Conclusions and Final Thoughts
Capacity over Speed

With many out there making the switch to SSD for their OS partitions, users are finding that a mentality shift is in order, as you can’t fit anything and everything on a single super-fast drive these days.  So long as you can get accustomed to having your large, stagnant data a seperate ‘mass storage’ drive, the slower access times and rotational speeds will have little effect on your daily use.  The Caviar Green series starts to make sense when you realize your bulk data does not necessarily need to be spinning at 10,000 RPM, and the lower heat output will likely result in greater longevity of your storage medium.  This is especially true if you don’t have the greatest ventilation in your particular application (i.e. DVR’s).

Western Digital 2TB Caviar Green Review: Bigger and Quieter! - Storage 26


Warranty

It is worth pointing out that unlike many other Western Digital product lines, the Caviar Green drives are only offered with a 3-year warranty.  This is quite puzzling given the lower operating temps and efficiency improvements.  MTBF figures are not listed for the ‘Consumer’ grade GP, but the Enterprise-class 1TB RE2-GP model is rated at 1.2 million hours.

Pricing and Availability

The 2TB WD20EADS is the largest capacity currently available, and is still in bleeding edge territory as far as pricing.  At the time of this writing, they are selling in the $270-$300 range ($0.14/GB).  The 1.5TB WD15EADS goes for approx $180 ($0.12/GB).  The 1TB models remain the best cost per GB ($0.10), as both the EACS and EADS models are going for just under $100.  If you decide on 1TB, the extra $10 for the EADS model is likely worth the money, as it employs the larger 32MB cache.

Final Thoughts

For those who need as much as can possibly be crammed into a 3.5″ form factor, the Western Digital WD20EADS Caviar Green is sure to please.  While the performance is nowhere near Raptor territory, the sequential transfer rates are admirable given the near 50% drop in spindle speed.  An added bonus is the almost eerie silence of the 2TB model.  Our drive received many double takes during seek testing, as we truly believed we were benching the wrong device.  With huge storage and cool / quiet operation, I see this drive going into many DVR’s and media center PC’s in the near future.

Be sure to use our pricing engine to find the best prices on hard drives and anything else you might need:



« PreviousNext »