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1 2 3 4 5 6 NextWD Caviar Green 2TB & Seagate Pipeline HD 500GB: Quiet Desktop HDDs
Mar. 26, 2009 by Lawrence Lee
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Product
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Western Digital Caviar Green WD20EADS
2.0TB Desktop Hard Drive
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Seagate Pipeline HD ST3500321CS
500GB Desktop Hard Drive
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Sample Supplier
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Market Price
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US$300 |
US$60 |
Western Digital's Caviar
Green Power series rocked our world when they were first introduced.
The unconventional approach of slower rotational speed, combined with
smarter seeking and head management resulted in the quietest and most power
efficient desktop hard drives. Their largest drive to date,
the Caviar Green 2TB, aspires to continue the legacy. You may think a 2TB couldn't
possibly be quiet, but with no increase in the number of platters due to the extra high density 500GB platters, in theory it should
do as well as the 1TB version.
Seagate has also stepped into the same market with a line of low noise, low energy drives, the Pipeline HD series. Marketed as the perfect drives for media devices, they essentially share the same values as Green Powers. We confirmed in a recent review that the 1TB
Pipeline HD Pro spins at the usual standard 7200 RPM speed, but the
lower capacity Pipelines all run at 5900 RPM. We're looking at the largest of these
drives, the 500GB version.
Green Power 2TB on the left, Pipeline HD 500GB on the right. |
Western Digital Caviar Green 2TB
WD Caviar Green 2TB WD20EADS: Key Features
& Benefits
(from Western Digital's product
web page)
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| FEATURE & BRIEF |
Our Comment |
| Reduced power consumption - WD has
reduced power consumption by up to 40 percent compared to standard desktop
drives with the combination of WD's IntelliSeek™, NoTouch™, and
IntelliPower™ technologies. |
Whatever the main contributor, the power
efficiency of their Green drives is undisputed. |
| Helps enable eco-friendly PCs - WD
Caviar Green drives yield an average drive power savings of 4-5 watts over
standard desktop drives making it possible for our energy-conscious customers
to build systems with higher capacities and the right balance of system
performance, ensured reliability, and energy conservation. |
While 4-5 watts may sound low, in a server
farm this can certainly add up. |
| Cool and quiet - GreenPower™
technology yields lower operating temperatures for increased reliability
and low acoustics for ultra-quiet PCs and external drives. |
Lowering the spindle speed is a big reason
for these improvements. |
| Massive capacity - Capacities up
to 2 TB offer the most available capacity for storage-intensive programs
and space-hungry operating systems, like Window Vista®, with plenty
of room left over for photos, music, and video. |
As the first 2TB drive to hit the market,
WD is at the top of the mountain at the moment. |
| Perfect for external drives - External
drive manufacturers can eliminate the need for a fan in a high-capacity
product with a WD Caviar Green drive, the coolest and quietest in its class.
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Hard-mounted in a stuffy enclosure, such
a drive would be the perfect fit. |
| IntelliPower - A fine-tuned balance
of spin speed, transfer rate and caching algorithms designed to deliver
both significant power savings and solid performance |
Our 2TB sample spins at 5400 RPM. WD's
literature lists the possible speed range as 5400~7200 RPM, but we have
yet to come across a drive that falls between these two numbers. |
| IntelliSeek - Calculates optimum
seek speeds to lower power consumption, noise, and vibration. |
Just-in-time seeking that lets the seek
head move more slowly when it would otherwise have to wait for the latency
of the spindle. Should be good for reliability as well. |
| NoTouch ramp load technology - The
recording head never touches the disk media ensuring significantly less
wear to the recording head and media as well as better drive protection
in transit. |
Not only does this reduce wear and tear,
but it also lowers the risk of accidental damage. |
| Perpendicular Magnetic Recording (PMR)
- Employs PMR technology to achieve even greater areal density. |
PMR is pretty much standard these days. |
| StableTrac™ - The motor shaft
is secured at both ends to reduce system-induced vibration and stabilize
platters for accurate tracking, during read and write operations. (2 TB
models only) |
Vibrations are less of a problem for
sub 7200 RPM drives. |
| Low power spin-up - WD Caviar Green
drives consume less current during startup allowing lower peak loads. |
Measuring spin-up power consumption is
very difficult to confirm. |
| Advanced power technology - Electronic
components deliver best-in-class low power consumption for reduced power
requirements and increased reliability. |
Sounds good. |
| Help support this site, buy the WD Caviar Green 2TB Hard Drive from one of our affiliate retailers! |
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