Western Digital discontinuing at least one version of 2TB NAS red drive

jerrym303

Member
Original poster
Oct 10, 2017
13
4
CO
I am just now upgrading to a Hopper and thought that I would upgrade my EHD to a USB 3.0. I decided to put an internal drive in a cooled enclosure.

Doing lots of research, I found that the WD red NAS drives are the most frequently recommended drives for DVRs and I have had the best luck with WD drive reliability over the years.

There are two versions of the WD red NAS 2TB drive. Both are 5400 rpm. This thread at tom's HARDWARE indicates that the WD20EFRX (64MB cache) version is preferred over the WD20EFAX (256MB cache) for long-term reliability.

Question - WD Red 2TB -- Two versions

The WD20EFRX was discontinued by WD in September, but there are still units out there. Amazon has them for $70(changes constantly) on delayed delivery. Micro Center has them in-store only for $70. I bought the last 2 at the MC Denver store.

Not sure about the status of the WD20EFAX. I only see them at Amazon a couple of other places.

2TB drives are going to be getting harder and harder to find. I went with an internal drive/cooled enclosure since internals seem to be easier to find.