WD1003FZEX CAVIAR BLACK poor access time?

Ripper-X-

Ripper-X-

Ripper-X-

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I've recently got myself a WB Cavier Black WD1003FZEX & while talking with a friend it came up about access times, after running tests my access time was 15.9, not fast. After reading a bit online there are people suggesting that the new blacks are infact rebadged Blues? I checked on the WD site & the weight they are giving for the 1tb Black is 0.69kg or 690g, & the weight of the 1tb Blue is 0.44kg or 440g, I weighed mine & it was 432g, so give a little for my scales & thats the same weight as a Blue?
Although the sticker on my hdd show its a black, & HD Tune pro 5.50 shows it being a Black, the poor access time & the weight of it says its not! I paid extra to have a Black because of the performance & feel like I'm not getting what i paid for, Is this a case of WD trying to cheat customers selling Blues as Blacks?
Can anyone with a WD Black hard drive like mine do some tests & share their results please?

10409739_10152579542223436_3818570492064027690_n.jpg
 
As platter density increases so does access time. Weight differences could be down to a different casing or thickness. I researched the reports of poor access time while looking for a new 1TB HD and choose the blue with a 3 year warranty for £15 less.
 
@ OP, One of the Black did have poor AXX time in reviews at launch, I cannot remember which size it was but it was not the newer tweaked range which I think your model is.

Not much help but I remember reading reviews and thinking that was poor for a Black.
 
As far as the weight of the hdd's go, WD state on their site that the weight of the Black is 690g & the Blue 440g, its not just a random difference they state the size & weight of all their drives. The Blues have a 2 year warranty & the Blacks have 5 years.
I dont know about the drives at launch but WD revised their Blacks HDD's making them single platter & apparently better, the transfer rate looks good its just the access times are not so good :/
 
Newer Blacks are not single platter for some models i.e. 4TB as that is impossible.

It tells you on the WD site.

They improved the CPU and some firmware tweaks AFAIR going by reviews.
 
My WD SE 1TB looks exactly the same too.


This is how it benches.


This is my 1tb black (older FAEX model) so yours should be faster than this. (maybe not on access time)


You can check on the WD site what your drive actually is by entering the unique ID that is stuck to the opposite end to the connectors. My older 640GB caviar SE comes back as a blue.
 
Ordered 2 WD1003FZEX's from OCUK 6 weeks ago, they look like the same case the 1TB blues come in.

They are running in software Raid 1 (Mirrored). The following is the crystal disk mark.

wd1.jpg


Observation on the drive. The seek noise I can not hear above 1 foot away, these are the quietest drives I've ever owned for seek noise. I have not checked but would not be surprised if the AAM has been set to full quiet by factory.


Kei said:
You can check on the WD site what your drive actually is by entering the unique ID that is stuck to the opposite end to the connectors. My older 640GB caviar SE comes back as a blue.
Click to expand...

Can you give me the WD link for this? My 1tb blacks are marked 'wd c3f 232 4684'.
 
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The warranty check on WD's site here. This code should be unique to each drive. (a thin sticker with a bar code and said identifier) I tired the one you typed above and got nothing back.
 
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