Question 1

is this the best internal drive other than SSD for a moderate gaming machine? I have been running 5400  for the longest time so i know  that increase alone will be good, I just dont want to spend the money on this if there is another option that would be better. Thanks in advance for any replies.

Accepted Answer

This is a good drive for a desktop  machine.  It's an excellent drive for a server.  Whether it's good for "moderate gaming" will depend on the kind of gaming and what you mean by "moderate".

The features that make this drive good for server use are: moderate speed (7200RPM: better than 5400 but not as good as 10,000), plenty of space, and high reliability at a reasonable price.  This drive is designed for continuous use.  It does not power down during quiet periods between busy spells -- the designers expected it to be busy all the time -- no such thing as a quiet period. When you hit it with an I/O request it's ready to go with no delay.  It's also designed for a long service life -- long time between replacements, to minimize server downtime.

If that's what your "moderate gaming" requires, this drive will do what you need.  If, on the other hand, you require extremely fast I/O and (essentially) zero delay, and you don't need all the extra space (2TB is huge unless you're into music and video), go ahead and get the SSD.  You'll be happier in the long run.

Incidentally, if you are into music and video, there are drives especially designed for A/V usage.  This isn't one of them, but it could do the job in a pinch.

I bought it for server use.  I'd also buy it for desktop use, but that's just me: reliability is very important in what I do.  Your milage may vary.

Question 2

What would be the differences between this and a blue drive of the same size?

Accepted Answer

WD doesn't list any detailed specs.  The black edition drives have a 5 year warranty and the blue have a 2 year warranty.  The maximum size available in the blue drive is 1TB, the WD2003FZEX is a 2TB drive and features a dual processor controller.  One would expect the black edition to have a lower latency and faster xfer rates, but w/o detailed specs. can not be determined for sure.  The black series are considered performance drive while the blue are everyday computing drives.

The black series is a more reliable drive

The blue series is considerably cheaper (note 2 vs 5 yr warranty).

In one discussion online in the case of the black series a replacement drive will be sent out before the failing drive is returned in the case of the blue a replacement is not sent out until the faulty drive is returned to WD.  Best check with WD on this point.

Question 3

Does this come with a sata cable or do i have to buy one seperately?

Accepted Answer

No, this is an OEM version, you only get the bare drive so you'll need a SATA cable.

Question 4

Is this compatible with SATA 3.0?

Accepted Answer

I installed this in an external case for backing up hard drive images (using Acronis). But it should work fine with the SATA 3 interface, which by definition specifies up to 6.0 Gbits/sec interface. SATA 2 is for 3.0 Gbits/sec. See the Wikipedia article  for "SATA 3"

Question 5

Western Digital WD Green WD10EADS 1TB 32MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive.. this is what I have in my computer ..can I replace it with this hard drive?

Accepted Answer

Yes you can. In addition to replacing your old drive, this new one will give you a nice speed boost because it is a 7200 RPM, where as your old one  was a 5400 RPM, (Revolutions Per Minute). It is like a record player that spins faster, so the hard disk reads and writes faster. The new drive also has a larger cache 64mb, compared to your old drive 32mb, which means your new drive can "feed" data faster to the spinning disks. Lastly, the new drive has a longer MTBF rate than your old drive; (Mean Time Between Failure). Which means you should enjoy the drive a lot longer before you would have problems with it; (more than five years). I hope this helps.

Question 6

Does the hard drive come with a cable for the power supply?

Accepted Answer

Hello, Christopher!

For future reference, in my 10 years of experience with building and repairing computers, I've never had a hard drive come with a power cable. That would be something that is included with the power supply itself. If I recall properly, this hard drive is OEM (Original Equipment Manufacture) which means nothing is included except for the drive. I'm pretty sure that when I got mine, it didn't even have a box (other than the shipping box), but was just wrapped in bubble wrap. Hope this helps you!

PS: If you meant to ask about the data cable to go from hard drive to motherboard (also not included), Newegg has several cheap options in various lengths and colors of the SATA 6.0 Gb/s you'd want to use with this drive. Good luck!

- Jordan

Question 7

Is this drive loud?

Accepted Answer

No.  its silent sitting at normal distance.  very faint clicks if you put your ear to the case.  much better than drives of the past (5-10 years ago).

Question 8

Hello, will this hard drive fit in my MacBook Pro?  Thanks..Jack

Accepted Answer

Jack D,
I didn't notice that you were asking about a MacBook Pro.  I'm assuming that is a portable pc.  Normally 2.5" drive formats are required for a portable pc.  This drive is normally intended for a desk top computer.  So ignore the 1st response from me.

rcubed

Question 9

Hi -
I'm a filmmaker and running on a mac.  Cheaper HDs seem to spin down - so I'm wondering if I should spring for this one for my editing but am concerned about it being 'optimized for PC'.  Is this a good fit for me - with my concern about spinning down?
Thx
-J

Accepted Answer

This drive does not spin down unless it is told to do so by the OS or Disk controller.

In OS X you can set INTERNAL HD's not to spin down/power off by either unchecking "Put hard disks to sleep when possible" in System Preferences>Energy Saver or by using the pmset tool.

Pmset example: Open Terminal, Type "pmset -a disksleep 0"

Note: You can swap the the -a switch with either -a, -b, -c, -u.
[Battery ( -b ), charger (wall power) ( -c ), UPS ( -u ) or all ( -a )]

Question 10

Did anyone get one of these drives packed in an air bladder only? In a small box from Newegg? My replacement drive came in the normal WD packing, but I wonder why the first drive was just shoved in a bladder bag, and packed in a small box just big enough for it. That drive is going back, because it has issues, and am really curious what they sent in the beginning? A refurb? Every drive I ever got from WD came in an oversized box and was isolated we with plastic end caps.

Accepted Answer

Thanks Kyle, even the replacement one makes some weird noises when winding down. Just hope it isn't a bad bearing, cause I never usually hear hard disk noises related to it spinning. Vibration is because of balance, and squealing is from bearing ( or mini pig inside drive, maybe :)

Brand	WD
Series	Black
Model	WD2003FZEX

Interface	SATA 6.0Gb/s
Capacity	2TB
NAND Flash Memory Type	Desktop
Recording Technology	CMR
RPM	7200 RPM
Cache	64MB

Features	Performance storage available in up to 6TB capacities 2X DRAM cache up to 256MB for faster read operations Designed for creative professionals, gamers, and system builders Western Digital's StableTrac and Dynamic Cache Technology increase reliability and optimize performance
Usage	Gaming Hard Drives

Form Factor	3.5"
Height (maximum)	26.10mm
Width (maximum)	101.60mm
Length (maximum)	147.00mm

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WD Black 2TB Performance Desktop Hard Disk Drive - 7200 RPM SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache 3.5 Inch - WD2003FZEX

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