When the Western Digital EcoGreen F4EG drive arrives in September it is going to be rather popular.  A new larger platter means that the 1.5TB and 2TB flavours will sport 3 platters instead of two which will bring power consumption down.  It does still remain a 5400rpm drive, though that will not matter so much if your OS and active programs reside on an SSD and the WD drive is used for large term storage as the 32MB cache and SATA 3 interface should give you enough bandwidth for that purpose.  Even more attractive is the price that The Register reports, $119 for the 2TB model or 6 cents/gigabyte.

“Samsung has replaced its four-platter 2TB disk driven with a three-platter one offering lower power consumption.

The desktop 3.5-inch EcoGreen F4EG drive comes in 1.5TB and 2TB flavours, with a 32MB cache, 3Gbit/s SATA interface, native command queuing and a 5400rpm spin speed. Each platter has a capacity of 667GB, which is matched by Western Digital’s Caviar Green 2TB WD20EARS. That drive has a larger 64MB cache.

The 667GB/platter technology would, if used in a standard four-platter, 3.5-inch drive, result in a 2.67TB capacity. Another areal density increase would be needed to reach a 3TB capacity – a simpler and thus more marketing-friendly number.

Samsung says its F4EG draws 23 per cent less power in standby mode than the current 2TB F3EG with its four platters. It will be available in September, priced at $119.99.”

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