Caviar Black vs Caviar Blue

[phas3]

I have a late mac mini 2009 3,1

I'd like to replace the factory 160gb HD in it, I'm wanting to at least get a 320gb.

I'm not quite sure if the Caviar Blue or the Black is better for me.

 

[Shrink]

I have a late mac mini 2009 3,1

I'd like to replace the factory 160gb HD in it, I'm wanting to at least get a 320gb.

I'm not quite sure if the Caviar Blue or the Black is better for me.

Boy, am I dumb.

I thought the post was about caviar, and I was going to say something about there not being blue caviar.

 

[opinio]

I have a late mac mini 2009 3,1

I'd like to replace the factory 160gb HD in it, I'm wanting to at least get a 320gb.

I'm not quite sure if the Caviar Blue or the Black is better for me.

I think you mean scorpio blue and scorpio black?

You can only fit 2.5" drives in a mini? The caviar drives are larger?

EIther way, the blue is 5400 and the black is 7200 rpm so the black is faster.

The blue is definitely not the fastest 5400rpm around though. Hitachis 2.5" is sata III and faster read write than the blue.

Conclusion: Scorpio black drives are ok, but the blues are old tech. My Hitachi 7200 1TB 32MB cache HDD and 5400 1TB HDD are both SATA III and read/write faster than my Scorpio Black 500GB 16MB cache and Scorpio Blue 1TB respectively.

Note also, WD who makes scorpio drives, owns Hitachi (HGST or HSGT?) now.

 

[philipma1957]

buy a 1tb hgst 7200 rpm or a 750gb scorpio black.


http://www.rakuten.com/prod/hgst-tr...ard-drive-kit-7200rpm-sata-6gb/245458730.html



http://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-list...=8-1&keywords=hgst+1tb+7200+rpm&condition=new


here is a dead ebay listing. I SOLD A FEW DON'T HAVE ANY MORE.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/151022311634?ssPageName=STRK:MESOX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1587.l2649
______________________________________
scorpio black 750gb
_____________________________

http://www.rakuten.com/prod/western...-750-gb-2-5-sata-internal-hard/219565176.html

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136835

http://www.amazon.com/Western-Digit...&qid=1365459930&sr=8-1&keywords=scorpio+black



BOTH WILL WORK FOR YOU. I would put the HGST in if I were you. don't cheap out and buy a small one you do not save much and your risk of braking the computer is the same as if you grab a small one.

I have put dozens of the 750gb scorpio blacks in. was my first pick now the hgst 1tb 7200 rpm is my first pick.

 

[FreakinEurekan]

I'm not quite sure if the Caviar Blue or the Black is better for me.

It depends

All things being equal, I'll pay a few bucks extra for a Caviar Black to get the 5-year warranty, versus the 2 years with Blue. The black has a bigger cache but the performance difference is nominal.

 

[Mr. Retrofire]

I have a late mac mini 2009 3,1

I'd like to replace the factory 160gb HD in it, I'm wanting to at least get a 320gb.

I'm not quite sure if the Caviar Blue or the Black is better for me.

The 2.5" WD Blue has a higher density, especially the WD10JPVT (1 TB, 9.5 mm height) and is faster than many 2.5" WD Black drives.

See also:
https://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?p=15083892#post15083892
and
https://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?p=16520124#post16520124
and
https://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?p=15195677#post15195677

----------

...
EIther way, the blue is 5400 and the black is 7200 rpm so the black is faster.
...

No, that is NOT true.

----------

The blue is definitely not the fastest 5400rpm around though. Hitachis 2.5" is sata III and faster read write than the blue.

On a good day your HDD reaches SATA I speed. SATA III is irrelevant for HDDs.

 

[opinio]

The 2.5" WD Blue has a higher density, especially the WD10JPVT (1 TB, 9.5 mm height) and is faster than many 2.5" WD Black drives.

See also:
https://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?p=15083892#post15083892
and
https://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?p=16520124#post16520124
and
https://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?p=15195677#post15195677

----------


No, that is NOT true.

----------


On a good day your HDD reaches SATA I speed. SATA III is irrelevant for HDDs.

Can you please explain how the 5400rpm scorpio blue 2.5" 9.5mm WD10JPV drive is faster than scorpio black drives which are higher cache (16 versus 8) than the Scorpio black and higher rpm than the scorpio blue? I have many scorpio black and Scorpio blue drives. all my blacks are 7200 and the blues are 5400. All me scorpio blues are slower than my scorpio blacks. can you please explain why this is NOT the case?

Note on clarification: I am talking only about 2.5" drives in this thread as the OP is talking about replacing the OEM in his 2009 mini. I am not comparing, or referring to, 3.25" drives. His post refers to 'caviar blue' drives which I believe is a typo on his part. I believe he meant to say scorpio blue (and scorpio black). See me first post on this. I could be wrong on this though.

 

[philipma1957]

Can you please explain how the 5400rpm scorpio blue 2.5" 9.5mm WD10JPV drive is faster than scorpio black drives which are higher cache (16 versus 8) than the Scorpio black and higher rpm than the scorpio blue? I have many scorpio black and Scorpio blue drives. all my blacks are 7200 and the blues are 5400. All me scorpio blues are slower than my scorpio blacks. can you please explain why this is NOT the case?

Note on clarification: I am talking only about 2.5" drives in this thread as the OP is talking about replacing the OEM in his 2009 mini. I am not comparing, or referring to, 3.25" drives. His post refers to 'caviar blue' drives which I believe is a typo on his part. I believe he meant to say scorpio blue (and scorpio black). See me first post on this. I could be wrong on this though.

I can explain it.

the 1tb 5400 rpm scorpio blue is faster then a 320 gb 7200 rpm scorpio black from about the 270gb point on.
the 1tb 5400 rpm scorpio blue is faster then a 500 gb 7200 rpm scorpio black from about the 450gb point on.
the 1tb 5400 rpm scorpio blue is faster then a 750 gb 7200 rpm scorpio black from about the 700gb point on.


just use the idea of copying 2 eye tv files of 18gb each to above hdds the scorpio blue will be faster due to room .


this brings me back to my point of picking the 1tb hgst 7200 rpm hdd as the best hdd for a mac mini over the 750gb scorpio black.

 

[opinio]

this brings me back to my point of picking the 1tb hgst 7200 rpm hdd as the best hdd for a mac mini over the 750gb scorpio black.

I agree. I am running that exact drive as a boot drive on one mac mini and in a fusion drive on another. runs very cool (or similar to the OEM apple 1TB), has 32mb cache, sata III with a 6 Gigabit negotiated link speed (yes I know it cannot even come close to operating at that speed). Not bad for what they can pack into a 2.5" drive these days.

 

[blanka]

I can say the 750Gb black is a great step up from the built in one. I put that exact drive in the Mini 2009 (which has SATA 2 = 3Gb/s btw, not sata 1).
It is inaudible and very cool. The HGST sounds great too, did not know that one, and it appears to be a WD brand too, but here it is not sold. So the Black is the only option.

 

[philipma1957]

I can say the 750Gb black is a great step up from the built in one. I put that exact drive in the Mini 2009 (which has SATA 2 = 3Gb/s btw, not sata 1).
It is inaudible and very cool. The HGST sounds great too, did not know that one, and it appears to be a WD brand too, but here it is not sold. So the Black is the only option.

well that makes for an easy choice door number one or door number one.

But if you do have the choice the one down side for the hgst 1tb 7200 rpm is shorter warranty. 2 vs 5 years. I also know the hgst is new so not longterm track record for it. The wd scorpio black 750 gb has been around for about 16-18 months. they were in the 2011 mac mini servers. so that may be august 2011 they do not have reports of dying off in droves as of yet.