Earlier this year customers of Western Digital uncovered that some of its 5,400rpm drives were in fact 7,200 drives, thanks to some investigation using clever acoustic analysis. Yep, the drives were spinning faster than WD had claimed. The company has now renamed a series of Red Plus drives to reflect their actual speeds. Most of us might be pleased to have drives that are faster than we thought, but if you’re building a big array where thermal and power profiles are important, it’s not such a pleasing prospect. The move was all pure marketing. The drives may have been 7,200, but WD preferred to market them as “5,400 class” to preserve market distinction.
–CL