Green hard drive for a quiet DAW

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Studious
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2010/07/21 13:16:55 (permalink)

Green hard drive for a quiet DAW

"Green" hard drives are supposed to run cooler and quiter than regular 7200 rpm drives (definite plus for a DAW).  They vary their rpm as needed to conserve energy.
(example from WD: http://www.wdc.com/en/products/products.asp?driveid=559)
 
I understand that the idea of a variable rpm drive does not sit well with DAW users.  But has anybody actually tested one?
 
Perhaps they're not ideal for audio or sample streaming, but could a green drive have any use in a DAW, perhaps as the OS/app drive?
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    wst3
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    Re:Green hard drive for a quiet DAW 2010/07/21 14:44:24 (permalink)
    yup... very disappointed with the results, glitches, crackles, drop outs, it was ugly! And it's a shame, cause cooler is good, quieter is good, slow is not so good!

    Sadly, this applies to both the OS drive and the audio and sample drives. I mostly expected the later two to be a problem, but I was a little surprised that the OS drive also caused problems. I mean what the heck... that's why I tried this experiment in the first place - I hoped it would work!

    Recent research suggests that there may be ways to disable the variable speed thing for some specific drives, but I have not returned to the experiment, and I wonder if disabling the variable speed would undo all the other benefits.

    Anyone else feeling brave enough to give it a spin???

    -- Bill
    Audio Enterprise
    KB3KJF
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    Studious
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    Re:Green hard drive for a quiet DAW 2010/07/21 16:12:37 (permalink)
    Thanks for the input.  Glad to hear somebody gave it go!  I wish it had worked out better...
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