Noise levels
Noise levels were measured with an Extech 407727 Digital Sound Level meter 1" from the side of the drives at idle and under an HD Tach seek load. Drives were run with the PCB facing up.

The DiamondMax 11's idle noise levels aren't particularly low at idle, and although the drive fares comparatively better under load, it's still several decibels off the lead.

Power consumption
For our power consumption tests, we measured the voltage drop across a 0.1-ohm resistor placed in line with the 5V and 12V lines connected to each drive. Through the magic of Ohm's Law, we were able to calculate the power draw from each voltage rail and add them together for the total power draw of the drive.

With four 125GB platters, the DiamondMax 11 has plenty of weight to spin around, and its power consumption is among the highest we've seen. Note that four-platter drives like the 500GB Caviar RE2 and SE16 manage lower power consumption with the same number of platters.