WD10EZEX Review (WD Blue 1TB single-platter drive.)

http://forums.ncix.com/forums/?mode=showthread&forum=103&threadid=2544397&pagenumber=1&msgcount=5&subpage=1&product_id=74462

I know my drives, but I don't have experience with all models - I've got to give Lsi of the NCIX Forums credit (no relation to LSI, the company) - he jumps on every new drive and reviews them. I love his threads.

Just read the thread. Looks like these drives are winners, despite the lackluster access times in HDTune.



Perks:
-Tuned for low noise levels. May be quieter than Greens.
-High sequential speeds matching the new Seagates.
-No idle noise or chirping; no other 'Seagate strangeness'.
-Better firmware and NCQ algorithms.

Cons:
-With higher full-drive access times, performance will degrade more if you fill the drive to the brim.
-Not the best candidate for a lone OS-drive.

Beating a 3TB drive in a benchmark like PCMark05 is impressive. It means WD has very intelligent firmware and very good NCQ algorithms in the drive. Keep in mind that larger drives of the same RPM and platter density have an innate speed advantage, because they physically seek less distance. Seeking 600GB in on the new 3TB 3-platter Seagates is only a seek across 20% of the platters, while it would be 60% across on this Blue - and yet somehow application benchmarks favour it. It has to be smarter rearranging of reads/writes. (NCQ) WD Firmware FTW.

However, I would like to elaborate on the cons I listed. As the drive fills, the most recently added data will end up towards the end - if you install a new game and start playing it, it's at the end of the filled part of the platter. Meanwhile your OS will be at the very start. That means more LONG (slow) seeks. I think this is a great drive for people that have an OS SSD and want a quiet yet high performance secondary drive - but I would not expect exceptional performance when using it as the only drive in a system. As the drive fills up, performance will degrade a bit. (Mind you, it's probably still better than anything 5400RPM. )

I'm eagerly awaiting Lsi finishing his RAID testing. WD drives generally maintain high performance levels in RAID-0 and RAID-1.

Another good quote: I have one thing to say - BUY!

The Red and RE4 drives are intended for RAID. The Red is 5400RPM with a 3yr warranty, while the RE4 is 7200RPM with a 5yr warranty.

The Blue is highly optimized for desktop use, is 7200RPM, and is using 1TB platters. It only has a 2yr warranty, but it is quiet, so the pros outweigh the cons. I too would opt for the WD10EZEX.

They have very reliable access times, which is important in RAID environments and for servers.

It's less important for desktop use, but for desktop RAID they're still great drives to get.

Or you can try out the new blues - but I'd wait until LSI finishes his RAID testing before hopping on two of them. The new blues also have reliable max access times, so it's likely they'll perform fine. Just keep in mind you drop from a 5 year warranty to 2 years.
RE4 drives and Black drives have not yet been updated to 1TB platters. It's either harder to seek accurately at those densities, or they're waiting until all kinks are resolved to avoid any tarnish on the Black name. Regardless, I think they have a winner on their hards - aside from the flubbed Green launch (lots of early deaths), WD hasn't had any major issues with their recent drive launches. Firmware is fine, and reliability is fine. Performance is really really fine.
Edited by Kramy - 8/23/12 at 7:39pm