- Aug 14, 2000
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Background
I was in the market for an internal backup HDD that would always be on, so it needed to be as quiet as possible. It also needed reasonably decent performance for the purposes of mass file copying.
Initially I was going to get a 1TB Red, but then I discovered the WD Green 1TB (WD10EZRX). The interesting thing about this specimen is that its currently the only Green drive to have 1 TB platters like the Red series.
System
i5 2500K, GTX680, 16GB DDR3-1600, Gigabyte GA-P67A-UD3-B3, X-Fi XtremeMusic, Seasonic X 560W, Antec 902, 30" HP LP3065, Windows 7 SP1 (64 bit).
As the goal here is mass storage and backup, Im not going test my Samsung 128GB SSD. But Ill throw in a VelociRaptor as its the same size as the other drives, and is also backed up by them.
So the four drives tested are:
Here are the HD Tune scores:
The Greens average sequential performance of 118 MB/sec is very decent considering its only spinning at 5400 RPM, and it actually outruns the 7200 RPM Black by 18%. WD seriously needs to update that line to use 1TB platters.
17ms random access is high compared to the Black, but its better than Hitachis 18.8ms, which is a 7200 RPM drive I might add. Note that neither the Hitachi nor the Green support changing AAM.
The Green is also much better than the Red drives in this test, which score 20ms - 22ms depending on the model.
Games & File Copying
Games were measured with level and saved game loading using a stopwatch. Allow a +/- 1 second margin of error.
The Green turns in performance comparable to both the Black and Hitachi, though the Hitachi is quite a bit faster in Stalker 3, a game which obviously likes sequential performance.
The Raptor is in a different class across the board, and I think its definitely worthwhile over other HDDs for gaming purposes.
In my unscientific file copying test I backed up my 465GB gaming library. The Black settled at writing around 80MB/sec, and the Hitachi usually bounced between 97MB/sec 101MB/sec. But surprisingly the Green was even faster, and it settled at 107MB/sec, going as high as 109MB/sec in some cases.
Subjective Usage
The drive is exceptionally quiet. Even when sitting on my desk I cant hear it unless I put my ear close to it. It has no vibration and has extremely subdued seek noises. Also even after heavy file copying without a cooling fan, its barely warm to the touch.
I think it employs head parking after about ten seconds of idleness, and you can hear a slight click when it does so. As Ill have mine sitting idle in the background for most of the time, this doesnt bother me.
Conclusion
This drive is exactly what I was looking for, and its an excellent drive if you want silent storage combined with fast file copying. The fact that it writes my files faster than the Hitachi is impressive. You could also use it as a silent gaming drive as it produces competitive real-world gaming performance compared to 7200 RPM drives.
If you dont need the NAS features of the Red drive, get this Green drive instead. Its cheaper, has the same sequential performance, and has much better random access performance.
I was in the market for an internal backup HDD that would always be on, so it needed to be as quiet as possible. It also needed reasonably decent performance for the purposes of mass file copying.
Initially I was going to get a 1TB Red, but then I discovered the WD Green 1TB (WD10EZRX). The interesting thing about this specimen is that its currently the only Green drive to have 1 TB platters like the Red series.
System
i5 2500K, GTX680, 16GB DDR3-1600, Gigabyte GA-P67A-UD3-B3, X-Fi XtremeMusic, Seasonic X 560W, Antec 902, 30" HP LP3065, Windows 7 SP1 (64 bit).
As the goal here is mass storage and backup, Im not going test my Samsung 128GB SSD. But Ill throw in a VelociRaptor as its the same size as the other drives, and is also backed up by them.
So the four drives tested are:
- Western Digital Green 1TB (WD10EZRX), 1 x 1TB platter @ 5400 RPM.
- Hitachi Deskstar 7K1000.D 1TB (HDS721010DLE630), 1 x 1TB platter @ 7200 RPM.
- Western Digital Black 1TB (WD1002FAEX), 2 x 500GB platters @ 7200 RPM.
- Western Digital VelociRaptor 1TB (WD1000DHTZ), 3 x 333GB platters @ 10000 RPM.
Here are the HD Tune scores:
The Greens average sequential performance of 118 MB/sec is very decent considering its only spinning at 5400 RPM, and it actually outruns the 7200 RPM Black by 18%. WD seriously needs to update that line to use 1TB platters.
17ms random access is high compared to the Black, but its better than Hitachis 18.8ms, which is a 7200 RPM drive I might add. Note that neither the Hitachi nor the Green support changing AAM.
The Green is also much better than the Red drives in this test, which score 20ms - 22ms depending on the model.
Games & File Copying
Games were measured with level and saved game loading using a stopwatch. Allow a +/- 1 second margin of error.
The Green turns in performance comparable to both the Black and Hitachi, though the Hitachi is quite a bit faster in Stalker 3, a game which obviously likes sequential performance.
The Raptor is in a different class across the board, and I think its definitely worthwhile over other HDDs for gaming purposes.
In my unscientific file copying test I backed up my 465GB gaming library. The Black settled at writing around 80MB/sec, and the Hitachi usually bounced between 97MB/sec 101MB/sec. But surprisingly the Green was even faster, and it settled at 107MB/sec, going as high as 109MB/sec in some cases.
Subjective Usage
The drive is exceptionally quiet. Even when sitting on my desk I cant hear it unless I put my ear close to it. It has no vibration and has extremely subdued seek noises. Also even after heavy file copying without a cooling fan, its barely warm to the touch.
I think it employs head parking after about ten seconds of idleness, and you can hear a slight click when it does so. As Ill have mine sitting idle in the background for most of the time, this doesnt bother me.
Conclusion
This drive is exactly what I was looking for, and its an excellent drive if you want silent storage combined with fast file copying. The fact that it writes my files faster than the Hitachi is impressive. You could also use it as a silent gaming drive as it produces competitive real-world gaming performance compared to 7200 RPM drives.
If you dont need the NAS features of the Red drive, get this Green drive instead. Its cheaper, has the same sequential performance, and has much better random access performance.
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