The aluminum casing exacerbates the noise level in a plastic enclosure (or even if this enclosure was lined with plastic), the noise would be more muffled.Īfter an hour of read/write disk activity we measured the external temperature at 100.5F with a laser thermometer, and HDTune reported the internal hard drive temperature at 56C (133F).
Comparatively, these rates make the Hitachi SimpleDrive one of the loudest external drives we’ve tested.Īdditionally, the drive has a high ambient noise level from several feet away, the SimpleDrive can be heard humming away.
In our localized sound test where we apply a stethoscope to the center of the external drive’s casing, we saw average rates of 47 decibels during read and 63 decibels during peak drive use. The SimpleDrive 2.0TB unfortunately has a significant noise level read/write clicks are easily noticeable while having a normal conversation with someone. The light is not too bright and the rectangular shape adds to the drive’s simple lines. It is always on when there are USB and power connections and blinks when the drive is accessed by the computer. The SimpleDrive’s activity indicator light consists of a horizontal blue light bar running along the top of the stand, just below where the aluminum enclosure starts. When the drive is powered off the difference is very noticeable. I eventually became used to it however the vibrations made it difficult to forget the drive was on. I could feel the vibrations from the SimpleDrive through the desk surface it was resting on. This can get annoying when the drive powers down after inactivity any program that wants to access the drive will be held up while the drive is spinning up until it is ready. The SimpleDrive 2.0TB drive takes a significant amount of time to spin up – 15 seconds. We consider this to be one of the SimpleDrive’s cons while opening the drive voids the warranty, the case could still be useful should the internal drive fail after the warranty period expires. All ports are labeled, and the power and USB ports have a secure, wiggle-free fit with the included cables.Īttempting to disassemble the SimpleDrive’s case was an exercise in futility this drive appears to be permanently sealed. The DC power jack is on the left, a Kensington lock slot is in the center, and the mini-USB connector is on the right. The drive’s connections are located in the back of the stand base. There are four rubber feet embedded in the bottom of the stand which help keep the drive from slipping. The drive can tip about 15 degrees left or right before it will fall on its side. This drive is only designed to be used in an upright position the stand is permanently attached. There are no visible screw holes anywhere on the unit. The drive feels quite solid (at 2.2 pounds it should) in the hand and has excellent fit and finish all parts fit together neatly with even spacing. The black parts are a glossy plastic while the silver enclosure is aluminum. It has a very clean design with a two-tone silver and black color scheme with blue LED accent that wraps around the base when the drive is powered on. The SimpleDrive looks like its name implies: simple. The voltage step-down method is the primary determinant of the hard drive’s overall power efficiency. According to Hitachi, HiVERT improves the efficiency of “stepping down” the power the drive receives from the 5V and 12V lines to lower voltages to power other components inside the hard drive. The Deskstar 7K2000 supports Hitachi’s HiVERT (Hitachi Voltage Efficiency Regulator Technology) power-saving technology. The drive has a five-platter design with 10 physical heads and has traditional 512kb sectors. The 7K2000 (our specific model is HDS722020ALA330) spins at 7200RPM and has a 32MB cache. The SimpleDrive 2.0TB houses Hitachi’s own 3.5-inch Deskstar 7K2000 hard drive.
Our review model has a whopping 2.0TB of storage, a USB 2.0 interface and is ready to handle as much data as you can throw at it. This version of the SimpleDrive is Hitachi’s third and comes in 500GB, 1TB and 2TB capacities. Hitachi SimpleDrive external hard drives are value-oriented storage solutions with the core essentials.
0 kommentar(er)
