WD Green vs Black drives

[gabbott]

Looking to pick up another 1TB drive and there isnt much difference in price between a Green and a Black drive.

 

I notice the Black drive has a 5year warranty much better than the Green. The Greens are supposed to have lower power consumption and slower speeds which I'd assume equate to less heat.

 

Speed is not a huge concern for me, I can stream just fine off my current green drives I have.

 

So just looking for opinions on whether if you were purchasing a new drive if you'd go green or black.

 

Going to get this one:

 

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/Western+Digital+-+Caviar+GP+1TB+Internal+Hard+Drive/8492026.p?id=1186003685416&skuId=8492026

 

or this one:

 

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/Western+Digital+-+Caviar+Black+1TB+Internal+Serial+ATA+Hard+Drive+for+Desktops/8909595.p?id=1213047091732&skuId=8909595

[Rajahal]

First of all, why would you buy drives from Best Buy?

 

Compare to a 1 TB WD Green EARS at Newegg for $79.99.

 

Keep in mind that this drive will need a jumper across pins 7 and 8 to achieve max performance in unRAID.

 

The Best Buy drive may need a jumper too, I can't tell from their site if its an EADS or an EARS.

 

More on topic, I would definitely go with the green drive.  Granted, the 5 year warranty on the Black drives is better than the 3 year warranty on the Green drives, but in 3 years you will most likely want to replace the drive with a larger one anyway.  The lower heat and lower power consumption of the Green drives pay off in the long run.

 

Also keep in mind that a 1.5 TB WD Green is technically a better deal, if you are willing to spend the extra $30.  Again, jumper required and not included.

[gabbott]

First of all, why would you buy drives from Best Buy?

 

 

 

Also keep in mind that a 1.5 TB WD Green is technically a better deal, if you are willing to spend the extra $30.  Again, jumper required and not included.

 

Agreed, Best Buy not the best price-wise. Was just looking to get one soon as possible, though I did end up ordering a 1.5 TB Green, EARS (yes I realize it will need to be jumpered) from Amazon since I have prime and can get it overnighted for an extra $3.99, so I'll have it tomorrow.

 

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002ZCXJZE/ref=oss_product

 

Still just curious on thoughts of green vs black.

[jdmlight]

Still just curious on thoughts of green vs black.

I would definitely second the idea that you'll probably want to upgrade your drive in 3 years anyway.  Plus, it's not like the drive would just drop dead on the 1095th day (365*3).  The drive would probably keep on chugging for a while - and the point of unRAID is that you don't have to worry about the drive dying.

 

As an example, I have a 3-year-old Seagate 650gb IDE drive.  This was back when Seagate still had 5-year warranties on all drives.  I'm still covered for another two years, but if it died and wasn't under warranty, I'd gladly replace it with a larger and faster SATA drive.

 

This may or may not matter to you (depending on where you keep your unRAID server), but the WD Green drives are super-quiet.  This really makes a difference to me because my unRAID server is located in living quarters.

 

If I were buying a drive to install a Windows OS on, I'd buy a Black drive for the extra performance. (or an SSD when they come down in price and go up in storage, but that's not related to Black vs Green )  Otherwise, the Green drives are plenty fast for most storage purposes with the benefit of running cool and quiet.

[Rajahal]

As an example, I have a 3-year-old Seagate 650gb IDE drive.  This was back when Seagate still had 5-year warranties on all drives.  I'm still covered for another two years, but if it died and wasn't under warranty, I'd gladly replace it with a larger and faster SATA drive.

 

I'm actually in this situation right now.  I have a 500 GB Seagate SATA II 7200 rpm drive that just died (well, it fails all its SMART and Seatools tests, so its almost dead).  The drive is in warranty through 2012 (must have been a 5 year warranty).  If I can RMA the drive for cheap (less than $10) and with little hassle, then I'll do it.  Otherwise, I'll probably just chuck it.  500 GB is too small for my server these days.  Even if I did RMA the drive and get a new one, I'll probably end up selling it or giving it away to a friend.

 

Seagate also claims to have an 'upgrade your dead drive' option.  I haven't looked into it much yet, but if I can get a 1.5 TB or 2 TB Seagate LP drive back instead of a 500 GB for a reasonable price, then I may go down that route.  I just have my doubts about the 'reasonable price' part...

[pfp]

Seagate also claims to have an 'upgrade your dead drive' option.  I haven't looked into it much yet, but if I can get a 1.5 TB or 2 TB Seagate LP drive back instead of a 500 GB for a reasonable price, then I may go down that route.  I just have my doubts about the 'reasonable price' part...

 

If it's anything like the Western Digital upgrade plan it's not worth it.  Prices are about the same as you can get online but then you tack on shipping and tax.

[330T]

Keep in mind that this drive will need a jumper across pins 7 and 8 to achieve max performance in unRAID.

 

The Best Buy drive may need a jumper too, I can't tell from their site if its an EADS or an EARS.

 

 

whats this all about?

 

I have WD10EADS drives.. should i be jumpering them?

[gabbott]

Keep in mind that this drive will need a jumper across pins 7 and 8 to achieve max performance in unRAID.

 

The Best Buy drive may need a jumper too, I can't tell from their site if its an EADS or an EARS.

 

 

whats this all about?

 

I have WD10EADS drives.. should i be jumpering them?

 

No, you don't have to do this on EADS drives, it is only for EARS drives that now used the 4k sectors.

[pfp]

Keep in mind that this drive will need a jumper across pins 7 and 8 to achieve max performance in unRAID.

 

The Best Buy drive may need a jumper too, I can't tell from their site if its an EADS or an EARS.

 

 

whats this all about?

 

I have WD10EADS drives.. should i be jumpering them?

 

Nope, only the EARS model drives need this.  I believe this is becasue they have 4k sectors.

[jdmlight]

Keep in mind that this drive will need a jumper across pins 7 and 8 to achieve max performance in unRAID.

 

The Best Buy drive may need a jumper too, I can't tell from their site if its an EADS or an EARS.

 

 

whats this all about?

 

I have WD10EADS drives.. should i be jumpering them?

 

Nope, only the EARS model drives need this.  I believe this is becasue they have 4k sectors.

I have a 1.5tb WD Green EARS drive.  What is this about jumpering?  What does it do (I read something about speed - is it a noticeable performance increase)?  I remember seeing something about a certain jumper setting for Windows but I ignored that (it said leave it alone for other operating systems, so I did).  I have this 1.5tb EARS drive as my parity if that makes any difference.

[BRiT]

Yes it is noticeable. In some cases its a 300% improvement.

[Rajahal]

You will want to put a jumper across pins 7 & 8 (or just follow the Windows XP instructions, which will tell you the same thing).

[jdmlight]

You will want to put a jumper across pins 7 & 8 (or just follow the Windows XP instructions, which will tell you the same thing).

I assume I'll have to recalculate parity after doing this.

[gabbott]

You will want to put a jumper across pins 7 & 8 (or just follow the Windows XP instructions, which will tell you the same thing).

I assume I'll have to recalculate parity after doing this.

 

Yes because if you do this the current data on your drive will be corrupt.