Buy WD Red Plus at the Right Price

Where WD Red Plus fits

WD Red Plus is the CMR version of WD's mainstream NAS range, and the one to buy. The plain WD Red was quietly switched to slow SMR (the EFAX models) some years ago, which caused RAID problems, so WD created Red Plus and Red Pro as the explicitly CMR options. Red Plus uses NASware firmware and is tuned to run quiet and cool, which suits a NAS that lives in a living space.

Workload rating and warranty

WD Red Plus is rated for 180TB of writes per year with a 3-year warranty, the same class as standard IronWolf. It spins at 5400rpm class speeds for low noise and power, rather than the 7200rpm of the Pro range.

Capacities and which NAS it suits

Red Plus runs from 2TB up to 14TB, which is the top of the range. There is no Red Plus above 14TB, so for 16TB and larger you move to WD Red Pro, Seagate Exos or IronWolf Pro. The 4TB to 12TB Red Plus drives are the value sweet spot.

Red Plus suits 1 to 8-bay home NAS units, especially quiet ones in living spaces.

Best WD Red Plus by need