Western Digital Explained(hopefully)

http://www.wdc.com/en/products/internal/desktop/


Blue - Standard performance, 7200 RPM (2 Year)
Green - Low power, moderate usage. variable RPM (2 Year)
Red - Low power, 24/7 usage inc NAS. variable RPM (3 Year)

Black - Semi-pro, High performance. 7200 RPM (5 year)
RE4 - Pro Enterprise grade 24x7. 7200 RPM (5 Year)
VelociRaptor - High end performance enterprise grade for power users. 10,000 RPM (5 Year)

Hope that helps.
 
That would depend on use.

I have 2 Green as secondary drives. Mainly storage/low level general use + Steam folder (when I get a bigger SSD I'll move it).
When I do and video processing/conversion the source and destination are always on different drives so they are mainly doing large sequential reads/writes.

I never have my drive power down, since in my opinion powering up is one of the most stressful operations a HDD does, so limiting the amount of times it does this might extend it's lifespan. I suspect people using them with NAS where they will probably be starting and stopping a lot could be an issue over time for these cheap drives.

Most of the failed drives I see have seen have a start/stop count around the level of 1-2 per hours use.

For example my system is on 24/7, drives are cooled via a low speed 120mm pull fan.

WD15EADS 1500GB - Power on time 23,734 (hours), Start/Stop Count 226, Power Cycle Count 173.
WD20EARS 2000GB - Power on time 11,748 (hours), Start/Stop Count 81, Power Cycle Count 79.

Solid State drive.
OCZ-VERTEX2 - Power on time 18,502 (hours), Power Cycle Count 142.

So the oldest has been running pretty much 24/7 for over 2.7 years. Only stopped for upgrades/maintenance and power cut/windows update.

I personnally wouldn't use greens for OS drives. Red seem to be slight better, but I still wouldn't use as OS as it's seek time is a bit slow.

Blues would be ok for a general user as OS drive, but 24/7 use I'd use a black or better. Before I got my SSD I used a black and I use a RE4 at work.
 
From everything I have read WD Blacks are to same quality as WE RE drives, only difference is RE drives support TLER for RAID configurations.

The Blacks and RE's are higher quality then Greens and Blue drives and have additional testing stage before leaving factory. The platters are better balanced - if you put your hand on a WD Black / RE it will vibrate less then a WD Green / Blue. RE / Black also contain dual controllers.

I hold the Black / RE drives in same high regard as Seasonic's Gold and Platinum PSU series.

I'm about to couple a Samsung 830 to a WD RE using Intel Smart Response Technology.
 
JasonM said:
From everything I have read WD Blacks are to same quality as WE RE drives, only difference is RE drives support TLER for RAID configurations.

The Blacks and RE's are higher quality then Greens and Blue drives and have additional testing stage before leaving factory. The platters are better balanced - if you put your hand on a WD Black / RE it will vibrate less then a WD Green / Blue. RE / Black also contain dual controllers.

I hold the Black / RE drives in same high regard as Seasonic's Gold and Platinum PSU series.

I'm about to couple a Samsung 830 to a WD RE using Intel Smart Response Technology.
Click to expand...

They have no extra testing, and better balanced platters? Lol, no.

All they are is a way to charge more for drives which are often slower than the less expensive competition. Marketing.
 
AbsenceJam said:
They have no extra testing, and better balanced platters? Lol, no.

All they are is a way to charge more for drives which are often slower than the less expensive competition. Marketing.
Click to expand...


RE4

24x7 reliability.
Each drive is put through extended burn-in testing with thermal cycling to ensure reliable operation.

taken from
http://wdc.com/en/products/products.aspx?id=30

High Performance Electronics Architecture
Dual processor - Twice the processing power to maximize performance.
32 MB cache - Bigger, faster cache means faster performance.
Rock Solid Mechanical Architecture
StableTrac™ - The motor shaft is secured at both ends to reduce system-induced vibration and stabilize platters for accurate tracking, during read and write operations.
NoTouch™ ramp load technology - The recording head never touches the disk media ensuring significantly less wear to the recording head and media as well as better drive protection in transit.

http://www.storagereview.com/wd_announces_the_caviar_black

To better guard the surrounding system against drive vibration, the RE4 implements secured motor shafts. There’s also an electronic vibration surveillance system that WD characterizes as capable of significantly improving performance in high-vibration environments. An internal, multi-axis shock sensor helps the drive take appropriate action in case of shock to maximize data safety.

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/2tb-hdd-7200,2430-4.html

A lot more information can be found if your prepared to do the research :p .
 
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