• Welcome to TechPowerUp Forums, Guest! Please check out our forum guidelines for info related to our community.

WD Red drives for OS?

Joined
Mar 11, 2007
Messages
702 (0.11/day)
Processor Intel Core i5 4690K
Motherboard AsRock Z97 Extreme4
Cooling Hyper 212 Evo
Memory 16GB
Video Card(s) R9 Nano
Storage 256GB SATA SSD 2TB WD Blue
Display(s) 1920x1080
Case Cooler Master Elite 130
Power Supply CX650M
Software Argh, Windows 10. I hated Windows 7. I hate Windows 10 more. Give me back XP!!!
My hard drive in my computer is dying.

This morning when I turned my computer on it complained that there wasn't a boot drive and my hard drive wasn't showing up in the BIOS.

I turn the computer off and on a few times and it finally recognized the drive and booted.

It is still running and I'm typing this on it right now, but I'm afraid to turn it back off.

I ran HDTune on it and it reported several bad sectors.

So I want to replace the drive today.

I went to my local computer shop and they had a few drives in stock, I'm looking at 1TB drives.

My options are basically a Seagate Barracuda, another WD Green, or a WD Red.

Now there is no way I'm getting a Seagate because their trash, so that just leave the WD Green and the WD Red.

However, the shop owner said that the WD Red drive can't be used as an OS drive.

He said that WD put some kind of software on the drive that makes it only work as a data drive and it will only work in a NAS.

I also remember reading someplace, maybe it was even someone on here, saying that the Red drives don't have the normal error correction that normal hard drives have, instead it relies on the error correction of the RAID controller.

So if you use it as a standard hard drive and there was an error like a bad sector all the data would be lost but a normal hard drive would correct the error itself and keep working.

But the Red drive was actually $25 cheaper than the Green, so I'd prefer to get that if possible.

But I want to get the facts straight about them first.

The shop owner said if I bought the Red drive he wouldn't take a return if I couldn't get an OS installed on it and I don't want to risk data even if I did get it working so I need your advise.
 

brandonwh64

Addicted to Bacon and StarCrunches!!!
Joined
Sep 6, 2009
Messages
19,542 (3.68/day)
They will be fine for OS drive. We have one at work running in a machine that the OEM drive died. No issues so far.
 
Joined
Dec 6, 2005
Messages
10,881 (1.63/day)
Location
Manchester, NH
System Name Senile
Processor I7-4790K@4.8 GHz 24/7
Motherboard MSI Z97-G45 Gaming
Cooling Be Quiet Pure Rock Air
Memory 16GB 4x4 G.Skill CAS9 2133 Sniper
Video Card(s) GIGABYTE Vega 64
Storage Samsung EVO 500GB / 8 Different WDs / QNAP TS-253 8GB NAS with 2x10Tb WD Blue
Display(s) 34" LG 34CB88-P 21:9 Curved UltraWide QHD (3440*1440) *FREE_SYNC*
Case Rosewill
Audio Device(s) Onboard + HD HDMI
Power Supply Corsair HX750
Mouse Logitech G5
Keyboard Corsair Strafe RGB & G610 Orion Red
Software Win 10

Athlon2K15

HyperVtX™
Joined
Sep 27, 2006
Messages
7,909 (1.24/day)
Location
O-H-I-O
Processor Intel Core i9 11900K
Motherboard MSI Z590 Carbon EK X
Cooling Custom Water
Memory Team DDR4 4000MHz
Video Card(s) ASUS TUF RTX 3080 OC
Storage WD WN850 1TB
Display(s) 43" LG NanoCell 4K 120Hz
Power Supply Asus Thor 1200w
Mouse Asus Strix Evolve
Keyboard Asus Strix Claymore
The WD Red drives have alot of power saving features and are designed to run 24/7. I dont see any issues using it as a OS drive.
 

cadaveca

My name is Dave
Joined
Apr 10, 2006
Messages
17,232 (2.63/day)

MxPhenom 216

ASIC Engineer
Joined
Aug 31, 2010
Messages
12,944 (2.62/day)
Location
Loveland, CO
System Name Ryzen Reflection
Processor AMD Ryzen 9 5900x
Motherboard Gigabyte X570S Aorus Master
Cooling 2x EK PE360 | TechN AM4 AMD Block Black | EK Quantum Vector Trinity GPU Nickel + Plexi
Memory Teamgroup T-Force Xtreem 2x16GB B-Die 3600 @ 14-14-14-28-42-288-2T 1.45v
Video Card(s) Zotac AMP HoloBlack RTX 3080Ti 12G | 950mV 1950Mhz
Storage WD SN850 500GB (OS) | Samsung 980 Pro 1TB (Games_1) | Samsung 970 Evo 1TB (Games_2)
Display(s) Asus XG27AQM 240Hz G-Sync Fast-IPS | Gigabyte M27Q-P 165Hz 1440P IPS | Asus 24" IPS (portrait mode)
Case Lian Li PC-011D XL | Custom cables by Cablemodz
Audio Device(s) FiiO K7 | Sennheiser HD650 + Beyerdynamic FOX Mic
Power Supply Seasonic Prime Ultra Platinum 850
Mouse Razer Viper v2 Pro
Keyboard Razer Huntsman Tournament Edition
Software Windows 11 Pro 64-Bit
Choose red/green/black for desktop.



http://wdc.custhelp.com/app/answers...2LzEvdGltZS8xMzYxMzg2ODAzL3NpZC94eUFidWxqbA==

Any drive will work fine in any environment, but each has different firmware features and block size, dependent on the intended deployment. WD also has RE Edition drives for RAID use, again, with different firmware features.

^^^This

Western Digital Red drives are made for NAS and RAID storage setups on mind. Chose a blue or black drive for your system.

But looks like you only have Seagate, Green, or the Red for choices. Honestly I would get the Seagate, or the Green if its cheaper. But if your using it as an OS drive the Green will be slower since it only runs at 5900rpm, while the Seagate probably runs at 7200rpm.
 

cadaveca

My name is Dave
Joined
Apr 10, 2006
Messages
17,232 (2.63/day)
^^^This

Western Digital Red drives are made for NAS and RAID storage setups on mind. Chose a blue or black drive for your system.

But looks like you only have Seagate, Green, or the Red for choices. Honestly I would get the Seagate, or the Green if its cheaper. But if your using it as an OS drive the Green will be slower since it only runs at 5900rpm, while the Seagate probably runs at 7200rpm.

I tried Green drives for OS, and my son uses one. Not recommended, IMHO. Blue for cheap desktop, black for performance.

The RED will work anyway, just not it's intended platform.
 

MxPhenom 216

ASIC Engineer
Joined
Aug 31, 2010
Messages
12,944 (2.62/day)
Location
Loveland, CO
System Name Ryzen Reflection
Processor AMD Ryzen 9 5900x
Motherboard Gigabyte X570S Aorus Master
Cooling 2x EK PE360 | TechN AM4 AMD Block Black | EK Quantum Vector Trinity GPU Nickel + Plexi
Memory Teamgroup T-Force Xtreem 2x16GB B-Die 3600 @ 14-14-14-28-42-288-2T 1.45v
Video Card(s) Zotac AMP HoloBlack RTX 3080Ti 12G | 950mV 1950Mhz
Storage WD SN850 500GB (OS) | Samsung 980 Pro 1TB (Games_1) | Samsung 970 Evo 1TB (Games_2)
Display(s) Asus XG27AQM 240Hz G-Sync Fast-IPS | Gigabyte M27Q-P 165Hz 1440P IPS | Asus 24" IPS (portrait mode)
Case Lian Li PC-011D XL | Custom cables by Cablemodz
Audio Device(s) FiiO K7 | Sennheiser HD650 + Beyerdynamic FOX Mic
Power Supply Seasonic Prime Ultra Platinum 850
Mouse Razer Viper v2 Pro
Keyboard Razer Huntsman Tournament Edition
Software Windows 11 Pro 64-Bit
I tried Green drives for OS, and my son uses one. Not recommended, IMHO. Blue for cheap desktop, black for performance.

The RED will work anyway, just not it's intended platform.

Yeah, I wouldnt use a Green drive for an OS either haha. Thats why I was leaning more towards recommending the Seagate. Especially if its the same price or cheaper.
 

brandonwh64

Addicted to Bacon and StarCrunches!!!
Joined
Sep 6, 2009
Messages
19,542 (3.68/day)
Yeah, I wouldnt use a Green drive for an OS either haha. Thats why I was leaning more towards recommending the Seagate. Especially if its the same price or cheaper.

Really the RED is the best choice since its build for long term usage.
 

cadaveca

My name is Dave
Joined
Apr 10, 2006
Messages
17,232 (2.63/day)

brandonwh64

Addicted to Bacon and StarCrunches!!!
Joined
Sep 6, 2009
Messages
19,542 (3.68/day)

cadaveca

My name is Dave
Joined
Apr 10, 2006
Messages
17,232 (2.63/day)
Maybe its just the added error detection in raid?

Honestly, I'm not exactly sure. But, what I can say is what WD told over the phone, and note what the website for these products says.

The black and Velociraptor drives have the longest warranty, 5 years. WD red is 3 years, and others are 2 years. So to me, this says that Black and Velociraptor actually have the highest build quality.

WD also recommend the Red under desktop RAID, and others for single use, and this separation is why I gave Phenom a hard time, since he was buying a board without RAID support(plus he planned RAID since day one).


A drive is a drive, and any will work.



http://www.wdc.com/en/products/internal/desktop/


As linked above by me, WD will not warranty Black, Green, or Blue drives used in RAID. They will with the RED. It's kind of a hybrid drive, almost, in that regard.
 

MxPhenom 216

ASIC Engineer
Joined
Aug 31, 2010
Messages
12,944 (2.62/day)
Location
Loveland, CO
System Name Ryzen Reflection
Processor AMD Ryzen 9 5900x
Motherboard Gigabyte X570S Aorus Master
Cooling 2x EK PE360 | TechN AM4 AMD Block Black | EK Quantum Vector Trinity GPU Nickel + Plexi
Memory Teamgroup T-Force Xtreem 2x16GB B-Die 3600 @ 14-14-14-28-42-288-2T 1.45v
Video Card(s) Zotac AMP HoloBlack RTX 3080Ti 12G | 950mV 1950Mhz
Storage WD SN850 500GB (OS) | Samsung 980 Pro 1TB (Games_1) | Samsung 970 Evo 1TB (Games_2)
Display(s) Asus XG27AQM 240Hz G-Sync Fast-IPS | Gigabyte M27Q-P 165Hz 1440P IPS | Asus 24" IPS (portrait mode)
Case Lian Li PC-011D XL | Custom cables by Cablemodz
Audio Device(s) FiiO K7 | Sennheiser HD650 + Beyerdynamic FOX Mic
Power Supply Seasonic Prime Ultra Platinum 850
Mouse Razer Viper v2 Pro
Keyboard Razer Huntsman Tournament Edition
Software Windows 11 Pro 64-Bit
Honestly, I'm not exactly sure. But, what I can say is what WD told over the phone, and note what the website for these products says.

The black and Velociraptor drives have the longest warranty, 5 years. WD red is 3 years, and others are 2 years. So to me, this says that Black and Velociraptor actually have the highest build quality.

WD also recommend the Red under desktop RAID, and others for single use, and this separation is why I gave Phenom a hard time, since he was buying a board without RAID support(plus he planned RAID since day one).


A drive is a drive, and any will work.

http://img.techpowerup.org/130220/drives.jpg

http://www.wdc.com/en/products/internal/desktop/


As linked above by me, WD will not warranty Black, Green, or Blue drives used in RAID. They will with the RED. It's kind of a hybrid drive, almost, in that regard.

And then I sold the board I did get, and got a H77 board, and now running the 2 red drives I got in Raid 1 via hardware. :)
 

brandonwh64

Addicted to Bacon and StarCrunches!!!
Joined
Sep 6, 2009
Messages
19,542 (3.68/day)
Ahhh that is a good point dave. I have two blues with the 5yr warranty and I have a black as well.
 
Joined
Jun 4, 2011
Messages
3,051 (0.65/day)
System Name The SwagMachine / The Sister
Processor Core i5 3570K @5.2ghz 1.3V/ 1100T
Motherboard ASUS P8Z77-V / ASUS M5A99X EVO
Cooling Phanteks PH TC14PE / Corsair H40
Memory M379B5273DH0-YK0 2X4GB + PVI316G213C1QK 2X4GB / 2x4GB Patriot 2133
Video Card(s) PNY 780Ti /Windforce 7950
Storage 2xSamsung 840 EVO 250gb+WD10EZEX + WD30EZRX/ 1x WD1500 Black
Display(s) AOC Q2963PM+Acer S200HL / Acer S200L+ LG 22LD350
Case Fractal Define R4 / NZXT Trinity
Audio Device(s) Asus Xonar DG / Asus Xonar DG
Power Supply Seasonic 750X / ROSEWILL RG630-S12 630W R
Mouse Razer Deathadder Chroma / Roccat Kone+
Keyboard Razer Blackwidow 2013 Stealth / Roccat Isku
Software Windows 8.1 Pro / Windows 7 Ultimate
Benchmark Scores one time I scored a 3 on 3dmark 11
Joined
Jul 2, 2008
Messages
8,066 (1.41/day)
Location
Hillsboro, OR
System Name Main/DC
Processor i7-3770K/i7-2600K
Motherboard MSI Z77A-GD55/GA-P67A-UD4-B3
Cooling Phanteks PH-TC14CS/H80
Memory Crucial Ballistix Sport 16GB (2 x 8GB) LP /4GB Kingston DDR3 1600
Video Card(s) Asus GTX 660 Ti/MSI HD7770
Storage Crucial MX100 256GB/120GB Samsung 830 & Seagate 2TB(died)
Display(s) Asus 24' LED/Samsung SyncMaster B1940
Case P100/Antec P280 It's huge!
Audio Device(s) on board
Power Supply SeaSonic SS-660XP2/Seasonic SS-760XP2
Software Win 7 Home Premiun 64 Bit
Joined
Mar 11, 2007
Messages
702 (0.11/day)
Processor Intel Core i5 4690K
Motherboard AsRock Z97 Extreme4
Cooling Hyper 212 Evo
Memory 16GB
Video Card(s) R9 Nano
Storage 256GB SATA SSD 2TB WD Blue
Display(s) 1920x1080
Case Cooler Master Elite 130
Power Supply CX650M
Software Argh, Windows 10. I hated Windows 7. I hate Windows 10 more. Give me back XP!!!
I have a green drive now and it isn't slow.

So I'm not opposed to getting another green drive for my OS.

But it sounds like the Red is going to be fine.

So I'll go ahead and go with that since it is cheapest.

Ironic, huh?

It would seem that way.

But the drive I'm using now was originally in an emachine.

It is a first generation Green drive and it is date stamped 2007.

That makes it 6 years old at this point.

It has also been dropped off of a table and still worked perfectly.

I've never had a seagate last more than 6 months.

The last seagate I had had to be sent 5 times before the warranty finally ran out.

And that drive had a 2 year warranty.

Now that they've drop to a 1 year warranty their drives are even worse.
 
Joined
Jun 4, 2011
Messages
3,051 (0.65/day)
System Name The SwagMachine / The Sister
Processor Core i5 3570K @5.2ghz 1.3V/ 1100T
Motherboard ASUS P8Z77-V / ASUS M5A99X EVO
Cooling Phanteks PH TC14PE / Corsair H40
Memory M379B5273DH0-YK0 2X4GB + PVI316G213C1QK 2X4GB / 2x4GB Patriot 2133
Video Card(s) PNY 780Ti /Windforce 7950
Storage 2xSamsung 840 EVO 250gb+WD10EZEX + WD30EZRX/ 1x WD1500 Black
Display(s) AOC Q2963PM+Acer S200HL / Acer S200L+ LG 22LD350
Case Fractal Define R4 / NZXT Trinity
Audio Device(s) Asus Xonar DG / Asus Xonar DG
Power Supply Seasonic 750X / ROSEWILL RG630-S12 630W R
Mouse Razer Deathadder Chroma / Roccat Kone+
Keyboard Razer Blackwidow 2013 Stealth / Roccat Isku
Software Windows 8.1 Pro / Windows 7 Ultimate
Benchmark Scores one time I scored a 3 on 3dmark 11
Joined
Apr 2, 2011
Messages
2,642 (0.56/day)
I'm currently running a 4 drive RAID 5 array of red drives. I'm in the middle of encrypting them using true crypt. Now the bad part.


A new 2 TB drive, 64 MB cache, on an Intel Z77 chipset (SATA II) maxes out at 15MB/s in the array. The highest access speed I got was about 20 MB/s. I'm looking at 4 days to fully encrypt the array.


Note two things. It's supposedly a SATA III drive. Z77 obviously doesn't offer this configuration (in RAID at least). The second is that I'm running a stock clocked 2500k. More than enough arse to do all the heavy lifting and remain below 28C on each core.


Can I recommend red drives for your OS; no. Can you get away with them; probably. Has having a SSD spoiled me terribly; absolutely.
 
Joined
Mar 11, 2007
Messages
702 (0.11/day)
Processor Intel Core i5 4690K
Motherboard AsRock Z97 Extreme4
Cooling Hyper 212 Evo
Memory 16GB
Video Card(s) R9 Nano
Storage 256GB SATA SSD 2TB WD Blue
Display(s) 1920x1080
Case Cooler Master Elite 130
Power Supply CX650M
Software Argh, Windows 10. I hated Windows 7. I hate Windows 10 more. Give me back XP!!!
I don't know why you are getting such bad speeds lilhasselhoffer.

I bought the Red drive and am now using it as my OS drive with no problems.

It is definitely faster than my old WD Green drive I was using, but that drive was a first generation Green.

Here is my ATTO benchmark I ran on the drive.

It seems pretty respectable for a hard drive.

wdreadatto.png


Maybe the onboard RAID isn't as up to the task as you think it is.

I don't think having SATA III would matter at all.

These numbers for this drive are barely going past SATA I and aren't even close to the limit of SATA II.

So unless other drives are way way faster SATA III is useless with a hard drive.
 

AsRock

TPU addict
Joined
Jun 23, 2007
Messages
18,843 (3.08/day)
Location
UK\USA
Processor AMD 3900X \ AMD 7700X
Motherboard ASRock AM4 X570 Pro 4 \ ASUS X670Xe TUF
Cooling D15
Memory Patriot 2x16GB PVS432G320C6K \ G.Skill Flare X5 F5-6000J3238F 2x16GB
Video Card(s) eVga GTX1060 SSC \ XFX RX 6950XT RX-695XATBD9
Storage Sammy 860, MX500, Sabrent Rocket 4 Sammy Evo 980 \ 1xSabrent Rocket 4+, Sammy 2x990 Pro
Display(s) Samsung 1080P \ LG 43UN700
Case Fractal Design Pop Air 2x140mm fans from Torrent \ Fractal Design Torrent 2 SilverStone FHP141x2
Audio Device(s) Yamaha RX-V677 \ Yamaha CX-830+Yamaha MX-630 Infinity RS4000\Paradigm P Studio 20, Blue Yeti
Power Supply Seasonic Prime TX-750 \ Corsair RM1000X Shift
Mouse Steelseries Sensei wireless \ Steelseries Sensei wireless
Keyboard Logitech K120 \ Wooting Two HE
Benchmark Scores Meh benchmarks.
If i was going get another WD drive i would get a Black hands no question about it.. With buying SSD's over the last few years i only use any of the 7 WD's as backups now but i did have a 2 blues to before switching and they suck ass although good for backing data on them and disconnecting them for a later date...
 
Top