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Samsung unleashes 1.5TB low-power hard drive

Cyril Kowaliski
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After over six months of being the only company shipping a 1.5TB desktop hard drive, Seagate is finally about to get some competition. Samsung has unveiled the EcoGreen F2EG, a low-power 3.5″ drive with the same terabyte-and-a-half capacity.

The EcoGreen F2EG uses just three 500-gig platters, or one fewer than Seagate’s 1.5TB Barracuda 7200.11. (Seagate does make 7200.12 drives with 500GB platters, but those only reach up to 1TB just now.)

Samsung boasts that the F2EG’s power consumption is 40% lower at idle and 45% lower during seeks than “competing drives,” so the lower platter count likely pays dividends. Since official spec sheets don’t seem to mention the EcoGreen’s spindle speed, though, one can probably assume those platters run at less than 7,200 RPM—like those of Western Digital’s Caviar Green series.

According to Samsung, the EcoGreen F2EG is “currently being shipped to major OEM businesses,” and you can expect it to retail for $149. The EcoGreen F2 lineup also includes more affordable 1TB and 500GB offerings. Both the 1.5TB and 1TB models should be available with either 16MB or 32MB buffers, too.