Western Digital Hard Drives

Enterprise, NAS, Surveillance, and Portable Hard Drives Built for Every Workload

Western Digital hard drives are purpose-engineered by workload: Ultrastar drives rated for constant data center operation, Red Plus and Red Pro drives tuned for multi-bay NAS vibration, Purple Pro drives optimized for 24/7 surveillance recording, and portable drives built for the field. The full lineup sits within the broader Western Digital family of SSDs, flash drives, and memory cards, and you can compare across all brands in the complete storage category.

Western Digital Hard Drives for Every Environment

• Data center and server deployments — Ultrastar DC HC550, HC560, HC570, and HC580 enterprise drives in SAS and SATA interfaces handle 24/7 server operation with capacities from 4TB to 22TB and 2.5 million-hour MTBF ratings
• NAS and home lab storage — WD Red Plus drives with CMR recording support NAS systems up to 8 bays, while Red Pro extends to 24-bay enclosures with enhanced vibration protection and 300TB-per-year workload ratings
• Surveillance and security recording — WD Purple Pro drives in 12TB to 18TB capacities handle up to 32 simultaneous camera streams with AllFrame AI firmware that reduces frame loss during intensive write operations
• Workstation and desktop storage — WD Gold drives bridge enterprise and workstation use with data-center-class reliability in SATA configurations from 6TB to 18TB
• Portable and field use — WD My Passport portable HDDs, My Book desktop units with hardware encryption, and SanDisk Professional G-DRIVE enclosures provide flexible storage outside the rack for creative professionals and field technicians

Choosing the Right Western Digital Hard Drive

Western Digital segments its hard drive lineup by workload rating, and matching the drive to your use case is critical for longevity and reliability. Ultrastar drives are built for constant read/write in servers and storage arrays. Red Plus and Red Pro are tuned for the vibration, heat, and mixed-workload patterns of multi-bay NAS enclosures. Purple Pro is optimized for the continuous sequential writes that surveillance systems demand. Gold bridges enterprise and workstation use at a lower price than Ultrastar.

CMR vs. SMR Recording

All WD Red Plus, Red Pro, Gold, Ultrastar, and Purple Pro drives use CMR (Conventional Magnetic Recording), which provides consistent write performance and is required for NAS RAID arrays where random write speed matters. CMR drives handle the mixed read/write workloads of multi-user NAS environments without the performance degradation that SMR (Shingled Magnetic Recording) drives can experience under heavy write loads.

SAS vs. SATA Interface

SAS drives in the Ultrastar line support dual-port connectivity for redundant path failover in enterprise storage arrays and deliver higher queue depths for multi-threaded server workloads. SATA drives are compatible with standard NAS enclosures, desktop workstations, and surveillance DVRs. Most deployments outside dedicated server rooms will use SATA.

Complete Your Western Digital Setup

• SanDisk Solid State Drives — pair a high-capacity HDD with an SSD boot drive or NVMe caching tier for the best balance of speed and storage density
• SanDisk Flash Drives — portable USB drives for quick file transfers, bootable installers, and firmware updates
• SanDisk Memory Cards — SD, microSD, and CFexpress cards for cameras, drones, and edge surveillance storage
• Rack Cabinets — house your NAS or server hardware in a properly ventilated rack enclosure