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.

I have a 6TB WD Black in my array. So far so good.

 

Why would it be bad?

I don't think they're rated for 24/7 use like most nas drives, if that even means anything.... I'd have no worries about using them though. I've got a 4tb wd black in my main work pc and it's been great.

I have a 6TB WD Black in my array. So far so good.

 

Why would it be bad?

The marketing mumbo jumbo says non-NAS optimized drives shouldn't be used in a RAID array. Various reasons, some more valid than others. For most folks using unraid, WD blacks are fine.

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.

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.

 

I never pay attention to the marketing mambo jumbo.

 

My drives are set to never spin down and I have a drive with power on hours over 6 years and 5 months. It was not one of those nas drives but still going strong

I've had a 2TB black in my array for as long as I can remember 5+ years. The only issue I have with the drive is that it runs hotter than my Reds, aside from that no problems.