Conclusion

The 3 TB Western Digital AV-GP (WD30EURS) is based on the 3 TB Western Digital Caviar Green (WD30EZRX). As such, it also spins at a slower fixed spindle speed - at 6,000 RPM by our estimates. This allows the drive to run cooler and use less power.

However, our tests showed that the 3 TB AV-GP runs much hotter than its Caviar Green brother. We saw the same effect with its predecessor, the 2 TB AV-GP (WD20EVDS). The increased thermal output is likely due to their AV-optimizations.

Like all modern AV-optimized hard disk drives, the 3 TB Western Digital AV-GP supports the ATA streaming commands. These commands optimize the drive for multiple, large and sequential accesses at the expense of data integrity.

When we examined its performance using synthetic benchmarks, its performance advantage over the "regular" Western Digital Caviar Green desktop hard drive was quite limited. However, it was slightly faster than the Caviar Green drive in real-world simulations. This is because most of the drive's "magic" lies in its support of the ATA streaming commands, which cannot be tested by synthetic benchmarks but would become apparent in real world situations.

With that said, this hard disk drive should not be used in a desktop or server environment. Some unscrupulous or misinformed dealers may promote this drive as a "faster" version of the Caviar Green but this drive is really designed for use in non-critical CE (consumer electronics) applications. Unlike desktop or enterprise-grade hard disk drives, this AV-optimized drive is designed to ignore bad bits in the interest of performance.

If you are looking for a fast, spacious hard disk drive for use in a digital or personal video recorder, or attached to media players like the WD TV, the Western Digital WD30EURS is worth considering. It uses very little power and is extremely roomy. However, please note that it will only work with the new UEFI-based motherboards and even then, it will not support older operating systems like Microsoft Windows XP.

To learn how to properly install this 3 TB hard disk drive in Microsoft Windows Vista, click here!

For the lowest current prices on Western Digital AV-GP hard disk drives, click here!

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