Results 1 to 20 of 20
  1. #1
    Join Date
    Aug 2007
    Posts
    46

    WD Black Label vs. RE for Non-Raid

    I have used some of both editions of WD drives for non-raid setups, and I am wondering for such setups is it worth the extra money for the REs versus using the black label drives? Performance wise I would certainly think there would not be any difference, but how about reliability?
    Last edited by affordaservers; 03-29-2011 at 11:04 AM.

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Feb 2004
    Location
    Atlanta, GA
    Posts
    5,662
    For non-raid applications they are essentially the same disk.

  3. #3
    WD Black are great HDDs. I would just stick with those.

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Jul 2008
    Location
    New Zealand
    Posts
    1,225
    We use ONLY Black disks..75% of our black disks are in RAID and we've never had any problems. They're cheap, fast and most importantly good quality.

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Dec 2004
    Location
    New York, NY
    Posts
    10,710
    Quote Originally Posted by RyanD View Post
    For non-raid applications they are essentially the same disk.
    Exactly. If you don't plan on using RAID, then you should go with WD Black Edition.
    MediaLayer, LLC - www.medialayer.com Learn how we can make your website load faster, translating to better conversion rates for your business!
    The pioneers of optimized web hosting, featuring LiteSpeed Web Server & SSD Storage - Celebrating 10 Years in Business

  6. #6
    Join Date
    Mar 2011
    Posts
    67
    Blacks are fine for software based RAID. If you plan on running hardware RAID it's better to use the enterprise class drives with TLER enabled. If you're not running RAID at all then the wd blacks will do just fine.

  7. #7
    Join Date
    Jun 2003
    Location
    Las Vegas, NV
    Posts
    858
    Ditto for us. We use the Black drives extensively in non-RAID applications and use the RE disks when hardware RAID is involved. We have had problems with the Black disks on hardware RAID, where disks would drop out of the array and cause problems, so it's worth the extra money to use the RE disks when appropriate. They are essentially the same piece of hardware with some firmware differences.
    Rob Tyree
    Versaweb - DDoS Protected Cloud and Dedicated Server Hosting
    Fiberhub - Affordable Colocation Services in Las Vegas, Dallas, Miami, and Seattle

  8. #8
    Join Date
    Jul 2009
    Location
    The backplane
    Posts
    1,788
    AFAIK you can enable TLER on Black drives, which should stop the drops.

    That being said, I haven't used anything but RE3s for a while -- so its possible that has changed.

  9. #9
    Join Date
    Mar 2002
    Location
    SFO,MIA,ATL,AMS
    Posts
    650
    I love WD blacks, is the only thing I am buying these days,
    anyone knows where to get them cheap ?

  10. #10
    Join Date
    Mar 2002
    Location
    SFO,MIA,ATL,AMS
    Posts
    650
    Quote Originally Posted by RyanD View Post
    For non-raid applications they are essentially the same disk.
    sector size in blacks is 4k

  11. #11
    Join Date
    May 2006
    Location
    San Francisco
    Posts
    7,325
    Quote Originally Posted by [CTI] Todd View Post
    AFAIK you can enable TLER on Black drives, which should stop the drops.

    That being said, I haven't used anything but RE3s for a while -- so its possible that has changed.
    I don't think TLER could be enabled on Black drives for quite a while now. Only some random old shipments may still be able to have it enabled.

  12. #12
    Join Date
    Jul 2009
    Location
    The backplane
    Posts
    1,788
    Oh, bummer. Good to know.

  13. #13
    Join Date
    Jul 2009
    Location
    The backplane
    Posts
    1,788
    Quote Originally Posted by cgiGeek View Post
    I love WD blacks, is the only thing I am buying these days,
    anyone knows where to get them cheap ?
    Keep an eye on eBay, every now and then good deals on even new drives come up.

  14. #14
    Quote Originally Posted by Orien View Post
    I don't think TLER could be enabled on Black drives for quite a while now. Only some random old shipments may still be able to have it enabled.
    Orien is right, they disabled that feature. I presume it was strictly a business decision . I personally love the black drives, I use them in all of my desktops. My servers however, do have RE3 and RE4 drives, mainly because they are using hardware raid.
    Bobby - PreciselyManaged.com - Precision Hosting Solutions
    █ Enterprise Shared, Reseller, VPS, Hybrid, and Dedicated Hosting
    █ SpamExperts | CloudLinux | cPanel | Bacula + R1soft | and more!
    █ Full proactively managed, and we specialize in hosting small web hosts

  15. #15
    Quote Originally Posted by vircloud View Post
    Blacks are fine for software based RAID. If you plan on running hardware RAID it's better to use the enterprise class drives with TLER enabled. If you're not running RAID at all then the wd blacks will do just fine.
    Agree with you here.

    It's worth keeping in mind one thing though. TLER (on the RE drives) disabled extended error correction. This is fine in RAID because some other disk will have the data you want. Without RAID, you *do not want* TLER, because that means the drive will give up on trying to correct an error that it could have corrected, if it takes too long to do so. This means, for non-raid, the TLER drives are going to be slightly less safe / secure than the Blacks.

    Blacks and RE's work fine in s/w raid, and for hardware raid use the RE's only.
    IOFLOOD.com -- We Love Servers
    Phoenix, AZ Dedicated Servers in under an hour
    ★ Ryzen 9: 7950x3D ★ Dual E5-2680v4 Xeon ★
    Contact Us: sales@ioflood.com

  16. #16
    Join Date
    Mar 2009
    Posts
    568
    Quote Originally Posted by funkywizard View Post
    It's worth keeping in mind one thing though. TLER (on the RE drives) disabled extended error correction. This is fine in RAID because some other disk will have the data you want. Without RAID, you *do not want* TLER, because that means the drive will give up on trying to correct an error that it could have corrected, if it takes too long to do so. This means, for non-raid, the TLER drives are going to be slightly less safe / secure than the Blacks.
    I'm really glad someone posted this, because I didn't want to be the bearer of bad news. Funkywizard is correct here, a Black drive is actually BETTER for a desktop application where no RAID is involved. TLER is not desired at all if you're running without RAID.

    --Chris
    The Object Zone - Your Windows Server Specialists for more than twenty years - http://www.object-zone.net/
    Services: Contract Server Management, Desktop Support Services, IT/VoIP Consulting, Cloud Migration, and Custom ASP.net and Mobile Application Development

  17. #17
    In this case, what should we consider when a desktop RAID is used? I mean, as far as I know, a typical Intel chipset RAID isn't a pure hardware RAID, so what I'm trying to figure out is if a couple of WD Black hard drives are fine for building a RAID1 with an Intel chipset, or if an RE series is better for this purpose.

  18. #18
    Join Date
    May 2004
    Location
    Atlanta, GA
    Posts
    3,872
    it's desirable that using black drives for OS software RAID or HostRAID by on-board Intel controller.

    even if you want to use Raid Edition drives, you've better to use TLER utility to disable TLER function from RE drives.

    speaking from experience, the long term defective rate between black and RE always has been about the same.
    C.W. LEE, Apaq Digital Systems
    http://www.apaqdigital.com
    sales@apaqdigital.com

  19. #19
    Just to make sure, your recommentation in this case (Intel UCH RAID) is to use Black drives instead of RE drives, am I right?

  20. #20
    Join Date
    Apr 2011
    Location
    USA - MI
    Posts
    142
    Quote Originally Posted by nfh77 View Post
    Just to make sure, your recommentation in this case (Intel UCH RAID) is to use Black drives instead of RE drives, am I right?
    Yes. Intel UCH RAID is not a "real" hardware raid.

Similar Threads

  1. Western Digital Caviar Black vs. RAID Edition
    By IGXHost in forum Colocation, Data Centers, IP Space and Networks
    Replies: 20
    Last Post: 08-29-2010, 01:04 PM
  2. Replies: 0
    Last Post: 11-25-2009, 01:08 PM
  3. BLACK FRIDAY SPECIAL 50% OFF | RAID-10 | LiteSpeed Hosting by AllureHost
    By SwiftModders in forum Shared Hosting Offers
    Replies: 0
    Last Post: 11-25-2009, 12:58 PM
  4. please recommend raid 1 and raid 10 sata raid card
    By joelin in forum Colocation, Data Centers, IP Space and Networks
    Replies: 13
    Last Post: 08-14-2008, 01:28 PM
  5. 400GB Hard Disk Drives in RAID 0, RAID 5 and RAID 10 Arrays: Performance Analysis
    By donniesd in forum Hosting Security and Technology
    Replies: 0
    Last Post: 03-07-2007, 03:19 PM

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •