Review on 💾 High-Performance 4TB Datacenter HDD - WD SE 7200 RPM 6 Gb/s SATA with 64MB Cache - WD4000F9YZ by Agustin Bush

Pros: This drive has a lot of space. Having searched for a drive that is TRIM capable but not onerous (like a RE-class drive), I'd say it strikes a great balance of enterprise-class performance and massive storage. The disc itself is similar to the Western Digital RED series but not limited by the number of discs. Not wanting to leave the enterprise drive market, Western Digital configured the RED series to work with 5 bays (or less). Anything beyond that and you're usually limited to no support. However, the SE series has no such limitations. Their performance has been very consistent so far, although I still keep backups just in case. I've got them in a 2-bay NAS in a RAID 1 configuration and they've been pretty responsive so far. They are NAS formatted with an actual total capacity of around 3.64TB which gives me ample storage space. As for the cons, these drives are quite heavy and should definitely be checked carefully with WD DriveTools or another third party. Drive analyzer before use. Shipping is also an issue - check the inner shipping boxes for *ANY* damage. Although they are nicely packaged, they can still be damaged if left in the packaging. I ran both a full disk check and then a parity clean through the NAS and both passed with no issues. However YMMV. Note, however, that depending on your system, it can take a VERY long time to complete a test. In my case, I took her to court and left her alone for the evening. The cleanup took about 5 hours after both WD drives completed the full test (about 2.5 hours). Other thoughts: I would like to point out that the SE rims have a lower MTBF rating compared to the RE (Enterprise) line. However, when this is placed in some sort of redundant array, it gets pretty academic. I have yet to see firsthand how the drivetrain achieves MTBF before it starts to wear out in practice. Since this purchase was made in conjunction with a NAS unit and to provide redundancy, I saw no reason to shell out an additional $100 for an RE drive of the same capacity. All in all I am very happy with my purchase so far. I will buy more when my budget allows!