New Build: Western Digital Blue or Black?

[Route44]

This build will be for my 77 year old mother who lives in another state and I am trying to build this as stable and problem free preventative mode as best as I can with the understanding that any hardware can fail at any time.

Anyway, NewEgg is having both their Blue and Black WD 1TB hard drives on sale that goes off of sale after tomorrow. I know Black is often the choice due to build quality and 5 year warranty. However, the Blue would really help budget wise because every dollar counts and it sees many people have had good success with the Blue.

She does MS Office, email, surfing plus she has an online business that keeps her very busy along with uploading a lot of photos.

Thanks.

 

[St1ckM4n]

Blue. Because of her work tasks.

 

[Jad Chaar]

Blue. Because of her work tasks.

Yeah take the blue but if you can afford the black, no reason not to sacrifice performance. You could also buy the blue and get a cheap 60GB SSD for a cache.

 

[Route44]

Thanks guys. The thing is an SSD would just confuse her. With my experience of straightening out various PC issues she has had over the years I guarantee anything she attempted to install herself would go to the SSD rather than the hard drive because she would never retain how one goes about directly accessing said hard drive. I have lost count how many times I have been asked about updating standard apps.

So you think then Blue should do her fine, correct?

 

[Jad Chaar]

Yeah the blue should be fine for her needs. Best of luck!

 

[tipstir]

Blue, Green, Black and Red from WD. I won't buy anything that's not Blue. Green is to save power but it fails too much, can't take the heat and slow poke. Black expensive just like the Blue but supports larger TB like Green. The RED covers all but supports NAS. But to me I have Blue ones in my NAS and I can stream 1920x1080p over the network without any issues or none. So there no need to buy any color except WD Blue. If you get Blue make sure the Cache is 64MB. I have one of these in this newer system where the Seagate had failed in 6 month.

 

[Route44]

I went with the Blue (ordered 9/3) at 1TB and 64 MB Cache. System is up and running and it is running great. Thanks for the response.

 

[tipstir]

I went with the Blue (ordered 9/3) at 1TB and 64 MB Cache. System is up and running and it is running great. Thanks for the response.

No problem! I have couple of these drives in usage. You'll be happy using it..

 

[captaincranky]

I went with the Blue (ordered 9/3) at 1TB and 64 MB Cache. System is up and running and it is running great. Thanks for the response.

With WD Black drives, you're paying for an extra processor, and the longer warranty.

As far as the Caviar Blue models go, there's a 160GB SATA 150 drive in my eMachines T-5026, (the OEM drive!). I'll will be 10 years old this coming February. For now, it's still running strong at 9 1/2.

There's also a 250GB Blue SATA 300 in this machine, which is, I think, pushing 5. No problems.

If I hadn't tuned in after you made the purchase, I'd have probably said, "black & blue". (Black for the system drive, and blue for the aux storage drive).

Anyway, for my latest system, I'm using a 600GB Velociraptor for the OS, and whatever I can get my hands on for storage...

 

[tipstir]

WD Black you pay for what you get. WD Green have more issues and spin slower. WD Blue 2.5 I have that in laptop also it spins 24/7 no issues. I keep that HDD clean on weekly bases. My older WD Blue 30, 60, 100, 250 GBs most of those lasted until they failed. Depends how you use them how well you keep them ventilated.

 

[bluejolls]

The black is faster than the blue in all tasks and is more reliable drive.

 

[tipstir]

The black is faster than the blue in all tasks and is more reliable drive.

I only use the Blue, laptop, desktop and NAS not issues fast over the 1 GBps network. Can watch any media. Don't have to pay more for the Black or the RED. I won't buy the Green. Blue for now!

 

[nickc]

The black is faster than the blue in all tasks and is more reliable drive.

U're rite the the Black is faster and more reliable.