Results 1 to 13 of 13

Thread: Western Digital WD40E31X 4000 GB Internal

  1. #1
    Registered User
    Join Date
    Aug 2013
    Posts
    7
    Thanks
    0
    Thanked
    0 times in 0 posts

    Western Digital WD40E31X 4000 GB Internal

    I've just got a new desktop computer and at first thought of buying a new Samsung SSD drive together with a WD 4TB internal hard drive,

    I've now see one of these Western Digital WD40E31X 4000 GB internal hard drives and wondered (as I'm not too technical on this 'stuff') how it would compare to the SSD and HD combination?

    Do you think it would be nearly as fast as using an SSD for the OS?

    Would it work as the HD to go with an SSD?

    What do you think is my best combination of drives?

    Thanks

  2. #2
    Senior Member jag272's Avatar
    Join Date
    Oct 2014
    Posts
    529
    Thanks
    14
    Thanked
    31 times in 30 posts
    • jag272's system
      • Motherboard:
      • MSI Z87-G43
      • CPU:
      • i5 4670k
      • Memory:
      • 1x8GB XMS3 1600Mhz CL11
      • Storage:
      • 1x 1TB WD Blue
      • Graphics card(s):
      • MSI GTX 760 2GB Gaming
      • PSU:
      • XFX TS 550W Core
      • Case:
      • Corsair Carbide 300R
      • Operating System:
      • Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit
      • Monitor(s):
      • Samsung SyncMaster 943NW

    Re: Western Digital WD40E31X 4000 GB Internal

    Thats a pretty cracking deal if I do say so myself, having just looked at it on Scan.

    2 things to keep in mind, SSHDs usually arent as fast as fully fledged SSDs as they're not built specifically for that purpose, though its not too big a difference judging by the few benchmarks I've seen.

    The other thing to keep in mind, and Scan doesn't explicitly list this, and its a 3.5" drive so you wouldn't necessarily expect it, but based off of this sentence:
    "An optimal amount of built-in NAND flash SSD technology enables WD Blue SSHDs to perform at up to four to five times faster than traditional 5400 rpm HDDs,"
    This is infact a 5400 RPM HDD, unlike the 7200 RPM standard for desktop drives. That means anything that doesn't get shifted to the NAND is going to run slower than it would on a standard hard drive.

    Those 2 points aside, thats a cracking deal for the price.

  3. #3
    Registered User
    Join Date
    Aug 2013
    Posts
    7
    Thanks
    0
    Thanked
    0 times in 0 posts

    Re: Western Digital WD40E31X 4000 GB Internal

    Jag,
    Thank you for a very quick response; I hadn't noticed that this was only a5400 RPM drive.

    I think I'll probably go with the Samsung 850 Pro 128GB SSD and a WD 4TB drive.

  4. #4
    Senior Member Bonebreaker777's Avatar
    Join Date
    Dec 2012
    Location
    Herts, UK
    Posts
    2,035
    Thanks
    55
    Thanked
    203 times in 186 posts
    • Bonebreaker777's system
      • Motherboard:
      • MSI H97I AC
      • CPU:
      • Xeon 1225 v3 + Freezer 11 L
      • Memory:
      • 2 x 4GB 1600Mhz 1T-8-8-8-20 1.35V Crucial BallistiX Tactical VLP
      • Storage:
      • 128GB CRUCIAL MX100///XPEnology server + 3 x WD Purple 3TB
      • Graphics card(s):
      • Intel HD 4600
      • PSU:
      • be quiet! L8 300W PSU BN220
      • Case:
      • Cooler Master Elite 120
      • Operating System:
      • Windows 10 Pro 64bit
      • Monitor(s):
      • Samsung SyncMaster 226BW
      • Internet:
      • Virgin 100Mb

    Re: Western Digital WD40E31X 4000 GB Internal

    Quote Originally Posted by richard49 View Post
    Jag,
    Thank you for a very quick response; I hadn't noticed that this was only a5400 RPM drive.

    I think I'll probably go with the Samsung 850 Pro 128GB SSD and a WD 4TB drive.
    That's probably the best option. In a desktop.
    In a laptop a SSHD would've been better. Due to space restrictions.

  5. #5
    Senior Member
    Join Date
    Apr 2004
    Location
    The Third Foundation
    Posts
    919
    Thanks
    2
    Thanked
    99 times in 91 posts

    Re: Western Digital WD40E31X 4000 GB Internal

    Quote Originally Posted by richard49 View Post
    I think I'll probably go with the Samsung 850 Pro 128GB SSD and a WD 4TB drive.
    I wouldn't waste money on an 850 Pro 128GB. A BX100 250GB will be just as good, twice the capacity and at least £5 cheaper.

  6. #6
    Registered User
    Join Date
    Aug 2013
    Posts
    7
    Thanks
    0
    Thanked
    0 times in 0 posts

    Re: Western Digital WD40E31X 4000 GB Internal

    Thank you all for your input.

    I don't state that I know a lot about computers but I did a quick search to see how the 128GB Samsung 850 Pro rates against the 120GB Crucial BX100 and found that (as far as I can tell) the Samsung runs about 40% faster than the Crucial drive.

    I used the UserMenchmark site; I can't post the web address here as I'm a new user.

  7. #7
    Dark side super agent
    Join Date
    Dec 2003
    Location
    Nirvana
    Posts
    1,895
    Thanks
    72
    Thanked
    99 times in 89 posts

    Re: Western Digital WD40E31X 4000 GB Internal

    The thing is that once you get an SSD, unless there's a massive bottleneck somewhere on your PC, the real life speed difference is negligible - ALL current SSDs are fast. I've got a 250Gb Samsung 840 Evo in one PC and a 480Gb Crucial one in another. On paper, the Samsung is faster. In use, I've not noticed a bit of difference between the two. I agree with EndlessWaves - save some money, gain more space and get a BX100.
    An Atlantean Triumvirate, Ghosts of the Past, The Centre Cannot Hold
    The Pillars of Britain, Foundations of the Reich, Cracks in the Pillars.

    My books are available here for Amazon Kindle. Feedback always welcome!

  8. #8
    Seriously casual gamer KeyboardDemon's Avatar
    Join Date
    Feb 2012
    Location
    London
    Posts
    3,013
    Thanks
    774
    Thanked
    280 times in 242 posts
    • KeyboardDemon's system
      • Motherboard:
      • Asus Sabretooth Z77
      • CPU:
      • i7 3770k + Corsair H80 (Refurbed)
      • Memory:
      • 16gb (4x4gb) Corsair Vengence Red (1866mhz) - (Because it looks good in a black mobo)
      • Storage:
      • Crucial M550 SSD 1TB + 2x 500GB Seagate HDDs
      • Graphics card(s):
      • EVGA GTX 980 SC ACX 2.0 (Warranty replacement for 780Ti SC ACX)
      • PSU:
      • EVGA 750 watt SuperNova G2
      • Case:
      • Silverstone RV03
      • Operating System:
      • Windows 10 Pro 64 Bit
      • Monitor(s):
      • Asus Swift PG278Q
      • Internet:
      • BT Infinity (40mbs dl/10mbs ul)

    Re: Western Digital WD40E31X 4000 GB Internal

    Quote Originally Posted by richard49 View Post
    Thank you all for your input.

    I don't state that I know a lot about computers but I did a quick search to see how the 128GB Samsung 850 Pro rates against the 120GB Crucial BX100 and found that (as far as I can tell) the Samsung runs about 40% faster than the Crucial drive.

    I used the UserMenchmark site; I can't post the web address here as I'm a new user.
    In Benchmark tests the Samsung 850 Pro drives tend to do very well, in actual installations that extra performance would probably make about 2 to 3 seconds difference in your startup times at best, so if the 250gb BX100 takes 22 seconds to start up the Samsung might do it in 19 seconds, your programs, games and file loading times would be just as fast on either SSD but the extra space you can gain on the BX100 and the £5 saving on the drive costs over the price of the Samsung 850 Pro suggest it would be worth going to the Crucial drive. It's also worth noting that a 250gb drive has more NAND chips which will help to speed up performance on the larger capacity drive.

    Don't get too hung up on the numbers shown in benchmarks, it's easy to become a specs maniac, read user reviews of the drives on Amazon or Trustpilot etc... or even do some research on YouTube.

    Samsung 850 Pro 128gb
    Crucial BX100 250gb

    *** edit ***

    I found a third option, Samsung 850 Pro 256gb - Sorry, I just spotted to ludicrously high postage charge for this drive but thought I'd leave it in. After the delivery charge this drive still works out marginally cheaper than other sites standard retail price with free delivery.
    Last edited by KeyboardDemon; 16-08-2015 at 06:43 PM.

  9. #9
    Senior Member
    Join Date
    Apr 2004
    Location
    The Third Foundation
    Posts
    919
    Thanks
    2
    Thanked
    99 times in 91 posts

    Re: Western Digital WD40E31X 4000 GB Internal

    Quote Originally Posted by KeyboardDemon View Post
    In Benchmark tests the Samsung 850 Pro drives tend to do very well, in actual installations that extra performance would probably make about 2 to 3 seconds difference in your startup times at best, so if the 250gb BX100 takes 22 seconds to start up the Samsung might do it in 19 seconds, your programs, games and file loading times would be just as fast on either SSD
    In addition to the other two points made (larger SSDs are 'faster', only really big improvements are noticeable in reality) another item worth raising is that SSD performance is pretty multi-faceted. Better performance in simple benchmarks like userbenchmark uses isn't going to be reflective of all real world workloads.

    For example, when it comes to startup time the BX100 is faster than an 850 Pro of the same capacity:
    http://techreport.com/review/28446/s...ssd-reviewed/5
    It's also worth pointing out the Plextor M6e's position on those graphs, a drive that scores poorly in some simple data transfer tests.

    In short, SSDs are best bought on price or after sales support. If you do want to support the manufacturer producing the highest performance drive then you need to look at the more in depth comparisons and see where the strengths and weaknesses are.

  10. #10
    Registered User
    Join Date
    Aug 2013
    Posts
    7
    Thanks
    0
    Thanked
    0 times in 0 posts

    Re: Western Digital WD40E31X 4000 GB Internal

    Thank you everyone for your very valued input and on reading what you say about the speed of the drives in 'real life' situations I must say that I'm very inclined to go with the BX100.

    Is there a forum on here with regard to setting up the SSD for the Operating System and using the 'regular' HDD for everything else.

    I did see a video on this on You Tube (How to properly configure the SSD as boot drive and HDD as storage drive by NCIX Tech Tips) and found it very useful.

    Thank again everyone for your advice, it's very much appreciated

  11. #11
    Senior Member
    Join Date
    Nov 2005
    Location
    Hull
    Posts
    391
    Thanks
    12
    Thanked
    11 times in 9 posts
    • Professor Frink's system
      • Motherboard:
      • Asus P6X58D-E
      • CPU:
      • Intel i7 950
      • Memory:
      • 3x2GB Corsair Dominator GT, DDR3 PC3-14900 (1866)
      • Storage:
      • 60GB SSD OCZ Technology Vertex 2E
      • Graphics card(s):
      • MSI N560GTX-Ti Twin Frozr II/OC 1GB
      • PSU:
      • 620W Enermax Liberty ELT620AWT
      • Case:
      • Antec 1200
      • Operating System:
      • Windows 7
      • Monitor(s):
      • 24 Dell 2408WFP

    Re: Western Digital WD40E31X 4000 GB Internal

    http://ssd.userbenchmark.com/Compare...6GB/3145vs2385

    The Samsung 850 Pro 256GB is £76.79 atm at Amazon

  12. #12
    Registered+
    Join Date
    Aug 2015
    Posts
    26
    Thanks
    0
    Thanked
    3 times in 3 posts
    • artcon's system
      • Motherboard:
      • Asus Z97 PRO-GAMER
      • CPU:
      • i7-4790k
      • Memory:
      • Kingston Savage 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-1866
      • Storage:
      • Crucial MX200 250GB SSD, 3TB HDD
      • Graphics card(s):
      • MSI GeForce GTX 970 4GB Twin Frozr V
      • PSU:
      • EVGA 850W 80+ Gold
      • Case:
      • Fractal Design R5
      • Operating System:
      • Windows 8.1
      • Monitor(s):
      • BenQ XL2430T, LG IPS234V

    Re: Western Digital WD40E31X 4000 GB Internal

    Quote Originally Posted by richard49 View Post
    Is there a forum on here with regard to setting up the SSD for the Operating System and using the 'regular' HDD for everything else.
    Haven't been on here long enough to know if there is. So hopefully someone else can link you if there is one. But from my experience (and assuming you're using Windows)...
    Make sure your HDD isn't plugged in when installing your OS on your SSD (this isn't essential, some just do it in case there's data on the other drive that will intefere with installation, or if parts of the OS get installed on the HDD and then you'll always need it in order to boot)
    Then you can change the default locations of 'My Documents', 'My Videos' etc. to your HDD [link].

    You can change your default install location for programs too, but it depends how you want it. I left it as my SSD then when installing stuff I change it to my HDD if I don't use that program as regularly (as most programs, when installing, let you choose where to install it).
    But to do so, go into the registry (regedit). HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE \ SOFTWARE \ Microsoft \ Windows \ CurrentVersion, then change the ProgramFilesDir, ProgramFilesDir(x86) to wherever - so probably you'll just change the drive letter. And do the same for Start->Run->%systemroot%\sysWOW64\regedit. Reboot your computer. I've never personally tried this, but bear in mind some people have had trouble with programs not working after doing this (but that might be because they changed it after already installing programs), so it might just be easier to manually change it when installing programs.

  13. #13
    Registered User
    Join Date
    Aug 2013
    Posts
    7
    Thanks
    0
    Thanked
    0 times in 0 posts

    Re: Western Digital WD40E31X 4000 GB Internal

    I plan on installing the SSD with a fresh copy of Windows 10 on it and then transferring all of the personal files from the original HDD to a new WD Black 2TB drive.

Thread Information

Users Browsing this Thread

There are currently 1 users browsing this thread. (0 members and 1 guests)

Tags for this Thread

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •