| Windows 7: WD Caviar Green HDDs Suffer from a Critical Design Flaw |
20 Apr 2011
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#1 | | Windows 7 Ultimate x64 SP1 |
WD Caviar Green HDDs Suffer from a Critical Design Flaw Quote: It has been recently discovered that Western Digital's line of Caviar Green hard disk drives, one of the company's most popular HDD ranges, is suffering from a critical design flaw which can cause the drives to behave abnormally, and could even lead to performance losses and a shorter HDD lifespan. Read more at: Softpedia | My System Specs |
| System Manufacturer/Model Number WALLONN7 / LIN BLACK SERIES II OS Windows 7 Ultimate x64 SP1 CPU AMD PHENOM II X6 1090T 3.2GHz Motherboard GIGABYTE GA-890FXA-UD7 Memory 8GB G.SKILL RIPJAWS - F3-10666CL7D Graphics Card SAPPHIRE ATI RADEON HD 5870 VAPOR X OC Sound Card REALTEK DOLBY HOME THEATER Monitor(s) Displays LED LG W2486L Screen Resolution 1080p Keyboard MICROSOFT DIGITAL MEDIA KEYBOARD 3000 - USB Mouse MICROSOFT BASIC OPTICAL MOUSE 2.0 - USB PSU ZALMAN ZM1000-HP 1000W Case THERMALTAKE XASER VI VG4000SWA Cooling 140MM x3 / 120MM x1 AIR COOLING - THERMALTAKE Hard Drives SEAGATE 1TB -ST31000528AS - AHCI MODE - AS SATA Internet Speed 600KBPS Other Info MICROSOFT XBOX 360 CONTROLLER |
20 Apr 2011
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#2 | | Win 7 Ultimate x64 Etobicoke, Ontario |
Only came to their attention because WD finally admitted to it. Been an ongoing discussion about it over here, SPCR • View topic - Is there a problem with head parks on WD Green HDDs?
for close to 2 1/2 years. | My System Specs | | System Manufacturer/Model Number Me OS Win 7 Ultimate x64 CPU Phenom II x4 955 @ 4 GHz. Motherboard Asus M5A97 EVO Memory 2x2 GB Kingston HyperX DDR3 1600 Graphics Card Sapphire HD 6850 Sound Card Xonar DGX w/ Logitech X-530 Monitor(s) Displays Acer S232HL Abid Screen Resolution 1920x1080 Keyboard Logitech Wave Mouse Logitech G5 v2 PSU Antec Earthwatts 650W Green Case Antec Three Hundred Cooling Cooler Master 212 EVO Hard Drives 120 GB OCZ Vertex 3
500 GB Seagate 7200.12 Internet Speed 24000/1000 |
20 Apr 2011
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#3 | | Windows 7 Ultimate x64 SP1 |
What Western Digital waited to admit that after all this time... everyone ignored the problem and live their lives? 
Thank you for the valuable extra! | My System Specs | | System Manufacturer/Model Number WALLONN7 / LIN BLACK SERIES II OS Windows 7 Ultimate x64 SP1 CPU AMD PHENOM II X6 1090T 3.2GHz Motherboard GIGABYTE GA-890FXA-UD7 Memory 8GB G.SKILL RIPJAWS - F3-10666CL7D Graphics Card SAPPHIRE ATI RADEON HD 5870 VAPOR X OC Sound Card REALTEK DOLBY HOME THEATER Monitor(s) Displays LED LG W2486L Screen Resolution 1080p Keyboard MICROSOFT DIGITAL MEDIA KEYBOARD 3000 - USB Mouse MICROSOFT BASIC OPTICAL MOUSE 2.0 - USB PSU ZALMAN ZM1000-HP 1000W Case THERMALTAKE XASER VI VG4000SWA Cooling 140MM x3 / 120MM x1 AIR COOLING - THERMALTAKE Hard Drives SEAGATE 1TB -ST31000528AS - AHCI MODE - AS SATA Internet Speed 600KBPS Other Info MICROSOFT XBOX 360 CONTROLLER |
20 Apr 2011
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#4 | | W7x64 Pro, SuSe 12.1/** W7 x64 Pro, XP MCE Indian Territory |
Great...everybody keeps saying what good drives that WDC has, but I keep getting lemons. My WDC Green is in an external case, connected via a SI eSATA card. It wasn't clear to me how to run this fix, because the drive doesn't directly connect to the MB, thus the SATA/IDE isn't controlled by the BIOS. | My System Specs | | System Manufacturer/Model Number DIY OS W7x64 Pro, SuSe 12.1/** W7 x64 Pro, XP MCE CPU Phenom II 1090T w/Noctua NH-D14 /**4400+ X2 w/CM Hyper TX 3 Motherboard ASRock 890FX Deluxe 4/**A8N-SLI Memory 2 x 2GB Patriot PGS34g1600LLKA/**4x1GB Corsair VS Graphics Card EVGA GTX460 SC/**EVGA 8800GTS Sound Card Asus Xonar D2X/**Xonar D1 Monitor(s) Displays Acer X233H, Dell E152FPc /**LG M237-WD Screen Resolution 1920x1080 & 1024x768/**1980x1080 Keyboard Logitech Media USB/**Saitek Eclipse Mouse Cordless Trackman Wheel/**Ditto PSU CM RS600 w/ APC BX1000G/**Antec 500 TP w/ APC BX1000 Case HAF922/**Antec 1040IIB Cooling 3x200mm, 1x140 and 1x120mm/**5x80mm fans Hard Drives WDC 2TB, 1.5TB, 1TB, 500GB,Seagate 500GB , Maxtor 80GB /**500GB Seagate & WDC 1TB Black Internet Speed 3.3Mbps Other Info SB 560 5.1 w/ Sennheiser RS140/**Creative T20 speakers, Dvico FusionHDTV7 Gold RT, Cisco E3000, HP 5510V AIO, Linksys E3000, Belkin F5U237 hub and **F5D8055 adapter
(** = 2nd rig) |
20 Apr 2011
|
#5 | | Windows 7 Ultimate x64 SP1 Hampton VA |
I still say they're good drives (Caviar Blacks) just stay away from the greens | My System Specs | | Computer type PC/Desktop System Manufacturer/Model Number Built by me OS Windows 7 Ultimate x64 SP1 CPU Intel Core i7-950 (3.06GHz) OC to 3.8GHz Motherboard Gigabyte GA-X58A-UD5 rev 1, F6 Bios Memory 12 gig Corsair DDR3 Dominator GT Memory (3X 4GB) Graphics Card AMD Radeon HD6950 2gig (Sapphire) Sound Card X-Fi Titanium Fatality Pro Monitor(s) Displays HP ZR22w 22" LCD Monitor Screen Resolution 1920 x 1080 Keyboard Logitech Wireless Wave Mouse Logitech Performance MX PSU Antec Signature - SG-850 Case Cooler Master HAF X Cooling Noctua NH-C12P SE14 Hard Drives Primary - OCZ Vertex 4 SSD (256GB). Storage - OCZ Vertex 2 SSD (120GB) & 2TB WD Caviar Black. Internet Speed High Speed Cable Other Info Memory Timings - 1600MHz @ 8-8-8-20-1T @ 1.640 volts |
20 Apr 2011
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#6 | | |
I've never had a single issue with the Greens and indeed they don't seem to have very inflated Load counts for me, but I set it to 300 seconds anyways. Also, for those who say the Blacks don't have this feature: wdidle3 detected and changed the park timer on my 2TB Caviar Black from 12 seconds (the apparent default). | My System Specs | | OS 7x64 SP1 CPU Intel 2600K Motherboard Intel DZ77GA-70K Memory 8GB Samsung Graphics Card MSI 670 Sound Card HT Omega Striker 7.1 Monitor(s) Displays Dell U2412M Screen Resolution 1920x1200 PSU Corsair HX850 Hard Drives 2x 3TB WD Green
1x 4TB Hitachi
1x Intel 330 Series 180GB SSD |
21 Apr 2011
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#7 | | Windows 7 Home Premium x64 SP1 QC, Canada |
Phew... my two WD10EVDS are spared! | My System Specs | | Computer type PC/Desktop System Manufacturer/Model Number Custom build OS Windows 7 Home Premium x64 SP1 CPU Core i7 950 3.06 GHz Motherboard Gigabyte X58A-UD3R Memory Corsair XSM3 6GB 1333MHz DDR3 9-9-9-24 Graphics Card Asus nVidia GeForce GTX460 Factory Overclocked Sound Card HT-Omega Claro 7.1 Monitor(s) Displays Asus VW246H 24" Screen Resolution 1920x1080 Keyboard Logitech K350 Mouse Logitech M510 PSU Xigmatek NRP-PC702 700W (cable hell) Case Lian-Li Lancool PC-K62 Cooling Stock fans for PC case, Cooler Master Hyper N520 for CPU Hard Drives 1x90GB OCZ Vertex 2 SSD (System, internal)
1x1TB Western Digital Green (Internal)
1x1TB Samsung/Seagate 7200RPM (Internal)
1x500GB Hitachi 7200RPM (Internal) Internet Speed 30Mbits dl - 10Mbits up Browser Firefox v20 Other Info Sound system : Eagle Arion ET-AR504LR-BK 35 Watts RMS 2.1
Printer : Samsung ML-2010 Mono
Scanner : Canon Canoscan LiDE 200 |
21 Apr 2011
|
#8 | | W7x64 Pro, SuSe 12.1/** W7 x64 Pro, XP MCE Indian Territory |

Quote: Originally Posted by sygnus21 I still say they're good drives (Caviar Blacks) just stay away from the greens  I have 3 black FAEX lemons that say otherwise. | My System Specs | | System Manufacturer/Model Number DIY OS W7x64 Pro, SuSe 12.1/** W7 x64 Pro, XP MCE CPU Phenom II 1090T w/Noctua NH-D14 /**4400+ X2 w/CM Hyper TX 3 Motherboard ASRock 890FX Deluxe 4/**A8N-SLI Memory 2 x 2GB Patriot PGS34g1600LLKA/**4x1GB Corsair VS Graphics Card EVGA GTX460 SC/**EVGA 8800GTS Sound Card Asus Xonar D2X/**Xonar D1 Monitor(s) Displays Acer X233H, Dell E152FPc /**LG M237-WD Screen Resolution 1920x1080 & 1024x768/**1980x1080 Keyboard Logitech Media USB/**Saitek Eclipse Mouse Cordless Trackman Wheel/**Ditto PSU CM RS600 w/ APC BX1000G/**Antec 500 TP w/ APC BX1000 Case HAF922/**Antec 1040IIB Cooling 3x200mm, 1x140 and 1x120mm/**5x80mm fans Hard Drives WDC 2TB, 1.5TB, 1TB, 500GB,Seagate 500GB , Maxtor 80GB /**500GB Seagate & WDC 1TB Black Internet Speed 3.3Mbps Other Info SB 560 5.1 w/ Sennheiser RS140/**Creative T20 speakers, Dvico FusionHDTV7 Gold RT, Cisco E3000, HP 5510V AIO, Linksys E3000, Belkin F5U237 hub and **F5D8055 adapter
(** = 2nd rig) |
21 Apr 2011
|
#9 | | Windows 7 x64 / Same In Your Basement. |
Glad I don't buy WD anymore. | My System Specs | | System Manufacturer/Model Number Dell Inspiron 1520 (Laptop)/ Home (Desktop) OS Windows 7 x64 / Same CPU Intel Core 2 Duo T7250 / Intel Core i7 930 Motherboard Intel 945 / Asus P6X58D-E Memory 4GB / 6GB Graphics Card NVIDIA GeForce 8400M GS / ASUS 1GB Sound Card Whatever Dell gave me :-( / Onboard Monitor(s) Displays 15.4" LCD / Crappy CRT Mouse Microsoft Presenter (Bluetooth) PSU N/A / OCZ Fatal1ty 550W Modular Case N/A / Antec 900 Cooling Air Hard Drives Seagate 500GB SATA; 7200 RPM / Seagate 1TB SATA; 7200 RPM |
21 Apr 2011
|
#10 | | Win7 Ultimate x64 Perth; Western Australia |

Quote: Originally Posted by seekermeister 
Quote: Originally Posted by sygnus21 I still say they're good drives (Caviar Blacks) just stay away from the greens  I have 3 black FAEX lemons that say otherwise. Our black drives, and come to think of it, the green ones, don't appear to have given us any grief (yet).
Weird how different folk have different experiences with them. | My System Specs | | System Manufacturer/Model Number Home build OS Win7 Ultimate x64 CPU 3820 Motherboard Rampage IV formula Memory 12 GB kit Graphics Card XFX nVidia GeForce GTX 560 Sound Card On board card Monitor(s) Displays LG 27" x 2 Screen Resolution 1920 x 1080 Keyboard Logitech Wave Pro Mouse Logitech PSU 875W Thermal Take Case Antec P160W Cooling Noctua Hard Drives 1 x OCZ Vertex 4 , 256Gb Internet Speed 1.5 Mb Other Info Logitech G25 steering wheel, Logitech Extreme 3D Pro joystick.
Logitech surround sound speaker system. WD Caviar Green HDDs Suffer from a Critical Design Flaw problems? All times are GMT -5. The time now is 03:12 AM. | |