WD Blacks for unRAID: Good or Bad?


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Are WD Blacks good for unRAID?  These are supposed to be WD's best drives and so if the price per TB is reasonable compared to the Reds or Seagates, would you use them?

 

Currently, for the 5TB the Blacks are $38/TB and the Reds are $34/TB.  That's only a $20 difference.

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It sort of makes sense but not really applicable to unRAID. Sort of like sprinter vs long-distance runner.

 

Traditional RAID needs to spin up all disks whenever data is needed due to stripe-ing.

unRAID in contrast only spins up the drive which has the data to be read. When writing, only parity + 1 disk need to be spun up (unless you have Turbo Write turned on).

 

So for example, my WD Black spins up like 3 times a day for 30 minutes each time. Sometimes it can spend a few days spun down.

Hence no need to worry about 24/7 capability. Nice to have, yes but not required.

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Great feedback.  I like the 5yr warranty on the Blacks and usually most of my disks stays spun down.  When they are in use (spun up) I prefer them to be as fast as possible.  Noise and heat is not an issue since the server is in the mechanical room in the basement where it is always cool.

 

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