HDD power usage reduction query

[Chronictank]

Hi all,
I rescently got my ubuntu file server up and running (bar minor niggles), so i think its time to overhaul the ol' main pc.

My current setup is:
1x Western Digital Raptor 150GB WD1500ADFD 10,000RPM SATA 16MB
2x Western Digital Caviar SE16 500GB 5000AAKS SATA-II 16MB running in Raid 0

I was wondering if i would make a energy saving by removing the 2 large disks and replacing them with 2 smaller ones (velociraptors?) to run in raid 0
And 1 drive to act as storage, possibly a samsung/seagate 500gb

Thanks in advance for replies

 

[sven256]

If its for a home server, do you really need all that speed? If not why not go with a single drive, and get something like.

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showp... Green 1TB SATA-II 16MB Cache - OEM (WD10EACS)

It well be a lot cooler, a lot quieter. And use a fraction of the power.

 

[Chronictank]

sorry i should clarify

The above setup is for my desktop (& gaming) pc, as you say uses a lot of power as it is
I am planning to take out the 2x500GB drives and put them in the server instead/use them for archiving

 

[rpstewart]

I don't see why people get so hung up on the power used by HDDs. According to WD themselves the idle power usage of their drives is:

VRaptors - 4.7W
Original Raptor - 8W
Caviar - 8.4W
Caviar GP - 2.8W

Even the worst case standard caviar costs less than 3p per day to run 24/7 so there's hardly a huge saving to be made. Going from a pair of Caviars to a single 1Tb GP would take several years to recoup the cost of the GP.

 

[Chronictank]

drives aren't idle most the time as i understand it as the raid 0 setup usually is the one with the OS on it

i could be wrong though

 

[rpstewart]

Unless you're hammering the machine the drives should be idle more often than not. However even during read/write operations the power usage isn't much more than the idle usage - 8.9W for the normal Caviar, 5W for the GP.