WD Black HDDs - Performance query

[woodson75]

I was wondering what, if any, extra performance can be achieved by using WD Black edition HDDs in a rig (as opposed to using WD Blue or Green)?

 

[bit_user]

Well, compared to green, the Blacks run at 7200 RPM, which translates into higher read speeds and lower seek times. They also tend to feature larger RAM buffers and dual-core processors. Altogether, you get slight performance improvements (but nothing on the level of a SSD) at additional cost and burning additional power.

IMO, it's not worth it, unless you need a little bit more speed for accessing bulk data. Use a SSD for boot and programs, and go with a cheaper HDD (like Green) for bulk data or maybe Red for a RAID or NAS.

 

[bit_user]

BTW, I'll let you know if I find any benchmarks showing a direct comparison.

But here's a Black drive vs. other brands: http://www.storagereview.com/wd_black_4tb_desktop_hard_drive_review_wd4003fzex

And here's a comparison for a Red drive: http://www.storagereview.com/wd_red_4tb_hdd_review_wd40efrx

So, you can sort of see how they line up by comparing the figures in those reviews.

 

[bit_user]

One thing about those benchmarks is that they do a poor job of reflecting desktop workloads. If you look at the very left edge of the plots, you see performance at threads=2, qd=2. That's about as aggressive as a desktop user will typically get.

A desktop user will care more about single-threaded sequential throughput and read latency. And those are going to be nearly identical for all drives of the same RPM and capacity.

 

[bit_user]

BTW, the Black drives do feature a 5-year warranty, which is sort of comforting. But it's no substitute for the data protection offered by RAID (and/or good backups), and the warranty replacement you typically get from manufacturers are refurb drives.

 

[woodson75]

Thanks very much for the wealth of information!

 

[woodson75]

BTW, the Black drives do feature a 5-year warranty, which is sort of comforting. But it's no substitute for the data protection offered by RAID (and/or good backups), and the warranty replacement you typically get from manufacturers are refurb drives.

Not to mention, I just read that Black drives don't implement TLER, which Red drives do (could be vital for a RIAD setup).

 

[bit_user]

Not to mention, I just read that Black drives don't implement TLER, which Red drives do (could be vital for a RIAD setup).

In 2011, I built a file server using 5x 1 TB Black edition drives in a software RAID 6 setup, on Linux. I've had no issues for lack of TLER. They didn't have Red drives, back then, and I didn't want to spend the extra $$ on an enterprise model. My understanding (though this could be wrong) is that it's mostly a problem for HW RAID controllers.

In this day and age, I see little reason to use HW RAID, since CPUs are so fast and typically there's a core to spare. The benefit is that you can move your SW RAID to any other hardware setup, whereas a HW RAID might be tied to the specific line of RAID controllers.

But for a NAS, I'd buy drives on the manufacturer's official hardware compatibility list. If those are all drives which support TLER, then so be it.