NAS Harddrive WD RED/GREEN/BLUE or Black?

Inatx · Apr 7, 2015

Hi all,

I want to install 2x 3TB hard drive in my NAS.
There are several hard drives for Western Digital.
Red, Blue, Green and Black.

Multiple users say to choose WD Red hard drive because can run up to 24/7 hours, but others claim to have experience with Green / Black or Blue hard drives for more than 3 years without any problems.

It's very difficult to choose which color I should take.
Is this just marketing?

MeteorsRaining · Apr 7, 2015

WD Red are optimized for NAS builds, and since they're quite cheap, I'd get them over other variants.

laviniuc · Apr 7, 2015

blacks are the best, they can work in a nas without any issues whatsoever. the red's are optimized for nas running 24/7 but if you can afford it get blacks.

edit: green definitely no. between red and blue -> reds are better in nas, blacks are better but also more expensive.

D_Know_WD · Apr 7, 2015

Hi there Inatx,

I would say that WD Reds will be a better fit than the other WD drives you have listed, when talking about operating in NAS environment. They have different firmware(part of which NASWare 3.0), which improves their reliability and compatibility with NAS systems. They also have lower vibration and noise levels.
It is not like other drives will not work when put in a NAS box. I just think that WD Red is the most suitable one from the ones that you have listed.
WD's Green is designed to be used as a secondary storage and a back up drive.
WD's Blue is a good everyday computing drive. Though, it offers up to 1 TB of storage.
WD's Black is a premium, performance oriented drive.

More on WD Red's features: http://products.wdc.com/support/kb.ashx?id=D9fhVC

Let me know in case you have some more questions.
Cheers,
D_Know_WD

Inatx · Apr 7, 2015

Thank you guys for your great answers. I own myself a synology 213j and this only allows me to max sata-300.
As i can see Red harddrives are sata-600.
If i install red drives to my sata that will support for sata-300, isnt this waste of money?

D_Know_WD · Apr 7, 2015

Usually, SATA 3 6Gb/s drives compatible with SATA 2 3Gb/s ports. Though, it will not hurt to contact your NAS manufacturer in order to be absolutely sure.
Also, the drives will run at SATA 2 speed. So, it is up to you to decide whether getting SATA 2 drives is the better option.

D_Know_WD

MeteorsRaining · Apr 7, 2015

HDDs are quite slow and far from capping SATA 2 speed limit (3Gb/s). SATA is backwards compatible so your drives will run without issues and performance shouldn't suffer either.

Hawkeye22 · Apr 7, 2015

If you need the longer warranty, go with the red pro. It has a 5 year warranty vs. the 3 year warranty of the red.

http://www.wdc.com/en/products/internal/nas/

laviniuc · Apr 7, 2015

D_Know_WD :

shouldn't the black with 5years warranty be a better fit for him? perhaps you could share with us some inside info as to which of the 2 are more reliable, overall. i know the marketing department says reds are great for nas environments.

D_Know_WD · Apr 8, 2015

I really have nothing to do with the marketing department.

WD Reds will be a better fit for him as he intend to use them in a NAS environment(RAID as well probably). In his case, I would say that two Reds will be the more reliable option as well.
It is completely different story if you need a boot drive. In this case, WD Black would be the better option and than WD Red.

D_Know_WD

MeteorsRaining · Apr 8, 2015

Guess he shared the basic differences in his first post:

They (WD Red) have different firmware(part of which NASWare 3.0), which improves their reliability and compatibility with NAS systems. They also have lower vibration and noise levels....

WD's Green is designed to be used as a secondary storage and a back up drive.
WD's Blue is a good everyday computing drive. Though, it offers up to 1 TB of storage.
WD's Black is a premium, performance oriented drive.

Inatx · Apr 8, 2015

D_Know_WD :

Hi there Inatx,

I would say that WD Reds will be a better fit than the other WD drives you have listed, when talking about operating in NAS environment. They have different firmware(part of which NASWare 3.0), which improves their reliability and compatibility with NAS systems. They also have lower vibration and noise levels.
It is not like other drives will not work when put in a NAS box. I just think that WD Red is the most suitable one from the ones that you have listed.
WD's Green is designed to be used as a secondary storage and a back up drive.
WD's Blue is a good everyday computing drive. Though, it offers up to 1 TB of storage.
WD's Black is a premium, performance oriented drive.

More on WD Red's features: http://products.wdc.com/support/kb.ashx?id=D9fhVC

Let me know in case you have some more questions.
Cheers,
D_Know_WD

Thanks WD, i will go for the RED

WifiTangoFoxtrot · Apr 8, 2015

Reds are best fit if you plan on using RAID1 or better redundancy. 3 year warranty is pretty good for home use, though there are reds available with 5 year (red link below).

Black is best performance in my opinion, good for primary drives at home.

WDC marketing links:
Blue vs. Green vs. Black: http://www.wdc.com/en/products/internal/desktop/
Options for Red: http://www.wdc.com/en/products/internal/nas/

Search

NAS Harddrive WD RED/GREEN/BLUE or Black?

Inatx

Reputable

D_Know_WD

MeteorsRaining

Champion

laviniuc

Judicious

D_Know_WD

Judicious

Inatx

Reputable

D_Know_WD

Judicious

MeteorsRaining

Champion

Hawkeye22

Glorious

laviniuc

Judicious

D_Know_WD

Judicious

MeteorsRaining

Champion

Inatx

Reputable

WifiTangoFoxtrot

Reputable

TRENDING THREADS

Latest posts

Moderators online

Share this page