WD Purple HDD in 2026? (3rd world country)
Posted by EL_K7YAN@reddit | buildapc | View on Reddit | 18 comments
The model I'm talking about is "WD43PURZ"
My question is, loading speeds aside, would I have any issues playing on said HDD? Like micro stutters or textures loading a bit too late? I've went to some sort of "Gaming cafe" or something along the lines and when I checked the PC specs I noticed it had the same HDD model above, I didn't have any problems playing games like Apex, Fortnite, Rainbow6 did load in late few of seconds but didn't have any issues in-game
I know it's not recommended to use HDD in 2026 but with SSDs prices being up in the sky around the world it's not easy to buy one and you'd mostly have the question of "Less speed for more space or less space for more speed?"
To put it into a comparison, for the price of the 4TB HDD I can get a 1TB m.2 and it's kinda obvious how fast a 1TB can fill up
NagoGmo@reddit
Purples are almost exclusively for video recording
EL_K7YAN@reddit (OP)
I know but it's not much of a choice in some countries, all I gind around are small Barracuda drives running with SMR or purple surveillance drives, everything else is either out of stock or the high end stuff costing a whole yearly salary
specn0de@reddit
I use a purple just fine as a auxiliary HDD
EL_K7YAN@reddit (OP)
What's auxiliary HDD?
specn0de@reddit
It’s not my primary storage device. I use it more as a cold storage archive vault than anything. Ripped it from a security system.
EL_K7YAN@reddit (OP)
Yeah I can see it being a good archive
specn0de@reddit
To be clear, I PRIMARILY use it as an archive, but I do occasionally play smaller games from it directly, it just depends on what you’re really asking it to do. It has limitations but it’s also still just a HDD and we used HDDs like this for literal decades before SSD storage was affordable and mainstream.
splepage@reddit
I would use a 1TB SSD drive over a 4TB HDD.
1TB is plenty to hold an OS and a good number of games.
AtlQuon@reddit
Purple drives are not suited for that kind of stuff. Not that they can't handle it, but they are somewhat different in how they function. I would pick any WD drive over a purple unless you have it in a security system. They are drives for continuous writing, they hate reading.
EL_K7YAN@reddit (OP)
There isn't really much of a choice where I live, looking up online you'd only find the high end stuff in stock, at the price range I aim for I can only find either purple WD or Seagate BarraCuda 4TB or less which in their official website they state that these models work using SMR tech and/or at 5400RPM speed, the only good choice BarraCuda offers is the 1TB model which still uses SMR and at somewhat near price to entry level 1TB Lexar SSD anyway
AtlQuon@reddit
I don't like Barracuda drives either. If this is your only real option, do know that it can behave temperamentally and could cause issues in the long run.
EL_K7YAN@reddit (OP)
What issues could I face?
AtlQuon@reddit
They can brick themselves in a different way than most other drives because they rely on the stability of a fixed chassis of a security system. In a desktop and especially as external drive they have a (much) higher chance of head failure thanks to shocks. Especially when reading. Internally all drives are near the same, but the firmware changes their behaviour and that is not tuned for desktop use.
EL_K7YAN@reddit (OP)
I'm gonna use it internally so I guess the only real issue here is the firmware? Is it really that bad? I didn't notice issues when at the gaming cafe
AtlQuon@reddit
Mostly firmware. Not all drives internally are equal either and they tend to (essentially) mix and match parts that give a certain performance and bin them regarding to their performance. So their heads can be less accepting to shocks and more to vibrations. I did notice them needing more power than a Blue drive for example and be a lot more finnicky about the power supply in general.
Most likely it will be fine, but just in case it is better you know. They do very well in continuous reads/writes, but once the arm is supposed to bounce a lot from file to file, they can cause performance issues. It is one of the few lines of drives that always seem to be available whereas the rest is often sold out now.
EL_K7YAN@reddit (OP)
Yes indeed, every site I look up every HDD type is sold out except for them and the unrecommended lower barracuda
skylinestar1986@reddit
For normal data-storage usage, will a Toshiba P300 SMR drive be more suitable than a WD Purple CMR drive?
AtlQuon@reddit
Storage, yes. Kind of. Storage wise it doesn't matter much if you use CMR or SMR, that is mostly when you start pushing a lot of small reads and writes that SMR falls apart.
I don't like SMR drives much, but Purple drives are tuned to the exact opposite of what you need as external drive or internal in a regular system. There is also a chance of them bricking in a PC when the heads are flying over the surface and you move the PC a bit. Normally drives ignore that, but Purple drives rely on the stability of a security system and are known to cause issues when moved while spinning. So in every metric CMR is the right call, but purple drives are 'stubborn'.