WD Black Vs Blue

[Goucho]

Hey guys I am a noob with HDDs but I always assumed that when it came to WD HDDs a Black edition was faster than a Blue edition??

BLUE 1TB

BLACK 640GB

What do you guys think? What is it meant to be?

 

[Kyiagi]

maybe your Black is older gen. I see its discontinued in many places

 

[Feronix]

iirc, the Blue has had an update or two down the line. Earlier versions had 32MB cache and such but the current Blue WD10EZEX has 64MB just like the Black and as they also both spin at 7200 RPM on Sata III there shouldn't be much of a difference performance-wise. This is on the 1TB versions btw.

However, the smaller versions, for instance the 640GB Caviar Black that you are using, only has 32MB cache so that's probably where your difference comes from as it still spins at 7200RPM over Sata III.

Obviously, to 'justify' the price (which is up to the user really) the Blacks do come with a few extras such as Native Command Queuing and 5 year warranty instead of the 2 years that you get on Blues.

 

[SuB]

Also comparing two drives of none equal size doesn't really work, because platter numbers and sizes and a whole bunch of other factors won't be the same.

 

[Goucho]

They are both 64 MB cache but I have just realised that the black only loses the top speed thing and wins the rest! What does each test represent??

 

[barnsley]

Judging by the sizes that WD black is about 5 years old and wasn't rated too highly when out.