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Western Digital · Data-centre drive · HUS728T8TALE6L4

WD Ultrastar DC HC320 8TB

Sold for data centres, but underneath it's a standard 3.5in SATA drive and any NAS with a 3.5in bay will take it without complaint.

Capacity
8 TB
Recording
CMR
Speed
7,200 rpm
Warranty
5 years
Workload
550 TB/yr
Failure rate
No failure data

Good for

  • Busy arrays (550 TB a year)
  • Big media libraries
  • RAID, SHR and ZFS rebuilds
  • 5 years' warranty

Not for

  • A desk or bedroom (7,200 rpm is the louder class)

Updated 27 Oct 2026 · Method 2.0

Who the WD Ultrastar DC HC320 8 TB is for

It's at home in a rack or a garage, where 7,200 rpm of spinning rust can whirr away all day without bothering anyone. You also get five years' warranty, two more than the cheapest NAS lines. CMR, thankfully. SMR and parity rebuilds don't get on.

Watch out for

Being 7,200 rpm, it's in the noisier, warmer class of drive, and you'll want it somewhere you don't sit.

There's no Backblaze data worth quoting here. On paper it makes 29 dB at idle and 36 dB seeking. WD lists 7.4 W at idle and 8.8 W working, which comes to 65 kWh a year for a drive that idles around the clock. A 4-bay box full of these gives 24 TB after one drive's worth of parity.

Specifications

Each value links to the Western Digital page or datasheet it came from.

WD Ultrastar DC HC320 8TB specifications
Drive type Data centre source for Drive type (documents.westerndigital.com, opens in new tab)
Capacity 8 TB source for Capacity (documents.westerndigital.com, opens in new tab)
Spindle speed 7,200 rpm source for Spindle speed (documents.westerndigital.com, opens in new tab)
Recording technology CMR source for Recording technology (documents.westerndigital.com, opens in new tab)
Cache 256 MB source for Cache (documents.westerndigital.com, opens in new tab)
Interface SATA 6Gb/s source for Interface (documents.westerndigital.com, opens in new tab)
Form factor 3.5in source for Form factor (documents.westerndigital.com, opens in new tab)
Max sustained transfer 255 MB/s source for Max sustained transfer (documents.westerndigital.com, opens in new tab)
Workload rating 550 TB/yr source for Workload rating (documents.westerndigital.com, opens in new tab)
MTBF / MTTF 2,000,000 hours source for MTBF / MTTF (documents.westerndigital.com, opens in new tab)
Maker's rated AFR 0.44% source for Maker's rated AFR (documents.westerndigital.com, opens in new tab)
Warranty 5 years source for Warranty (documents.westerndigital.com, opens in new tab)
Power at idle 7.4 W source for Power at idle (documents.westerndigital.com, opens in new tab)
Power in use 8.8 W source for Power in use (documents.westerndigital.com, opens in new tab)
Noise at idle 29 dB source for Noise at idle (documents.westerndigital.com, opens in new tab)
Noise when seeking 36 dB source for Noise when seeking (documents.westerndigital.com, opens in new tab)

Sources: documents.westerndigital.com