# WD Blue or Black for save games and play?



## RodoGodo19 (Mar 18, 2017)

Hi,

I need a 1TB at least to save my games and play through it.

My 250GB SSD is not enought so far.

Which one do you recommend, which one is faster/better for this situation? (best load times).


----------



## jboydgolfer (Mar 18, 2017)

Black, unless the price difference is significant just go with the black


----------



## RodoGodo19 (Mar 18, 2017)

jboydgolfer said:


> Black, unless the price difference is significant just go with the black


the load times will be noticeable?.


----------



## jboydgolfer (Mar 18, 2017)

in what sense? there will likely be no difference between the two. not for that type of Data transfer atleast


----------



## rtwjunkie (Mar 18, 2017)

I had to check you had selected the 7200rpm Blue, as the old greens are now 5400 blues. Talk about confusion.

That being said, the speeds will roughly be the same. The black, however is better constructed for higher workloads and is recommended for that plus gaming.

Thus, I would go with the Black.  The new ones feel lighter, but are very well constructed and reliable.  I've actually never had any Black fail, so they get my games as well.  Blues on the other hand.... leave them to light or office use.

Note: the blacks are basically the consumer version of the RE drives with a slightly shorter warranty.


----------



## EarthDog (Mar 18, 2017)

The black is faster than the blue. I'm sure there are measureable differences between the two... if you feel it or not...another sotry. look up some reviews of each drive and check their specs out.. but the black is faster.


----------



## jboydgolfer (Mar 18, 2017)




----------



## RodoGodo19 (Mar 18, 2017)

Guys, I just want it to save games and play, not for transfer files all the time, just to play games and have my games saved forever.


----------



## jboydgolfer (Mar 18, 2017)

RodoGodo19 said:


> Guys, I just want it to save games and play, not for transfer files all the time, just to play games and have my games saved forever.



yeah i know, that was my point. unless you can get the Blue for significantly cheaper, id go with the black, as the warranty is longer by 2 years, and the durability is higher. it becomes an issue not of perf, but rather of other considerations.

see the image i posted above...


----------



## RodoGodo19 (Mar 18, 2017)

jboydgolfer said:


> yeah i know, that was my point. unless you can get the Blue for significantly cheaper, id go with the black, as the warranty is longer by 2 years, and the durability is higher. it becomes an issue not of perf, but rather of other considerations.
> 
> see the image i posted above...


right now



Blue 4TB: $120

Black 2TB: $124


----------



## EarthDog (Mar 18, 2017)

"Western Digital sent us the 1TB and 4TB models to test, and there was a fair difference in our file transfer benchmarks. In the large file test, the 4TB model managed 237.2MB/s when writing and 326.7MB/s when reading files, which is exceedingly quick for a mechanical drive. The 1TB drive was slightly slower, with 231.2MB/s and 281.9MB/s respectively, for an overall score of 282MB/s."

The blue won't reach that unless it's the 64MB cache model and even then... not sure it will....


----------



## rtwjunkie (Mar 18, 2017)

That's an old chart. I would place the 1TB Black as the quietest.  For some reason the 2TB had a noisier.  And the Green is gone now.

@EarthDog I have a theory on the 4 being faster. I have one also and it feels faster. I say part of it is the 128MB cache. What do you think?


----------



## jboydgolfer (Mar 18, 2017)

RodoGodo19 said:


> Blue 4TB: $120
> 
> Black 2TB: $124


it seems you answered it yourself 
the blue. in case of any confusion



rtwjunkie said:


> That's an old chart


yea, but i think the warranties are still accurate


----------



## EarthDog (Mar 18, 2017)

rtwjunkie said:


> That's an old chart. I would place the 1TB Black as the quietest.  For some reason the 2TB had a noisier.  And the Green is gone now.
> 
> @EarthDog I have a theory on the 4 being faster. I have one also and it feels faster. I say part of it is the 128MB cache. What do you think?


Not sure... honestly. I'd have to look at specs for it... but think it's 64mb... it may gain it's speed from platter densits, but that is a guess.. no idea how many platters it has vs the lower capacity models..


----------



## rtwjunkie (Mar 18, 2017)

EarthDog said:


> Not sure... honestly. I'd have to look at specs for it... but think it's 64mb... it may gain it's speed from platter densits, but that is a guess.. no idea how many platters it has vs the lower capacity models..


I was lucky to get one of the latest models, they are equipping them with 128 now on the 4TB blacks.


----------



## EarthDog (Mar 18, 2017)

They should smoke the blues...

I never recall a blue beige faster than black!!


----------



## OneCool (Mar 18, 2017)

I use a 1tb blue 32mb(I think) cache myself and it works fine for my gaming drive. It's almost half full already


----------



## erocker (Mar 18, 2017)

RodoGodo19 said:


> the load times will be noticeable?.


Not at all.


----------



## newtekie1 (Mar 18, 2017)

You probably won't notice the difference in performance...up until the Blue dies on you.


----------



## Avincombat (Mar 18, 2017)

RodoGodo19 said:


> Hi,
> 
> I need a 1TB at least to save my games and play through it.
> 
> ...


Get blue. Black drives are not worth the markup imo for just saving game data. That being said, I would honestly just hold out for all SSD storage at this point personally. The load times for games between HDD and SSD is crazy different. Subnautica loads in about 10-15 sec on SSD vs 60+ sec on HDD. Look into the Western Digital line of SSDs. https://www.newegg.com/Western-Digital-Internal-SSDs/BrandSubCat/ID-1306-636


----------



## MrGenius (Mar 18, 2017)

My WD Black 1TB is the quietest HDD I've ever owned. I recommend Black for all the other reasons too. Mostly endurance and length of warranty.


----------



## Avincombat (Mar 18, 2017)

newtekie1 said:


> You probably won't notice the difference in performance...up until the Blue dies on you.


WD Blue has a remarkable reputation for stability. For regular use I wouldn't go to anyone else.


----------



## OneCool (Mar 18, 2017)

newtekie1 said:


> You probably won't notice the difference in performance...up until the Blue dies on you.



Blacks die too. Been there. Thier all a roll of the dice IMHO.


----------



## newtekie1 (Mar 18, 2017)

OneCool said:


> Blacks die too. Been there. Thier all a roll of the dice IMHO.



All hard drives die, I have way too much experience with that.  But WD Blue drives die a lot, a lot more than any others.



Avincombat said:


> WD Blue has a remarkable reputation for stability. For regular use I wouldn't go to anyone else.



WD make good models, the Blues are not good models.  Black, Red, Purple, Gold, all great.  Blues are junk.

If I was buying a drive today for this purpose, I'd buy this: https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822178996


----------



## rtwjunkie (Mar 18, 2017)

Avincombat said:


> WD Blue has a remarkable reputation for stability. For regular use I wouldn't go to anyone else.


Remarkable reputation for dying early.   I won't touch them except for an office desktop.


OneCool said:


> Blacks die too. Been there. Thier all a roll of the dice IMHO.



True 'dat, all drives do in fact die, including SSD's. the clock starts ticking the moment you install them.  

However, in almost 20 years of buying, using, building for others various combinations of Blues, Blacks, and Reds the last 6, no matter what revision the models have gone through, the Blues have always been the least reliable, especially when under workloads like gaming, where new levels are loaded constantly.  

Blacks are the most reliable, followed by Red, and worth the extra cost.  The OP had no concern to cost, asking faster/better and load times.  He will find the Black to feel a bit faster in sustained access.  And it's reliability and quietness goes in the "better" column.


----------



## OneCool (Mar 18, 2017)

Wd black raptor ... Do I pull that black card...Is that fair?


----------



## jboydgolfer (Mar 18, 2017)

Everybody has their own experiences with different brand everything including hard driveS. One of the oldest hard drives I had is a western digital blue, the oldest are Seagate barracudas, hell i even have some old maXtor Ide drives still.  In the beginning of this thread based on the original Post,  I thought he was looking for one terabyte vs 1 tb. In that situation I go with the black. But when it's double the size for five dollars more I go with the blue.

@OP
both blue and black are good drives, you shouldnt lose any sleep after purchasing EITHER. just choose the one that best suites your budget/needs, and dont give it another thought.


----------



## eidairaman1 (Mar 19, 2017)

Velociraptor


----------



## Avincombat (Mar 19, 2017)

rtwjunkie said:


> Remarkable reputation for dying early.   I won't touch them except for an office desktop.
> 
> 
> True 'dat, all drives do in fact die, including SSD's. the clock starts ticking the moment you install them.
> ...



I feel like rating them in good better best for blue, red, and black doesn't really cover the reason there are different drives. You aren't wrong to say that black is better for long term use, however, red is not meant for regular usage. Red should only be used in a NAS or something that is running all day every day. If cost is not a concern then he should 100% go SSD.

Side note, I have been a computer tech for 8 years now and WD easily has one of the top spots for lifespan. Of say 30 drive failures maybe 1 will be WD. There is something to be said for overall build quality over the years, but for most part, Blue is still my pick.


----------



## rtwjunkie (Mar 19, 2017)

Avincombat said:


> Red should only be used in a NAS or something that is running all day every day.


You are entirely correct. I only use the for NAS installs or my own server where they are always on.  So it is a different kind of use, as you point out, but it does show their longevity, which is why I mentioned them. I probably should have left them out of the conversation.


----------



## newtekie1 (Mar 19, 2017)

rtwjunkie said:


> You are entirely correct. I only use the for NAS installs or my own server where they are always on.  So it is a different kind of use, as you point out, but it does show their longevity, which is why I mentioned them. I probably should have left them out of the conversation.



I have 5 WD Red drives in a RAID5 right now.  They are great drives.  However, they are great for regular storage use too.  They have some features that make them better for server/NAS use, as well as use in RAID arrays, but that doesn't mean they can't be used as a more regular drive as well, they work very well in that use actually.  I just wouldn't use them as an OS drive because of their 5400RPM rotational speed.  But, actually, I prefer them for storage drives in systems, even if they are just standard desktops and stand alone drives.


----------



## RodoGodo19 (Mar 19, 2017)

Due to the Black has better performance and endurance on loading levels and load the game, etc.. I will go black 2tb, it's just for games.
I don't want a blue to start failing after 1 year or something like that, I play like 5 hours a day, I just want to have a good HDD to keep my games saved.
Besides, I doubt I will fill 2TB so fast.

you are right about Red, Blue, Black.
Blue is good to keep things saved and access them a few times in a day but, for heavy tasks, loads, etc.. I think is better the Black then.
Thanks for all the advices guys, I appreciate it.


----------

