Choosing between WD Blue, WD Black and Seagate FireCuda

[KhaDDN]

Hi guys, I'm choosing between the WD Blue, WD Black and Seagate FireCuda for my secondary hard drive. My question is: is the WD Blue good enough, or is it worth upgrading to WD Black or Seagate FireCuda. From where I'm from, the WD Blue is about 45 USD cheaper than the other two. I use the secondary drive mainly for gaming and movies, so which drive is the best for the money? 

Thanks in advance.

[Canada EH]

2 minutes ago, KhaDDN said:

Hi guys, I'm choosing between the WD Blue, WD Black and Seagate FireCuda for my secondary hard drive. My question is: is the WD Blue good enough, or is it worth upgrading to WD Black or Seagate FireCuda. From where I'm from, the WD Blue is about 45 USD cheaper than the other two. I use the secondary drive mainly for gaming and movies, so which drive is the best for the money? 

Thanks in advance.

Blue is for solid performance and reliability for everyday computing, usually used for business computing, while Black for maximum performance for power computing, like gaming and video editing/rendering, among other demanding apps.

[KhaDDN]

3 minutes ago, Canada EH said:

Blue is for solid performance and reliability for everyday computing, usually used for business computing, while Black for maximum performance for power computing, like gaming and video editing/rendering, among other demanding apps.

Is the loading time with Black significantly better than the Blue? In your opinion, is it worth paying an extra $45?

[Jurrunio]

Blue: For home use

Black: High performance home use

Firecuda: SSHD that no one should buy.

[KhaDDN]

Just now, Jurrunio said:

Blue: For home use

Black: High performance home use

Firecuda: SSHD that no one should buy.

No one should buy? It is that bad? 

[Jurrunio]

Just now, KhaDDN said:

No one should buy? It is that bad? 

The SSD part in a Firecuda is only 8GB, too small to be any good. WD Black SSHDs have 120GB of it and it's very good, though you do pay a hefty price premium for that

[dragoon20005]

be warned that some flavor of WD Blues are only 5400 rpm

 

because they are formally WD Green HDD

 

Black for fast because not only it the 7200 rpm platters but it has dual CPU and bigger cache for read and writes speeds

 

FireCuda is a Hybrid HDD which has a 8GB Cache

 

it a mix of a HDD with SSD like performance

 

not true SSD but it a balance of HDD and Speed for budget builds

[KhaDDN]

1 minute ago, Jurrunio said:

The SSD part in a Firecuda is only 8GB, too small to be any good. WD Black SSHDs have 120GB of it and it's very good, though you do pay a hefty price premium for that

the WD Black I was mentioning is purely HDD. I didn't know there's a SSHD version of it lol. 

[Canada EH]

SSHD's arent a good idea

Just buy blue or black hdd and a ssd

[itsmyjobtoknow]

3 minutes ago, Jurrunio said:

The SSD part in a Firecuda is only 8GB, too small to be any good. WD Black SSHDs have 120GB of it and it's very good, though you do pay a hefty price premium for that

The WD Black you're thinking of is the WD Black² which has been discontinued for awhile....

More so, it acts like a dual drive, not a hybrid drive. 

[KhaDDN]

2 minutes ago, dragoon20005 said:

be warned that some flavor of WD Blues are only 5400 rpm

 

because they are formally WD Green HDD

 

Black for fast because not only it the 7200 rpm platters but it has dual CPU and bigger cache for read and writes speeds

 

FireCuda is a Hybrid HDD which has a 8GB Cache

 

it a mix of a HDD with SSD like performance

 

not true SSD but it a balance of HDD and Speed for budget builds

Thanks. My local shop only has the 7200 rpm version of the Blue. Do you think Black's worth paying an extra $45? 

[-rascal-]

1 minute ago, dragoon20005 said:

be warned that some flavor of WD Blues are only 5400 rpm

 

because they are formally WD Green HDD

 

Black for fast because not only it the 7200 rpm platters but it has dual CPU and bigger cache for read and writes speeds

 

FireCuda is a Hybrid HDD which has a 8GB Cache

 

it a mix of a HDD with SSD like performance

 

not true SSD but it a balance of HDD and Speed for budget builds

 

^ This.

 

Back then, WD Green and WD Blue were two separate products.

Green being variable up to 5400 RPM -- typically used for low cost, mass storage.

Blue was the everyday computing with 7200 RPM.

 

They have now merged to two together, so you get a mix.

Make sure you read the specifications when picking a WD Blue drive.

[Jurrunio]

1 minute ago, KhaDDN said:

Thanks. My local shop only has the 7200 rpm version of the Blue. Do you think Black's worth paying an extra $45? 

Not really. Not $45 faster for sure

[dragoon20005]

1 minute ago, KhaDDN said:

Thanks. My local shop only has the 7200 rpm version of the Blue. Do you think Black's worth paying an extra $45? 

what is your budget and what size you need?

 

is this for a laptop or desktop?

 

[Canada EH]

1 minute ago, KhaDDN said:

Do you think Black's worth paying an extra $45? 

NO!

[-rascal-]

3 minutes ago, KhaDDN said:

Thanks. My local shop only has the 7200 rpm version of the Blue. Do you think Black's worth paying an extra $45? 

 

If you are have games stored on there, I would recommend going with the WD Black.

I personally have used purely WD Blacks for my general 3.25" HDD storage...for the last... 10 ~ 12 years now.

(Then I run WD Reds on my NAS....and two WD Greens for offline back-up).

 

$45 extra for a WD Black?

Maybe not....get a high cache, 7200 RPM WD Blue.

[KhaDDN]

Just now, dragoon20005 said:

what is your budget and what size you need?

 

is this for a laptop or desktop?

 

My budget is flexible. If black's worth the money, I'll pay it. If not, it's nice to save $45.

I'm looking for a 1tb drive for my desktop.

[dragoon20005]

here is the low down of the WD Blues

 

only the 500GB and 1TB are the 7200rpm flavors

 

the 2TB drives and above are the 5400 rpm drives formerly WD Greens

 

 

 

if the HDD main purpose is just storing games and video files

 

the WD Blue 1TB are still OK

 

 

 

If the HDD is the OS disk

 

but your budget is limited

 

the WD Black are the suggested drives

[dragoon20005]

Just now, KhaDDN said:

My budget is flexible. If black's worth the money, I'll pay it. If not, it's nice to save $45.

I'm looking for a 1tb drive for my desktop.

get the WD Blue 1TB then

 

 

[Canada EH]

1 minute ago, dragoon20005 said:

get the WD Blue 1TB then

 

 

and a ssd

[-rascal-]

1 minute ago, KhaDDN said:

My budget is flexible. If black's worth the money, I'll pay it. If not, it's nice to save $45.

I'm looking for a 1tb drive for my desktop.

 

Do your local stores have something like this model?

 

WD Blue WD10EZEX

• 1TB
• 7200 RPM
• 64 MB cache

 

WD Blues with 7200 RPM and 32 MB of cache would work too, but 64 MB preferably.

[KhaDDN]

1 minute ago, Canada EH said:

and a ssd

I've already had 2 SSDs (1 for OS). I just need 1 more HDD for storage now. 

[Canada EH]

1 minute ago, KhaDDN said:

I've already had 2 SSDs (1 for OS). I just need 1 more HDD for storage now. 

good good

 

buy Blue

do not buy Black

Profit $45 plus tax buy bottle of vodka, if you are of age! ponder life at the bottom of a bottle = pro tip!

[KhaDDN]

2 minutes ago, -rascal- said:

 

Do your local stores have something like this model?

 

WD Blue WD10EZEX

• 1TB
• 7200 RPM
• 64 MB cache

 

WD Blues with 7200 RPM and 32 MB of cache would work too, but 64 MB preferably.

Yeah I think they only sell the 64 MB model now. 

[KhaDDN]

Just now, Canada EH said:

good good

 

buy Blue

do not buy Black

Profit $45 plus tax

Thanks mate. Is 2-year warranty an issue? Black offers 5 years if I'm not mistaken.