$189–$209estimated range · from catalog price Oct 4, 2026
WD Blue 3TB (WD30EZAZ) budget 3.5-inch SATA HDD, 5400 RPM class, 256 MB cache, SMR—best for inexpensive bulk storage.
Storage performance rankTop 60% of storage drives
TierBudget?GixCore tierWhat a part was built to do — not what it costs.EntryBudgetMainstreamHigh endEnthusiastFlagship A part can be cheap because it is an ageing flagship, or because it is a current entry-level model. The tier tells you which.
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Capacity3 TB
TypeHDD
InterfaceSATA
Read speed180 MB/s
Write speed180 MB/s
Form factor3.5
C
GixCore Editorial
Product overview
WD Blue 3TB (WD30EZAZ) is a 3.5-inch SATA desktop HDD in Western Digital’s WD Blue 3.5-inch PC HDD family; it first appeared at retail in February 2021. WD’s own documentation lists this SKU as 5400‑RPM class with a 256 MB cache, and the WD portfolio materials identify WD30EZAZ as an SMR (shingled) model.Sourcenewegg.com↗Sourcewesterndigital.com↗
Positioned as a budget HDD, it exists to deliver inexpensive bulk capacity for everyday PCs. With SATA 6 Gb/s and 3 TB in a 3.5-inch form factor, it’s a good fit for mass storage and a cold game library or budget upgrade; prefer SSDs for boot/apps and avoid heavy parity‑array writes due to SMR behavior. Not marked discontinued—WD still lists the SKU on its product page as of July 2026.Sourcewesterndigital.com↗
At a glance iEach dot represents a catalog model. Farther right means a higher measured value, not necessarily a better fit.Measured against the storage drives catalog
Current modelCatalog models
Capacity3 TB
870 EVOCapacity: 1 TBBX500Capacity: 1 TBExtreme M.2 NVMe SSD 1TBCapacity: 1 TBWD Blue SA510 SATACapacity: 1 TBWD_BLACKCapacity: 1 TB MP600 PRO LPXCapacity: 2 TB2TB NVMe M.2 PCIe Gen3x4Capacity: 2 TB870 EVOCapacity: 2 TB870 QVOCapacity: 2 TB970 EVO PlusCapacity: 2 TB980 PROCapacity: 2 TB990 PRO 2TBCapacity: 2 TBBarraCuda 2TBCapacity: 2 TBKC3000 2TBCapacity: 2 TBMP700 Elite 2TBCapacity: 2 TBMX500Capacity: 2 TBQN322 2TBCapacity: 2 TBRocket 5 2TBCapacity: 2 TBT-FORCE A440 Aluminum Heatsink 2TBCapacity: 2 TBWD BlackCapacity: 2 TBWD_BLACK 2TB SN770Capacity: 2 TBwestern-digital-wd-blue-3tbCapacity: 3 TBThis part4TB WD BlackCapacity: 4 TB870 EVOCapacity: 4 TBMX500Capacity: 4 TBPerformance Plus Capacity: 4 TBSkyhawk 4TBCapacity: 4 TBUltra 3D NANDCapacity: 4 TBWD Blue 6 TBCapacity: 6 TB IronWolf 8TBCapacity: 8 TB870 QVOCapacity: 8 TB8TB WD Red PlusCapacity: 8 TBBarraCuda 8TBCapacity: 8 TBWD BLACK 8TB Capacity: 8 TB10TB WD Purple ProCapacity: 10 TB10TB WD Red PlusCapacity: 10 TBIronWolf 10TB NASCapacity: 10 TB12TB WD Purple ProCapacity: 12 TBArsenalCapacity: 14 TBUltrastar DC HC530Capacity: 14 TBWD Purple Pro Surveillance HDDCapacity: 18 TBWD Red Pro NASCapacity: 18 TBWD Red Pro NAS Capacity: 20 TB
