Page 11 - Conclusion
12TB of RAID storage on the network? Who would not want that?
With eight pages of serious benchmarking, multiple test platforms for collecting all the data we need, and over a thousand dollars worth of hard drives from all three major manufacturers/brands, where does APH Networks stand? As I have said in the beginning of this review, in the storage world, practical considerations win over pure emotional desirability. But here at this point, we are spoiled for choice, because every drive has its merits. The Hitachi Deskstar NAS 4TB wins in raw speed for the most part, but it consumes by far the most power. The Seagate NAS HDD ST4000VN000 4TB is certainly no benchmarking queen, but it is quite a bit cheaper than the competition. The Western Digital Red WD40EFRX 4TB we are reviewing today is neither the fastest nor the cheapest, but it strikes a balance between the two, and comes in as being the most power efficient. Call it a first world problem, because, like you, I cannot reasonably choose all three, as much as I would like to. Therefore, I will make a choice, and I will justify it: In the context of a pure engineering perspective, my recommendation will have to be the Western Digital Red WD40EFRX 4TB. Sure, it did not perform the best in all our benchmarks. However, it took home all the right wins for what the drive is meant for, and that is where it mattered. Secondly, it is not the cheapest, but neither is it the most expensive. For about $180 at press time, it is a very reasonable price for a 4TB drive. Thirdly, it is the most power efficient. In an environment where every watt from every single drive adds up, the choice is clear. The value of the Western Digital Red boils down to the fact that it is designed specifically for network attached storage system from its hardware to its firmware, and this is evident from our dissection and benchmarking results today. If I am building a file server, what I want is a balance of speed, capacity, reliability, and affordability. And if I am looking for an optimal balance for all four factors, the Western Digital Red WD40EFRX 4TB is the only one that lives up to them all. Stay tuned for our full reviews on the Hitachi Deskstar NAS 4TB and Seagate NAS HDD 4TB for the weeks to come.
Western Digital provided this product to APH Networks for the purpose of evaluation.
APH Recommended Award
Since April 30, 2007, Number Ratings have been dropped for all CPUs, motherboards, RAM, SSD/HDDs, and graphics cards. This is to ensure the most appropriate ratings are reflected without the inherent limits of using numbers. Everything else will continue using the Number Rating System.
More information in our Review Focus.
Designed specifically for network attached storage systems, the Western Digital Red WD40EFRX 4TB rocks the competition with the best balance of speed, capacity, reliability, and affordability.
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Page Index
1. Introduction and Specifications
2. A Closer Look, Installation, Test System
3. Benchmark: AIDA64 Disk Benchmark
4. Benchmark: ATTO Disk Benchmark
5. Benchmark: Crystal Disk Mark 3.0
6. Benchmark: HD Tach 3.0.1.0
7. Benchmark: HD Tune Pro 4.60
8. Benchmark: PassMark PerformanceTest 8.0
9. Benchmark: PCMark 7
10. NAS Performance, Power Consumption
11. Conclusion
