2TB 'green' drives

[b0redom]

Hi All,
I'm considering upgrading my NAS box from 5x750GB drives to 5x2TB drives.

It seems like the 2TB green drives are more than double the price of the 1.5TB green drives. Is there any reason that this should be the case? In fact it seems that the new rev is nearly tripple the price of the 1.5TB version!

From scan:

2TB Western Digital WD20EADS Caviar Green, SATA 3Gb/s, 8ms, 5400rpm/Intellipower, 32MB Cache - £221

2TB Western Digital WD2002FYPS, Green Power, SATA 3Gb/s, 64MB Cache, 2 ms - £274

1.5TB Western Digital WD15EADS Caviar Green Power, SATA 3Gb/s, 32MB - £105

I realise that whatever is the current top dog commands a higher price, but more than double? Does the 2TB use larger/faster platters, or something else to make it so much more expensive?

[aidanjt]

HDD manufacturers always charge top dollar for the newest, highest capacity drives, particularly when the competitors still haven't caught up. It gives them time to play catchup with R&D costs when the going is good.

[MadduckUK]

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/158614

£198.31 for the WD20EADS, still not cheap but cheaper :/

[b0redom]

To be honest I'll probably stick with the 1.5TB ones then. I really can't justify double the price for 33% more capacity.

[arthurleung]

To be honest I'll probably stick with the 1.5TB ones then. I really can't justify double the price for 33% more capacity.

the WD 1.5TB use lower density platter so the performance is roughly 2/3 of the Seagate offering.
Part of the reason that the WD 2TB is so expensive is that the Seagate 1.5TB is unreliable as hell, and professionals avoid it like a plague and rather pay the premium than to get 1TB drive, as RAID cards or NAS can cost a few hundred quids, which doesn't make the 2TB price so bad if you take into account of that.

[MadduckUK]

the WD 1.5TB use lower density platter so the performance is roughly 2/3 of the Seagate offering.

the WD is a green, if you buy it for the performance your doing it wrong, and circa £100 for 1.5TB is not far off the price per gig of a 1TB

[aidanjt]

Eh?.. 5 1.5TB greens running in RAID5 ain't no slouch either.

[jim]

Talking about performance, you'd take the WD RAID Edition 2TB drive surely? The thing that amazes me most about that drive is that it's only £20 extra than buying two RAID Edition 1TB drives, and a 2ms access time is just unbelievable.

I will almost definitely be getting one when I get a server up and running, I'd happily pay the extra £20 to get the increased density.