Computers & Electronics

WD6400AAKS vs. WD6400AALS

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  • Jun 20th, 2009 1:25 am
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Deal Addict
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Jan 27, 2008
1431 posts
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Ontario

WD6400AAKS vs. WD6400AALS

Hi,

I'm trying to find details on the differences between these two western digital hard drives. Seems to just be the warranty and the cache.

WD6400AAKS
-------------
Caviar Blue
16MB cache
3 year warranty


WD6400AALS
-------------
Caviar Black
32MB cache
5 year warranty

Is there a really large performance increase from blue to black for the price?
I found a lot of benchmarks on the caviar black, but none comparing the two. Input is appreciated.
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7 replies
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Aug 24, 2004
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The extra cache speeds it up by bit.

WD6400AAKS
[IMG]http://i276.photobucket.com/albums/kk40 ... KS-65A.png[/IMG]

WD6401AALS
[IMG]http://gergin.net/posts/HD%20Benchmarks ... 0v2.55.jpg[/IMG]

Black is supposed to have a more advanced plate stabilizing system to keep a more consistent spin.. but.. I think that is kinda marketing jargon. Get whatever is cheaper.. Really only going to see benefits out of the black vs blue if you RAID them.
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Deal Fanatic
Jan 21, 2007
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Scarborough
I don't even know if the speed is much of a difference as I've seen 640GB Blue drives reach ~95MB/s as well. Also, it might be worth nothing that you can pick up a blue for just $58.88. ;)
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Oct 13, 2002
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WD 'Black' drives have dual processors.
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May 17, 2006
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Toronto
I was willing to pay a couple more bucks for more warranty.
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Jun 27, 2004
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I guess it comes down to if you'll even notice. Personally I'll go with the black for the warranty.


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Jan 23, 2003
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Mississauga
vdub07 wrote: I was willing to pay a couple more bucks for more warranty.
I've owned both. Warranty should be the primary reason to get the black.

There is very little difference between the drives. The benchmark posted above likely shows the black is faster because he's using the blue as his operating system drive.

Original poster, please correct me if I'm wrong there.

I've personally benched both drives an read rates were exactly the same. Noise actually had the blue being slightly louder, but I chalk that off to sample variance. The average is probably the same.

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