WD Gold vs Ultrastar DC HA210?

I have looked at the PDF specs sheets for the Ultrastar HUS722T2TALA604 (DC HA210 2TB) and the WD2005FBYZ (Gold 2TB). Both specs sheets for the 2TB read identical, same platters/heads, areal density, cache, 2M MBF. I can’t find any difference between them, except the Ultrastar is $30-40 more than the Gold. So is there any real difference between them, or are they the same bare drive with a different label put on them?

https://documents.westerndigital.com/content/dam/doc-library/en_us/assets/public/western-digital/product/data-center-drives/ultrastar-dc-ha200-series/data-sheet-ultrastar-dc-ha210.pdf

http://products.wdc.com/library/SpecSheet/ENG/2579-810192.pdf

Hi,

Both the drive are of different brands with different limited warranties. You can purchase any of the drives as per your requirements/evironments and needs.

Wow, that really doesn’t help. Both drives read the same on the specs sheets that I linked to, and both have a 5 year warranty. That’s why I was asking if there was a difference between them or if they are the same bare drive just with a WD Gold lable on one and a Ultrastar DC HA210 label on the other. I can’t find any specs difference.

WD2005FBYZ (Gold 2TB) production of 2023 comes with a new label.
WD added the code DC HA750

WD other than supporting SATA protocols, it also modernize USB 3.0 support protocols for Windows, UASP its the latest available.

In conclusion and while two HDD look identical in basic specifications, they do differ at firmware level.

Since 2016 and up to 2023 they are three WD Gold major firmware revisions, fist one did not mention USB at firmware, second revision mention USB at firmware, latest revision mention UASP = latest USB protocol this using SCSI commands set over USB connection.
I would consider WD Gold vs Ultrastar, WD Gold series is more software ready for windows PC computing.
Ready for RAID
Ready for SATA
Ready for USB UASP = Latest external HDD drive enclosures

I ended up going for the Gold 2TB 'cause it was a bit lighter on the wallet. Been using it for a few months now without a hitch.

I did combine two of 2TB WD Gold and formed RAID-1 Array for Win7 Pro OS Boot.
First HDD open box never used, from USA = 0 hours of operation.
Second HDD, used from home user (Ireland) with 18.000 hours of operation.

RAID Array performance = Top
Both HDD mechanics sound the same.
Modern and much more silent operation compared to old Raptor 75GB 10.000rpm.

Old Raptor , these sounded as WW2 machine-gun, even so this RAID Array survived 89.000 hours of operation with out failure.
My RAID Array this is under active Air cooling (120mm DC Fan), at a large thick steel, medium tower, huge case. :slightly_smiling_face:

I would never trust to get used HDD which was serving at poorly ventilated NAS box.