Do the new "eco" / "Green" range of 5400 rpm drives have a lower failure rate and longer lifetime to their 7200 RPM counterparts? I can't find any info or research. A saving of an 3 wats is nothing, especially if you run a quad core sli system (like mine). Following an "eco" ethic would better spent stopping folding and setting system to power down stuff faster, and reduce running proccesses and setting high power saving in profile. IF on the other hand I was told that the the 3/4 spindle speed (5200 is 3/4 of 7200) would reduce wear and therfore failure rate, making your data more secure I'd be VERY interested. Are they 33% more reliable? is the failure rate lower? It may even be better than than that.... High rev car engines are loads more likley to fail than one that runs consistently at lower rev......... And would power svaing (Spinning the HD's down faster in power saving mode) make them last longer, or are they like Flouresent lights, which use alot more power on start up? so spinning down and up increases wear? Although I back up alot, I've still lost data from a HD fail. Any info, links, data would be cool Food for thought THanks
I doubt thats the case, the eco drives are the same capacity as 7200. You can get 1.5 & 2TB eco drives which is at the data/platter limit so they must use the same high density platters. that would mean using an OLD 5400 rpm motor, that would be circa 2000, which I doubt would be upto the job these days. I don't know for sure, but I expect they'd use exactly the same tech as the 7200 drives, just running slower.
