WD AV Digital Video 3.5-inch Hard Drives
24x7 Reliability for Video Streaming
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Overview:
WD AV (formally WD AV-GP) SATA hard drives store more hi-def audio and video than ever before – up to 4 TB. They are optimized with SilkStream™ technology to capture data from up to 16 simultaneous HD video streams. With 24x7 operation, low temperature, and best-in-class reliability, WD AV hard drives are ideal for DVR/PVR and IPTV applications. 3-year limited warranty.
Highest capacity for audio/video storage
WD AV SATA drives now offer unrivaled storage capacity up to 4 TB – perfect for today's storage intensive applications.
24x7 reliability
These drives are designed to last in high temperature always-on streaming digital audio/video environments such as PVR, DVR and IPTV systems.
SilkStream
Optimized for smooth, continuous digital video playback of up to 16 simultaneous HD streams.* SilkStream is compatible with the ATA streaming command set so CE customers can use standard streaming management and error recovery options.
Low Capacity Surveillance
WD AV drives offer 500 GB and lower capacities suitable for low profile entry level surveillance systems requiring reliability in always on environments.
Preemptive Wear Leveling (PWL).
The drive arm frequently sweeps across the disk to reduce uneven wear on the drive surface common to audio video streaming applications.
IntelliSeek
Calculates optimum seek speeds to lower power consumption, noise and vibration.
IntelliPower
A fine-tuned balance of spin speed, transfer rate, and caching algorithms designed to deliver both significant power savings and solid performance. (3.5-inch models only)
Reduced power consumption
WD AV drives consume less power by up to 40 percent compared to 7200 RPM hard drives. Lower power means less heat and greater reliability
Advanced Format (AF)
Leading edge technology delivers improved video quality and AV performance through enhanced error correction capability. (EURS/EURX/AUDX/xxCT models only)
Quiet
Noise levels have been minimized to less than one sone* - virtually below the threshold of human hearing.
Recommended use
Set-top boxes (PVR, DVR, NVR and IPTV), media servers and media centers.
Applications
Set-top boxes (PVR, DVR, NVR and IPTV), media servers and media centers.
The WD advantage
WD puts our products through extensive Functional Integrity Testing (F.I.T.) prior to any product launch. This testing ensures our products consistently meet the highest quality and reliability standards of the WD brand. WD also has a detailed Knowledge Base with more than 1,000 helpful articles as well as helpful software and utilities. Our customer support lines have longer operational hours to ensure you get the help you need when you need it.
* A sone is a subjective unit of loudness as perceived by a person with normal hearing.
Specifications:
Examples of the number of photos, songs, videos and any other files that can be stored on a hard drive are provided for illustrative purposes only. Your results will vary based on file size and format, settings, features, software and other factors.
Photo: Figures represent the average number of photos taken with a 6 megapixel camera in high-resolution JPEG mode with an average file size of 3.5 MB per photo. The actual number of images will vary by camera model and compression setting.
Hours: The DV format, regardless of its mode (miniDV, DVCAM, DVC-Pro) has a data rate of approximately 25mb/s (mega-bits per second). In storage terms, this translates to approximately 3.5MB/s (Megabytes per second) or 13GB/hr (Gigabytes per hour)
Song: Music capacity is based on 4 minutes per song. MP3 capacity is based on 128 Kbps bit rate and 11:1 audio compression ratio. Uncompressed CD quality is based on 1:1 audio compression ratio.
As used for storage capacity, one megabyte (MB) = one million bytes, one gigabyte (GB) = one billion bytes, and one terabyte (TB) = one trillion bytes. Total accessible capacity varies depending on operating environment. As used for buffer or cache, one megabyte (MB) = 1,048,576 bytes. As used for transfer rate or interface, megabyte per second (MB/s) = one million bytes per second, megabit per second (Mb/s) = one million bits per second, and gigabit per second (Gb/s) = one billion bits per second.
| Drive Size | 4 TB | 3 TB | 2 TB | 1 TB | 500 GB |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Specifications | |||||
| Model Number1 | WD40EURX | WD30EURX WD30EURS |
WD20EURX WD20EURS |
WD10EURX WD10EURS |
WD5000AVDS |
| Formatted Capacity2 | 4 TB | 3 TB | 2 TB | 1 TB | 500 GB |
| User sectors per drive | 7,814,037,168 | 5,860,533,168 | 3,907,029,168 | 1,953,525,168 | 976,773,168 |
| Form factor | 3.5-inch | 3.5-inch | 3.5-inch | 3.5-inch | 3.5-inch |
| Advanced Format (AF) | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No |
| RoHS Compliant3 | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Performance | |||||
| Data transfer rate (max) Buffer to host host to/from drive (sustained) |
6 Gb/s 150 MB/s |
6 Gb/s (EURX) 3 Gb/s (EURS) 145 MB/s |
6 Gb/s (EURX) 3 Gb/s (EURS) 130 MB/s |
6 Gb/s 110 MB/s |
3 Gb/s 110 MB/s |
| Cache (MB) | 64 | 64 | 64 | 64 | 32 |
| Rotational Speed (RPM) | IntelliPower | IntelliPower | IntelliPower | IntelliPower | IntelliPower |
| Reliability/Data Integrity | |||||
| Load/unload cycles4 | 300,000 | ||||
| Non-recoverable read errors per bits read | <1 in 1014 | ||||
| Limited warranty (years)5 | 3 | ||||
| Power Management | |||||
| Average power requirements (W) | Read/Write: 5.1 Idle: 4.5 Standby: 0.5 Sleep: 0.5 |
Read/Write: 4.4 Idle: 4.1 Standby: 0.6 Sleep: 0.6 |
Read/Write: 4.4 Idle: 4.1 Standby: 0.6 Sleep: 0.6 |
Read/Write: 5.3 Idle: 3.3 Standby: 0.7 Sleep: 0.7 |
Read/Write: 4.1 Idle: 3.7 Standby: 0.8 Sleep: 0.8 |
| Environmental Specifications6 | |||||
| Operating Temperature | 0 to 60° C | ||||
| Non-operating Temperature | -40 to 70° C | ||||
| Shock (Gs) | |||||
| Operating (2 ms, read/write) | 30 | 30 | 30 | 30 | 30 |
| Operating (2 ms, read) | 65 | 65 | 65 | 65 | 65 |
| Non-operating (2 ms) | 250 | 250 | 250 | 250 | 350 |
| Average acoustics (dBA)7 | |||||
| Idle mode | 26 | 23 | 23 | 23 | 21 |
| Quiet seek mode | 27 | 24 | 24 | 24 | 22 |
| Physical Dimensions | |||||
| Height (in./mm, max) | 1.028/26.1 | ||||
| Length (in./mm, max) | 5.787/147 | ||||
| Width (in./mm, ± .01 in.) | 4/101.6 | ||||
| Weight (lb./kg, ± 10%) | 1.50/0.68 | 1.61/0.73 | 1.40/0.64 | 1.32/0.60 | 0.97/0.44 |
1 Not all products may be available in all regions of the world.
2 As used for storage capacity, one megabyte (MB) = one million bytes, one gigabyte (GB) = one billion bytes, and one terabyte (TB) = one trillion bytes. Total accessible capacity varies depending on operating environment. As used for buffer or cache, one megabyte (MB) = 1,048,576 bytes. As used for transfer rate or interface, megabyte per second (MB/s) = one million bytes per second, and gigabit per second (Gb/s) = one billion bits per second. Effective maximum SATA 3 Gb/s transfer rate calculated according to the Serial ATA specification published by the SATAIO organization as of the date of this specification sheet. Visit www.sata-io.org for details.
3 WD hard drive products manufactured and sold worldwide after June 8, 2011, meet or exceed Restriction of Hazardous Substances (RoHS) compliance requirements as mandated by the RoHS Directive 2011/65/EU.
4 Controlled unload at ambient condition
5 The term of the limited warranty may vary by region. Visit http://support.wdc.com/warranty for details.
6 No non-recoverable errors during operating tests or after non-operating tests.
7 Sound power level.
Advanced Format Hard Drive Download Utility:
About Western Digital Advanced Format Hard Drives
WD Advanced Format drives are specifically optimized for Mac and the latest Windows operating systems such as Windows Vista and Windows 7 with a clean install. Advanced Format Technology is being adopted by WD and other drive manufacturers to increase media format efficiency, thus enabling larger drive capacities.
Using your WD Advanced Format Hard Drive with a Windows Operating System may require you to run the WD Align Windows software utility after you install your operating system or partition and format the drive as a secondary drive. The WD Align software aligns existing partitions on the Advanced Format drive to ensure it provides full performance for certain configurations. (Please see table for configuration details)
If your operating system is either Windows 7 or Vista, WD recommends using the latest Intel driver version 9.6 or later for maximum performance in all situations. Please visit Intel for the latest driver downloads.
| OS used to create patition | Clean Install | Cloning utilitiy 1 Partition or > 1 Partition |
USB* 1 Partition |
USB* > 1 Partition |
| Windows XP | Run WD Allgn | Run WD Allgn | Run WD Allgn | Run WD Allgn |
| Windows Vista | N/A | Run WD Allgn | N/A | N/A |
| Windows 7 | N/A | Run WD Allgn | N/A | N/A |
| Mac OS | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A |
What does Advanced Formatting mean to me?
Advanced formatting optimizes hard drives to take advantage of the capabilities of newer operating systems. This capability enables hard disk drive manufacturers the ability to design larger capacity hard drives, now and into the future.
What are the benefits of Advanced Formatting?
Advanced Formatting enables hard drive companies to read and write more data into the same available space on the hard drive.
Can I install an Advanced Format hard drive in my system?
New drives from WD are optimized for operation with Windows 7, Windows Vista and Mac OS X Tiger, Leopard, Snow Leopard. If you are attempting a clean install of an Advanced Format hard drive into a system running one of the Operating Systems listed above the installation process follows standard procedure. For older operating systems such as Windows XP, and for users using cloning software, users must run the WD Align utility to achieve the full performance of the drive. (See table for configuration details)
Early 3.5-inch WD drives with Advanced Format supported jumper pins 7 – 8. Placing a jumper on these pins adjusted the drive’s internal alignment for single partition XP installations. Support for this jumper setting is no longer needed on newer drives. For optimal performance on all XP installations WD recommends running the WD Align utility.
If you have a drive that supports jumper pins 7 – 8 and have a jumper in place on those pins, the following is additional information to assist you if you are re-installing an Operating System or re-partitioning the drive:
- IMPORTANT: You must backup your drive before making any changes, including removal of the jumper.
- Re-partition the drive: Turn off power to the drive and remove the jumper from pins 7 – 8. Power-on and re-partition the drive (NOTE: All previous data on the drive will be lost).
- Preserve Current Partition: If you are installing an Operating System over the existing partition, keep the jumper on pins 7 – 8. The drive is already aligned to the existing partition so you do not need to remove the jumper.
- If you change the setting of jumper 7 – 8, you will lose all previous data and the drive must be re-partitioned.
For a clean install of Windows XP using multiple partitions, DO NOT install the jumper; simply run the WD Align utility.
Can I install a WD Advanced Format Drive under non-Windows Operating Systems, such as MacOS and Linux?
WD Advanced Format Drives can be used under non-Windows Operating Systems.
Do I need a special driver to install a WD Advanced Format Drive on an Intel chipset?
If your operating system is either Windows 7 or Vista, we recommend the following for maximum performance in all situations:
- For Intel chipset, use the latest Intel driver version 9.6 or later. Please visit Intel for the latest driver downloads at http://www.intel.com/support/chipsets/imsm/sb/CS-031502.htm
- For AMD chipset, no driver update is required.
- For Nvidia chipset, please visit http://support.microsoft.com/kb/982018 for additional information.
What is WD Align utility software?
The WD Align utility enables older operating systems to operate at full performance on Advanced Format hard drives.
How long will running the WD Align utility take?
It will vary based on your operating system and how much data is on the disk, but the WD Align utility should take about 20 minutes to complete on freshly installed drive images with no data files. We recommend disabling Power Management prior to starting the partitioning alignment process.
Does the WD Align utility have to be run again if a drive is reformatted?
No, users will only need to run WD Align one time after initially installing Windows XP. Once Windows XP has been aligned, it will stay aligned even if the drive is reformatted or many files are added or removed.
What models utilize Advanced Format technology?
Some models of the WD Caviar Green and WD Scorpio Blue product families are built using Advanced Format technology. Over time more models and capacities will be added. WD drives with Advanced Format technology include special installation information on the drive label so be sure to read the label on your drive before installing it.
Does WD Align work with Western Digital USB and Firewire drives, such as My Book and My Passport drives?
If you do not change the partitions on a Western Digital USB or Firewire drive, the drive is already optimally aligned. However, all Western Digital USB and Firewire drives are specifically designed to work with WD Align. If you repartition a Western Digital USB or Firewire drive, WD Align should be run to optimally align the partition or partitions.
Can I install my Advanced Format Drive into a USB enclosure?
Yes, you may install your Advanced Format Drive into a USB enclosure.
Drive Views:
Bottom View
Top Angle View
Right Angle View
Cover View
Documentation:
Download the WD AV (3.5-inch) Specsheet (PDF).