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Western Digital WD Gold 4TB WD4003FRYZ Enterprise Hard Drive: specs and fit
A 4TB 7200 RPM enterprise-class SATA hard drive with a 256MB cache, rated for workloads up to 550TB a year. What the specs mean and what to check first.
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The Western Digital WD Gold 4TB (model WD4003FRYZ) is an enterprise-class 3.5-inch hard drive. Unlike desktop drives, enterprise drives are built for constant operation in servers, storage arrays and data centres, where reliability under heavy use matters more than low noise or a low profile. Western Digital designed this one for demanding storage environments.
What "enterprise class" means
Enterprise drives are typically engineered for continuous 24/7 use, higher workloads and several drives mounted together in one chassis. Western Digital lists this model as designed to handle workloads up to 550TB per year. Workload rate is the amount of data read or written, annualised, and it varies with your hardware and software. The company also cites a mean time between failures of up to 2.5 million hours, which is a statistical figure across a large population and not a prediction for a single drive.
Speed and interface
The drive is a 7200 RPM class SATA 6 Gb/s model with a 256MB cache. Faster rotation generally means shorter access times and higher sustained throughput than 5400 RPM drives. SATA 6 Gb/s is the common interface for servers and desktops, and it works with older SATA ports at reduced speeds.
Vibration protection
When many drives spin in one enclosure, their vibration can disturb each other's read/write heads. Western Digital says the WD Gold has vibration protection technology for improved performance. This is a main reason people choose enterprise drives for multi-drive systems.
Capacities and technologies across the range
The Gold line spans 1TB to 20TB, according to the listing. Some technologies apply only to larger sizes. HelioSeal, a sealed helium-filled design intended to give high capacity with low power draw, is listed for 12TB and above. Energy-assisted magnetic recording (EAMR) and a triple-stage actuator are listed for 16TB and above. The 4TB model covered here is below those thresholds, so these features do not apply to it.
Size
It measures about 5.8 x 4.0 x 1.0 inches (14.7 x 10.2 x 2.5 cm) and weighs 1.5 lb (about 0.7 kg), the standard 3.5-inch form factor. As with all drives, the listing notes that usable capacity may be a little lower than the label, since 1TB is counted as one trillion bytes.
Who it suits
It suits small servers, network storage devices, workstations and storage arrays where drives run around the clock, and IT professionals replacing or expanding drives in a compatible system. For an ordinary home desktop, a standard desktop drive is often enough.
What to check before you buy
- Compatibility: check your server, NAS or RAID controller's list of supported drives.
- Bays and connectors: it needs a 3.5-inch bay and a SATA data and power connection.
- Noise and heat: enterprise drives can be louder and run warmer, so plan for airflow.
- Workload: compare your expected yearly data volume with the 550TB figure.
- Warranty and support: check Western Digital's site for the terms for this model.
- Backups: RAID is not a backup. Keep separate copies of important data.
The short version
- Western Digital WD Gold 4TB enterprise-class 3.5-inch hard drive, model WD4003FRYZ.
- 7200 RPM class, SATA 6 Gb/s, 256MB cache.
- Rated for workloads up to 550TB per year and up to 2.5 million hours MTBF.
- Vibration protection technology for multi-drive systems.
- HelioSeal and EAMR apply only to larger capacities in the range.
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