1/2/23, 5:16 PM WD Purple Pro vs WD Gold for Video Recording | Overclock.

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WD Purple Pro vs WD Gold for Video Recording

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bigblueshock · Registered
B Joined Jun 9, 2016 · 212 Posts

Discussion Starter · #1 · Feb 24, 2022

I've printed out spec sheets and have them side-by-side. The WD Purple Pro now has a 5-year (previously 3
year with original WD Purple) in line with the WD Gold's 5-Year warranty.

Aside from WD Gold coming in a 20GB max capacity vs WD Purple max 18TB capacity, The prices are very
similar otherwise.

What am I missing here? Is there a reason to get one over the other in a NVR/DVR/Video Recording
environment? I wonder if one is quieter than the other.

AMD Ryzen 5950x | Gigabyte X570 Aorus Master | G.Skill Trident Z 32GB (4 x 8GB) @ 3733 CAS 14 | Seasonic PRIME TX-
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 Slaughtahouse · H₂O Aficionado

Joined Jan 28, 2013 · 5,842 Posts

#2 · Feb 24, 2022

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1/2/23, 5:16 PM WD Purple Pro vs WD Gold for Video Recording | Overclock.net

This only significant difference I could find is firmware. Someone else can correct me.

Western Digital Enables Artificial-Intelligence-Powered Video Surveillance With New High-Capacity

Products | Western Digital
Western Digital provides data storage solutions, including systems, HDD, Flash SSD, memory and personal
data solutions to help customers capture and preserve their most valued data.

www.westerndigital.com

If this is just a personal device to with basic retention capabilities, the Gold seems a lot more flexible if you
ever want to reuse it for something else.

If you're limiting the drive(s) to a NVR that is really only going to be recording footage 99% of the time and,
can take advantage of these capabilities (not really sure what they are) then I'd go with the Purple Pro.

My two cents.

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Section31 · Registered
Joined Aug 22, 2013 · 5,410 Posts

#3 · Feb 24, 2022

Slaughtahouse said: 
This only significant difference I could find is firmware. Someone else can correct me.

Western Digital Enables Artificial-Intelligence-Powered Video Surveillance With New High-

Capacity Products | Western Digital
Western Digital provides data storage solutions, including systems, HDD, Flash SSD, memory and
personal data solutions to help customers capture and preserve their most valued data.
Click to expand...

Im curious the difference. My understanding is the gold are really hitachi ultrastars rebranded. Im looking at
wd gold u.2 nvme for whenever i rebuild the nas. Waiting for synology to release more updated device’s
without there requirments to buy synology drives. My office use wd gold for storage and ironwolf nas pro
ssd for servers/backups

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1/2/23, 5:16 PM WD Purple Pro vs WD Gold for Video Recording | Overclock.net

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1TB SN850, 1TB 970 Pro, 3080TI Strix

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Piers · Registered
5900X, RTX 3080
Joined Jan 9, 2013 · 854 Posts

#4 · Feb 24, 2022

You can shuck a WD Elements and find a WD white label enterprise drive inside, but one that maybe didn't
meet the specification in some way. I have four shucked 12TB WD Elements drivers in my home server, with
another six to add. The four meet the enterprise specification in every way, apart from 10% lower speeds.
Note than these drives go into a server with a backplane - if you shuck, you'll need to tape over one pin for
normal PCs.

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Paradigm Shifter · Registered

Joined Aug 15, 2009 · 4,268 Posts

#5 · Feb 25, 2022

Different manufacturer, but after woes with a a half dozen Seagate drives, and four WD's of different types,
I've switched entirely to Toshiba Enterprise drives. At work I'm running more than 80 of them and not a
single one has had any issues in any use case I've needed. Fast, quiet and (thus far) reliable (touch wood,
haha). Drives range from a few months to 4 years old, and are in daily use. Also have a half-dozen Ironwolf
Pros and they're solid, but I now avoid the consumer oriented Seagates like the plague.

Section31 said: 
Im curious the difference. My understanding is the gold are really hitachi ultrastars rebranded. Im looking at wd gold u.2
nvme for whenever i rebuild the nas. Waiting for synology to release more updated device’s without there requirments
to buy synology drives. My office use wd gold for storage and ironwolf nas pro ssd for servers/backups

Curious also.

But hang on, Synology require Synology drives? Is this new? I've never once put a Synology branded disk in
a Synology NAS and I've never had a problem, from 2TB WD's to 16TB Toshibas...

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1/2/23, 5:16 PM WD Purple Pro vs WD Gold for Video Recording | Overclock.net

SLI/CrossFire treats VRAM like RAID1 does HDDs. More GPUs does not mean more VRAM.
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Section31 · Registered
Joined
Search Aug 22, 2013 · 5,410 Posts
Community 

#6 · Feb 25, 2022

Paradigm Shifter said: 

Different manufacturer, but after woes with a a half dozen Seagate drives, and four WD's of different types, I've switched
entirely to Toshiba Enterprise drives. At work I'm running more than 80 of them and not a single one has had any issues
in any use case I've needed. Fast, quiet and (thus far) reliable (touch wood, haha). Drives range from a few months to 4
years old, and are in daily use. Also have a half-dozen Ironwolf Pros and they're solid, but I now avoid the consumer
oriented Seagates like the plague.

Curious also. Click to expand...

Yeah its an recent thing. More on the ssd/nvme side more so than traditional hdds.

The Ever Ongoing Build. 12900K. Z690 Rog Hero 32GB GSkill Trident Z5 5600mhz, Seasonic Prime Titanium 1000Watt,
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Paradigm Shifter

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Paradigm Shifter · Registered

Joined Aug 15, 2009 · 4,268 Posts

#7 · Feb 25, 2022

Section31 said: 
Yeah its an recent thing. More on the ssd/nvme side more so than traditional hdds.

Thanks for the heads up.

SLI/CrossFire treats VRAM like RAID1 does HDDs. More GPUs does not mean more VRAM.
Team Multi-Monitor | Official nVidia Surround | Charting VRAM Usage in Games | Surround Benchmarks - 1GB vs. 2GB

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1/2/23, 5:16 PM WD Purple Pro vs WD Gold for Video Recording | Overclock.net

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shilka · Senior OCN Member

Joined Oct 15, 2011 · 46,220 Posts

#8 · Feb 25, 2022

Section31 said: 
Im curious the difference. My understanding is the gold are really hitachi ultrastars rebranded. Im looking at wd gold u.2
nvme for whenever i rebuild the nas. Waiting for synology to release more updated device’s without there requirments
to buy synology drives. My office use wd gold for storage and ironwolf nas pro ssd for servers/backups

The WD Gold was discontinued and the HGST UltraStar was sold as the WD Gold but the demand for the
WD Gold and the name was so strong that they were reintroduced
The WD Gold are WD drives again not HGST drives

Confusing as all hell

As for the WD Purple vs Gold the Purple is made for video security systems that will see a ton of writes but
almost no reads
The Gold is an enterprise grade drive like the Seagate Exos

Zabanya

bigblueshock

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bigblueshock · Registered
B Joined Jun 9, 2016 · 212 Posts

Discussion Starter · #9 · Feb 25, 2022 (Edited)

Thanks guys. Yeah, it will solely be used for NVR Video Recording. Seems 18TB With WD Coupon is
$425+tax for both Gold or Purple Pro (edit: I lied, the 18TB Gold is more expensive)

Western Digital's exclusive AllFrame™ AI technology

All WD Purple™ Pro drives are equipped with AllFrame AI technology, which not only improves ATA streaming
to help reduce frame loss and improve overall video playback, but supports up to 32 AI streams for Deep
Learning analytics within the system.

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1/2/23, 5:16 PM WD Purple Pro vs WD Gold for Video Recording | Overclock.net

This is the only thing that seems interesting now that I'm looking again. Could be at the firmware level, but
we'll see!

AMD Ryzen 5950x | Gigabyte X570 Aorus Master | G.Skill Trident Z 32GB (4 x 8GB) @ 3733 CAS 14 | Seasonic PRIME TX-
1000 | EVGA RTX 3090 Kingpin Hybrid Gaming | 500GB Samsung 970 Evo (boot) + WD Black SN850 2TB (gaming installs)

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shilka · Senior OCN Member

Joined Oct 15, 2011 · 46,220 Posts

#10 · Feb 25, 2022

The Purple seems like the better option its cheaper and its made for recording tons of stuff on it
As long as its not used for anything else

Seagate also has such a drive by the way its called the Skyhawk and that might or might not be cheaper
than the Purple

SkyHawk Video Hard Drives | Seagate US

Seagate’s SkyHawk Video Hard Drives provide surveillance-specialized storage that’s smart, safe and secure. Learn more.

www.seagate.com

Zabanya

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Section31 · Registered
Joined Aug 22, 2013 · 5,410 Posts

#11 · Feb 25, 2022

shilka said: 
The WD Gold was discontinued and the HGST UltraStar was sold as the WD Gold but the demand for the WD Gold and
the name was so strong that they were reintroduced
The WD Gold are WD drives again not HGST drives

Confusing as all hell

As for the WD Purple vs Gold the Purple is made for video security systems that will see a ton of writes but almost no
reads
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1/2/23, 5:16 PM WD Purple Pro vs WD Gold for Video Recording | Overclock.net

Thanks for clearing up the confusion. I only use enterprise grade stuff myself now.

The Ever Ongoing Build. 12900K. Z690 Rog Hero 32GB GSkill Trident Z5 5600mhz, Seasonic Prime Titanium 1000Watt,
1TB SN850, 1TB 970 Pro, 3080TI Strix

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