Seagate Barracuda LP 2 TB SATA 3.5 Inch 5900 RPM Desktop Internal Hard Drive ST32000542AS
- 5,900 RPM Spin Speed, 32 MB Cache Buffer, SATA 3Gb/s interface, 2 TB Capacity
- Super-low power consumption reduces power costs over the life of the system up to 50% over those of standard desktop drives
- Leading performance in the low power category
- Cool drives provide long-lasting benefits to the PC or external drive, reducing some component and maintenance costs.
- Built to exacting Seagate green standards: Complies with RoHS directive
- typically 70 percent or more of the materials used to build the drive can be recycled and designed
Product Description
The brand new Seagate Barracuda LP (low-power) family is here, designed and built by the desktop performance leader, but with the primary focus on a low-power, cool and quiet drive at an entry-level price. This drive allows users to do more while using less power. The Barracuda LP drives deliver on low power consumption. But low power no longer means slow power. Benchmark performance results prove the 5900-RPM spin speed advantages (when compared to competitor drives that spin at 5400 RPMs. And these drives are cool and easy on the PC, often requiring fewer fans, a smaller power supply and lower maintenance costs. It’s the definition of energy efficiency. Best for: USB, eSATA and FireWire personal attached storage devices, home and small office networking appliances, low power PCs and for customers who value low power, green drives Barracuda LP drives are available in capacities of 2 TB, 1.5 TB and 1 TB and are ideal for desktop applications, suc… More >>
Seagate Barracuda LP 2 TB SATA 3.5 Inch 5900 RPM Desktop Internal Hard Drive ST32000542AS
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3 comments
Matt on December 8, 2009 at 3:22 am
I bought this drive and 28 days later the read/write arm was making a horrible ticking sound. Swapped the drive out and 25 days later the replacement drive is making the same exact noise. Needless to say, I am done with Seagate.
A. Mayer on December 8, 2009 at 3:53 am
I bought three of these – one 1.5 TB drive and two 2 TB drives. Two of three have already failed with the infamous “click of death” – there are many many reports of these drives failing after a few months on Seagate’s forums. Stay away…
Bud on December 8, 2009 at 6:36 am
Basic specs: This is a 5900 RPM drive, rated at 95MB/s max transfer rate and <16ms access (per the product manual). The power consumption is 3.0W idle and an an amazing 19dBA/20dBA noise--per the specs.
To be honest, I wasn’t expecting much after having disappointing (atrocious?) performance from WDC’s “green” drives. As far as performance, however, I was pleasantly surprised. This drive tops out at 120MB/s–way above spec. The AVERAGE is 95 MB/s. Also, I was expecting access times (including rotational latency) to be well above 20ms. However, here again, I was pleasantly surprised with 14.7ms–way above spec.
OK, here’s where I drop the bomb. I have no idea what kind of drugs Seagate was on when they came up with the acoustics. It is on their website, their datasheet, and the product manual. I have been impressed with past Seagate drives over their quietness, so I was really hoping this would be a very quiet drive at its rated 19dB which is even low for laptop drives. In fact, the low noise is the main reason I bought this. I didn’t buy it for performance. I have SSDs and VelociRaptors for that. This is a media drive. And, the noise is obnoxious. This two-platter drive is louder than my 7200 RPM 4-platter Seagates. It is also louder than my VelociRaptors. The noise is also far worse than rated because it is a very high-pitched whine. About the closest I can think of is the old WDC Raptor 10K RPM drives.
As a final note, my Watt-Meter measured about a 4W difference between plugged in and not. This is at the wall, so considering power supply efficiencies, 3W or so is believable which is very low power.
In sum, this is a great drive for a file server that is far away in a closet somewhere. Its performance is good, and it is low power. Unfortunately, for a desktop or media center PC, the noise will give you a headache. There are better drives for those applications, like the older, quieter, 7200 RPM Seagates for starters. For any application where the drives sleep when not used, any power savings with this drive is just not worth the noise.