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Thread ID: 115055 2010-12-30 17:32:00 HD failure sarel (2490) Press F1
Post ID Timestamp Content User
1165793 2011-01-12 02:14:00 I'm looking at one of these :

Western Digital Caviar Green WD5000AADS 32MB 500GB SATA Hard Drive $52

Would it be OK?

sarel
sarel (2490)
1165794 2011-01-12 02:16:00 Go for a blue or black Western Digital drive rather than a green one, or get a seagate drive. The green ones spin slower, they are more designed for external storage. wratterus (105)
1165795 2011-01-12 02:18:00 It would work OK but being the "Green" edition it does run slower than the "Blue" Agent_24 (57)
1165796 2011-01-12 02:22:00 Western Digital Caviar Black WD5001AALS 32MB 500GB SATA Hard Drive
[SY52868] $71.68


So this one. I see the WD is predominantly cheaper than the Seagate ones. Hey, I know b*ggerall, I don't buy HD's every day, I just want one that will be OK for my system.

sarel
sarel (2490)
1165797 2011-01-12 02:32:00 Green are 5400 RPM quiet and efficient good for storage but it's all relative. I did use one as a system drive for quite a while, performance was still better than my seagate 7200 RPM 320G first gen sata 1 drive

Blue are 7200 RPM general purpose desktop drives

Black are high performance 7200 RPM drives

Only real difference is faster loading times with the faster drives and differing warranties
dugimodo (138)
1165798 2011-01-12 02:32:00 Where are you getting prices from? I see 500GB Seagates and WD Blue on Pricespy for under $60 Agent_24 (57)
1165799 2011-01-12 02:33:00 Edit - What he said wratterus (105)
1165800 2011-01-12 02:36:00 Yeah but I went for a bit more cache than what I currently got - 32 MB. So yes, I checked out 32Mb 500 GB HD's on Pricespy and took it from there.

Is there a big difference between say 16 MB cache and 32 MB?

sarel
sarel (2490)
1165801 2011-01-12 02:41:00 About 16MB difference :D

A 32MB one should have better performance. How much better I don't know. You should be able to find some benchmarks online.

By the way, I might just be paranoid but I prefer to buy my HDDs from shops that I can pick-up from. That way I know the drive has had a nice ride home, rather than being thrown around (or thrown at my door) by some idiot courier man.
Agent_24 (57)
1165802 2011-01-12 04:04:00 Just be careful about teh WD blacks -- they have a higher failure rate then the blues and Greens.

PCtek posted a link with stats a while back. The blacks are the worst for failing. personally I have had three 1TB's fail now within 6 months :mad:
wainuitech (129)
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