This according to Linsay Narayanan, Western Digital (WD) product manager at Drive Control Corporation (DCC). "Every big change begins with small steps. For instance, setting the power options on your computer to switch it to sleep mode when it's not active can reduce power consumption without impacting performance," she continues.

      

As a technology vendor, Narayanan's portfolio has grown to incorporate green hard drives such as the WD Caviar Green range that includes energy saving features known as 'GreenPower' Technology.

 

The WD Caviar Green range of hard drives makes it possible for energy conscious customers to build systems with higher capacities with the right balance of system performance. With power reduction of up to 40%, they deliver cool and quiet operation, and reliability for audio/video applications such as PVR, DVRs, set-top boxes (STBs) as well as surveillance video recording.

 

When asked what products companies should be looking at in order to become 'green' Narayanan says, "IT is a good place to start. For example, the WD green hard drive range lowers power consumption compared to standard desktop drives and they do this by using the three key features of WD GreenPower Technology - Intellipower, Intelliseek and Intellipark."

 

According to Narayanan Intellipower is a fine-tuned balance of spin speed, transfer rate and caching algorithms designed to deliver both significant power savings and solid performance. Intelliseek calculates optimum seek speeds to lower power consumption, noise and vibration, while Intellipark delivers lower power consumption by automatically unloading the heads during idle to reduce aerodynamic drag.

 

"Another interesting feature is that these drives are cool, quiet and reliable. The noise levels are virtually below normal human hearing having been designed to reduce noise pollution, as well as being environmentally friendly", says Narayanan.