Any first-hand experience on the impact of low RPM "Green" Drives as storage drives?

[Addikt]

So I just finished reading the review found at the link below:

http://www.legitreviews.com/article/1077/10/

It didn't really shed any light in terms of filling a knowledge gap; I was simply looking for some raw numbers in terms of performance. So, as I stated in the title, does anyone have any experience with these 'green' drives, how how do they fare?

At the moment in addition to an SSD boot drive I have 3 WD Caviar Black 1001FALS drives and when I swapped them them in, in place of my older 500 GB Seagate and even 500 GB Caviar Blacks, I found there was a noticable increase in ambient temperature. These drives just seem to run hot.

That said, with the introduction of 'green' drives you are looking at lower idle and peak power requirements for what seems to be a 6-9 degree differences. Is this worth it? I mean, these drives are 30-40% slower than those from the Caviar Black line, but 6C per drive would be a noticiable drop in ambient temps, I figure.

Finally, with respect to speed. I still see it as being an important factor for a storage drive, but it's not the be-all and end-all. After all, these drives will more than likely be idle most of the time, but wouldn't it be frustrating at those moments you are trying to stream/transfer data at patience-shattering speeds?

Has anyone else come to this crossroads? Which way did you lean? And if you had the chance to go back in time, would you make the same choice?

 

[fffblackmage]

My new Samsung F4 "Eco Green" 2TB 5400rpm HDD is faster than my old WD Blue 500GB 7200rpm HDDs (WD5000AAKS), so I'm quite happy with my green HDD.

And the Samsung F4EG 2TB is nearly as fast as that WD Black (at least for sustained read/write)... The newer Samsung F4 uses high density 667GB platters, while the WD Black 2TB is still using 500GB platters.

I definitely wouldn't pay twice as much for the WD Black for a simple storage HDD.

 

[greenhawk]

Been using several green drives over the last year or so that have been working as storage drives (via USB-sata dock).

Recently had to use one as a replacement program drive in my computer (V-Raptor is off for RMA) and as a program drive / scratch disk, they suck majorly in that roll.

Their read/write speed (single task) is fine. Hard to tell them apart from the WD Blues or similar mid ranged drive, but get two or more tasks running on the same drive and throughput dies (by design or other, but suspecting design).

ie: unraring one archive is fine (full speed), doing two at once and it feels like the drive is faulty (extracting 2 at once takes several times longer than doing 1 then the other), doing three or more and you can go to bed sort of slow. The V-Raptor I can push sooo much harder. The previous raptor (gen2_ I could push harder and even the last program drive I had before that (640GB WD Blue) I could push a few trough without issue.

Only other way I can explain how the greens perform under load is to go back to the non-DMA days for heavy work loads on IDE drives, as performance in multi-tasking is just not there.

I can only say that people using them as OS drives are REALLY punishing themselves for no good reason.

Personally either look at getting a larger program drive (3 x 1TB when 2GB are common) or a case fan or even installing the drives into a 4-in-3 style of drive cooler.

Failing all that, space the drives out so they are not in neibouring bays (3.25" bays). Limited air flow can cause even normal drives to get hot fast.

 

[nanaki333]

just don't get the WD green drives. those things spin down after like 30 seconds and will drive you nuts... even for a storage drive. it also shortens the lifespan of the drive by constantly spinning down then up.

 

[Zap]

Their read/write speed (single task) is fine. Hard to tell them apart from the WD Blues or similar mid ranged drive, but get two or more tasks running on the same drive and throughput dies (by design or other, but suspecting design).

ie: unraring one archive is fine (full speed), doing two at once and it feels like the drive is faulty (extracting 2 at once takes several times longer than doing 1 then the other), doing three or more and you can go to bed sort of slow. The V-Raptor I can push sooo much harder. The previous raptor (gen2_ I could push harder and even the last program drive I had before that (640GB WD Blue) I could push a few trough without issue.

Lower RPM = higher rotational latency. Higher rotational latency + slower seeks (both normal with "green" drives) = lower access times. Lower access times = less IOPS = not as good for multiple tasks simultaneously.

 

[Addikt]

Everyone seems to be raving about those WD green drives. Isn't there any way to prevent them from spinning down so often, or is that a feature built into the firmware? That said, it might not be a big deal since these are going to be on a remote server and so I'll be restricted to Gigabit LAN speeds...

 

[drizek]

Green means fewer platters, which means higher densities, which means higher sequentials.

Yes, the access times are terrible, especially if it spins down, but sequential transfer rates are usually faster than just about any competing non-green drive.

I have a Seagate in my server and a WD and Samsung in my Desktop. All are great. Fast transfers, very quiet, and they stay spun down most of the time. Yes, it is annoying to have to wait for the drive to spin back up again, but until I can afford a 2TB SSD, it is the best option.

Also keep in mind that the effective speed on the outside of the disc is faster than the interior part. I make a 100GB or so partition at the beginning of the drive as a games directory and then use the rest of it for mass storage of media where I don't need the speed as much.

 

[Elixer]

The way I see it is, just get whatever drive you want, blue/green/black, in the end, it makes little difference for storage. Heck, if you find a sale, get two of them then you can backup the storage drive, since no matter what, it will fail at some point.

"green" drives are more or less just marketing speak for low RPM HD.
Storage drives don't need to have fast access times, so ... meh.

 

[Zap]

Everyone seems to be raving about those WD green drives. Isn't there any way to prevent them from spinning down so often, or is that a feature built into the firmware?

You can check Windows Power Options. I think it defaults to spinning down the HDDs after 20 minutes.

 

[Cerb]

Everyone seems to be raving about those WD green drives. Isn't there any way to prevent them from spinning down so often, or is that a feature built into the firmware? That said, it might not be a big deal since these are going to be on a remote server and so I'll be restricted to Gigabit LAN speeds...

They should not spin down quickly, unless you have set your power settings for that. What they should be doing, is parking the heads.

This issue primarily affects Linux, which has a fixed buffer flushing period. If you're worried, just get Samsung, instead. Alternatively, you could try this.

 

[docp]

i been using wd10ears.
simple storage drive needs.but honestly i am disappointed at this all green drive business.
its a meare marketing trick to give something new to customers.
henceforth i wont be buying any of this green drives due to slow transfers .
i save power by manually switching off entire system not by just shutting it down.

 

[Cerb]

i been using wd10ears.
simple storage drive needs.but honestly i am disappointed at this all green drive business.
its a meare marketing trick to give something new to customers.
henceforth i wont be buying any of this green drives due to slow transfers .
i save power by manually switching off entire system not by just shutting it down.

Apparently, you missed that they are also consistently cheaper than their faster cousins, which is the real reason people think about buying them. They are also categorically quieter, a lesser reason. Only in a data center could the power savings alone justify them.

That said, it really sucks to find them in big vendor desktops, that would otherwise be snappy PCs.

 

[drizek]

I buy them purely because they are quieter.

 

[pcunite]

The reason you buy Greens is because a WD20EARS is only $80 for 2TB. I have two of them in my HTPC and use an SSD for boot/programs. I think the firmware on them is a joke. Use the wdidle program to turn off or delay the head parking for sure. Every six months a drive seems to go offline. Have to shutdown and restart. WD is just trying to disable them for serious use.

 

[Chaoticlusts]

I have one 1500EARS in my main pc used as storage no issues whatsoever and had 8 in my file server running FreeNAS in a Raid-Z2 array

the one in my computer and 4 in the NAS I got back when they were new so sometime in 09 and bought another 4 about 8 months ago in all that time over those drives I've had one 'die' (it didn't technically die it was in the NAS and SMART started reporting failure so I pulled it trying to find warrenty info atm to figure out if it's one of the old batch or the latest) had to replace the dead one with an 2TB since the 1.5's aren't produced anymore but that's irrelevant

but the point is I've had a lot of these and they seem reliable yes they're slower than a normal 7200RPM HDD but nothing you'll really notice if your using it for storage that they're designed for speed doesn't matter if your dragging movies (yes this includes compressed 1080p movies) off it it'll only matter if your using it for games/applications/os

so basically have a fast drive for your OS and major apps (ideally an SSD) and greens as storage for your media etc. ^_^ personally I <3 the greens, low power usage and great $ per GB value perfect storage drives

 

[Chaoticlusts]

Only in a data center could the power savings alone justify them.

if your talking about 1 drive in a standard computer use sure but the way I use them at home I think justifies the power difference...from what I understand eco drives across the board are about 1-3watts idle compared to about 8watts for standard HDDs...5W might not seem like much but if you have a 4 or 8 drive NAS that you like to leave on a lot for household use so it will spend a lot of time idle...20w-40w power savings actually does add up a decent bit over time.. it's basically one-two less lights on in the house constantly so slightly less on the power bills

course if your just using one drive in a system that you only turn on for a few hours a day then yeah your saving very very little power...but still your saving 'some' and your paying less to save it

 

[Soundmanred]

I've used around 20 "green drives" from various manufacturers (WD, Samsung, Hitachi, Seagate) the past few years and they all perform great and keep cool. With 8+ drives in one case, it helps that they each stay cool.

 

[JSt0rm]

I have 4 hitachi 2tb drives in raid 5. The work fine for storage. Right now my work drives are a pair of 750gb wd black drives. They have been going strong for 3 or 4 years now. I work my drives really hard as well (recording and streaming audio and video)

 

[Cerb]

if your talking about 1 drive in a standard computer use sure but the way I use them at home I think justifies the power difference...from what I understand eco drives across the board are about 1-3watts idle compared to about 8watts for standard HDDs...5W might not seem like much but if you have a 4 or 8 drive NAS that you like to leave on a lot for household use so it will spend a lot of time idle...20w-40w power savings actually does add up a decent bit over time.. it's basically one-two less lights on in the house constantly so slightly less on the power bills

course if your just using one drive in a system that you only turn on for a few hours a day then yeah your saving very very little power...but still your saving 'some' and your paying less to save it

The difference isn't so much, today. It was quite a bit more when they were being introduced. WD and Samsung, at the least, have greatly reduced power consumption per generation. Idle, you gain a couple watts for the slower drive. A couple reference points (I wish they had non-low-power drives in low power reviews, as baseline, but whatever):
http://www.storagereview.com/western_digital_caviar_blue_1tb_review_wd10ealx
http://www.storagereview.com/western_digital_caviar_green_3tb_review_wd30ezrsdtl
The mainstream drives have been getting more efficient, over the last few years.

 

[Ratman6161]

Green means fewer platters, which means higher densities, which means higher sequentials.

Yes, but all other things being equal, more RPM = more performance.

 

[deimos3428]

Greens are great for storage drives.

I'm sure if you benchmark them they're slower, but having used both WD and Seagate green drives for a couple years I couldn't tell the difference between a standard 7200rpm and them for normal data use. (Recording [hd]tv, playback, opening/saving documents etc.)

Edit: Wait, yes I can...they're quieter.

 

[drizek]

Yes, but all other things being equal, more RPM = more performance.

... which is why I buy 7200rpm green drives. The 1TB Samsung F3 is quiet, big, good value, and, for its time, blazingly fast. The same goes for the 640GB WD Green.

The Seagate I will not make any excuses for, it was cheap, its on a NAS, I couldn't care less.