Western Digital Caviar Green 2 TB SATA Internal Hard Drive Retail Kit - WD20000CSRTL

by Western Digital

Product Details

• Product Dimensions: 6.9 x 3.9 x 7.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.7 pounds
• Shipping: Currently, item can be shipped only within the U.S.
• ASIN: B0020CT002
• Item model number: WD20000CSRTL
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (21 customer reviews)
• Date first available at Amazon.com: September 14, 2004

Product Description

Available in capacities up to 2 TB, WD Caviar® Green™ SATA hard drives reduce power consumption by up to 40% and offer best-in-class acoustics and operating temperature. Based on WD’s exclusive GreenPower™ technology, these drives are designed to deliver power savings as the primary attribute. As hard drive capacities increase, the power required to run those drives increases as well. WD Caviar Green drives make it possible for energy-conscious customers to build systems with higher capacities and the right balance of system performance, ensured reliability, and energy conservation. They are ideal for PCs, external storage and other devices that require lower power consumption and cool, quiet operation.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

35 of 36 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Either WD20EARS or WD20EADS, July 23, 2009

By 

Ask Bjørn Hansen (Los Angeles, CA, United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Western Digital Caviar Green 2 TB SATA Internal Hard Drive Retail Kit - WD20000CSRTL (Personal Computers)

(See below for an update!)

Original review: This product (WD20000CSRTL) is a regular WD20EADS drive in retail packaging. I was worried it'd be a different drive, but it's not.

Unlike the "OEM" version (WD20EADS) it comes in a big-ish box and with an "install guide" (good if you haven't tried installing a new drive, I guess), an SATA cable and 4 mounting screws. The packaging is obviously more wasteful, but considering the bad packaging reviews the OEM drives get here, maybe its a good thing. If it's the same price as the WD20EADS then I think it's a good deal, even if just for the better packaging.

*Update July 2010* As others have pointed out; they are now selling WD20EARS drives under this ASIN. I use OS X, Linux and FreeBSD so it makes no difference to me; but if you use certain really old versions of Windows (Windows XP) you won't be able to use the full capacity (easily?) or something like that. The recent drives we ordered like this came individually packaged in WD packaging, but with no cables or anything.

*Update September 2010* Depending on the weather, phase of the moon etc you could now get any 2TB Western Digital "green" drive when you order this item. There are other Amazon product IDs that'll give you the same but for lower cost, too - so no longer recommended!!

15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great Drive, October 9, 2009

By 

John K. Nakata "r66traveler" (Silicon Valley, CA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Western Digital Caviar Green 2 TB SATA Internal Hard Drive Retail Kit - WD20000CSRTL (Personal Computers)

This drive with "Retail" packaging (WD20000CSRTL) and "Bulk/OEM" (WD20EADS) are the same drive. Often the retail version with the fancy packaging is more expensive but when they're the same price GET THE RETAIL VERSION.

One is packaged for retail and the other sent by Western Digital to companies who use them in their products. The packaging is significantly different. The OEM drives come in small cardboard cartons protected usually by foam. This is fine when shipped in larger boxes with dozens of drives but may cause a problem when ordered individually. Of the 12 WD drives I've purchased the only one that came DOA was the OEM packaged unit. The drive had shifted from the center to the edge as a result of rough handling by the carrier.

I have 12 WD bare drives acquired over the last 7 months for my MacPro . I love them. I have Western Digital drives in each of the 4 hard drive bays. For the boot drive I use the Black for maximum performance (7200RPM) while the others are Green Drives with variable speed (5400-7200RPM) for efficient power use. They run cool and are very quiet. A very small downside is they take a little extra time to "spin up".

For "general" and "off-site" back ups I use the bare WD drives and NewerTech quad-interface SATA HDD dock. I store these drives in a static-proof box by Wiebetech (10-pack for $55.00), which provides protection for the exposed circuits and connectors.

I HIGHLY RECOMMEND THESE DRIVES! Only one came DOA and it was replaced by Amazon within a week. I've been buying each time there's a dip in price. (279.00, 229.00, 219.00, 209.00 and 199.00)

17 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Died sooner than later, October 14, 2009

By 

Jaime Moreno (Farmersville,CA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Western Digital Caviar Green 2 TB SATA Internal Hard Drive Retail Kit - WD20000CSRTL (Personal Computers)

I haven't even had this drive a year yet and already I've had to RMA it!
It ran okay for a drive that doesn't even spin 7200rpm so it runs very quiet and cool. Not good for video intensive stuff though because one the drive starts to get full you will notice the slowdown and slight delays. As you can tell other than it running cool, quiet and capacity it has few redeeming qualities. I should've listened to others that were holding off buying 2TB or larger drives since it is new tech and hasn't been as tested as some of the smaller capacity harddrives. All I know is that I've never had a harddrive fail me so quickly before and I must not be alone because I've already been waiting over 2 weeks for Western Digital to send me a replacement drive and all I get is a delayed message so either they aren't making enough or are getting quite a bit of RMA's?
If really need this much diskspace and insist on getting this drive make sure to get 2 of them to use in RAID 1 in case one of them fails as mine did. Oh the reason for the RMA was bad sectors starting to popup all over the drive so either a lack of quality control or when you are dealing with larger capacity drives this is more likely to happen.

p.s. Better hope this drive doesn't die on you because I'm just not getting my replacement drive after waiting 3 weeks!