DB35 Hard Drive Worth The Price

DB35 drives are "designed" for DVR/Media use.

 

For use in a DVR I think they are, The DB35 consumes less power then the non DB35 Seagate drive.

 

As indicated, they are supposed to be optimized for DVR use. What this may mean is that you will probably get less occasional pixelisation, if any, than you would if you use a standard drive. The drives undergo a periodic thermal calibration to compensate for expansion and contraction of the drive platter due to heat, which would result in the tracks moving about with respect to the center of the platter. Standard drives interrupt normal processing/data transfer momentarily while this is being performed, this causing slight glitches in the data which we see as pixelisation. Drives optimized for DVR use perform their calibration differently, if at all, and therefore do not interrupt the normal transfer of data, resulting in cleaner, non-pixelated recordings.

The above is based on what I read quite a while ago so I can't vouch for it's accuracy but I think it's pretty close to what's happening. I've also read that the DB35 drives may simply be rebadged Seagates that are marketed under various model numbers so it could be possible to get a standard Seagate that actually performs as well as a DB35. I haven't heard much in the way of positive testimony for the DB35 drives vs. any other Seagate model other than they're designed to work better in a DVR. There hasn't been much feedback to support or deny the claim that I've seen. It could just be that the data is located elsewhere and I just haven't run across it yet.