11 replies to this topic

[Bishop Steiner]

I currently have a
Western Digital RE4 WD1003FBYX

http://www.microcent...duct_id=0356659
in my computer,

build info

Spoiler

The components: (mind you, I'm on a budget and have limited space)
1x Rosewill Ranger ATX gaming Tower ($59)
1x Corsair HX650w Professional Series Modular PSU ($114)
1x ASRock 990 Extreme 4 Motherboard ($144)
1x AMD FX6200 3.8 (4.1 turbo) 6-Core CPU ($159)
1x Western Digital 1TB HDD
1x EVGA GTX560 DS video card ($179)
2x 4gb Patriot Viper Extreme RAM ($54)
1x ASUS SATA 24x DRW optical drive ($24)
1x Winodws 7 Home Premium 64 bit (unfortunately, my XP disc is MIA) ($99)

and it's marking the 4th component (out of a shipment of 8) that seems to not be functioning right. I have another post on it making an excessive amount of grinding noises, reminiscent of my old pre-pentium computer that the drive would grind like pretty constant.

Since I have been told repeatedly now, that a new WD Drive should not be doing so, I have set up a return with Newegg (along with the CPU, MoBo and PSU previously returned) and trying to decide which way to go, be it simply replacing it with the exact same drive, or to use a different one, the options being (Staying at the same price point)

1) Western Digital "Caviar Green" 2 TB
http://www.microcent...duct_id=0378062
2) Western Digital "Caviar Black" 1 TB
http://www.microcent...duct_id=0331606

The Green sounds real nice, but it doesn't give a RPM rating, which worries me, since I dunno how fast it goes. And I really am not sure what the difference is between the Caviar Black and my current one, since I do not speak tech-ese.

Lastly I was wondering what the story is with this guy?
http://www.microcent...duct_id=0360102

So being great for set tops and audio/video, does that mean it is not good for a PC?

[Kryis]

black is the best... green is the "save the planet. energy saver" version and is not as fast.

[Vulpesveritas]

Go with the black, the green drives are for slow, low power consumption drives, running 4500-5400rpm depending on need, the black is far better and has better QC.

[Thaygood]

Western digital hard drives are the best I've used and the only ones I've used for 12 years.

[armitage]

I have a 500gb green. I blew my budget on upgrading the motherboard and GPU when I built my computer so that was my only option. It works, but its annoying slow. Being that SSD's are getting cheaper by the minute it won't bother me as much when I'm just using it as a miscellaneous storage drive and not my main drive.

[Bishop Steiner]

well. I'm all for saving the planet and good green energy saving, especially since we don't have KF drives to take us elsewhere......


That said, I also don't drive a Prius, or espouse a vegan lifestyle or such. And sometimes the best way to save energy is to get the job done, so you can turn things off. Sounds like the Black is the way to go for that.

[Palutena]

Short answer: No Green drives are no good, they are slow, prone to failure, have only 2 year warranty and don't work in raid arrays.

Long Answer
RE4 are the enterprise drives, most reliable, faster speed, certified for raid arrays, 5 year warranty but pay a premium. Black is the best of the consumer grade drives slightly less expensive then RE4 but still good speed, 5 year warranty and work in raid arrays. Greens are the cheap consumer grade, only 2 year warranty, slow rpm and DON'T WORK in raid arrays.

I would avoid greens unless you looking for cheap storage for non critical data. WD Black for most consumer stuff like os/ data drives in raid 1 or your steam games drive. WD RE4 isn't really worth the premium unless you running a raid array.

Edited by Palutena, 06 August 2012 - 12:52 PM.

[Odins Fist]

I have only bought Wetsern Digital Caviar "BLACK" Platter Drives drives in the past for anything the resembles performance/gaming for personal use.
.
I have only bought Wetern Digital "GREEN" for grandmothers that want an internet surfing/club pogo machine.
.
I would not recommend and WD Green drive for anything other than secondary storage...
.
Recently had a friend set up "drive caching" on a 2011 X79 Asus mobo with a 640gb Caviar Black, and a 60gb SSD for fast loading frequently used programs... 128gb SSD for OS and 3 select programs, 640gb WD Caviar Black for storage/games, 60gb SSD for "drive caching"..
His load times are beyond fast, he only setup the drive caching to max out all options on his system, he litterally has nothing left to up grade, he runs three RADS internally in a CM Storm trooper for water cooling, has modded the case, and has only one SATA port not being used.
.
Go SSD or Caviar Black, not green series...

[WaddeHaddeDudeda]

Large caviar green HDD's are awesome if you use them as "data-graveyard" (= storing lots of data, like pictures, movies and stuff).
They spin around with 5400 rpm's, don't require much power in order to run and are pretty silent. On top of that they're running pretty cool.
If you're opting for a new system or gaming HDD drive, go for the black series or a SSD. If you simply want to store LOTS of data, go for green.

Apart from that I personally never had problems with Hitachi drives. At least over here in germany Hitachi gives more bang for the buck (price/value). WD is always somewhat expensive, but not bad as well.

[Oderint dum Metuant]

Last couple of years i have been using Samsung Spinpoint drives, never had an issue.
http://www.newegg.co...N82E16822152185

[Catamount]

Saving the planet aside, Green drives are great for low cost bulk storage. I have an 800GB one, but that's because I use an SSD for the higher speed stuff (or had; now it's been replaced with a donated WD Raptor)

Edited by Catamount, 06 August 2012 - 04:34 PM.

[Tyr4nt]

I went through 5 Western Digital SATA II Raptors under warranty before finally getting one that functioned and stayed functioning I've swarn off Western Digital and will never buy one of their HDD's ever again. I've had good luck with Seagates but Samsung's Spinpoint is by far my most trusted. You can get a 1TB F3 Spinpoint for like $80 on Amazon with free shipping, $75 on newegg through today with code EMCNCGJ24.

http://www.newegg.co...N82E16822152185

that would be my choice.