WD RE4 or Caviar Black?

[ramx]

Hi, I am looking for a fast 1 TB Hard drive.
Performance and reliability are my only requirements.
I'm not concerned about power draw or noise.

I'm preferring WD for its reliability. I've shortlisted WD RE4 (Enterprise drive) and Caviar Black, but need help choosing between them. I know that the new Caviar Blue 1 TB 64MB Cache model outperforms the above models, but its lower warranty and reliability is discouraging me.

Between 1 TB versions of RE4 and Black, RE4 1 TB has StableTrac, RAFF, TLER and IntelliSeek. As per WD Spec sheet, RE4 has slightly better performance, also the StableTrac feature should increase it further too (As per WD).
Thus I'm now inclined to buy RE4.

But I'm concerned about IntelliSeek. Does it reduce performance for the sake of lowering power and noise?, if it does, I would have to opt out RE4.

I don't know much about RAIDs and I won't be using any RAID setups. I will be using this drive as my single drive for both OS, games and storage.

Can RE4 drives be used for Non-RAID normal desktop environments?
Do I have to do any tweaks? My OS will be Windows 7.
Please advise, I'm little weak at storage.

 

[SNA3]

Hi, I am looking for a fast 1 TB Hard drive.
Performance and reliability are my only requirements.
I'm not concerned about power draw or noise.

I'm preferring WD for its reliability. I've shortlisted WD RE4 (Enterprise drive) and Caviar Black, but need help choosing between them. I know that the new Caviar Blue 1 TB 64MB Cache model outperforms the above models, but its lower warranty and reliability is discouraging me.

Between 1 TB versions of RE4 and Black, RE4 1 TB has StableTrac, RAFF, TLER and IntelliSeek. As per WD Spec sheet, RE4 has slightly better performance, also the StableTrac feature should increase it further too (As per WD).
Thus I'm now inclined to buy RE4.

But I'm concerned about IntelliSeek. Does it reduce performance for the sake of lowering power and noise?, if it does, I would have to opt out RE4.

I don't know much about RAIDs and I won't be using any RAID setups. I will be using this drive as my single drive for both OS, games and storage.

Can RE4 drives be used for Non-RAID normal desktop environments?
Do I have to do any tweaks? My OS will be Windows 7.
Please advise, I'm little weak at storage.

this is the fastest 1TB harddisk

VelociRaptor 3.5" 10000RPM 1TB 64MB

but it is expensive ... $220


http://www.superbiiz.com/detail.php?name=HD-W10DHTZ&c=CJ

 

[manofchalk]

The RE4 is built for enterprise usage, at this point were not even talking enthusiast grade product but more what you would find in a super-computer or large scale network.
As a standard enthusiast, you wont get any benefit from it over a standard 7200RPM HDD.

 

[SNA3]

The RE4 is built for enterprise usage, at this point were not even talking enthusiast grade product but more what you would find in a super-computer or large scale network.
As a standard enthusiast, you wont get any benefit from it over a standard 7200RPM HDD.

I dont know why all pick WD ?? he didnt even bother to check the Seagate and the HItachi .. they make better than WD drives and especially the consumer level , is more reliable than WD consumer level.

 

[ramx]

No SNA3, based on a vast majority of known cases of failures and bad sectors on Seagate drives, I think its best to leave Seagate out of our picture.
Moreover, they come with a mere 1 year warranty.

 

[SNA3]

No SNA3, based on a vast majority of known cases of failures and bad sectors on Seagate drives, I think its best to leave Seagate out of our picture.
Moreover, they come with a mere 1 year warranty.

Who said so ?

Seagate Barracuda and Constellation come with 5 years warranty

 

[ramx]

Plz check these links.

www.tomshardware.com/news/seagate-western-digital-HDD-warranty-Thailand,14322.html

www.computerworld.com/s/article/9222760/Hard_drive_manufacturers_slash_warranty_periods

Who said so ?

Seagate Barracuda and Constellation come with 5 years warranty

 

[SNA3]

Plz check these links.

www.tomshardware.com/news/seagate-western-digital-HDD-warranty-Thailand,14322.html

www.computerworld.com/s/article/9222760/Hard_drive_manufacturers_slash_warranty_periods

Who said so ?

Seagate Barracuda and Constellation come with 5 years warranty

This is old news , Just pick the Drives with 5 years warranty they still exist... I used All kinda drives , IBM , Maxtor , Seagate , Hitachi , Toshiba , WD , Samsung ,

one of the best I used were Maxtor , Seagate and WD ..

but I dont know why people only pick up WD ...

 

[manofchalk]

I also prefer Seagate drives myself, they were the only ones who dropped their price somewhat quickly after the floods.
Besides, a HDD will last a month or years in my experience. I have a mix of different branded HDD's (Seagate, WD, Hitachi, Toshiba, Samsung) that have sat in a musty shed for a few years, all still work today.

 

[ramx]

Hmm..... Anyway, I have directly encountered multiple instances of Seagate failures. Just check some e-retailer websites, u can see countless negative feed backs.

Most importantly, I wanna know whether RE4 drives can be used for Non-RAID normal desktop environments without any glitches.
Please assist me in that.

 

[Hawkeye22]

You can always locate a copy of WDTLER.EXE and try to turn TLER off. Do so at your own risk as WD claims WDTLER won't work on their newer drives.

 

[choucove]

Ramx I'm still with you on preferring the WD Black or RE4 lines over other brands. In my shop we see hard drive failures all the time, two or three a week often times. The percentage of failures by brands equates to about 5% WD, 30% Hitachi, 35% Seagate, and 30% all the rest. I've sold dozens of systems over the past four years with WD Black drives, and used several WD RE4 drives as well in server environments. I've not had a single WD Black drive fail. I've seen a few WD Blue drives fail, though, which is why we do not use them for primary drives on any of our custom builds. Back several years ago I used to religiously use Seagate drives, but it got to the point where half of the drives would experience failures within the first YEAR of usage, which was completely unacceptable. That is when we switched.

Comparing the WD Black and WD RE4 in terms of performance really won't do much good. They are nearly identical really for performance. The main difference is that RE4 drives are built for enterprise environments where they will be utilized in high-capacity and high-density RAID arrays and face increased vibration and continual access from 24/7 server usage. There probably isn't going to be any noticeable difference in your situation between using the WD Black and the WD RE4. If you planned to use RAID then I'd say go ahead and get the RE4 if you've got the money for the best, but even in a basic RAID 1 array for home or small office needs I've had great luck with the WD Black.

 

[ramx]

Is it necessary to turn TLER off for non-RAID systems?

I think TLER limits the Error recovery time to about 7 seconds instead of usual (desktop) 30 seconds.

Thus can this 23 seconds be valuable as I came to know that 7 seconds will normally suffice a successful error recovery.

You can always locate a copy of WDTLER.EXE and try to turn TLER off. Do so at your own risk as WD claims WDTLER won't work on their newer drives.

 

[SNA3]

Ramx I'm still with you on preferring the WD Black or RE4 lines over other brands. In my shop we see hard drive failures all the time, two or three a week often times. The percentage of failures by brands equates to about 5% WD, 30% Hitachi, 35% Seagate, and 30% all the rest. I've sold dozens of systems over the past four years with WD Black drives, and used several WD RE4 drives as well in server environments. I've not had a single WD Black drive fail. I've seen a few WD Blue drives fail, though, which is why we do not use them for primary drives on any of our custom builds. Back several years ago I used to religiously use Seagate drives, but it got to the point where half of the drives would experience failures within the first YEAR of usage, which was completely unacceptable. That is when we switched.

Comparing the WD Black and WD RE4 in terms of performance really won't do much good. They are nearly identical really for performance. The main difference is that RE4 drives are built for enterprise environments where they will be utilized in high-capacity and high-density RAID arrays and face increased vibration and continual access from 24/7 server usage. There probably isn't going to be any noticeable difference in your situation between using the WD Black and the WD RE4. If you planned to use RAID then I'd say go ahead and get the RE4 if you've got the money for the best, but even in a basic RAID 1 array for home or small office needs I've had great luck with the WD Black.

maybe true for entry level harddisks , which I never pick up .. I never had any seagate drive fail on me before the 5 years warranty ever in 20 years of using them , MAxtor as well. and Quantum b4 them , you need to understand Seagate bought Maxtor ...are you telling me all the good companies Seagate bought made them worse ?
they bought : Maxtor , Quantum , Samsung Harddisk , they have all the harddisk technology and patents ... you need to know which drive to pick. never pick one without at least 3 years warranty .

 

[Hawkeye22]

Is it necessary to turn TLER off for non-RAID systems?

I think TLER limits the Error recovery time to about 7 seconds instead of usual (desktop) 30 seconds.

Thus can this 23 seconds be valuable as I came to know that 7 seconds will normally suffice a successful error recovery.

You can always locate a copy of WDTLER.EXE and try to turn TLER off. Do so at your own risk as WD claims WDTLER won't work on their newer drives.

Effectively, TLER and similar features limit the performance of on-drive error handling, to allow RAID controllers to handle the error if problematic. In a non-RAID environment, such features are unhelpful, and manufacturers do not recommend their use.

Generally, Western Digital enterprise drives such as Raptor, Caviar RE2 and RE2-GP (RAID Edition) come with TLER Read "Enabled" (7 seconds) and TLER Write "Enabled" (7 seconds) while desktop drives such as Caviar SE, SE16, and GP come with TLER Read and Write Disabled (0 seconds).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Error_recovery_control#Desktop_Computers_and_TLER_Effect

 

[choucove]

Ramx I'm still with you on preferring the WD Black or RE4 lines over other brands. In my shop we see hard drive failures all the time, two or three a week often times. The percentage of failures by brands equates to about 5% WD, 30% Hitachi, 35% Seagate, and 30% all the rest. I've sold dozens of systems over the past four years with WD Black drives, and used several WD RE4 drives as well in server environments. I've not had a single WD Black drive fail. I've seen a few WD Blue drives fail, though, which is why we do not use them for primary drives on any of our custom builds. Back several years ago I used to religiously use Seagate drives, but it got to the point where half of the drives would experience failures within the first YEAR of usage, which was completely unacceptable. That is when we switched.

Comparing the WD Black and WD RE4 in terms of performance really won't do much good. They are nearly identical really for performance. The main difference is that RE4 drives are built for enterprise environments where they will be utilized in high-capacity and high-density RAID arrays and face increased vibration and continual access from 24/7 server usage. There probably isn't going to be any noticeable difference in your situation between using the WD Black and the WD RE4. If you planned to use RAID then I'd say go ahead and get the RE4 if you've got the money for the best, but even in a basic RAID 1 array for home or small office needs I've had great luck with the WD Black.

maybe true for entry level harddisks , which I never pick up .. I never had any seagate drive fail on me before the 5 years warranty ever in 20 years of using them , MAxtor as well. and Quantum b4 them , you need to understand Seagate bought Maxtor ...are you telling me all the good companies Seagate bought made them worse ?
they bought : Maxtor , Quantum , Samsung Harddisk , they have all the harddisk technology and patents ... you need to know which drive to pick. never pick one without at least 3 years warranty .

Yes I agree, there is a big difference in entry-level desktop hard drives and performance and even enterprise quality hard drives. That being said, all of the WD hard drives we have seen failures on are the Seagate Barracuda line, which is their mainstream drive line, comparable to the WD Blue lines. As with anything, step up in platform type and quality and your experiences may differ, a Barracuda drive is not the same as a Barracuda XT drive, just as a WD "Mainstream" series drive is not the same thing as a WD Black drive. I'm simply stating from my personal observations in my office. From hard drives we have purchased and used personally, that we have done custom-builds with, and that have come in from other people's computers in a huge range of brands, types, and ages, that is the experience we have had so far, so I agree with the OP decision to use WD Black drives.

Ramx, personally I don't know of anything that you have to do to set up the Black drives differently. We have always used them as they come and performance and reliability have been great. I have used WD Black drives in RAID 1 arrays before but those were in not-so-demanding environments or where performance was not a huge issue, so we never had to do anything different there with the drives either. Some of those scenarios we used onboard RAID controllers, but usually if someone wants to go with RAID 1 for a particular reason, then they're willing to go with a hardware RAID controller for better reliability and stability at the RAID controller anyways.

 

[ramx]

Thank you Hawkeye22, you've cleared my way.

Thank you choucove, thank you all...

I'll go for Caviar Black. I thought of RE4 as it had slightly more reliability and StableTrac feature, but in real world scenarios, both of them perform pretty much the same. Moreover, using RE4 for non-RAID purposes can cause unwanted hiccups too.. I'll stick with Black...