Western Digital 1 TB Caviar Green SATA Intellipower 32 MB Cache Bulk/OEM Desktop Hard Drive WD10EADS

by Western Digital

• Ships in Certified Frustration-Free Packaging
• WD has reduced power consumption by up to 40 percent compared to standard desktop drives
• GreenPower technology yields lower operating temperatures for increased reliability and low acoustics for ultra-quiet PCs and external drives
• A fine-tuned balance of spin speed, transfer rate and caching algorith ms designed to deliver both significant power savings and solid performance.

Product Details

• Product Dimensions: 5.8 x 4 x 1 inches ; 1.4 pounds
• Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Shipping: Currently, item can be shipped only within the U.S.
• ASIN: B001IEZX3G
• Item model number: WD10EADS
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (265 customer reviews)
• Date first available at Amazon.com: October 30, 2008

Product Description

Amazon.com

It's easy to choose the world-class quality of a Western Digital hard drive. We’ve not only designed a drive that's right for you, we've also made it simple to find. These drives are ideal for business, home use, or high performance desktops, and are available in capacities up to 2 TB. With our renowned leading-edge engineering, you'll always make the right choice with WD. And you'll never compromise on quality.

The power of choice. The quality of WD.
WD Caviar® Blue™ Performance and reliability for everyday computing. Select true blue for reliable quality in everyday use.	WD Caviar® Green™ Cool, quiet, . Select green for doing more with less energy consumption.	WD Caviar® Black™ Maximum performance for power computing. Select black when you demand the highest performance.

WD Caviar Green – Cool, quiet.

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.

Features at a glance Reduced power consumption Environmentally responsible Cool and quiet 3-year limited warranty

WD Caviar Green drives use less power and support quieter, cooler-running desktop PCs and external storage devices.

Reduced power consumption - WD has reduced power consumption by up to 40 percent compared to standard desktop drives with the combination of WD's IntelliSeek, NoTouch, and IntelliPower technologies.

Helps enable PCs - WD Caviar Green drives yield an average drive power savings of 4-5 watts over standard desktop drives making it possible for our energy-conscious customers to build systems with higher capacities and the right balance of system performance, ensured reliability, and energy conservation.

Cool and quiet - WD GreenPower Technology™ yields lower operating temperatures for increased reliability and low acoustics for ultra-quiet PCs and external drives.

Massive capacity - Capacities up to 2 TB offer the most available capacity for storage-intensive programs and space-hungry operating systems, like Windows Vista®, with plenty of room left over for photos, music, and video.

Perfect for external drives - External drive manufacturers can eliminate the need for a fan in a high-capacity product with a WD Caviar Green drive, the coolest and quietest in its class.

View IntelliSeek demo here.

PMR

IntelliPower - A fine-tuned balance of spin speed, transfer rate and caching algorithms designed to deliver both significant power savings and solid performance.

IntelliSeek - Calculates optimum seek speeds to lower power consumption, noise, and vibration.

NoTouch ramp load technology - The recording head never touches the disk media ensuring significantly less wear to the recording head and media as well as better drive protection in transit.

Perpendicular Magnetic Recording (PMR) - Employs PMR technology to achieve even greater areal density.

StableTrac™ - The motor shaft is secured at both ends to reduce system-induced vibration and stabilize platters for accurate tracking, during read and write operations. (2 TB models only)

Low power spin-up - WD Caviar Green drives consume less current during startup allowing lower peak loads.

Advanced power technology - Electronic components deliver best-in-class low power consumption for reduced power requirements and increased reliability.

Product Description

Available in capacities up to 2 TB, WD Caviar Green SATA hard drives reduce power consumption by up to 40 percentage 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.

The power of choice. The quality of WD.
WD Caviar® Blue™ Performance and reliability for everyday computing. Select true blue for reliable quality in everyday use.	WD Caviar® Green™ Cool, quiet, . Select green for doing more with less energy consumption.	WD Caviar® Black™ Maximum performance for power computing. Select black when you demand the highest performance.

WD Caviar Green – Cool, quiet.

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.

Features at a glance Reduced power consumption Environmentally responsible Cool and quiet 3-year limited warranty

WD Caviar Green drives use less power and support quieter, cooler-running desktop PCs and external storage devices.

Reduced power consumption - WD has reduced power consumption by up to 40 percent compared to standard desktop drives with the combination of WD's IntelliSeek, NoTouch, and IntelliPower technologies.

Helps enable PCs - WD Caviar Green drives yield an average drive power savings of 4-5 watts over standard desktop drives making it possible for our energy-conscious customers to build systems with higher capacities and the right balance of system performance, ensured reliability, and energy conservation.

Cool and quiet - WD GreenPower Technology™ yields lower operating temperatures for increased reliability and low acoustics for ultra-quiet PCs and external drives.

Massive capacity - Capacities up to 2 TB offer the most available capacity for storage-intensive programs and space-hungry operating systems, like Windows Vista®, with plenty of room left over for photos, music, and video.

Perfect for external drives - External drive manufacturers can eliminate the need for a fan in a high-capacity product with a WD Caviar Green drive, the coolest and quietest in its class.

View IntelliSeek demo here.

PMR

IntelliPower - A fine-tuned balance of spin speed, transfer rate and caching algorithms designed to deliver both significant power savings and solid performance.

IntelliSeek - Calculates optimum seek speeds to lower power consumption, noise, and vibration.

NoTouch ramp load technology - The recording head never touches the disk media ensuring significantly less wear to the recording head and media as well as better drive protection in transit.

Perpendicular Magnetic Recording (PMR) - Employs PMR technology to achieve even greater areal density.

StableTrac™ - The motor shaft is secured at both ends to reduce system-induced vibration and stabilize platters for accurate tracking, during read and write operations. (2 TB models only)

Low power spin-up - WD Caviar Green drives consume less current during startup allowing lower peak loads.

Advanced power technology - Electronic components deliver best-in-class low power consumption for reduced power requirements and increased reliability.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

211 of 219 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars May be the "green" drive to get right now January 3, 2009

By Snap, Crackle and Pop TOP 1000 REVIEWER

If you're looking for a low power drive, the Western Digital WD10EADS is one of the best options currently. It has by far the lowest idle and active power consumption statistics. That, not surprisingly, helps it run cooler than other drives as well.

There is some performance loss, though most users will probably not notice. For detailed stats, look up the Winter 2008 Hard Drive Guide at Tom's Hardware. (Though you may notice how quiet and cool it is!)

Also, note that this is the OEM or Bulk version of the drive, with no SATA data cable or power adapter, or screws if your system uses them.

UPDATE 2-2010: Western Digital has recently introduced a new WDxxEARS series of Caviar Green drives, with a number of enhancements. And, they are priced attractively. But they come with a wrinkle that means you'll need to do some thinking about whether this earlier WDxxEADS series drive is still better for you.

The WDxxEARS series uses more dense 500GB platters - so a 1TB drive has just two platters, and drives up to 2TB are available - and has 64MB of cache. So far so good. But the wrinkle is that WD is using the new series to transition to 4KB sectors on the hard drive; they call it WD Advanced Format technology.

For some users - those using Windows XP, or those trying to clone a drive to the new drive - Advanced Format presents substantial issues, so the EADS seriews may still be the drive to use. For those doing fresh installs for Vista, Windows 7 or Mac systems, be sure to look at the newer drives. Read the reviews for the new drives for more info and some suggestions for where to get still more info.

PACKAGING UPDATE 2-2010: Read some of the recent reviews for comments about the completely unacceptable packaging that Amazon is using to ship these hard drives. You may want to consider choosing another source for the drive.

75 of 81 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Why you need this drive August 7, 2009

By Heather Lion

Amazon Verified Purchase

For those that don't know why you want a low-power drive:
It's not just for the environment or your electricity bill--those are just added bonuses. A hard drive can generate a lot of heat inside of your system. This means that (a) your fans will have to blow faster (and thus your computer gets significantly louder), but also that the rest of your computer (CPU, graphics card, etc) are operating at a higher heat. This means that they are running at a lower efficiency rate, as well as with an increased risk of failure. Long story short, your computer will run quieter, faster, and more efficiently, and will also last longer with fewer failures.

This particular drive runs faster than a lot of low-power drives, and has been incredibly reliable. It's 7200 rpm and 32mb cache are rather good specs, especially compared to other drives out there--make sure you check those two specs before you buy! The price also cannot be beat.

It unfortunately doesn't come with any cables, so I would strongly suggest getting this (as I did): Cables Unlimited Serial ATA Cable Kit. It comes with both the sata connector for your motherboard as well as a power adapter to power your drive from a 4-pin molex cable from your power supply.

----Update regarding WD's changed rpm specs----
WD has changed the specs on the drive since my last review, from 7200rpm to "IntelliPower," and many other websites speculate as to what that exactly means. Some say it runs closer to 5400rpm, other say it's a variable rate between 5400 and 7200. I don't know what it is, but I did want to weigh in on performance.

I also have a 5400rpm drive in the same machine, and a proper 7200rpm drive in another machine. This green drive definitely outperforms the 5400 drive, and I personally do not notice the difference between this and the other 7200rpm drive when running Acronis backup or Photoshop/Gigapixel work. Apparently this has to do with the increased density of the plates used in the drive, although I do not know enough to weigh in scientifically on this. Of course I doubt that performance is comparable to the WD Black drives, but for normal use this drive will not be a "slow-down factor" like other 5400rpm drives tend to be.

The rest of my review about power consumption and temperature still stands, and I would also like to add that it's great with fanless external enclosures, which often tend to generate excess heat with higher-power drives.

54 of 62 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Eco-Friendly Option for Computer AND external drives! April 21, 2009

By T. Anderbery

Amazon Verified Purchase

WD engineering continues to impress me and I've been in the IT business for 20+ years as an engineer on all levels. When used in an Apple computer these drives impress with the hardware and OS ability to control the drive for increased performance. Some PC's are being built with this capability as well, but even without it the on-board processor performs fantastic. I would however not recommend this drive in a server due to it's variable spindle speed.

In an external enclosure SATA II through Firewire 800 sustained speeds matched a WD Black 1tb drive, basically maxing out the FW800 bandwidth. Through USB 2.0 they both performed identical as well but USB speeds are based on the external enclosures chip and since it's Serial (USB) it's ONE WAY at a time which makes it slow when compared to FW400/800.

Temps in an iMac were less than 109* at most times, rarely exceeding 110* which also resulted in lower fan noise.

Lower Heat, Less power generally equal longer life and higher reliability however these drives are still new. But as of this review our company has 2 in a NAS Enclosure running in RAID1 for the last 4 months non-stop without any issues.

The WD Black drives would be ideal when performance is what matters but in situations where energy consumption and more importantly heat is considered the ideal attribute these drives are best. The WD black is about 30% faster overall on either Mac/Pc.

Spindle speed varies from 4200rpm-7200rpm on newer models, first generation varied 5400rpm-7200rpm. Both are able to stop altogether through a spin down feature however this will never "spin-down" on a windows based machine due to the indexing Windows employs that access's the drive once every 3 seconds.