The Western Digital WD221KFGX (WD221KFGX - Western Digital Red Pro NAS 22TB 7200RPM SATA 6Gb/s 512MB Cache 3.5-inch Hard Drive) is a Desktop Hard Drive component engineered for sustained enterprise-class workloads. This part addresses common procurement scenarios where exact-match replacement, capacity expansion, or new-build deployment is required. Technical specifications include spindle speed of 7,200 RPM, form factor of 3.5-inch, interface of SATA, data rate of 6 Gb/s, cache of 512MB. Common deployment scenarios include database transaction-log volumes, virtualization datastores, OS-boot tier, backup-repository targets, and warm-data tiers in tiered-storage architectures. Pro Disk Network supplies the WD221KFGX to US business buyers. Stocked units ship same-day on in-stock orders placed before 3pm ET. Pro Disk Network applies a 90-day functional warranty. Free US ground shipping on orders over $150; same-day expedited (UPS Next Day Air, FedEx Priority) available at checkout.
The WD221KFGX is a Western Digital desktop hard drive component with spindle speed 7,200 RPM, form factor 3.5-inch, interface SATA. Pro Disk Network sells the WD221KFGX for $798.40 with same-day US shipping and a 30-day return guarantee.
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Reviewed by:Pro Disk Network Engineering Team — . Specifications, compatibility, and pricing for the WD221KFGX are shown on this page.
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Quick Answer: Will the WD221KFGX work with my RAID controller?
The WD221KFGX operates with any standard SAS/SATA/NVMe-compatible RAID controller (Dell PERC, HPE Smart Array, LSI/Broadcom MegaRAID, Adaptec, IBM ServeRAID, Lenovo ThinkSystem RAID). Mixing this drive in the same RAID volume with drives of different speed/capacity is supported but never recommended.
How fast does the WD221KFGX ship?
WD221KFGX orders placed before 3 pm ET ship the same business day from US warehouses. Delivery is next business day to most metro ZIPs via FedEx/UPS overnight; ground delivery covers remaining US in 1-4 business days.
The WD221KFGX is deployed by US enterprises, MSPs, government, and education customers across multiple infrastructure scenarios. Below are the most common deployment patterns Pro Disk Network sees in real-world orders.
Veeam Backup Repository — Cost-optimised backup target for Veeam B&R, Rubrik, or Cohesity primary backup tier. RAID 6 over 8–24 drives delivers 100+ TB usable per server.
Splunk Warm/Cold Tier — Appropriate for Splunk warm/cold/frozen indexes where ingest write rates are below 200 MB/s per node. Avoid for hot-tier indexes — use NVMe instead.
File Server / SMB Shares — General-purpose Windows Server / Samba shares for departmental file storage. RAID 5 for capacity, RAID 10 for IOPS-sensitive workloads.
Object Storage (Ceph / MinIO) — JBOD presentation behind Ceph OSDs or MinIO erasure-coded pools. Mix with NVMe metadata drives for production object stores.
What is the WD221KFGX?
The WD221KFGX is a Western Digital enterprise-grade hard drive with spindle speed 7,200 RPM and form factor 3.5-inch, manufactured by Western Digital. Pro Disk Network ships this part new and certified-refurbished from our US warehouse with same-day dispatch on orders placed before 3 PM ET, backed by a 30-day return guarantee.
Pros & Cons of WD221KFGX
Pros
Same-day US shipping from our US warehouse
Cons
Designed for capacity tier, not write-intensive cache
Not a drop-in for desktop NAS without verifying caddy
Some firmware revs locked to specific RAID-controller families
Frequently Asked Questions about WD221KFGX
Is the WD221KFGX a genuine Western Digital part?
Yes. Pro Disk Network sources every WD221KFGX as factory-original Western Digital inventory. New units arrive sealed in OEM packaging; refurbished units are pulled from decommissioned Western Digital servers, surface-tested, and re-warranted by Pro Disk Network for 90 days.
Will the WD221KFGX work with my RAID controller?
The WD221KFGX operates with any standard SAS/SATA/NVMe-compatible RAID controller (Dell PERC, HPE Smart Array, LSI/Broadcom MegaRAID, Adaptec, IBM ServeRAID, Lenovo ThinkSystem RAID). Mixing this drive in the same RAID volume with drives of different speed/capacity is supported but never recommended.
How fast does the WD221KFGX ship?
WD221KFGX orders placed before 3 pm ET ship the same business day from US warehouses. Delivery is next business day to most metro ZIPs via FedEx/UPS overnight; ground delivery covers remaining US in 1-4 business days.
What is the warranty on the WD221KFGX?
New WD221KFGX units carry the full Western Digital manufacturer warranty (typically 1 to 5 years depending on product line). Refurbished and bulk-OEM units include a Pro Disk Network advance-replacement warranty (90 days refurbished). DOA replacement is free within 30 days of receipt.
Do you offer bulk pricing for the WD221KFGX?
Email sales@prodisknetwork.com with the quantity and target ship date for a quote within one business day.
Pro Disk Network Buyer’s Guide: Desktop Hard Drive
How to Pick the Right Drive Capacity for Your Use Case
For VMware vSAN deployments, the WD221KFGX is best deployed in the capacity tier with NVMe cache drives in front. Size the cache layer at 10% of usable capacity for write-intensive workloads and 5% for read-leaning workloads. For Veeam backup repositories, plan around 1.5× the size of your protected estate to allow for incremental forever chains plus synthetic fulls. Splunk warm tier sizing should follow the daily ingest rate × retention days × 1.6 compression overhead.
Drive Health Monitoring: SMART, Workload Rating, and Predictive Failure
For VMware ESXi 8 hosts, enable vSphere's predictive-failure analysis on the WD221KFGX via the host's storage device list. The host queries SMART on a regular cadence and surfaces yellow/red warnings in vCenter before the drive fails outright. On Linux, use smartctl piped to your monitoring system; on Windows Server, Storage Spaces exposes health state directly in Server Manager.