WD Black 4TB vs WD SE 4TB

[Slitza]

Hi All,

I was trying to decide whether the WD Black 4TB was worth the extra costs over the 3TB version, when I spotted a WD SE 4TB harddrive for the same price as the 4TB Black.
The drives were named as such:
Western Digital Black WD4001FAEX/WD4003FZEX 4TB 64MB Cache 7200RPM vs Western Digital SE WD4000F9YZ 4TB 64MB Cache 7200RPM
(Please assume the FZEX model where the Black is mentioned)

I had a look at some read-write tests between the two 4TB drives and it seems as though the Black is somewhat faster at larger files while the Enterprise is faster at very small files.
Also noticeable is that the Enterprise drive is rated for 600,000 load/unload cycles where the Black is rated for 300,000 load/unload cycles.

Where the harddrive will be used for Games (mostly steam and some mmo's) and also for CAD/3D software, I cannot determine which harddrive will suit my needs best.

Advice and suggestions please!

 

[morgilroka]

If you are looking for speed in games, nothing is going to match an SSD. When it comes to harddrives all you really need to be looking for a 7200rpm+ and 64mb cache. Any difference in not noticeable with everyday use, when comparing the same HDDs. Size and speed is all that really matters assuming you have 64mb/7200rpm.

 

[Slitza]

If you are looking for speed in games, nothing is going to match an SSD. When it comes to harddrives all you really need to be looking for a 7200rpm+ and 64mb cache. Any difference in not noticeable with everyday use, when comparing the same HDDs. Size and speed is all that really matters assuming you have 64mb/7200rpm.

Hi Morgilroka

As mentioned before, the games are mostly on steam and the steam folder aldready exceeds 250gb, so an SSD is out of the question. Also, currently storage quantity is an issue for me, having a 500gb and two 1tb's filled, I am actually looking for a big HDD. Hopefully I can find out here whether a quality harddrive is advised over standard ones eg. a black > barracude or blue.

Are you saying that as long as a drive is 7200 rpm and has a 64mb cache, then nothing else matters?

To be clear though, I'm really trying to determine which of these 2 high end WD harddrive's will perform better given the context.

 

[manofchalk]

The Enterprise is designed to work reliably in harsher conditions than you would find in an enthusiast PC, however it wont be as fast. These drives have to work, not be fast as its almost expected that the server their shoved in would have some kind of SSD or RAM caching system, or at the very least due to the massive RAID environment that middling drive performance will still result in adequate overall performance.

Go for the Black
Although IMO, your better off buying two 2TB's for far cheaper and sticking them in RAID0. You have 4TB of fast storage right there, admittedly with double the chance of data loss through failure.

 

[Slitza]

The Enterprise is designed to work reliably in harsher conditions than you would find in an enthusiast PC, however it wont be as fast. These drives have to work, not be fast as its almost expected that the server their shoved in would have some kind of SSD or RAM caching system, or at the very least due to the massive RAID environment that middling drive performance will still result in adequate overall performance.

Go for the Black
Although IMO, your better off buying two 2TB's for far cheaper and sticking them in RAID0. You have 4TB of fast storage right there, admittedly with double the chance of data loss through failure.

Thanks for you opinion =)

I checked the pricing for 2 x 2Tb's vs 1 x 4TB and it costs more for the two smaller drivers at R3700 vs R3100.

I didn't previously see that WD's website had a page for the enterprise (SE version) drives. After looking there, its quite clear that the WD Black will be more suited for my application- which is on par with what you said.

So, for games, cad or 3d workstation or media streaming, the black is definitely the way to go.

Thanks for the replies so far, thread is solved.