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| Western Digital 500GB Caviar GP Serial ATA Hard Drive |
The Western Digital Caviar GP is actually designed for lower power consumption. Hence, the moniker GreenPower or GP. Western Digital claims these hard drives use 4-5 W less power than its competitors. Recently, we picked up a 500 GB model for our tests and we were most impressed with its performance. Not only did it deliver a large storage capacity using only two platters, it also delivered very good performance numbers. In fact, it had the same platter-to-buffer transfer rates as the more expensive enterprise-grade Seagate Barracuda ES. For more details, read our Comprehensive Review! To discuss about this review, head over to the forum thread! |
Western Digital's line of Caviar GP have been considered by many as a value-grade hard drive because of its low price. However, nothing can be further from the truth.| MSRP |
• US$149.99 (April 2008) |
| Lowest PriceGrabber Price |
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| Review |
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| Model |
• WD5000AACS |
| Formatted Capacity |
• 500,107 MB |
| Guaranteed Sectors |
• 976,773,168 |
Bytes Per Sector |
• 512 bytes |
Sectors Per Track |
• NA |
| Cylinders |
• NA |
Platters |
• 2 |
| Read/Write Heads |
• 4 |
| Recording Method |
• NA |
| Interleave |
• 1 : 1 |
| Spindle Speed |
• Unknown (Between 5,400 RPM and 7,200 RPM) |
| Cache Buffer |
• 16 MB SDRAM |
Maximum Internal Data Transfer Rate |
• 1160 Mbits/s |
| Maximum I/O Transfer Rate |
• 3 Gbits/s |
| Average Seek |
• NA |
| Average Latency |
• NA |
| Interface |
• Serial ATA 3Gb/s |
| Supported SATA Data Transfer Mode |
• 3 Gbits/s |
| SATA II Hotplug Capability |
• Yes |
| Maximum Height |
• 26.1 mm |
| Maximum Width |
• 101.6 mm |
| Maximum Length |
• 147.0 mm |
| Maximum Weight |
• 630 g |
| Power Requirements |
• +12V DC ± 10 % |
| Power Consumption |
• 6.0 W (Read / Write) |
| Ambient Temperature |
• 0 °C to 60 °C
(Operating) |
| Maximum Shock |
• 65 G @ 2 ms (Operating - Read) |
| Drive Acoustics |
• 24 dBA average (Idle Mode) |
| Maximum Operating Vibration |
• 20-300 Hz, 0.75 G (0 to peak, linear) |
| Maximum Non-Operating Vibration |
• 5-20 Hz, 0.195 inches (double amplitude, low frequency) |
Non-Recoverable Read Errors |
• 1 error per 1015 bits read |
| Load/Unload Cycles |
• 300,000 |
| Warranty |
• 3 Years Limited Warranty (OEM or Retail) |
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