DatacenterDisk

WD Ultrastar vs WD Red

Side-by-side spec and price comparison. Live data from Amazon US.

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Our Recommendation
👑
WD Ultrastar DC HC580 22TB Renewed

WD Ultrastar DC HC580 22TB Renewed wins on both price ($18.41/TB) and warranty (5 years).

Best $/TB: WD
Best Warranty: WD
Best for RAID: WD
Full Specification Comparison
Spec
WD
Ultrastar DC HC580 22TB Renewed
$18.41/TB
WD
Red Pro 22TB NAS WD221KFGX
$38.73/TB
Brand
WD
WD
Model
Ultrastar DC HC580 22TB Renewed
Red Pro 22TB NAS WD221KFGX
Series
Ultrastar DC
WD Red Pro
Part Number
WUH722222BLE6L4
WD221KFGX
$/TB
👑$18.41
$38.73
Price
$404.99
$851.99
Condition
Refurb
New
Capacity
22TB
22TB
Interface
SATA-6G
SATA-6G
Form Factor
3.5"
3.5"
Drive Type
HDD
HDD
Recording Tech
ePMR
CMR
RPM
7,200
7,200
Cache
512MB
512MB
Sector Size
512e
—
Workload Rating
550TB/yr
—
DWPD
N/A
N/A
Warranty
5 years
—
Workload Tier
nearline
nas
In Stock
Check
✓ In Stock
Buy
Buy on Amazon →
Buy on Amazon →
Workload Fit
Workload
WD
WD
NAS Storage
●●●
●●●
Backup Target
●●●
●●●
OLTP Database
●
●
Cold Archive
●●●
●●●
Virtualization
●
●
AI/ML Storage
●●
●●
Buying Recommendation
Choose WD Ultrastar DC HC580 22TB Renewed if:
  • ✓ You need maximum storage per dollar
  • ✓ You need 5-year warranty coverage for production
  • ✓ You're building a RAID array and need guaranteed CMR compatibility
  • ✓ Your server runs 24/7 under heavy sustained load
Buy WD →
Choose WD Red Pro 22TB NAS WD221KFGX if:
  • ✓ You need new-with-warranty for compliance or budgeting
  • ✓ You need high-density storage for bulk/archive workloads
Buy WD →

Frequently Asked Questions

WD Ultrastar offers better value at $18.41/TB vs $38.73/TB - a 52% price difference. Factor in warranty length and workload rating when the price gap is small.

Mixing drives of different models in RAID is not recommended even if capacities match. Different firmware, error handling and seek patterns can cause rebuild issues. Use identical drives within the same RAID group for reliable operation.

WD Ultrastar carries a longer 5-year warranty vs unknown years for WD Red. Longer warranty typically correlates with manufacturer confidence in reliability.

WD Ultrastar is the better fit for NAS storage. It uses CMR recording which is safe for all RAID levels. SATA interface is compatible with all NAS platforms including Synology, QNAP and TrueNAS.