While WD Blue hard drives are designed for use in «regular» desktop PCs, Western Digital’s WD Black is positioned as a product for heavy use and gamers. Internal HDD with SATA interface is available in versions ranging in capacity from 1 TB. The variant we tested has a capacity of 6 TB and 256 MB cache, being the most expensive, but also the most high-performance model. According to the results of our testing, we can recognize it as the absolute leader of our rating.
The denser the data is placed on the hard disk, the higher the data transfer rate, especially when working with the outer areas of the magnetic platters. Therefore, drives filled with helium, in dimensions of 10, 12 and even 14 TB, often have a certain advantage in this regard. But WD Black 6TB, nevertheless, can compete with them: both when reading and writing, the data transfer rate exceeds the mark of 200 MB / s and, thus, reaches the level of monstrous disks. Other «regular» drives WD Black 6TB easily leaves behind thanks to the large cache.
In terms of data access time, Toshiba and WD are fighting for the leading position, but in general, the WD Black 6TB shows a better result here: according to our measurements, the access time for reading is 12.01 ms, and for writing — 4.70 ms. These are almost unsurpassed results. In this case, the spindle speed is the usual 7200 rpm. In the final assessment during the test tests, the WD Black 6TB set new performance records for both reading and writing data.
WD Black 6TB test: high performance for intensive use
And yet, it is impossible not to pay attention to the scope of WD Black. This model is designed for intensive use in desktop personal computers, for example, to work with large amounts of data or host a large game library. Therefore, it is not optimized for long-term use, such as in NAS servers. The power consumption level of 7.77 W is significantly higher than helium-filled hard drives and NAS drives like WD Red. An increased level of operating noise is also counterproductive.
WD Black 6TB test: not optimized for long-term use
It might be interesting:
Western Digital has done a good job with pricing and offers their hard drives at a very reasonable price. WD Black 6TB, that is, the maximum version of a high-performance drive with the WD logo, costs about 190$. Anyone who is looking for a huge HDD for a desktop computer, looking at this model, is on the right track. In addition, Western Digital provides a 5-year warranty on its desktop hard drives.
This drive achieves top performance in data access time and data transfer speed, approaching the level of extra-large hard drives filled with helium. According to the final assessment, the WD Black 6TB became the new leader of our internal HDD rating.
great access time
very good data transfer rate
5 years warranty
high energy consumption
not suitable for NAS
comparatively loud
Toshiba N300 4TB (HDWQ140EZSTA)The Toshiba N300 4TB is the value for money leader in our internal HDD rankings. The data access time of the Toshiba model is much shorter than that of the WD Black 6TB. But in terms of data transfer speed, a 4-terabyte drive with a 128-megabyte cache is expected to lose. However, in normal use the difference is hardly noticeable.
On the other hand, Toshiba’s NAS drive is suitable for long-term use. But the most attractive feature is the extremely affordable price of about 90$.
