Finally , WD Red Plus is officially launched in Middle east. WD red plus was first announced in June, , following WD's decision to switch the recording technology of WD red drives to DMSMR, from CMR. Today we have the final confirmation on the launch of Red Plus in Middle East. Pricing and stocks will be available mostly by mid of September 2020.
Red vs Red Plus vs Red Pro
- Red is a DSMR Drive, available in 2-6TB only. The drive need ideal time between writes to perform optimally. Since the SMR is drive managed, your application/OS sees the drives as regular drive so its mostly works and is compatible with all the NAS vendors.
- Red Plus is a CMR Drive. It provides you a balance between value and features. Choose Red Plus if you are in doubt.
- Red Pro is a CMR 7200 RPM drive with 5 years limited warranty. Stocks of Red Pro are difficult to find with channel and WD Ultrastar and Gold make a better bargain most of the time.
In any case, don't mix SMR and CMR drives in your RAID as it can cause problem. Here is a small table that summarizes the difference between each of these drives
| Series | Capacities | Recording | RPM | Part Numbers | Warranty | Cost | Target |
| WD Red | 2TB, 3TB, 4TB, 6TB | SMR (Drive managed) | 5400 | WD20EFAX WD30EFAX WD40EFAX WD60EFAX |
3 Years Limited | Low | Home uses who have intermitten writes Drive needs ideal time to run background tasks. Choose Red if the nature of your work is not a continuous write. Don't use on ZFS file system. |
| WD Red Plus | 1TB, 2TB, 3TB, 4TB, 6TB, 8TB, 10TB, 12TB, 14TB | CMR | 5400 |
WD10EFRX |
3 Years Limited | Moderate | Power users with upto 8 Bay NAS. Its a CMR drive, and does everything that you know a red drive for. If you have ZFS file system on your RAID, or have a higher workload that doesn't leave drive much ideal time for background operation - go with Red Plus. |
| WD Red Pro | 2TB, 3TB, 4TB, 6TB, 8TB, 10TB, 12TB, 14TB | CMR | 7200 |
WD2002FFSX |
5 Years Limited | High | Enterprise users. Buy these if you are looking for an enterprise drive. Usually the WD ultrastar and WD Gold ( which are more reliable than even Red Pro) can be found for similar or lower price and make a better bargain. |
