Originally posted by James_F
I don't think you'd want a 7200 RPM drive in a PVR, they run way too hot.
Well, let's look at the numbers. I just looked up the original Dishplayer Seagate, a DiamonMax 80 (5400) and a Western Digital 120 gig (7200).
Here's the power numbers:
Code:
Maxtor 80 (5400 RPM):
MODE 12V±10% 5V±5% POWER
Spin-up (peak) 2000 mA 490 mA
Seek 650 mA 550 mA 10.6 W
Read/Write 250 mA 550 mA 5.8 W
Idle 250 mA 500 mA 5.5 W
Standby 30 mA 280 mA 1.6 W
Western Digital (7200 RPM):
Operating Mode RMS Current Power, Typical
12 VDC 5 VDC
Spinup 1.3 A (max) 650 mA 19.0 W
Read/Write/Idle 350 mA 700 mA 7.75 W
Seek 675 mA 725 mA 12.0 W
For comparision, here's what I could find on the Dishplayer stock 17 gig Seagate drive:
PowerMode Typical Watts Typ Amps RMS
RMS 5V 12V
Spinup — 0.5 1.5
Seeking (Random) 7.0 0.4 0.42
Operating (read/write) 6.5 0.42 0.367
Idle 3.5 0.28 0.170
Standby/Sleep 0.8 0.123 0.015
Between the Western Digital and the Seagate:
Seeking 71% power increase
Read/Write 19% power increase
The power is definatley higher then stock. A big concern might be spinup current (although this is not a heat issue). The seek power is also pretty ugly though I'm not sure how this effects heat since you're not doing it constantly.
I have Been running a Western Digital 7200 RPM 120 in my Dishplayer for around 6 months. No problems.
The unit doesn't seem significantly hotter then it was with the 80 gig 5400 RPM DiamondMax (whine is a bit louder). I always make sure to have lots of open spade around the box.
Not that I wouldn't prefer to have some active cooling. Once we get to the hi-end, hi-$$$, hi-def pvrs, hopefully they'll design for whatever drive provides the most capacity.