WD Red vs Green for RAID 5 in media PC

[Teched Out]

Hello there. I finally decided to sign up to LTT forums and this shall be my first thread.

 

I will need to build a new media PC, soon. Initially I was interested in using Seagate's 8TB drives, but it looks like they're going to cost significantly more than I had thought.

So, now I'm back to choosing between Reds or Greens. 

 

This PC will run almost 24/7 and I'll be looking to use these drives for the next three or more years.

 

Is the price premium for Reds worth it for such a PC? I've been using two 4TB Greens in my current media PC, which haven't given me any problems. They have around 320 days, each, of on time.

 

 

Thank you.

[dadasmithywinkle]

Hello there. I finally decided to sign up to LTT forums and this shall be my first thread.

 

I will need to build a new media PC, soon. Initially I was interested in using Seagate's 8TB drives, but it looks like they're going to cost significantly more than I had though.

So, now I'm back to choosing between Reds or Greens. 

 

This PC will run almost 24/7 and I'll be looking to use these drives for the next three or more years.

 

Is there any reason to use Reds over Greens in such a PC? I've been using two 4TB Greens in my current media PC, which haven't given me any problems. They have around 320 days, each, of on time.

 

 

Thank you.

Welcome to the forums!

 

Reds or Purples. Both are made to be on 24/7 and Purples are made to be constantly written to. Green is decent with power but my suggestions will be more reliable for a 24/7 storage device. I use a 3TB Red in my NAS rig.

[ProdigyzMined]

Welcome to the forums!

 

Reds or Purples. Both are made to be on 24/7 and Purples are made to be constantly written to. Green is decent with power but my suggestions will be more reliable for a 24/7 storage device. I use a 3TB Red in my NAS rig.

I second this!

[Prastupok]

Welcome to the forums!

Reds or Purples. Both are made to be on 24/7 and Purples are made to be constantly written to. Green is decent with power but my suggestions will be more reliable for a 24/7 storage device. I use a 3TB Red in my NAS rig.

For a media PC I don't think enterprise drives are worth it.

A media PC won't be written to all the time, it will be read from.

Go with Reds. They are great value and are extremely reliable.

[Vitalius]

Everyone is suggesting Reds. I also recommend Reds.

There's a specific reason though. You aren't supposed to use Green drives in a Parity RAID (RAID 5, 6, or 7) array. I'd give you the long explanation, but it is long. The short explanation is that when Greens go into power saving mode, the RAID controller thinks they died, so it says your RAID array failed. 

Bad things come from that. Don't be that statistic.

[Teched Out]

Many thanks for all the replies and help.

 

A media PC won't be written to all the time, it will be read from.

Well....  :unsure:

 

Welcome to the forums!

 

Reds or Purples. Both are made to be on 24/7 and Purples are made to be constantly written to. Green is decent with power but my suggestions will be more reliable for a 24/7 storage device. I use a 3TB Red in my NAS rig.

 

In that case, if constant writes are not ideal for non-Purple drives, I may go Reds and use a large SSD (say; 500GB) as a ahh... buffer, between the internets and my bulk storage.

[Teched Out]

Everyone is suggesting Reds. I also recommend Reds.

There's a specific reason though. You aren't supposed to use Green drives in a Parity RAID (RAID 5, 6, or 7) array. I'd give you the long explanation, but it is long. The short explanation is that when Greens go into power saving mode, the RAID controller thinks they died, so it says your RAID array failed. 

Bad things come from that. Don't be that statistic.

This is something to do with the head parking feature Greens have?

[Prastupok]

Many thanks for all the replies and help.

 

Well....  :unsure:

 

 

In that case, if constant writes are not ideal for non-Purple drives, I may go Reds and use a large SSD (say; 500GB) as a ahh... buffer, between the internets and my bulk storage.

But if you are using this computer as a media PC, you don't need a drive capable of handling 24/7 writes. Most media PCs have data written to them once in a while, but certainly not all the time. Going with a large red and a 256 gig SSD would be a really good way to go. However, everybody has their opinions on how to do it, just figured I'd share mine!

[Teched Out]

But if you are using this computer as a media PC, you don't need a drive capable of handling 24/7 writes. Most media PCs have data written to them once in a while, but certainly not all the time. Going with a large red and a 256 gig SSD would be a really good way to go. However, everybody has their opinions on how to do it, just figured I'd share mine!

No, please. I by no means think your suggestion is unhelpful.

 

What I should have said is; due to my horrendously slow internet speed, the computer will have data slowly written to it, for the majority of it's on time. Whilst downloading media from iTunes and other legitimate sources, of course.

[Prastupok]

No, please. I by no means think your suggestion is unhelpful.

 

What I should have said is; due to my horrendously slow internet speed, the computer will have data slowly written to it, for the majority of it's on time. Whilst downloading media from iTunes and other legitimate sources, of course.

Indeed, but unless your downloading 24/7 onto it, or your internet speed is faster than the write of the drive, the reliability of the Reds is the reason I say go that route. I have 32 TB of Red drives at home, split into raid 1, and I trust them with my work Data, something I don't even like to do while I'm actually at work.

But, Western Digital makes a good drive and I'm sure you'll be happy with whatever you end up choosing

[Teched Out]

Well I think I will just pay the premium for Reds.

 

Do Red drives in RAID spin slower when not being accessed? Is there any point in having a large SSD buffer, either for power saving or longevity of the mechanical disks?

[Prastupok]

Well I think I will just pay the premium for Reds.

 

Do Red drives in RAID spin slower when not being accessed? Is there any point in having a large SSD buffer, either for power saving or longevity of the mechanical disks?

There are different schools of thought when it comes to drives. For your purposes, I'd say there isn't much of a benefit.

The Reds use the intellipower, which is variable RPM when not needed to be ramped up, I believe the max is around 5900 rpm though. But you do get some power saving in those. WDs white sheet on them should have most of this.

[Teched Out]

Cool. Thanks for all of your help.

 

Now I just hope a good deal on Reds comes around, soon.

 

I really wish I grabbed some from Amazon, before the Australian dollar went to complete shit.

[Prastupok]

Cool. Thanks for all of your help.

 

Now I just hope a good deal on Reds comes around, soon.

 

I really wish I grabbed some from Amazon, before the Australian dollar went to complete shit.

They are still on sale though

http://www.amazon.com/WD-Red-NAS-Hard-Drive/dp/B008JJLW4M

[Vitalius]

This is something to do with the head parking feature Greens have?

Yes, that's why it happens. That feature makes the RAID controller think the drives are dead since they take too long to respond.

At first it won't matter, but as the drives age, they will get slower and it will become a bigger problem.

[unijab]

If you're using a Windows OS I wouldnt use the Greens, even if you wdidle them. 

 

I have a set of reds and another set of greens, both in raid 5 arrays, in my storage server that runs CentOS 6.6

[alpenwasser]

Everyone is suggesting Reds. I also recommend Reds.

There's a specific reason though. You aren't supposed to use Green drives in a Parity RAID (RAID 5, 6, or 7) array. I'd give you the long explanation, but it is long. The short explanation is that when Greens go into power saving mode, the RAID controller thinks they died, so it says your RAID array failed.

Bad things come from that. Don't be that statistic.

^This. Just thought I'd add that MG2R (another mod here, for the newer members ) had this happen to him

even with software RAID with his WD Greens. So this really is an issue and not just a ghost story.

 

- snip -

As for WD Reds for a general media server: They'll be fine, I use them in my 24/7 media machine myself,

no issues so far. If you want an SSD cache, go for it, but it's not really necessary. Writing to an HDD

doesn't nearly age it as much as people think. (chapter "Utilization" in this pdf).

 

The Reds use the intellipower, which is variable RPM when not needed to be ramped up, I believe the max is around 5900 rpm though. But you do get some power saving in those. WDs white sheet on them should have most of this.

Just thought I'd link this because I found it quite interesting: Silentpcreview found that the WD Red

almost certainly spins at 5.4k rpm with acoustic testing. (source: http://www.silentpcreview.com/article1285-page5.html )

I think WD just needed a fancy marketing term which lets them advertise that as a feature when they

brought the drives out.