WD WD4001FAEX

Black 4TB (2012)

▲ Black 4TB (2012)
BENCHMARKS (4,113)
MKT (0%)
BUILDS
(2)
BUY • $298

Effective Speed -19%Effective Speed -19%Average Score +4% Read -18%, Write -10%, 4K Read -10%, 4K Write 59%, Mixed 9%, 4K Mixed 15%, SusWrite -20%Peak Score +2% Read -18%, Write -16%, 4K Read -3%, 4K Write 50%, Mixed 15%, 4K Mixed 10%, SusWrite -22%Value & Sentiment -3,059%User Rating -15%, Market Share -11,648%, Price -388%, Value -186%Nice To Haves -16%Age -16%

Barracuda 7200.14 1TB

Black 1TB (2013)

Barracuda 4TB (2016)

Black 2TB (2013)

Barracuda 7200.14 3TB

Average Bench: 74.1% (113^th of 1015)

Based on 4,113 user benchmarks. Models: WDC WD4001FAEX-00MJRA0, WDC WD4001FAEX-0, WDC WD4001FAEX-32MJRA0, WDC WD4001FAEX-00MJR, WDC WD40 01FAEX-00MJR, WDC WD40 01FAEX-00MJRA0, WD4001FA EX-00MJRA0, WDC WD4001FAEX-32MJR, WD4001FAEX-00MJRA0

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]}

Poor: 49%Average: 74.1% Great: 93%

Popular builds with this HDD

Good average bench

The WD Black 4TB (2012) averaged 25.9% lower than the peak scores attained by the group leaders. This isn't a great result which indicates that there are much faster alternatives on the comparison list.

Strengths

Avg. 4K Random Mixed IO Speed 0.96MB/s

Avg. 4K Random Write Speed 3.16MB/s

See where your HDD ranks →

Average consistency

The range of scores (95th - 5th percentile) for the WD Black 4TB (2012) is 43.6%. This is a relatively wide range which indicates that the WD Black 4TB (2012) performs inconsistently under varying real world conditions.

Weaknesses

Avg. Sequential Mixed IO Speed 86.1MB/s

Avg. Sequential Write Speed 124MB/s

Average Bench

(Based on 4,113 samples)

Rank 11374.1%

Min	Avg	Max
84.3	Read 132	169
72.3	Write 124	155
54.3	Mixed 86.1	108
61.3	SusWrite 125	159
86% 117 MB/s

Min	Avg	Max
0.6	4K Read 0.78	1
2.01	4K Write 3.16	3.7
0.61	4K Mixed 0.96	1.1
198% 1.64 MB/s

User Benchmarks

Bench

Sequential

Random 4k

Deep queue 4k

The fastest HDD (mainstream) averages a speed of 100%

USA-User, 5 days ago.

3.5TB free

Firmware: 1L01

SusWrite @10s intervals: 145 146 147 147 148 148 MB/s

82.4% Excellent

Write 146

Mixed 117

SusWrite 147

102% 137 MB/s

4K Read 0.9

4K Write 3.5

4K Mixed 1.1

224% 1.83 MB/s

IDN-User, 14 hrs ago.

2.5TB free

Firmware: 01.01L01

SusWrite @10s intervals: 134 133 133 134 134 134 MB/s

78.6% Very good

Write 131

Mixed 94.9

SusWrite 134

92% 125 MB/s

4K Read 0.8

4K Write 3.1

4K Mixed 1.1

213% 1.67 MB/s

USA-User, 9 hrs ago.

696GB free

Firmware: 01.01L01

SusWrite @10s intervals: 121 122 125 124 125 124 MB/s

69.1% Good

Write 117

Mixed 83.1

SusWrite 124

81% 110 MB/s

4K Read 0.8

4K Write 2.7

4K Mixed 1.1

206% 1.53 MB/s

USA-User, 4 hrs ago.

808GB free

Firmware: 01.01L01

SusWrite @10s intervals: 73 73 77 74 74 74 MB/s

63.8% Good

Write 132

Mixed 90.1

SusWrite 73.9

82% 111 MB/s

4K Read 0.8

4K Write 3.3

4K Mixed 0.9

194% 1.67 MB/s

4,113 MORE »

Market Share (See Leaders)

The number of benchmark samples for this model as a percentage of all 53,603,032 HDDs tested

Custom PC Builder (Start a new build) Build your perfect PC: compare component prices, popularity, speed and value for money

CHOOSE A COMPONENT:

CPU

GPU

SSD

HDD

RAM

MBD

Typical Black 4TB (2012) Builds (Compare 10,916 builds) See popular component choices, score breakdowns and rankings

Gaming 159%

UFO

Desktop 94%

Nuclear submarine

Workstation 161%

UFO

Motherboard: Gigabyte X570 AORUS ELITE - $299

CPU
Ryzen 7 3700XAMD $176Bench 86%, 635,419 samples	2,173x
Ryzen 7 5800XAMD $169Bench 98%, 128,080 samples	1,739x
Ryzen 5 5600XAMD $136Bench 96%, 383,420 samples	1,270x

GPU
RTX 3080Nvidia $550Bench 187%, 424,051 samples	926x
RTX 3070Nvidia $460Bench 148%, 619,642 samples	895x
RTX 2070S (Super)Nvidia $275Bench 115%, 663,603 samples	710x

SSD
970 Evo Plus NVMe PCIe M.2 1TBSamsung $95Bench 310%, 455,997 samples	607x
980 Pro NVMe PCIe M.2 1TBSamsung $80Bench 385%, 327,441 samples	436x
970 Evo Plus NVMe PCIe M.2 500GBSamsung $69Bench 275%, 495,311 samples	402x

RAM
Vengeance LPX DDR4 3200 C16 2x8GBCorsair $39Bench 85%, 653,654 samples	307x
Vengeance RGB PRO DDR4 3200 C16 2x8GBCorsair $60Bench 85%, 346,786 samples	306x
F4 DDR4 3600 C16 2x16GBG.SKILLBench 104%, 73,741 samples	279x

EDIT WITH CUSTOM PC BUILDER

Value: 93% - Outstanding

Total price: $1,159

Popular Black 4TB (2012) compatible motherboards:

How Fast Is Your HDD? (Bench your build) Size up your PC in less than a minute

Welcome to our 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 value for money upgrades.

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- CPU tests include: integer, floating and string
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- Reports are generated and presented on userbenchmark.com
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- See speed test results from other users
- Compare your components to the current market leaders
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Hard Drive Rankings (Price vs Performance) July 2024 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]

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.

Comments

HDrivePro

level
1,391

Looking for leading-edge performance...

Added 10 years ago.

USA-User

level
9,918

Poor (edit your comment) Add link

7 years ago.

I bought two of these factory sealed. I recorded all smart data and put them into a raidset in NAS with ample power/bw. These drives fell out of raid several times before I was able to return them, centralComputers would not give me a few days past the short policy, and I got stuck with them. My friend used them as JBOD and lost data. RMAs came back even worse. We took the PCB off and cured the performance issues at a ranch, with a 30-06. Worst hdd purchase I've ever made.

HDrivePro

level
1,391

Average

10 years ago.

Your
opinion?

▲Like ▼Dislike

Ready to retire
Age: 11 years

Speed Comparisons

vs Seagate Barracuda 1TB (2016)
vs WD Blue 1TB (2012)
vs Seagate Barracuda 2TB (2016)
vs Seagate Barracuda 3TB (2016)
vs Seagate Barracuda 7200.14 1TB
vs WD Black 1TB (2013)
vs Seagate Barracuda 4TB (2016)
vs WD Black 2TB (2013)
vs Seagate Barracuda 7200.14 3TB

1015 Drives (Compared) Thousands of user benchmarks compiled into one comparison list

See how consistently different HDDs perform with varying real world conditions. The charts also illustrate overall performance, popularity and rank.

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?

What does MBps mean?

Hard Drives

What is the Hard Drive value for money rating?

What is effective Hard Drive speed?

ALL FAQs »

CPU	GPU	SSD
Intel Core i5-12600K $175	Nvidia RTX 4060 $293	WD Black SN850X M.2 2TB $145
Intel Core i5-12400F $110	Nvidia RTX 4060-Ti $389	WD Black SN850X M.2 1TB $85
Intel Core i5-13600K $235	Nvidia RTX 4070 $499	Crucial T700 M.2 4TB $342

WD WD4001FAEX

Black 4TB (2012)

Average Bench: 74.1% (113^th of 1015)

Popular builds with this HDD

Good average bench

Strengths

Average consistency

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Average Bench

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Motherboard: Gigabyte X570 AORUS ELITE - $299

Popular Black 4TB (2012) compatible motherboards:

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WD WD4001FAEX

Black 4TB (2012)

Average Bench: 74.1% (113th of 1015)

Popular builds with this HDD

Good average bench

Strengths

Average consistency

Weaknesses

Average Bench

Market Share (See Leaders)

Prices

CHOOSE A COMPONENT:

Motherboard: Gigabyte X570 AORUS ELITE - $299

Popular Black 4TB (2012) compatible motherboards:

UserBenchmark of the month

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Average Bench: 74.1% (113^th of 1015)