A 1TB hard drive running at 7,200 rpm, the Western Digital Caviar Black ($79.99 list) comes with a 64MB cache and runs through a 6Gb/s SATA connection. The disk also packs features like dual actuator technology, NoTouch ramp loading and a dual processor among other technologies.

Design and Features

There's not much to speak to when it comes to design with the Caviar Black. This hard drive comes in a metal casing with solid, black plastic sides, and its connectors rest just underneath. The drive measures 1.02 by 5.78 by 4 inches, and it weighs 1.5 pounds. Western Digital designed the Caviar Black to resist shocks of 30G when operating and up to 300G while idle. This hard drive can operate in up to 140 degrees Fahrenheit.


This 1TB disk sports a 4.2 millisecond latency and runs a transfer rate of 126 MB/s. The drive's dual actuator technology is essentially a drive head position system with two actuators. This improves positional accuracy over data tracks. The NoTouch ramp load technology makes it so the recording head never touches the disk, resulting in less wear on both.


The Caviar Black has been tested and approved for both consumer-level RAID-0 and RAID-1 applications. When operating, this hard drive draws 6.8W of power and 6.1W when idle. When the computer is asleep, however, it draws a mere 0.7W.

Specifications

Type

Internal

System Type

Desktop

Storage Capacity (as Tested)

1000 GB

Rotation Speed

7200 rpm

Ports

SATA

Disk Cache Size

64 MB