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Western Digital (WD) is known as a global storage solutions company, offering a wide range of storage products such as SSDs and HDDs to suit various needs.
Among these, WD holds a significant share in the consumer HDD market and is recognized for its reliability, making it a recommended manufacturer.
WD’s main HDD series include WD Blue, WD Purple, WD Red, WD Gold, and WD Black. This article will explain the features, uses, and differences of these series.
By understanding which series matches specific needs, this information can be helpful for those considering installing an HDD.
- WD is a global storage solutions company
- WD has a high share in the HDD market, especially for custom-built PCs
- Each series is divided by usage
- WD Blue: For general use
- WD Purple: For surveillance camera systems
- WD Red: For NAS
- WD Gold: For enterprise use
- WD Black: For gaming and high-performance PCs
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Table of Contents
What is Western Digital (WD)?
Before looking at the HDD series, let’s first explain what kind of company WD is.
A Global Storage Solutions Company
WD operates globally, providing storage solutions not only for custom PC users but also for B2B markets such as data centers, making it a well-known company among both individuals and businesses.
WD mainly offers data storage products like HDDs and SSDs, and is known for high quality and reliability.
Especially in the HDD market, WD has established itself as a leader for many years, striving for technological innovation and improved customer satisfaction.
Personally, I have purchased 5 or 6 WD HDDs so far, and all have worked stably without initial defects, so I recommend them.
Some have failed due to lifespan, but there were no early or strange failures, so I trust them highly.
Diverse Product Lineup (Especially Famous for HDDs)
WD offers a diverse product lineup, with HDDs being particularly well-known.
For HDDs, models are available for a wide range of needs, from personal users to businesses, with options for different uses, capacities, and performance levels.
For example, the lineup includes general HDDs for desktop and laptop PCs, as well as high-performance HDDs for data centers and cloud storage.
WD is highly rated by many users for reliability and durability, and continues to expand its share in the HDD field.
The main HDD manufacturers are:
Among these, WD holds a much larger share than the second place.
Focusing on WD, WD Blue is by far the most popular, followed by WD Purple and WD Red series.
Details about each series will be explained later.
≫ Related Article: Popular HDD Rankings and Selection Rates by Specification [Statistical Data]
*This data is based on parts selected by users in the Custom PC Tool, which allows for “estimation“, “compatibility check“, and “power calculation” just by choosing parts.
Introduction of Advanced Technologies
WD has greatly improved HDD performance and reliability by introducing advanced technologies.
Particularly notable are helium-filled technology and advances in recording technology.
Helium-filled technology replaces the air inside the HDD with helium, reducing disk rotation resistance and allowing more disks to be installed.
This increases data capacity and reduces power consumption.
WD also uses two different recording technologies: SMR (Shingled Magnetic Recording) and CMR (Conventional Magnetic Recording).
SMR allows for higher data density (larger capacity) by overlapping data writes, but may result in slower write speeds.
On the other hand, CMR is the traditional method, providing stable performance.
Some enterprise large-capacity HDDs use MAMR (Microwave Assisted Magnetic Recording) technology.
This technology uses microwaves to improve recording efficiency when writing to the disk.
It is mainly used in data centers and fields that require large-capacity data storage.
By adopting these technologies according to purpose and usage environment, WD HDDs have the flexibility to meet various needs.
Western Digital (WD) HDD Series
Western Digital (WD) HDD series include WD Blue, WD Purple, WD Red, WD Gold, WD Black, and WD Green.
Let’s explain the features, uses, and differences of each series in detail.
First, here is a simple table summarizing each series:
| Series Name | Usage | Features | Warranty |
|---|---|---|---|
| WD Blue | General desktop PCs and laptops | – Balanced performance – 5400 RPM to 7200 RPM – Both HDD and SSD available | 2 years |
| WD Purple | For surveillance camera systems | – Optimized for surveillance cameras – Prevents frame drops – Supports 24/7 continuous recording | WD Purple: 3 years WD Purple Pro: 5 years |
| WD Red | For NAS | – Optimized for NAS – Supports 24/7 operation – RAID support and high durability | WD Red, WD Red Plus: 3 years WD Red Pro: 5 years |
| WD Gold | For enterprise use | – High reliability – Large capacity and high performance – For data centers | 5 years |
| WD Black | For gaming and high-performance PCs | – High performance – 7200 RPM rotation speed – NVMe SSD also available | 5 years |
| WD Green | For power-saving environments ⇒ Integrated into Blue in 2015, so not available now. | – Low power consumption – Quiet operation – Now only available as SSD | – |
Each series will be explained, but as a basic premise, HDD data transfer speeds are slower than NVMe SSDs or SATA SSDs.
Therefore, most current storage setups use NVMe SSDs as the main storage, and HDDs are mainly used for storing or backing up data where speed is not critical.
There may be mentions of speed differences within the series, but this is only within WD’s HDD series. Even the fastest HDD cannot exceed the data transfer speed of SSDs due to their specifications and nature, so please keep this in mind.
WD Blue
WD Blue is the best model for general use among WD’s HDD series.
It has performance suitable for everyday PC tasks such as data storage and backup, and offers a good balance of reliability and cost performance, making it widely used for daily and office purposes.
There are various capacities available, from 2TB to 8TB, so users can choose according to their needs.
As it is for general use, it is the most popular series.
It is recommended for users who do not need high data transfer speeds but want to increase storage capacity.
WD Purple
WD Purple is an HDD specialized for surveillance camera systems.
Surveillance camera systems operate 24/7, so HDDs require high durability and reliability.
WD Purple is designed to meet these requirements, especially excelling in continuous write performance.
In addition, WD Purple is equipped with AllFrame technology, which prevents video frame drops and enables smooth recording.
For this reason, it is the best choice for storing surveillance camera system data.
There are two types of WD Purple:
- WD Purple
- WD Purple Pro
WD Purple
WD Purple is designed for home and small to medium surveillance systems.
This model is optimized to record video from up to 64 HD surveillance cameras simultaneously, providing reliable performance for 24/7 operation.
It supports an annual workload of 180TB and up to 1 million hours MTBF, offering sufficient durability for general surveillance use.
WD Purple Pro
WD Purple Pro is a high-performance model suitable for larger surveillance systems and commercial enterprise environments.
This model is optimized to record video from up to 64 HD surveillance cameras and 32 simultaneous AI streams at the same time.
It also supports an annual workload of 550TB and up to 2.5 million hours MTBF, providing stable performance even under harsher conditions.
AI streams refer to video streams used for video analysis and data processing with AI (artificial intelligence) functions.
For example, face recognition, object detection and tracking, license plate recognition, anomaly detection, and analysis of personal attributes can be performed from video.
These analyses require frequent data reading and writing, so HDDs need reliability and durability to withstand high loads.
Additionally, WD Purple Pro is designed for improved vibration resistance and stable operation even in high-temperature environments, maintaining reliability even when multiple drives operate simultaneously.
WD Red
WD Red is an HDD series designed specifically for use in NAS (Network Attached Storage) environments.
It is intended for 24/7 continuous operation and supports a wide range of environments, from home and small offices to large-scale NAS systems for enterprises.
This series focuses on reliability and durability, with various technologies to ensure data safety.
For example, it includes NASware 3.0 firmware, which improves compatibility and performance while maintaining data integrity.
WD Red is also designed for low power consumption, making it energy efficient and reducing electricity costs even during long-term operation.
Capacities range from 1TB to 14TB, allowing users to choose according to their needs.
There are three types of WD Red:
- WD Red
- WD Red Plus
- WD Red Pro
WD Red
WD Red is mainly designed for NAS (network-attached storage) for individuals and small offices.
This model mainly uses a low rotation speed of 5,400 RPM, achieving low power consumption and low heat generation.
Early models used CMR (Conventional Magnetic Recording), but current models use SMR (Shingled Magnetic Recording).
SMR increases recording density, but may have lower write performance, so caution is needed for frequent write use.
It supports an annual workload of 180TB and 1 million hours MTBF, making it suitable for environments with relatively light data access.
WD Red Plus
WD Red Plus is suitable for small to medium NAS environments.
It is chosen for situations that require more frequent data reading and writing than personal use.
Models are available with 5,400 RPM or 7,200 RPM rotation speeds, offering higher performance than WD Red.
All models use CMR, providing stable write performance.
WD Red Plus also supports an annual workload of 180TB.
WD Red Pro
WD Red Pro is designed for large-scale NAS and enterprise environments.
This series is suitable for uses that require high reliability and performance, with a rotation speed of 7,200 RPM, enabling faster data transfer and shorter access times compared to other Red series.
All models use CMR, and support a high workload of 550TB per year and up to 2.5 million hours MTBF, so they can be used with confidence even in demanding 24/7 environments.
Additionally, WD Red Pro has a large cache and is reinforced for resistance to vibration and shock, assuming operation with multiple drives in NAS environments.
WD Gold
WD Gold is an HDD series especially suitable for enterprise data centers and server environments.
It boasts high reliability and durability, and is designed for 24/7 continuous operation.
Capacities range from 1TB to 24TB, allowing flexible response to different data volumes.
WD Gold also features advanced functions such as vibration protection and error recovery control to ensure data integrity.
With these features, WD Gold is a reliable choice for mission-critical applications and large-scale data storage.
WD Black
WD Black is the highest-performance model among the HDD series.
It is mainly designed for gamers and creators, combining fast data transfer speeds with large capacity.
It excels at fast data reading and writing and can handle multiple tasks simultaneously, making it possible to shorten game load times and smoothly edit large videos and images.
It is also highly durable, providing stable performance over long periods.
However, the data transfer speed comparison is only within WD HDD series, so if fast data transfer is needed for load times or video editing, SSDs are recommended.
WD Green
WD Green is the most power-efficient model among WD’s HDD series.
It is mainly suitable for data storage and backup, featuring low power consumption, quiet operation, and low heat generation.
This allows for reduced power consumption during long-term operation and is environmentally friendly.
However, WD Green was integrated into WD Blue in 2015 and is no longer produced or sold.
Summary: Know the Features and Uses to Choose the Right One!
This article explained what kind of company WD is, as well as the features, uses, and differences of each WD HDD series.
Here are the key points again:
- WD is a global storage solutions company
- WD has a high share in the HDD market, especially for custom-built PCs
- Each series is divided by usage
- WD Blue: For general use
- WD Purple: For surveillance camera systems
- WD Red: For NAS
- WD Gold: For enterprise use
- WD Black: For gaming and high-performance PCs
The most popular storage setup these days is a single NVMe SSD, so opportunities to use HDDs are decreasing.
For now, use an SSD as the main storage, and if more capacity is needed for data that does not require high transfer speeds, HDDs become an option.
In such cases, WD offers high reliability and durability, providing stable performance.
In fact, I have used 5 or 6 units of WD Blue, WD Red, and WD Green so far, and none had initial defects or early failures.
Even with 8 to 24 hours of use per day, they last 3 to 5 years, and some have lasted even longer, so they are reliable enough to fulfill their lifespan.
Therefore, when installing an HDD, WD is a good choice in terms of reliability, durability, and market share.
WD offers various series such as WD Blue, WD Purple, WD Red, WD Gold, and WD Black. If simply increasing storage capacity, WD Blue is sufficient, but there are options for NAS, surveillance cameras, enterprise use, and more, so choose the one that best fits the intended use.
Select PC parts and online stores to instantly generate an estimate, check compatibility, and calculate power requirements. You can save up to five different builds, making it easy to try out multiple configurations.
≫ Tool：PC Parts Estimation & Compatibility Check Tool
