WD 500 Gigs - Which one is the best INTERNAL drive?

P

Phenomenal

Broken In
Hi Tech Gurus!,
My Query : WD 500 Gigs - Which one is the best?

Requirement :
I need it as a RELIABLE primary drive for EVERYDAY medium usage.Copy/Pasting atleast 10GB data everyday.
SATA III preferred since mobo has 2 of these ports.
Choosing WD since service reports are better.


My Questions: (please answer a/w a reason,I would love the technical explanation you have to offer )
Answers from EXPERIENCED and current WD users really appreciated

1)Is Green 1TB better (more cache?) wrt 500Gig WD Blue
2)Does SATA III give better speed than SATA II (how much improvement in REAL performance % or MBps)??
3)will there be much difference in speed/performance wrt Green (if not too much,I'll go for the cheapest one)

I am confused between :

Most of these aren't available on any of the Indian sites,any idea where I can get them in Mumbai??

750Gb Western Digital (WD7500AZEX) 64Mb 7200rpm SATA3 (if AVAILABLE???)
WD Black WD5003AZEX 500GB 7200 RPM 64MB Cache SATA 6.0Gb/s (if AVAILABLE???)
Western Digital WD Black WD5002AALX(if AVAILABLE???)

GREEN

Western Digital WD Green WD5000AZRX 500GB IntelliPower 64MB Cache SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive (if AVAILABLE???)

WD Caviar Green 1 TB Desktop Internal Hard Drive (WD10EARX) @4.3k
WD Caviar Green 1 TB Desktop Internal Hard Drive (WD10EZRX) @4.5k
Western Digital Caviar Green WD5000AZRX 500 GB IntelliPower 64MB Cache SATA 6.0

BLUE SERIES

WD Caviar Blue 500 GB (WD5000AAKX) @ 3.6K

4)Any other drive you would suggest???
5)Also anybody knows about EXTENDED warranty from WDC?

Thanks a lot for your time and reply :-D
 
Nerevarine

Nerevarine

Incarnate
DO NOT and I say again DO NOT even think about going for Green Drives, unless you want your HDD to fail within 3 months or so ..
My recommendation would be Seagate Barracuda 500 GB but there will be no extended warranty :( only 1 year warranty though :(
You can go for WD caviar Blue for 2 years of warranty
For hard drives, SATA 3 vs SATA 2 is pointless.. both cant even use the full power of SATA 2 speed (unless you are using a velociraptor drive :)).. SATA 3 is a viable option, if you are using SSD
 
OP
P

Phenomenal

Broken In
Nerevarine said:
DO NOT and I say again DO NOT even think about going for Green Drives, unless you want your HDD to fail within 3 months or so ..
My recommendation would be Seagate Barracuda 500 GB but there will be no extended warranty :( only 1 year warranty though :(
Click to expand...

Thanks for the quick reply.
I get it,won't go for WD green now,too many bad reports.

How is WD Caviar Blue 500 GB (WD5000AAKX) @ 3.5K??

I currently have a 500 Seagate Barracuda which is failing (will get refurb as replacement) and this new WD will be the replacement as a primary.

Thanks :D
 
Nerevarine

Nerevarine

Incarnate
I believe the caviar blue has got some good reviews.. Id still prefer seagates though :) my personal opinion..
But if u want the extra warranty, then go for caviar blue

PS: I might have overreacted a bit on my first post lol
 
OP
P

Phenomenal

Broken In
Nerevarine said:
I believe the caviar blue has got some good reviews.. Id still prefer seagates though :) my personal opinion..
But if u want the extra warranty, then go for caviar blue

PS: I might have overreacted a bit on my first post lol
Click to expand...

Okay,I guess I'll consider WD Blue for now.
And no,you didn't overdo it,your reply was proper.I know some people hate it when the product sucks that bad,I'm one of those too :)
When you pay for something,it should be worth it.
That's why we ask around right?
Thanks a lot @nerevarine
 
z3rO

z3rO

Journeyman
@OP, Go for WD Black edition if your budget allows it as WD Black has got really good reliability. Else get WD Blue.
And the service to extend warrenty of WD Drives isn't available in India. But WD Black already offers a 5-yrs. warrenty.
 
OP
P

Phenomenal

Broken In
HI TDFers!
Thanks for your response

I called up WD distributors and they told me 500 GB black unavailable in INDIA due to "low" demand.Apparently nobody buys "500GB" black.
Anyways,I decided to go in for 500GB WD Blue,will post my thoughts soon.

RATES I GOT (for your info) -> 3375 WD Blue WD5000AAKX
5800 for WD Black WD1002FAEX (claimed 3 yr warranty instead of 5,misinformed seller I guess)
 
G

Gaurav 007

Broken In
I wouldn't recommend to buy WD Caviar Blue since I have one ( 5000AAKS ) & it has been nearly 2 years & it has got a lot of bad sectors & hear frequent clicking sounds. You can see in the attached picture that somebad sectors have been repaired but it still has got many bad sectors.

Screenshot (16).jpg
 
OP
P

Phenomenal

Broken In
The Incinerator said:
If reliability is paramount and data is important get the SV series from Seagate. Expensive? Yes. But good old quality.
Click to expand...
Thanks but I guess it's WD for me,got the BLUE WD5000AAKX! :D

panwala95 said:
wd caviar blue is very reliable
been using it for 1.5years now and its still rocksteady....
Click to expand...

Got it.Thanks for the recommendation. :)

Gaurav 007 said:
I wouldn't recommend to buy WD Caviar Blue since I have one ( 5000AAKS ) & it has been nearly 2 years & it has got a lot of bad sectors & hear frequent clicking sounds. You can see in the attached picture that somebad sectors have been repaired but it still has got many bad sectors.

View attachment 8100
Click to expand...

Sorry bro,Already got it.
Everything seems fine.No bad sectors as of now,hopefully it'll be stable like with @panwala95

QUOTES FOR buyers from lammy road Mumbai
Date -> 22/12/12

WD5000AAKX (i got this one) - 3400 (tell me if you get better rate with shop name please! :p )
WD5000AVDS - 3600
WD10EARX - 4150
WD10EZEX - 4150

I used Acronis WD Edition (free for WD users).you can download it (search on google for link) ,about 147MB file.
It will work ONLY if you have on WD drive detected by the BIOS.
After connecting,boot up and install it.
Use AUTOMATIC method and clone it,change boot to new drive and VOILA!
(SuperTip -> Check for ERRORS on the source disk and repair them using CHKDSK before copying/cloning/imaging)
Everything works SMOOTH!

Booted from the new drive.Changed old drive letter names.
It's all good now :)

Thanks a lot again for all your replies. :)
 
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