ravendb
asked on
Western Digital Red or WD Green?
Hello experts
I'd like to have a reliable 3TB HDD and wondering which of the HDDs is better.
I bought WD Red 3 TB NAS Hard Drive:
http://www.amazon.com/WD-Red-NAS-Hard-Drive/dp/B008JJLW4M
and WD Elements 3 TB USB 2.0 Desktop External Hard Drive which has a WD Green drive:
http://www.amazon.com/Elements-Desktop-External-Hard-Drive/dp/B004SH5VQ4/
Since I don't have a desktop or a NAS, I intend to get an external HDD enclosure for WD Red. AFAIK, WD Red is supposed to be reliable than WD Green but I wonder if WD Red + enclosure would be efficient considering WD Red is supposed to be a NAS drive.
Any comments would be great. Thanks
I'd like to have a reliable 3TB HDD and wondering which of the HDDs is better.
I bought WD Red 3 TB NAS Hard Drive:
http://www.amazon.com/WD-Red-NAS-Hard-Drive/dp/B008JJLW4M
and WD Elements 3 TB USB 2.0 Desktop External Hard Drive which has a WD Green drive:
http://www.amazon.com/Elements-Desktop-External-Hard-Drive/dp/B004SH5VQ4/
Since I don't have a desktop or a NAS, I intend to get an external HDD enclosure for WD Red. AFAIK, WD Red is supposed to be reliable than WD Green but I wonder if WD Red + enclosure would be efficient considering WD Red is supposed to be a NAS drive.
Any comments would be great. Thanks
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If you intend in leaving the Pc turned on for longer than normal rune times, the RED is still the better way to go.
Simple methodology
black - Performance
Blue - Standard
Green - Eco Friendly
Red - Optimized for Network Attached Storage
black - Performance
Blue - Standard
Green - Eco Friendly
Red - Optimized for Network Attached Storage
ASKER
Thanks, Joe, TG and ve3.
@ve3: Yes, that's what I've read but unfortunately there isn't much info on whether WD Red is being used with an USB enclosure.
If possible, could you guys please suggest an external enclosure for WD Red? I have a 2.5" HDD Enclosure from Vantec and am pretty satisfied with the brand.
There are so many at Amazon. :( My laptops don't support USB 3.0 but I assume it's better to get an enclosure that supports it, right? I usually upgrade computers once in few years.
Thanks again.
@ve3: Yes, that's what I've read but unfortunately there isn't much info on whether WD Red is being used with an USB enclosure.
If possible, could you guys please suggest an external enclosure for WD Red? I have a 2.5" HDD Enclosure from Vantec and am pretty satisfied with the brand.
There are so many at Amazon. :( My laptops don't support USB 3.0 but I assume it's better to get an enclosure that supports it, right? I usually upgrade computers once in few years.
Thanks again.
I would say if you already have Vantec enclosures and they workl well for you, I'd see what they have for the 3.5" WD red drives.
Here is a large selection
http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_sabc?url=search-alias%3Daps&pageMinusResults=1&suo=1361317576293#/ref=nb_sb_ss_i_0_16?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=vantec%20external%20hard%20drive%20enclosure&sprefix=vantec%20external%20%2Caps%2C220&rh=i%3Aaps%2Ck%3Avantec%20external%20hard%20drive%20enclosure
Here is a large selection
http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_sabc?url=search-alias%3Daps&pageMinusResults=1&suo=1361317576293#/ref=nb_sb_ss_i_0_16?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=vantec%20external%20hard%20drive%20enclosure&sprefix=vantec%20external%20%2Caps%2C220&rh=i%3Aaps%2Ck%3Avantec%20external%20hard%20drive%20enclosure
The enclosure really doesn't matter.. I like the Vantec Enclosures as well (drives tend to run a bit hotter than I'd prefer but I still like them but not the price. Go with the green as the red won't offer any more performance.
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ASKER
Thanks again guys..
Great recommendation, Joe! Nice reviews..
Great recommendation, Joe! Nice reviews..
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ASKER
Thanks for your detailed post, garycase.
Could you please let us know what you do as part of your initial testing on a Green and Red?
Also, the enclosure that you'd use for a WD Red, if it were you please?
Would love to know what you feel about Seagate Backup Plus 3 TB drives if possible, please? I have a couple that I picked up from Costco but yet to open them as I'm wary of Seagates!
Could you please let us know what you do as part of your initial testing on a Green and Red?
Also, the enclosure that you'd use for a WD Red, if it were you please?
Would love to know what you feel about Seagate Backup Plus 3 TB drives if possible, please? I have a couple that I picked up from Costco but yet to open them as I'm wary of Seagates!
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We are pretty much stuck with either seagate or WD (industry consolidation) , I used to like the samsung spinpoint drives, and the hitachi drives but they are getting hard to find.
I also used to like Spinpoints ... they were very quiet, tended to run very cool, and were fairly reliable. But they had some serious QC issues about 5 years or so ago, and have pretty much faded away.
The Hitachi 4TB drives are very good -- but note they're now owned by WD :-)
The Hitachi 4TB drives are very good -- but note they're now owned by WD :-)
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Drives used to have a 5 year warranty but the pricing squeeze made the companies reduce their warranty periods.. At one time they did use MiB vs MB -> TiB vs TB i.e. 1TiB = 931MB and it was formatted capacity rather than unformatted capacity.
In actual usage I've found some bad lots of hard drives. It could have been a bad production plant.. Sometimes you get drives from the same company manufactured in different locations. As will all electronics the first 30 days are the most critical as that is when most failures will occur.
Also it doesn't matter green/red/black the drive WILL eventually fail, it could be 1 day/Month/Year/Decade you never know.
In actual usage I've found some bad lots of hard drives. It could have been a bad production plant.. Sometimes you get drives from the same company manufactured in different locations. As will all electronics the first 30 days are the most critical as that is when most failures will occur.
Also it doesn't matter green/red/black the drive WILL eventually fail, it could be 1 day/Month/Year/Decade you never know.
ASKER
Thanks so much for the detailed posts, Gary, Frosty and ve3.. Since I got the Red at a decent price ($140), I'll keep it considering it's only $30 more than the WD Green external drive. If possible, I'd love to know how much you guys paid for your Reds.
@gary: The case that you mentioned says it supports only upto 2TB?
I really like the case recommended by joewinograd:
http://www.amazon.com/StarTech-com-3-5in-SuperSpeed-Drive-Enclosure/dp/B003F5NS9W/
I'd love to hear your opinions on the enclosure if possible and I'd be glad to close this question. My only requirement is that the enclosure should support USB 3.0 and be reliable.
Thanks everyone for your time.
@gary: The case that you mentioned says it supports only upto 2TB?
I really like the case recommended by joewinograd:
http://www.amazon.com/StarTech-com-3-5in-SuperSpeed-Drive-Enclosure/dp/B003F5NS9W/
I'd love to hear your opinions on the enclosure if possible and I'd be glad to close this question. My only requirement is that the enclosure should support USB 3.0 and be reliable.
Thanks everyone for your time.
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Raven,
In addition to the link at Amazon, here's the link for that enclosure at the StarTech site:
http://www.startech.com/HDD/Enclosures/35in-SuperSpeed-USB-3-SATA-External-Hard-Drive-Enclosure-with-Fan~SAT3510BU3
The Technical Specifications tab has additional info beyond the Amazon listing, and the Drivers & Downloads tab has a Datasheet/spec-sheet and a very recent revision of the Instruction Manual (31-Jan-2013). Regards, Joe
In addition to the link at Amazon, here's the link for that enclosure at the StarTech site:
http://www.startech.com/HDD/Enclosures/35in-SuperSpeed-USB-3-SATA-External-Hard-Drive-Enclosure-with-Fan~SAT3510BU3
The Technical Specifications tab has additional info beyond the Amazon listing, and the Drivers & Downloads tab has a Datasheet/spec-sheet and a very recent revision of the Instruction Manual (31-Jan-2013). Regards, Joe
".... The case that you mentioned says it supports only upto 2TB? " ==> You're absolutely right. I went too fast when I went to Newegg and copied the link. The units I use are these:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817153146
But if you want an enclosed drive and won't be switching the drives, then the Startech case noted above is very nice.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817153146
But if you want an enclosed drive and won't be switching the drives, then the Startech case noted above is very nice.
ASKER
Thanks a ton, ve3, joe and gary.
Like I said earlier, I also have Vantec's 2.5" enclosure that works well so I'm split between Startech and the one posted by ve3. :(
http://www.amazon.com/Vantec-NexStar-SuperSpeed-External-Enclosure/dp/B0037KLEWS
I guess with more reviews (94% 4 or 5 stars) and being a newer product, Startech's the way to go?
Thanks so much everyone for your detailed answers. Couldn't be happier..
Like I said earlier, I also have Vantec's 2.5" enclosure that works well so I'm split between Startech and the one posted by ve3. :(
http://www.amazon.com/Vantec-NexStar-SuperSpeed-External-Enclosure/dp/B0037KLEWS
I guess with more reviews (94% 4 or 5 stars) and being a newer product, Startech's the way to go?
Thanks so much everyone for your detailed answers. Couldn't be happier..
How about for an external USB enclosure, not a small NAS?