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POWER CONSUMPTION & VIBRATION
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DRIVE NOISE TEST SUMMARY
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Drive
Manufacture date
firmware version
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Vibration
1-10
(10 = no vibration)
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Activity State
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Airborne Acoustics
(dBA@1m)
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Measured
Power
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WD Caviar Green 1.5TB WD15EADS
November 2009
firmware 01.00A01
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9
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Idle
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13
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4.5 W
(2.8 W heads unloaded)
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Seek (AAM)
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14
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5.8 W
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Seek
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Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 500GB ST3500418AS
September 2009
firmware CC37
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8
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Idle
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18
(16 muffled)
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4.7 W
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Seek
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19~20
(18 muffled)
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7.9W
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The Caviar Green impressed us even more with its incredibly low level of vibration,
the best we've seen in a desktop drive. Only slight tremors could be detected
when the drive was held. The 7200.12 was also very good in this regard, which
is rare for a 7200rpm drive; however, it's not quite up to the WD's level. Neither
drive would generate much extra noise if hard-mounted.
The 7200.12 used about 5W idle and 8W during seek which is at least 2W better
than most 640GB~1TB sized 3.5" drives. The Caviar Green was tremendously
efficient, using about 6W during seek, and 4.5W when idle. The Green has a head
parking feature which locks the drive head in place when it been idle 7~8 seconds.
In this state, the power consumption dropped to less than 3W, which is simply
phenomenal.
COMPETITIVE COMPARISON
The 1.5TB Caviar Green's airborne acoustics are among the lowest we've measured
and its level of vibration is superior to any 3.5" drive we've tested previously.
Power consumption was also amazingly low. If you count the 2.8W figure we recorded
with its drive heads parked as its idle power, then it tops the charts, besting
even single platter 5400/5900rpm drives from other manufacturers.
In contrast, the 500GB 7200.12 sounded terrible out of the box. Despite a
notable lack of vibration, pressing a bit on the top casing improved its acoustics
dramatically. After applying this tweak, it sounded much quieter, but still
only average by today's standards — about on par with the 2-platter WD
Caviar Blue 640GB, and slightly better than the 1TB and 1.5TB Barracuda 7200.11's.
The amount of energy it used wasn't noteworthy; 5W in idle and 8W in seek is
typical for a single-platter 7200rpm hard disk.
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DRIVE NOISE TEST SUMMARY
|
|
Drive
Manufacture date
firmware version
|
Vibration
1-10
(10 = no vibration)
|
Activity State
|
Airborne Acoustics
(dBA@1m)
|
Measured
Power
|
|
WD Caviar Green
1.5TB WD15EADS
November 2009
firmware 01.00A01
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9
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Idle
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13
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4.5 W
(2.8 W heads unloaded)
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Seek (AAM)
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14
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5.8 W
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Seek
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Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 500GB ST3500418AS
September 2009
firmware CC37
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8
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Idle
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18
(16 muffled)
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4.7 W
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Seek
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19~20
(18 muffled)
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7.9W
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PREVIOUSLY TESTED DESKTOP DRIVES
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Samsung F2 EcoGreen 500GB HD502HL
February 2009
firmware 1AG01114
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8
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Idle
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12
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3.2 W
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Seek (AAM)
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15
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5.3 W
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Seek (Normal)
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16
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6.1 W
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Seagate Pipeline HD .2 1TB ST31000424CS
April 2009
firmware SC13
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7
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Idle
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12
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3.4W
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Seek
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16
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8.0W
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Seagate Pipeline HD .2 500GB ST3500414CS
March 2009
firmware SC13
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8
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Idle
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13
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3.0 W
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Seek
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13~14
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7.0 W
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WD Caviar Green
2TB WD20EADS
February 2009
firmware 01.00A01
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7
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Idle
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13
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6.4 W
(4.0 W heads unloaded)
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Seek (AAM)
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6.5 W
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Seek (Normal)
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13~14
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Seagate Pipeline HD
500GB ST3500321CS
July 2008
firmware SC14
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6
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Idle
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14
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4.8 W
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Seek
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15
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6.9 W
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Seagate Barracuda LP 2TB ST32000542AS
June 2009
firmware CC32
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6
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Idle
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14
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4.4W
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Seek
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17
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8.6W
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Seagate Pipeline HD Pro
1TB ST31000533CS
September 2008
firmware SC15
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4
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Idle
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15
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7.1 W
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Seek
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16
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10.1 W
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WD VelociRaptor WD3000GLFS
300GB, 10K RPM
15 May 2008
firmware 03.03V01
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8
[w/o frame]
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Idle
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15
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8.2 W
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Seek (AAM)
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20
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12.2 W
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Seek (Normal)
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22
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12.2 W
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WD Caviar SE16
640GB WD6400AAKS
February 2008
firmware 01.03B01
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7
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Idle
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16
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6.8 W
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Seek (AAM)
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16~17
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8.1 W
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Seek (Normal)
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18~19
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9.3 W
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Samsung F1
750GB HD753LJ
February 2008
firmware 1AA01109
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6
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Idle
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16
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6.9 W
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Seek (AAM)
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18~19
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8.9 W
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Seek (Normal)
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20~21
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10.2 W
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Seagate 7200.11
1.5TB ST31500341AS
October 2008
firmware SD17
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4
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Idle
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17
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8.8 W
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Seek
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19
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10.7 W
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WD Caviar Black
1TB WD1001FALS
July 2008
firmware 05.00K05
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4
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Idle
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21
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8.5 W
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Seek (AAM)
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10.9 W
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Seek (Normal)
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25
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11.0 W
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