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About
Effective Speed 
+13%
Real World Speed
Performance profile from 3,109,167 user samples
Benchmark your HDD here
4,113 User Benchmarks
Best Bench: 93% 3TB free
Worst Bench: 49% 3.5TB free
Poor: 49% Great: 93%
SPEED RANK: 111th / 1015
3,105,054 User Benchmarks
Best Bench: 109% 916GB free
Worst Bench: 52% 59GB free
Poor: 52% Great: 109%
SPEED RANK: 60th / 1015
Effective Speed
Effective HDD Speed 		74.1 % 83.4 % Faster effective speed.
+13%
Average Score 
+11%
Read
Avg. Sequential Read Speed 		132 MB/s 155 MB/s Faster read speed.
+17%
Write
Avg. Sequential Write Speed 		124 MB/s 140 MB/s Faster write speed.
+13%
4K Read
Avg. 4K Random Read Speed 		0.78 MB/s 1.19 MB/s Much faster random read.
+53%
4K Write
Avg. 4K Random Write Speed 		3.16 MB/s Faster random write.
+28% 		2.47 MB/s
Mixed
Avg. Sequential Mixed IO Speed 		86.1 MB/s 89.3 MB/s +4%
4K Mixed
Avg. 4K Random Mixed IO Speed 		0.96 MB/s 1.07 MB/s Faster random mixed IO.
+11%
SusWrite
Avg. Sustained Write Speed 		125 MB/s 135 MB/s Slightly faster sustained write speed.
+8%
Peak Score 
+13%
Read
Peak Sequential Read Speed 		169 MB/s 202 MB/s Faster peak read speed.
+20%
Write
Peak Sequential Write Speed 		155 MB/s 177 MB/s Faster peak write speed.
+14%
4K Read
Peak 4K Random Read Speed 		1 MB/s 1.5 MB/s Much faster peak random read.
+50%
4K Write
Peak 4K Random Write Speed 		3.7 MB/s Faster peak random write.
+23% 		3 MB/s
Mixed
Peak Sequential Mixed IO Speed 		108 MB/s 113 MB/s +5%
4K Mixed
Peak 4K Random Mixed IO Speed 		1.1 MB/s 1.2 MB/s Slightly faster peak random mixed IO.
+9%
SusWrite
Peak Sequential Sustained Write 60s Average 		159 MB/s 185 MB/s Faster peak sustained write speed.
+16%
Value & Sentiment 
+∞%
Market Share
Based on 49,486,265 HDDs tested.
See market share leaders
Market Share
Market Share (trailing 30 days) 		0 % 12.4 % Insanely higher market share.
+∞%
Value
Value For Money 		74.1 % Much better value.
+33% 		55.6 %
User Rating
UBM User Rating 		52 % 64 % More popular.
+23%
Price
Price (score) 		$80 $30 Much cheaper.
+63%
Nice To Haves 
+4%
Age
Newest 		124 Months +4% 129 Months
Specifications 
Capacity
Capacity 		4TB 1TB
Conclusion 
Average Bench 74.1%
Average Bench 83.4%
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I don't understand the pricing on this drive, on the face of it, it looks seriously overpriced. Although the Black has a marginal speed advantage compared to a 3TB Barracuda, one 4TB Caviar Black costs more than two 3TB Barracudas! I have only seen benchmarks from 3 user samples for the 4TB 2012 Black so I will re-visit this recap over the coming months by which time I should have a better sample size. Additional samples may indicate far better performance than I have seen so far. [Aug '13 HDrivePro]

MORE DETAILS

This is the latest version of Western Digital's mid-range Blue drive. At only one year of age this drive is relatively new and the performance figures reflect this. With maximum sequential speeds of 180 MB/s (both read and write) the Blue is amongst the faster drives currently available and in terms of real world performance it beats its predecessor the 2010 Blue (WD10EALS) by around 18%. The 2012 Blue has a single 1TB platter which combined with its 7200 rotation speed allows for above average performance across the board. In terms of value for money a larger capacity drive will nearly always be a better choice but within the 1TB category as a system drive, the 2012 Blue is a very reasonable, if not the best, option. [Jan '14 HDrivePro]

MORE DETAILS

User Builds 
4,113
3,105,054
Custom PC Builder (Start a new build) Build your perfect PC: compare component prices, popularity, speed and value for money.

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Hard Drive Rankings (Price vs Performance) March 2023 HDD Rankings.

We calculate effective speed which measures performance for typical consumers. Effective speed is adjusted by current cost per GB to yield value for money. Our calculated values are checked against thousands of individual user ratings. The customizable table below combines these factors to bring you the definitive list of top HDDs. [HDrivePro]

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Group Test Results

  • Best user rated - User sentiment trumps benchmarks for this comparison.
  • Best value for money - Value for money is based on real world performance.
  • Fastest real world speed - Real World Speed measures performance for typical consumers.
How Fast Is Your HDD? (Bench your build) Size up your PC in less than a minute.

Welcome to our freeware PC speed test tool. UserBenchmark will test your PC and compare the results to other users with the same components. You can quickly size up your PC, identify hardware problems and explore the best upgrades.

UserBenchmark of the month

Gaming Desktop ProGaming

How it works

  • - Download and run UserBenchmark.
  • - CPU tests include: integer, floating and string.
  • - GPU tests include: six 3D game simulations.
  • - Drive tests include: read, write, sustained write and mixed IO.
  • - RAM tests include: single/multi core bandwidth and latency.
  • - SkillBench (space shooter) tests user input accuracy.
  • - Reports are generated and presented on userbenchmark.com.
  • - Identify the strongest components in your PC.
  • - See speed test results from other users.
  • - Compare your components to the current market leaders.
  • - Explore your best upgrade options with a virtual PC build.
  • - Compare your in-game FPS to other users with your hardware.

 Frequently Asked Questions

Storage Devices FAQ
What is sustained sequential write speed?
What’s the difference between SLC, MLC and TLC?
What is 3D XPoint and how fast is it?
What’s the difference between SATA, PCIe and NVMe?
What’s the difference between NAND and V-NAND?
What is sequential write speed?
What is sequential read speed?
What is incompressible data?
What is queue depth?
What is 4K random write speed?
What is 4K random read speed?
What is AS SSD real world copy speed?
How big is 16GB?
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Hard Drives
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ALL FAQs »

 Best User Rated
The Best.
CPUGPUSSD
Intel Core i5-13600K $315Nvidia RTX 3060-Ti $420Crucial MX500 250GB $31
Intel Core i5-12600K $224Nvidia RTX 3060 $350Samsung 850 Evo 120GB $106
Intel Core i5-12400F $153Nvidia RTX 4070-Ti $830Samsung 860 Evo 250GB $52
HDDRAMUSB
Seagate Barracuda 1TB (2016) $41Corsair Vengeance LPX DDR4 3200 C16 2x8GB $43SanDisk Extreme 64GB $72
WD Blue 1TB (2012) $30Corsair Vengeance LPX DDR4 3000 C15 2x8GB $43SanDisk Extreme 32GB $28
Seagate Barracuda 2TB (2016) $80G.SKILL Trident Z DDR4 3200 C14 4x16GB $381SanDisk Ultra Fit 32GB $16
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