WD Red or Black?
- Thread starter NirHahs
- Start date
Solution
Nuclear101
Honorable
- Jun 11, 2012
- 1,532
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NAS stands for Network Attached Storage. Basically you build/buy a separate computer that you connect to your router. Then all devices connected on that network can access/upload files to that hard drive. Think of it as your home "cloud".
As for the drives, the WD Black is for non-RAID setups, where you need reliability over performance.
What RAID is: Redundant Array of Inexpensive Disks. It has a lot of different "levels" but I'll explain the 3 most common:
RAID 0: You need 2 identical disks. Say you have 50 GB of data. It will store 25 GB on the first disk and the other 25 GB on the second disk. This improves performance because instead of having one disk revolve to all of the data, you can have a theoretical 1.5x the speed, as they both spin at the same time. However, if one drive fails, then you will lose all of your data. However, the failure rate is very low, but I still recommend backing up all of your important data.
RAID 1: You also need 2 identical disks. This is for when data is crucial and you cannot lose it. Both disks have the same copy of the data, so if one drive fails, you still have all of your data. The average speed of this is the same as a single hard disk, so think of it as a backup drive permanently attached to your computer.
RAID 10 (or RAID 1+0): This combines the best of both RAID 0 and RAID 1. You need 4 drives, so 2 for one copy of the data and 2 for another (RAID 1) and each one of the drives contains 1/2 of it (RAID 0). This gives the fastest speed and safe storage, but you only utilize 2 of the drives for actual processing (RAID 1).
WD Red is designed for RAID, so it is mainly performance over reliability. If you are OK with using RAID (most motherboards support it now), and/or are a high-performance user, use the Red's in a RAID setup. WD Black is designed to PC users who want one hard drive. Use WD Black if you don't want to use RAID. For NAS, you can go with either one.
As for the drives, the WD Black is for non-RAID setups, where you need reliability over performance.
What RAID is: Redundant Array of Inexpensive Disks. It has a lot of different "levels" but I'll explain the 3 most common:
RAID 0: You need 2 identical disks. Say you have 50 GB of data. It will store 25 GB on the first disk and the other 25 GB on the second disk. This improves performance because instead of having one disk revolve to all of the data, you can have a theoretical 1.5x the speed, as they both spin at the same time. However, if one drive fails, then you will lose all of your data. However, the failure rate is very low, but I still recommend backing up all of your important data.
RAID 1: You also need 2 identical disks. This is for when data is crucial and you cannot lose it. Both disks have the same copy of the data, so if one drive fails, you still have all of your data. The average speed of this is the same as a single hard disk, so think of it as a backup drive permanently attached to your computer.
RAID 10 (or RAID 1+0): This combines the best of both RAID 0 and RAID 1. You need 4 drives, so 2 for one copy of the data and 2 for another (RAID 1) and each one of the drives contains 1/2 of it (RAID 0). This gives the fastest speed and safe storage, but you only utilize 2 of the drives for actual processing (RAID 1).
WD Red is designed for RAID, so it is mainly performance over reliability. If you are OK with using RAID (most motherboards support it now), and/or are a high-performance user, use the Red's in a RAID setup. WD Black is designed to PC users who want one hard drive. Use WD Black if you don't want to use RAID. For NAS, you can go with either one.
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