Differences between hard drive models

[nikeysunfire]

Hi there guys I'm interested in buying a new hard drive for my pc , I'm really interested in the Caviar Green ones from Western Digital, specially the 500gb model, but I've found 2 different model numbers for this particular hard drive :

1.-WD5000AADS and
2.-WD5000CSRTL

and I can't really find any difference between those 2 :sarc: can you guys please help me out on choosing the best one? thanks in advance

 

[mpcrsc562]

Although the specs for the WD5000CSRTL specifically state that it is a 7200 r.p.m. drive, the only difference seems to be that the WD5000CSRTL
is a retail boxed version, while the WD5000AADS looks to be a bare, OEM version.

The OEM versions usually sell for less and do not (usually) have any SATA cables, instruction manuals or application disc(s).

 

[Phone Man]

The WD5000AADS has a 32MB cache and is a bare bones unit. The WD5000CSRTL Retail box(also shown as WD5000AACS on WD site) has a 16MB cache.
They are both Cavier Green drives which vary their speed from 5400rpm to 7200rpm depending on the need. This in turn lowers the power consumption and is why they are Green drives.

Out of these I would go with the AADS because of the 32MB cache.
You may want to look at the Cavier Black drives for better performance.

Here is a link:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Productcompare.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=2%2050001306%2040000014%201035915133%201035424340%20103530113%201035307886&bop=And&CompareItemList=14|22-136-334^22-136-334-S01%2C22-136-358^22-136-358-TS%2C22-136-320^22-136-320-TS

Jim

 

[Night Hawk]

There's also another few models depending on the application you have in mind for the drive and the price whether retail or oem. The Caviar Blue series 500gb retail can be seen at Newegg.com - Western Digital Caviar Blue WD5000KSRTL 500GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive

The other two one listed in the comparison link earlier are the Caviar Black and RE editions. For desktop use the Black edition is the performance series while the RE mainly see use in server cases being WD's enterprise series there. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136294

 

[noyb]

It's my opinion that the green series are only good for using in an external enclosure that run only occasionally ... and where heat may be a problem.

For a system HDD ... for only a couple dollars more ... Get the Black Series with a 5 year warranty.

My latest is a WD Black 640GB SATA 6gb/sec w 64MB cache ..
But I don't see it listed on newegg anymore ?? .. Maybe it's currently out of stock
SATA 6GB/Sec

 

[nikeysunfire]

Thanks for the advice guys! I really appreciate !!! , I also had in mind the black series ones, but I don't think I need that much of performance, since I'm working on an old Gateway prebuilded computer from 2005 (old Pentium D 2.8ghz 1MB Cache / 1GB of DDR2 533Mhz) and I'm in kind of a budget, What you guys think?

EDIT: Wow guys I just found the caviar black version for 60 bucks in Amazon Amazon.com: Western Digital 500 GB Caviar Black SATA 7200 RPM 32 MB Cache Bulk/OEM Desktop Hard Drive WD5001AALS: Electronics :

 

[noyb]

..but I don't think I need that much of performance..

It's not so much the performance .. as it is the better built 5 year Warranty... (reliability)
My Blacks Benchmark faster .. but nothing I can feel.

 

[nikeysunfire]

I just ordered the Caviar Black model , thanks everyone so much! !!

 

[kegobeer]

It's my opinion that the green series are only good for using in an external enclosure that run only occasionally ... and where heat may be a problem.

Did you have some bad experience with a green drive? My WHS has been running a green 1TB system drive and a 1TB secondary drive for over a year - no problems. My son's desktop also has a green 1TB drive that's worked great for over a year. A low power hard drive only used occasionally defeats the purpose of buying a lower power drive.

I'll have to disagree with you on this one!

 

[noyb]

I have two 1TB Greens in external enclosures .. I didn't say they weren't good.
The WD series ... Green > Blue > Black ... is the same order as .. Good > Better > Best.

Used occasionally could extend the life to compensate for the reduced warranty of the Green > Blue series.
The Green > Blue series do not benchmark as fast as the Blacks.
The reduced power of the Greens also lowers the Drive operating temperatures in an environment where temps can be a problem.
Why does WD not specify the rotational speed of the Greens ?? ...
(Because it varies to reduce the power)

If given a choice .. I will not use a green as a System Drive
If it's my Computer .. I will add a few bucks, get a Black for the extra Warranty.
If someone else's Computer .. I might use a Blue.

My newest is the Black SATA III w 64MB cache ..
In case I ever get a new Mobo that supports SATA III 6GB/sec SATA speeds

 

[Night Hawk]

You got that one right! I removed 2 GP models one being a 500gb added for testing 7 and later another 1tb drives for storage. Each Windows install on the 500gb then proved to have problems with any program you installed despite repeated clean installs.

Note the 500gb GP was almost removed from the old case and stuffed back into the external casings. The one 1tb while still in the new build was just replaced by a Sata III 1gb Black edition for the new and a noticable increase in access time has been seen. Both the GP and BE models see a 32mb cache as well as for the Sata II 1tb model bought in Dec.

The 1tb GP model was first bought and simply extracted from the casing and instaled internally for storage. But the reference to "Good to some degree, Certainly Better, and Best" would seem to fit the bill better for those three model lines. At times the GP even vanished from WE or was simply had to access even on the new build where it is now for ??? just how long remains to be seen.