Space Pirate
Join Date: May 2004
Location: Atlanta
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Not industrial espionage, but a hard drive.
https://shop.westerndigital.com/prod...ve-usb-3-2-hdd Love the look, hate the frikkin USB micro B port. They say something about them being "good for gaming", but is there any reason why this wouldn't work as a normal external drive? ... Last edited by drewprops : 2020-07-11 at 16:32. |
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I don't see why.
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Sneaky Punk
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Normal marketing nonsense, nothing more, nothing less.
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Space Pirate
Join Date: May 2004
Location: Atlanta
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Come Now!!!
This hard drive is tougher than most, because of its sexy design and comely graphics. My friends are going to be floored when I pull this bad boy out and begin futzing with the Micro USB port. Haters. ... |
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Selfish Heathen
Join Date: May 2004
Location: Zone of Pain
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According to this table, WD Black in the 2.5" form factor uses SMR, though it only mentions 1TB, not this 2/4/5TB version. SMR means it's probably only going to be good for general-purpose storage and even then only if you don't expect to actually fill the disk. SMR drives get dramatically slower as available space shrinks. Modern games benefit greatly from residing on fast drives like SSDs because there are so many assets that have to be loaded and reloaded during gameplay.
FWIW, Western Digital has been the target of great ire from storage enthusiasts and enterprise customers for sneaking poor-performing SMR drives into their supposedly-professional "Red" line of NAS drives. They're also being sued for this deception, though that class action lawsuit is still in progress, AFAICT. Some people are effectively boycotting WD drives and advocating the competing Seagate drives. I couldn't find any claims about CMR vs SMR on the linked product page for this particular Black drive. Some larger capacity drives are still using CMR. Maybe it's okay, but I would be suspicious that they're hiding SMR in there unless I did some more research. The quality of this board depends on the quality of the posts. The only way to guarantee thoughtful, informative discussion is to write thoughtful, informative posts. AppleNova is not a real-time chat forum. You have time to compose messages and edit them before and after posting. |
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Selfish Heathen
Join Date: May 2004
Location: Zone of Pain
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But it does look kinda cool.
And, yes, there's nothing truly special about "gaming" drives. It's all marketing. Consoles especially tend to have limited internal storage, and people need more drives for more games. Faster drives are better for games. That's about as far as it goes. The quality of this board depends on the quality of the posts. The only way to guarantee thoughtful, informative discussion is to write thoughtful, informative posts. AppleNova is not a real-time chat forum. You have time to compose messages and edit them before and after posting. |
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Yeah. What a dumb move. "Let's make a few extra bucks and perpetually tarnish our reputation among those most likely to compare offerings by reputation."
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Space Pirate
Join Date: May 2004
Location: Atlanta
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Daaaaaaaammmmzzz.
Thanks for letting me know. As cool as this looks, I'm only buying drives with the USB C 3.X "never wrong" ports. So far that means a couple of LaCie drives. I lived for several years using some Seagate drives with that damned weird Micro B connector. My knowledge of drives is antiquated. Was trying to understand the needs of a gaming drive; figured everyone wants fast, big, and cheap. ... |
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Which way is up?
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: Boyzeee
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If you want fast and rugged, go down this road.
Although "cheap" is not their forte. Also, they're not "sexy". Or small. Or anything else you're looking for. - AppleNova is the best Mac-users forum on the internet. We are smart, educated, capable, and helpful. We are also loaded with smart-alecks! :) - Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God. (Mat 5:9) |
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Space Pirate
Join Date: May 2004
Location: Atlanta
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I love (and own) stuff by OWC!
It's just (currently) impossible for most mortals to afford 5TB of SSD for mobile knockabout use. One day we'll look back at this and laugh. ... |
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Rocket Surgeon
Join Date: Feb 2005
Location: The Canadark
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Captive cable? Good heavens.
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Space Pirate
Join Date: May 2004
Location: Atlanta
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I had to look that up!
The WDBO drive uses the weird USB Micro B connector, which is still USB isn't it? ... |
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