WD40PURX for PC

Hello,

I am new to these forum, i made this account just to ask this one question. I recently bought a WD40PURX, which was recommended to me by the seller. I needed this drive to store large size of audio/video files and thousands of pictures, all really important work stuff. Later on, when i researched on this site and read some posts about the Purple model, it seems like i made the wrong choice. I want to use this drive to store files but they don’t seem to be made for such purpose, is this drive not reliable to keep data safe. How worse is it in comparison to red or green drive?

Please, i don’t want to lose data and seller refuses to take it back. Help me, i need information. Especially to people who already got this model, share your experiences. There is so little info on this topic anywhere on internet.

Thanks you.

Hi Austenwhd, welcome to the Community. All WD drives are dependable when it comes to data safety, the difference you will see between models is with specialization on certain areas, but you can use all of them to save your files. 

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See http://wfcache.advantech.com/www/certified-peripherals/documents/96hd6tb-st-wd5ka_Datasheet.pdf

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The pdf contains no information regarding my concern. I am being told by some friend of mine that certain software by WD can disable certain function in a HDD. Is there some way to disable ALLFRAME from purple drive? I don’t know, is there even any such software?

you can use safely that drive…  like any other drive yhou should backup important data allways

dont need to disable anything

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@Austenwhd, unfortunately WD’s “technical” documentation is very poor. If it exists at all, it is usually little more than marketing pap aimed at the lowest common denominator of computer user.

“AllFrame technology works with ATA streaming to reduce frame loss, improve playback and increases the number of drive bays supported. AllFrame reduces video interruptions that commonly occur when desktop hard drives are incorrectly used as storage in security systems. Missed frames and lost footage is a serious problem when an event occurs and surveillance footage needs tobe retrieved. WD Purple with AllFrame provides the confidence you should expect when it’s time to play back and review critical surveillance footage.”

Contrast the above paragraph to the following documents from Hitachi (Seagate has even more on the subject).

http://www.hgst.com/tech/techlib.nsf/techdocs/A6F628F7726F21548625703000675F3F/$file/Smooth_Stream_White_Paper_FINAL.pdf

http://www.hgst.com/tech/techlib.nsf/techdocs/C5E72C42AC421A9B86257257008122C8/$file/AVSM-010307f.pdf

Basically, those drives that are targeted at surveillance and PVR/DVR/STB applications incorporate the ATA Streaming Command Set. These commands are extensions to the existing ATA Read/Write commands, not replacements for them. The application software or the OS determines which command set is used at any time. Obviously the software will use the standard commands when retrieving or updating file system information. That’s because these data are critical and must be accessed on a best-effort basis. OTOH, video or audio data would be accessed in time-critical fashion by using the Streaming commands. That’s because we humans can tolerate a missed frame, but we cannot accept prolonged stuttering and hesitation.

In short, a desktop OS would not make use of the streaming commands, so your Purple drive should behave like a normal desktop drive. At least that’s how I see it.

That said, I don’t understand why WD refers to their technology as “AllFrame”. Shouldn’t it be “AlmostAllFrame”? Or does the drive substitute the missing frame with a prior frame, or an average of prior and succeeding frames, or some other method?

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So all in all this drive is no worse than Green drive on desktop platform? Thank you for your reply.

AISI, Purple drives are essentially just Green drives that are designed to spin 24/7, but I could be wrong. It would help immensely if WD’s documentation would explain exactly what is meant by “AllFrame”.

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I had a closer look at the Purple technical manual. Section 4.0 lists those ATA-8 commands that are supported by the drive. It makes reference to the “D1699 ATA8-ACS specification”.

AT Attachment 8 - ATA/ATAPI Command Set (ATA8-ACS) - T13:
http://www.t13.org/documents/uploadeddocuments/docs2008/d1699r6a-ata8-acs.pdf

Section 4.23 of the ATA spec states …

Devices that implement the Streaming feature set shall implement the GPL feature set and the following commands:

a) CONFIGURE STREAM
b) READ STREAM EXT
c) WRITE STREAM EXT
d) READ STREAM DMA EXT  
e) WRITE STREAM DMA EXT

Unfortunately the Purple manual makes no reference to these commands. So what gives? Is this yet another error in the docs, or does “AllFrame” refer to something else?

To answer this question, I thought that perhaps I would follow up the patent numbers on the drive’s label:

http://patentimages.storage.googleapis.com/pdfs/US5956196.pdf
http://patentimages.storage.googleapis.com/pdfs/US6178056.pdf
http://patentimages.storage.googleapis.com/pdfs/US6263459.pdf
http://patentimages.storage.googleapis.com/pdfs/US6289484.pdf

However, the most recent of these patents is dated Sept 11, 2001, and none discusses streaming.

This begs the question, where are the other patents that relate to WD’s technological innovations of the past 13 years, and why aren’t these recorded on the label?

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Wow, you really went looking for answers for this one.

fzabkar wrote:
I had a closer look at the Purple technical manual. Section 4.0 lists those ATA-8 commands that are supported by the drive. It makes reference to the “D1699 ATA8-ACS specification”.

AT Attachment 8 - ATA/ATAPI Command Set (ATA8-ACS) - T13:
http://www.t13.org/documents/uploadeddocuments/docs2008/d1699r6a-ata8-acs.pdf

Section 4.23 of the ATA spec states …

Devices that implement the Streaming feature set shall implement the GPL feature set and the following commands:

a) CONFIGURE STREAM
b) READ STREAM EXT
c) WRITE STREAM EXT
d) READ STREAM DMA EXT
e) WRITE STREAM DMA EXT

Unfortunately the Purple manual makes no reference to these commands. So what gives? Is this yet another error in the docs, or does “AllFrame” refer to something else?

To answer this question, I thought that perhaps I would follow up the patent numbers on the drive’s label:

http://patentimages.storage.googleapis.com/pdfs/US5956196.pdf
http://patentimages.storage.googleapis.com/pdfs/US6178056.pdf
http://patentimages.storage.googleapis.com/pdfs/US6263459.pdf
http://patentimages.storage.googleapis.com/pdfs/US6289484.pdf

However, the most recent of these patents is dated Sept 11, 2001, and none discusses streaming.

This begs the question, where are the other patents that relate to WD’s technological innovations of the past 13 years, and why aren’t these recorded on the label?

    • *Maybe, the patents are still unlisted or pending. Anyway, like i said in OP, a long and detailed discussion is needed on these new drives, there is absoluely nothing worthwhile on the internet. I wish some WD technical representative could come here and explain. I am sure ALLFRAME is all well and great function for DVR but what about desktop. Lets say i do Editing work and need this drive to do intensive and simultaneous read and write of FULLHD content, how ALLFRAME can help me there, or not. Red and Black drives even though targeted at NAS and corporate enviornment but they still run great on normal PC and we have a lot of information about them but not the purple drives, even the sellers and retailers barely know much about them.