Western Digital Caviar Green (500GB) review
in Hard disks
Verdict
Average performance, but with a low power draw and good value.
Review Date: 29 Apr 2009
Reviewed By: Mike Jennings
Price when reviewed: £41 (£47 inc VAT)
Buy it now for: £44
(see more store prices)
Overall Rating
Features & Design
Value for Money
Performance
Western Digital's Caviar Green range of drives eschews maximum performance in favour of green credentials - potentially important in an age where people pay attention to the wattage of their machines and opt for low-power media-centre PCs.
To this end, Caviar Green drives have a range of environmentally-friendly features. The rotational speed of the drive, for instance, varies between 5,400rpm and 7,200rpm - depending on the model - to save power. And here an impressively low power draw of 4W is the result.
Understandably, there's a performance trade-off. A read speed of 60.5MB/sec is the slowest we've seen this month, with a write speed of 52.2MB/sec proving equally disappointing. Access times of 14ms and 5ms for reading and writing files are good, but they can't compete with the likes of our Labs-winning Samsung drives.
Nevertheless, if you're looking for a green drive and don't want to spend a fortune, the 500GB Western Digital is worth considering.
Author: Mike Jennings
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