Hard Drive Advice

S

Shane Steinmetz

I'm looking into purchasing a new hard drive.

My current 9.55 GB 5,400 RPM drive barely meets my needs anymore.

I want to select a hard drive with a high RPM. I'm guessing that using
a hard drive with a higher RPM will improve performance. 10,000 RPM to
15,000 RPM would be my choice, but I've been advised that it may be
"overkill."

I use my computer for the Internet, some demanding games, and for
several miscellaneous applications that run at the same time.

Does anyone have any advice to offer?
 
C

Carey Frisch [MVP]

Consider purchasing either a Western Digital or Maxtor 7200 RPM hard drive
with 8MB cache. The 10-15,000 RPM drives are a little faster, but they are quite noisy,
and tend to run hot.

--
Carey Frisch
Microsoft MVP
Windows XP - Shell/User

Be Smart! Protect your PC!
http://www.microsoft.com/security/protect/

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


| I'm looking into purchasing a new hard drive.
|
| My current 9.55 GB 5,400 RPM drive barely meets my needs anymore.
|
| I want to select a hard drive with a high RPM. I'm guessing that using
| a hard drive with a higher RPM will improve performance. 10,000 RPM to
| 15,000 RPM would be my choice, but I've been advised that it may be
| "overkill."
|
| I use my computer for the Internet, some demanding games, and for
| several miscellaneous applications that run at the same time.
|
| Does anyone have any advice to offer?
|
|
 
S

Shane Steinmetz

Alright. I'll look into it.

How severely does the RPM of a hard drive affect performance? Do you
think that there is a noticeable difference between a 5,400 RPM hard disk
and a 7,200 RPM hard disk?

Thank you for your advice! :)

Shane Steinmetz
 
J

Jim Macklin

Yes, the faster drive RPM generally means that data can be
read/written to the drive faster. The difference can be
noticeably faster, nearly 40% faster. Also the newer drives
with 8 MB buffers and denser data on the platters makes the
drives faster. Laptop hard drives are usually slower in
order to save power. You should read the spec sheet for the
drives, average seek time, and other data can be compared.

In my personal experience, I updated an older desktop with a
5-1/4 inch 3600 RPM drive to a 3-1/2 in 5400 inch drive and
boot up was very noticeably faster.


--
The people think the Constitution protects their rights;
But legislators see it as an obstacle to be overcome.

"Shane Steinmetz"
in message | Alright. I'll look into it.
|
| How severely does the RPM of a hard drive affect
performance? Do you
| think that there is a noticeable difference between a
5,400 RPM hard disk
| and a 7,200 RPM hard disk?
|
| Thank you for your advice! :)
|
| Shane Steinmetz
|
message
| | > Consider purchasing either a Western Digital or Maxtor
7200 RPM hard drive
| > with 8MB cache. The 10-15,000 RPM drives are a little
faster, but they
| are quite noisy,
| > and tend to run hot.
| >
| > --
| > Carey Frisch
| > Microsoft MVP
| > Windows XP - Shell/User
| >
| > Be Smart! Protect your PC!
| > http://www.microsoft.com/security/protect/
| >
|
----------------------------------------------------------
----------------
| -------------------------------------------
| >
| > "Shane Steinmetz"
<revieweroftime{REMOVETHIS}@silverinterlocution.org>
| wrote in message:
| > | >
| > | I'm looking into purchasing a new hard drive.
| > |
| > | My current 9.55 GB 5,400 RPM drive barely meets my
needs anymore.
| > |
| > | I want to select a hard drive with a high RPM. I'm
guessing that
| using
| > | a hard drive with a higher RPM will improve
performance. 10,000 RPM to
| > | 15,000 RPM would be my choice, but I've been advised
that it may be
| > | "overkill."
| > |
| > | I use my computer for the Internet, some demanding
games, and for
| > | several miscellaneous applications that run at the
same time.
| > |
| > | Does anyone have any advice to offer?
| > |
| > |
| >
|
|
 
F

Fred

I agree....

The 7200RPM 40/80/120GB ATA100/133 drives are fast enough for your
applications and are priced very well right now. Make sure you get a 8MB
cache buffer instead of the 2MB.

I recommend Maxtor/Seagate/Western Digital in that order. Maxtor and
Seagate are just as fast but are quieter.
 

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