New HDD for desktop wanted

Hello,
I’m looking for a HDD upgrade (extension) for my existing PC build.

Up to day I use 2TB 7200rpm Seagate Barracuda, which have been operational for over 3 years now. It still performs well, the only issue is, I’m running out of space.

I’ve been thinking about adding new HDD (~4-6TB) to offload my data (Music, Movies, Documents), leave the existing Barracuda for games library. Note: The OS is (and will remain) on SSD.

I currently cannot decide between WD Blue (220€) and WD Red (240€).
Pricewise, those are very close, I just cannot decide between those two.

Could you help (do the decision) for me, please? :slight_smile:

Depending on where you are, 6TB WD Gold drives cost 220€

WD Blue drives are roughly equivalent to Barracudas, but beyond 1TB they are 5400 RPM, vs 7200.

This will make a 4TB WD Blue slower than a 4TB Barracuda.

WD Reds are designed for NAS deployment, so can operate well in cages with other drives. They are however a slower than their 1TB WD Blue counterparts (and Seasgate’s Barracudas) as they use IntelliPower to ramp between different speeds based on load, amongst other factors.

If you want to replace a Seagate Barracuda with a similar but larger drive, then another Barracuda is undoubtedly the way to go. In case you are not aware you should avoid 3TB drives across the board as for some inexplicable reason they fail more than any other size of drive. 4TB and 6TB models are very solid.

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Thanks everyone for advices.
I ended up buying 6TB WD Red.

@MazeFrame I skipped the gold due to noise levels - based on reviews .
@FizzyFantom - no need for 7200rpm, since the intended use is storage for occasionally accessed data. Thanks for warning about 3TB models anyway.

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Definitely a problem with mine. Good thing I only use it for backups at 4AM.

My 3TB WD Red is a good main storage drive. TBH I don’t notice that it’s only 5400RPM.
I chose it for reliability and I have SSD’s where I need speed.