Western Digital AV-GP 2 TB Serial ATA Hard Disk Drive

Once upon a time, a 40 MB hard disk drive was considered state-of-the-art. Now, Western Digital gives us a hard disk drive of the same physical size, but with 50,000 times the capacity! We present - the 2 TB Western Digital AV-GP hard disk drive!

The 2 TB AV-GP is an audio-video version of the the WD Caviar Green hard disk drive. Like its Green Power compatriots, it features a slower spindle speed of between 5400 RPM and 7200 RPM, which greatly reduces its power consumption. However, in addition to common Green Power features, it also boasts several AV-specific features. Here's a list of the Western Digital AV-GP drive's key features :

• Long-Term Reliability - These drives are designed to last in high temperature always-on streaming digital audio/video environments such as PVR/DVR, DVR recorders and surveillance video recorders.
• Quiet - Noise levels have been minimized to less than one sone* - virtually below the threshold of human hearing.
• Reduced Power Consumption - WD has reduced power consumption by up to 40 percent compared to competitors' drives with the combination of WD's IntelliSeek, IntelliPark, and IntelliPower technologies.
• Compatible - Tested for compatibility in a broad range of AV products including set top boxes, DVD recorders, and mainstream surveillance systems.
• SilkStream - Optimized for smooth, continuous digital video playback of up to twelve simultaneous HD streams. SilkStream is compatible with the ATA streaming command set so CE customers can use standard streaming management and error recovery options.
• IntelliSeek - Calculates optimum seek speeds to lower power consumption, noise and vibration.
• IntelliPark - Delivers lower power consumption by automatically unloading the heads during idle to reduce aerodynamic drag.
• Preemptive Wear Leveling (PWL) - The drive arm frequently sweeps across the disk to reduce uneven wear on the drive surface common to audio video streaming applications.

Let's find out just how well this hard disk drive performs!

For more details, read our Comprehensive Review!

To discuss about this review, head over to the forum thread!

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Review

• Comprehensive Review

Model

• WD20EVDS (2 TB)

Formatted Capacity

• 2,000,398 MB

Guaranteed Sectors

• 3,907,029,168

Bytes Per Sector

• 512 bytes

Sectors Per Track

• NA

Cylinders

• NA

Platters

• 4 Platters

Read/Write Heads

• 8 Read/Write Heads

Recording Method

• NA

Interleave

• 1 : 1

Spindle Speed

• Fixed, between 5,400 to 7,200 RPM

Cache Buffer

• 32 MB SDRAM

Internal Data Transfer Rate

• 110 MB/s (sustained, maximum)

Maximum I/O Transfer Rate

• 3.0 Gbits/s

Average Seek

• 8.9 ms

Average Latency

• NA

Drive Ready Time

• 14.5 seconds (average)

Interface

• Serial ATA 3 Gb/s

Supported SATA Data Transfer Mode

• 3.0 Gbits/s

SATA Hotplug Capability

• Yes

Maximum Height

• 26.1 mm (1.028 inches)

Maximum Width

• 101.6 mm (4.00 inches)

Maximum Length

• 147.0 mm (5.787 inches)

Maximum Weight

• 730 g (1.61 lbs)

Power Requirements

• +12V DC ± 10 %
• +5V DC ± 5 %

Power Consumption

• 5.91 W (Read / Write)
• 4.9 W (Idle)
• 0.66 W (Standby)
• 0.66 W (Sleep)

Ambient Temperature

• 0 °C to 70 °C (Operating)
• -40 °C to 70 °C (Non-Operating)

Maximum Shock

• 30 G @ 2 ms (Read/Write)
• 250 G @ 2 ms (Non-Operating)

Drive Acoustics

• 25 dBA average (Idle Mode)
• 26 dBA average (Quiet Seek Mode)

Non-Recoverable Read Errors

• 1 error per 10¹⁵ bits read

Load/Unload Cycles

• 300,000 (minimum)

MTBF

• 1 Million Hours

Warranty

• 3 Years Limited Warranty (OEM or Retail)