WD Black Drives Still worth it?

Just got a message that my 1TB segate drives are dying again (I have 2 software mirrored).

I was thinking to update them with someting newer and faster. A 2TB western digital black is WD2002FAEX is $202 and WD2003FZEX is $155

I have no idea what the differences are.

I'm wondering if Its really worth the speed over just getting something like this.
http://slickdeals.net/f/7065594-toshiba-2tb-internal-hard-disk-drive-70ac-tigerdirect?v=1

2TB Toshiba for $70.

I do edit photos on this drive and mostly use it for local storage of apps n what have you on my gaming PC, apps and cellphone backups, documents etc.

No, it's not worth the difference in price. If the Toshiba drive fails, you lose your data, if the Black fails, you lose your data, but it costs double. The extra warranty on the WD Black is not worth double the price. Full disclosure; I used to only buy WD Black HDD's. A few years ago I built my HTPC, besides the SSD, it is all Toshiba drives. It hasn't failed me yet, recording shows every day, acts as a plex server for all mobile devices in the household, and keeps backups off all devices: Phones, tablets, laptops.

Having said that, keep separate backups of anything important, no HDD is failproof, and no warranty will bring your data back.

Not worth it.

I love my WD Black drive, it's been a great drive, but I don't think I would pay that much of a premium again. I also own a newer Toshiba drive that's been great as well.

If your going for a storage drive... Its worth it just for the 5 year warranty alone.

I'm migrating to windows server essentials 2012 , and it appears I cannot backup a drive larger than 2TB, which makes sense because the largest drive I can use for backups is 2TB. (Yes I'm a bit confused about this but I guess it is due to not using drive extender so you cannot backup client PC's directly to my Stablebits storage pool).

So for now I'm not sure how I will back up data on this drive in an automated fashion but I need to replace it absolutely right away since it is failing.

My old server is full of 1TB drives so I could toss a few of those into this computer and transfer the data over. This option is nice because it is a free one. However the drives are Samsung 5400 rpm green drives, and they are about 6+ years old now. Maybe 4 years old for the 2TB drives that are in there.

What do you guys think re-use the old working drives and mirror a couple of them? Or buy new drives (maybe the $70 ones)? Stick with 2TB drives since that should be plenty of space for this drives use?

jmilcher said:

If your going for a storage drive... Its worth it just for the 5 year warranty alone.

Click to expand...

How so? if its twice the price, you can buy 2 2tb drives now and just save one, or buy a 2tb for way cheaper 5 years from now. Still not worth it.

WD2003FZEX is the newer and faster model and it also costs less.

The 1TB is sporting a 1TB platters but all other models 800 unless WD quietly upgrades them.

WD2003FZEX-00Z4SA0 2TB (3/6 [short-stroked])

I have a handful of black drives, a few approaching 5 years old without any issues.

They work well with RST 0/1 but not 5

Toshiba drives have a high failure rate, why go through the hassle of needing to RMA drives when your chances are less with a proven design?

If you need two Toshiba drives you better buy 4 so you have spares while you wait for your dead drive to be returned.

I'll take two Toshiba 2tb drives in a raid mirror array over one WD black drive any day.

For the price of the Toshibas, you can basically get three for the price of the one WD black. Put two Toshibas in a Raid mirror array and keep one for a backup. If one drives fails pop in the replacement.

Or, save yourself the trouble of having to box up, ship and wait for your return RMA by buying a drive with a good track record.
Also to consider is how easy/fast Toshiba's RMA process is.

Recall those Toshiba drives are using old/outdated HGST models re-badged.
That is why they cost less, they are old and outdated technology.
They are noisier, run hotter and consume more power.

Toshiba is most likely working on newer and better models made in house which could turn out
to be better quality then what NE is offering.

WD blacks aren't exactly renowned for their quietness and coolness. I agree with the RMA process however, I'm in France and will not buy Toshiba drives until they provide a proper process, at the moment it's "contact your merchant", no thanks.

I still wouldn't pay for blacks though, at the moment I find myself buying seagate desktop most of the time, sometimes WD green or red depending on price. Of course I'm only buying 4TB drives, not that old school 2TB capacity ! I must order 20 drives in one go soon and will probably go with HGST Deskstar NAS 4TB, I don't buy these usually because they're only available in Germany (for some reason HGST never had good availability in France, even 10 years ago, and German shops get more of the less common stuff, it was the same when Samsung started selling 3,5" drives, for a couple of years I ordered them in Germany).

I swear by WD Blacks. Always use them. Toshiba doesn't have a good track record yet so I wouldn't touch them. Laugh at me if you want but I haven't had a WD Black go bad on me yet. I am starting to use Samsung SSDs now. I'll see how that goes.

HGST 7200RPM 4TB NAS for $160. Faster than the WD Black, made in HGST's Thailand plant (which owned by WD). Very reliable stuff coming out of there.