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[rat4go]

Hi All,

I'm currently running a pair of WD Green 1TB drives flawlessly in my DNS321 in a raid 1, but want/need more space.  I'm not a power user.....the unit is primarilly used as an easy location to save backup data to from other machines.  I have found the detail on dealing with moving the data to larger drives, so all set there, but I still have two questions....

1)  Any reason the RED 2TB drives should not work or would be problematic?

2) Any real benefit with the RED drives over just getting 2TB GREEN drives?  (assuming the answer to #1 is "no")  There's additional cost for the RED's.  If there's benefit, great.  If not, I'll save the $$ for something else!

Thanks for the help!!!

[JavaLawyer]

The DNS-321 does not support advanced format disks (AFT). You will need to find legacy HDDs that are not AFT.

DNS ShareCenter - AFT (Advanced Format Technology) Hard Drive Support

[czhower]

WD Green vs Red.

Green are designed to consume less power.

Red are designed for higher duty cycles. ie they last longer than other drives.

If its important data, go for Red. I have 2 x 4 TB Reds for my storage (not in a 321 though). If the data isnt critical or its backed up and you dont use the drives constantly, Green will be fine.

Red is a "heavy duty" drive.

[jonnycakes83]

The DNS-321 does not support advanced format disks (AFT). You will need to find legacy HDDs that are not AFT.

DNS ShareCenter - AFT (Advanced Format Technology) Hard Drive Support

I know I'm digging up an old post, but I thought it was important to create an account to reply to this thread in case anyone is looking to install WD red drive(s) in their DNS-321, as I had read this post before trying it and I'm glad I did, despite seeing this cautionary post.

I have a DNS-321 (ver A2) that I've been using for a decade or longer now, and it's always served me well so I've never bothered upgrading. Had a Seagate in there as part of my RAID1 configuration, and was looking for a replacement. Saw the WD Red on Amazon for an amazing price, noticed it was made specifically for NAS, and I've always had great experience with WD drives (sidenote: I was always a diehard Maxtor user before they were bought out by Seagate, I still have some Maxtor drives that are nearly 20 years old and they work perfectly - keep in mind I keep them encased for preservation - but Seagate drives don't have decent longevity in my opinion).

Anyway, I swapped out my dead Seagate drive for the WD Red (model# WD20EFAX) and IT WORKED! So if you're a DNS-321 owner and contemplating getting the WD Red, don't hesitate. It's only been in there one day, but it's doing great so far. Format and RAID cloning took ~5 minutes for 2TB.

If you check this PDF from WD's Web site you'll see that all the WD Red use advanced format, so it's not a matter of 2TB vs 4 TB.

TL;DR: WD Red 3.5" drives work just fine in a DNS-321 (WD Red model WD20EFAX tested on DNS-321 ver A2).