3x 4TB WDC Blue in Raid 5

[davidst95]

Hi, is it safe to put 3x 4TB WDC Blue in Raid 5? I will be using the the on board Intel Raid software on my Z170 motherboard. Will blue drives ok or do I need red drive? I don't think the motherboard Raid setup uses any of the features that the Red drives offer. Thanks.

David

 

[Rogue Leader]

You can do RAID with any drive, and for home purposes those are fine. For enterprise purposes you want the bigger cache of a dedicated RAID controller card and enterprise drives to help prevent against the possibility of drive failure completely hosing your setup.

 

[GhislainG]

Hi, is it safe to put 3x 4TB WDC Blue in Raid 5? I will be using the the on board Intel Raid software on my Z170 motherboard. Will blue drives ok or do I need red drive? I don't think the motherboard Raid setup uses any of the features that the Red drives offer. Thanks.

David

From WD: "WD Red NAS hard drives are specifically designed with RAID error recovery control to help reduce failures within the NAS system. Desktop drives are typically not designed for RAID environments where this can be an issue." The Blue drives are not, designed for RAID use but that doesn't mean they won't work and it isn't an issue with a RAID 5 as long as you don't lose more than one drive. With only 3 drives you can take the risk.

 

[SuperSoph_WD]

Hey there, David!

I'd second @GhislainG's comment and advise you to consider getting WD Red HDDs instead of WD Blue ones, especially since you'd be configuring a RAID 5 array. WD desktop drives like the WD Blue and the WD Black have been tested for consumer RAID applications when using the HDDs in RAID 0 or RAID 1 arrays, but I'm afraid that it's going to be a bit too much for the Blues in RAID 5. I'd advise you to read through our KB article about Supporting WD Desktop drives in RAID configurations.

The WD Red is specifically designed for such workload and 24/7 always-on system environments. The NASware 3.0 firmware and its advanced technology improves your system's storage performance by increasing compatibility, integration and reliability. Moreover, these HDD models incorporate a RAID error recovery control to help reduce failures within the RAID/NAS system. Desktop drives are typically not designed for RAID environments and this can be an issue.

Hope this was helpful. Keep us posted if you have more questions!
SuperSoph_WD