 24/7 operation.

The 14TB WD Red, part number WD140EFFX, is designed to be used in NAS with up to 8 bays, making it ideal for small and home office environments. It operates at 5,400rpm and is rated to handle a workload rate of up to 180TB a year. Like the other WD Reds, the 14TB model comes with a three-year warranty. It releases with an MSRP of $450.

WD’s 14TB Red Pro, part number WD141KFGX, is a bit faster than the normal Red, 7200 RPM rather than 5400 RPM. It is ideal for big businesses and is supported to be used in NASes with up to 24-bays. It features 3D Active Balance Plus technology, and error recovery controls with NASware 3.0 technology for enhanced reliability. MSRP for this model is $525 and comes with a five-year warranty.