Q: Will the Green WD WD30EZRX fit and run (compatible with an Alienware Laptop Computer?

3.5" Internal <<<<---------Desktop 2.5" Internal <<<<---------Laptop When looking for a laptop hard drive one should seek out the 2.5" internal laptop hard drive. 3.5" hard drives are not designed to fit in a laptop.

Q: I'm confused by the hard drives I see on your website. They all have a new connector on the back, it's flat with flat connectors. It looks like all your hard drives have this. I have an old computer (3 years old) with a 40 "pin" connector. Will my old plug work with this new flat connector?

Most hard drives sold today are know as Serial ATA (SATA). Yours old one is a Parallel ATA (PATA). wikipedia will explain the difference. I think you can still get these drives, just search for PATA or IDE type drives. Or, you can use one of the newer SATA drives in our computer but you will have to also buy a SATA controller board to connect it along with adapter cables for the power and data connections. Or, you can just buy an external SATA drive that will connect to your computer through a USB port. Good Luck

Q: do i need to format this drive or is it already ntfs?

You will need to format it, but it's easy to do. Control Panel / System and Security, then (Win7) Create and format hard disk partitions, or (Win 8.1) Computer Management / Storage / Disk Management. Then, unless you have a compelling reason to put more than one partition on it, create one partition of the maximum size and format it as NTFS (quick format is fine).

Q: I have a 2 bay NAS RAID1 I use for storing music, movies, and pictures. Would this drive be suitable for the NAS or should I really get the Red series drives?

You could use this in a NAS, the problem is that the time for the heads to park is very low. If a drive is not read from or written to after eight (8) seconds the heads park. If the drive is written to every ten seconds it will park stay parked for two seconds then unpark and perform its operation and begin waiting again. This continuous parking and unparking causes a lot of undue wear and tear on the heads. You can use the WDidle3 tool to increase the time and save on wear and tear but it would be best to pick up one of the WD Red drives for your situation.

Q: What is IntelliPower?

Intellipower just means that the drive spins somewhere between 5400-7200 RPM. What exact speed? No one knows. Instead of listing a speed that can differ drive by drive, they just call it Intellipower.

Q: What are the differences between "green", "red" and "black" series?

Western Digital provides a decent overview on their website, although we're not allowed to link that here. Search for Internal Desktop Hard Drives Overview Western Digital , and it should be one of the top results, if not the top. You can find more specific details in the specs for each drive. The other answers here are basically correct, with a couple exceptions. The "Green" drives do not have a "set" rotational speed. The "intellipower" system varies the rotational speed of the platters as needed, and shuts them down as often as possible, in an effort to save power. This is why you should never try to use these "green" drives in any kind of RAID system. The "Black" drives are higher-performance, have more cache for quick-access, etc. The "Blue" drives are more standard, desktop/laptop drives, usually 5,400 RPM, decently reliable for normal stuff, just not "high performance" The "Red" drives are a newer addition, with higher-RPM (7,200), and high-performance cache & firmware specifically designed & programmed for RAID, NAS/DAS systems. That being said, they're nice, reliable storage drives for anything.

Q: Does it have 6 holes? I want to buy the one with 6 holes for recovering my old hard drive data . It seems that "WD30EZRX 3TB" has two different kinds. One has 6 holes which is like this picture, another kind is 4 holes which is manufactured later.

IT HAS 6 HOLES ON SIDES, 3 ON EACH SIDE AND 4 HOLES ON BOTTOM TO MOUNT HD COOLING FAN. HOPE I WAS ABLE TO HELP YOU.

Q: I see this drive has advanced formatting. I only had one with this miserable format and it would not allow me to install XP Pro without going through 2 days of configuration. I returned it and found another without this format. Is this drive that way? Do all WD drives ending in X have this advanced format?

All drives larger than 2.1TB will need special handling in Windows XP, and may or may not be supported by older BIOSes. If you don't want to do anything special, stick to 2TB drives and smaller.

Question 1

Is this a boxed drive (comes with full packaging) or a bare bones drive (just the hard drive)?

Accepted Answer

OEM. Bare drive. Comes in a cardboard box easily discarded. Any hardware needed for mounting will be in the packages you received with your case (the enclosure you call your computer). You should have received all cables needed with your case as well, except possibly for sata cables. You can measure exactly the length you need and order the needed sata cable so it won't be longer than necessary and pack the case. All sata cables work with all sata drives, there are no sata II or sata III cables.

Question 2

When did you purchase this and what has your experience been?

It seems like a lot of the bad reviews are from users who bought a Green a few to several years ago, which may have been different revisions of the same model.

Accepted Answer

I bought this in September 2013 and it has been in constant use. I have purchased many WD Green drives and have been completely happy with them. They are not intended for speed but for cool, quiet, and economical running. This is what I use them for, for storage of video and data. They are quiet and cool. They shut down after extended inactivity so you may have to wait briefly for them to spin up when you access them but this saves wear and power. My PC is on 24/7 and this drive is mounted inside. I use an SSD for my boot drive and this is really the only fast drive I need. My movie collection is stored on external drives but this has TV, documentaries, opera, and music, along with other storage. I have other Green drives installed both internally and externally and none have ever failed or given trouble on any kind. I buy only WD hard drives. I have three desktops and a laptop. I built two of the current desktops. Between them there are 4 SSDs and 12 WD hard drives, most are Green drives. I have had 6 or more drive failures between home and work but never a WD Green. For bulk storage they are excellent.

Question 3

Will the Green WD WD30EZRX fit and run (compatible with an Alienware Laptop Computer?

Accepted Answer

3.5" Internal <<<<---------Desktop 
2.5" Internal <<<<---------Laptop

When looking for a laptop hard drive one should seek out the 2.5" internal laptop hard drive. 3.5" hard drives are not designed to fit in a laptop.

Question 4

I'm confused by the hard drives I see on your website. They all have a new connector on the back, it's flat with flat connectors.  It looks like all your hard drives have this. I have an old computer (3 years old) with a 40 "pin" connector. Will my old plug work with this new flat connector?

Accepted Answer

Most hard drives sold today are know as Serial ATA (SATA).  Yours old one is a Parallel ATA (PATA).
 
wikipedia will explain the difference.

I think you can still get these drives, just search for PATA or IDE type drives.

Or, you can use one of the newer SATA drives in our computer but you will have to also buy a SATA controller board to connect it along with adapter cables for the power and data connections.

Or, you can just buy an external SATA drive that will connect to your computer through a USB port.

Good Luck

Question 5

do i need to format this drive or is it already ntfs?

Accepted Answer

You will need to format it, but it's easy to do.

Control Panel / System and Security, then (Win7) Create and format hard disk partitions, or (Win 8.1) Computer Management / Storage / Disk Management.

Then, unless you have a compelling reason to put more than one partition on it, create one partition of the maximum size and format it as NTFS (quick format is fine).

Question 6

I have a 2 bay NAS RAID1 I use for storing music, movies, and pictures. Would this drive be suitable for the NAS or should I really get the Red series drives?

Accepted Answer

You could use this in a NAS, the problem is that the time for the heads to park is very low.  If a drive is not read from or written to after eight (8) seconds the heads park.  If the drive is written to every ten seconds it will park stay parked for two seconds then unpark and perform its operation and begin waiting again.  This continuous parking and unparking causes a lot of undue wear and tear on the heads.  You can use the WDidle3 tool to increase the time and save on wear and tear but it would be best to pick up one of the WD Red drives for your situation.

Question 7

What is IntelliPower?

Accepted Answer

Intellipower just means that the drive spins somewhere between 5400-7200 RPM.  What exact speed?  No one knows.  Instead of listing a speed that can differ drive by drive, they just call it Intellipower.

Question 8

What are the differences between "green", "red" and "black" series?

Accepted Answer

Western Digital provides a decent overview on their website, although we're not allowed to link that here.  Search for Internal Desktop Hard Drives Overview Western Digital , and it should be one of the top results, if not the top.

You can find more specific details in the specs for each drive.
The other answers here are basically correct, with a couple exceptions.   The "Green" drives do not have a "set" rotational speed.  The "intellipower" system varies the rotational speed of the platters as needed, and shuts them down as often as possible, in an effort to save power.  This is why you should never try to use these "green" drives in any kind of RAID system.
The "Black" drives are higher-performance, have more cache for quick-access, etc.
The "Blue" drives are more standard, desktop/laptop drives, usually 5,400 RPM, decently reliable for normal stuff, just not "high performance"
The "Red" drives are a newer addition, with higher-RPM (7,200), and high-performance cache & firmware specifically designed & programmed for RAID, NAS/DAS systems. That being said, they're nice, reliable storage drives for anything.

Question 9

Does it have 6 holes?  I want to buy the one with 6 holes for recovering my old hard drive data .  It seems that "WD30EZRX 3TB" has two different kinds. One has 6 holes which is like this picture, another kind is 4 holes which is manufactured later.

Accepted Answer

IT HAS 6 HOLES ON SIDES, 3 ON EACH SIDE AND 4 HOLES ON BOTTOM TO MOUNT HD COOLING FAN. HOPE I WAS ABLE TO HELP YOU.

Question 10

I see this drive has advanced formatting. I only had one with this miserable format and it would not allow me to install XP Pro without going through 2 days of configuration. I returned it and found another without this format.
Is this drive that way? Do all WD drives ending in X have this advanced format?

Accepted Answer

All drives larger than 2.1TB will need special handling in Windows XP, and may or may not be supported by older BIOSes.  If you don't want to do anything special, stick to 2TB drives and smaller.

Questions & Answers