WD Blue or Black for save games and play?

[RodoGodo19]

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]

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

 

[RodoGodo19]

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

the load times will be noticeable?.

 

[jboydgolfer]

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

 

[rtwjunkie]

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]

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]

 

[RodoGodo19]

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]

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]

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]

"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]

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]

Blue 4TB: $120

Black 2TB: $124

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

That's an old chart

yea, but i think the warranties are still accurate

 

[EarthDog]

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]

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]

They should smoke the blues...

I never recall a blue beige faster than black!!

 

[OneCool]

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]

the load times will be noticeable?.

Not at all.

 

[newtekie1]

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

 

[Avincombat]

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).

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]

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]

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]

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]

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.

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]

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.

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.