worth the upgrade? -- please compare

[boebel]

Hello,
I currently have this hard disk in my laptop:

---------Fujitsu-Siemens 2,5" 60 GB--------
4200 rpm
Data buffer size 2048 KB
Seek time (track to track) 1.5 typ. milliseconds
Seek time (average) 12 typ. milliseconds (read/write)
Seek time (full track) 22 typ. milliseconds (read/write)
Average latency time 7.14 milliseconds
Data transfer rate (DMA mode 2) 16.6 MB per second
Data transfer rate (PIO mode 4) 16.6 MB per second
Data transfer rate (UDMA mode 2) 33.3 MB per second
Data transfer rate (UDMA mode 4) 66.6 MB per second
Data transfer rate (UltraATA) 100 MB per second
Spindle start time 3.5 seconds typical
Spindle stop time 5 seconds typical
http://www.fel.fujitsu.com/home/v3__product.asp?pid=346&inf=fsp&wg=13
-------------------------------------------------------------

I'm considering to upgrade it to this model:

---------Western Digital 2,5" 60 GB--------
5400 rpm
Buffer Size: 8 MB
Average Latency: 5.50 ms (nominal)
Read Seek Time (Average) 12.0 ms
Track-To-Track Seek Time 2.0 ms (average)
- Mode 5 Ultra ATA 100.0 MB/s
- Mode 4 Ultra ATA 66.6 MB/s
- Mode 2 Ultra ATA 33.3 MB/s
- Mode 4 PIO 16.6 MB/s
- Mode 2 multi-word DMA 16.6 MB/s
http://www.westerndigital.com/en/products/Products.asp?DriveID=103
-------------------------------------------------------------

I want to upgrade the disk because everyone tells me my slow hard disk
is a bottleneck for my laptop (P4 2,66ghz 512mb). The problem is that
I have very little knowledge of hardware related stuff, so I can't
estimate the impact of a larger buffer size for example.

So does anyone recommend to do this upgrade, or will it have little or
no impact on general performance?

Thank you very much,
Boebel.

 

[kony]

Hello,
I currently have this hard disk in my laptop:

---------Fujitsu-Siemens 2,5" 60 GB--------
4200 rpm
Data buffer size 2048 KB
Seek time (track to track) 1.5 typ. milliseconds
Seek time (average) 12 typ. milliseconds (read/write)
Seek time (full track) 22 typ. milliseconds (read/write)
Average latency time 7.14 milliseconds
Data transfer rate (DMA mode 2) 16.6 MB per second
Data transfer rate (PIO mode 4) 16.6 MB per second
Data transfer rate (UDMA mode 2) 33.3 MB per second
Data transfer rate (UDMA mode 4) 66.6 MB per second
Data transfer rate (UltraATA) 100 MB per second
Spindle start time 3.5 seconds typical
Spindle stop time 5 seconds typical
http://www.fel.fujitsu.com/home/v3__product.asp?pid=346&inf=fsp&wg=13
-------------------------------------------------------------

I'm considering to upgrade it to this model:

---------Western Digital 2,5" 60 GB--------
5400 rpm
Buffer Size: 8 MB
Average Latency: 5.50 ms (nominal)
Read Seek Time (Average) 12.0 ms
Track-To-Track Seek Time 2.0 ms (average)
- Mode 5 Ultra ATA 100.0 MB/s
- Mode 4 Ultra ATA 66.6 MB/s
- Mode 2 Ultra ATA 33.3 MB/s
- Mode 4 PIO 16.6 MB/s
- Mode 2 multi-word DMA 16.6 MB/s
http://www.westerndigital.com/en/products/Products.asp?DriveID=103
-------------------------------------------------------------

I want to upgrade the disk because everyone tells me my slow hard disk
is a bottleneck for my laptop (P4 2,66ghz 512mb). The problem is that
I have very little knowledge of hardware related stuff, so I can't
estimate the impact of a larger buffer size for example.

So does anyone recommend to do this upgrade, or will it have little or
no impact on general performance?

Thank you very much,
Boebel.

It'll help some, depending on when/where you're finding the
performance lacking... mostly a little lower latency due to
higher spindle speed and perhaps a little benefit from the
larger cache. In some cases you might find more memory
helps more, or in others, also having enough memory for a
ramdrive if the application won't cache things in memory all
by itself but can have this function adjusted by user.

It could be useful if you described exactly when the
performance seems most lacking. If it just seems sluggish
in WinXP with the factory (OEM) installation and software,
you should get a more significant performance increase by
wiping the OS partition (just reformatting, after backup of
data) and doing a clean install of windows, not an OEM image
which includes other unnecessary software, and turning off
unnecessary Windows GUI eyecandy/enhancements.

Still presuming windows, Task Manager will show memory usage
and % time for each process.

Personally I wouldn't upgrade the drive, not enough
difference and same capacity so the bang for the buck is
poor.

 

[MrGrumpy]

Dont take any notice of what 'everyone says'
There is a world of difference between real usage benchmarks, and the lab
test bench

In any case for ultimate performance you have to consider your hardware as a
whole and not individually

 

[boebel]

Hi, just wanted to say thank you both for your kind help, it surely
helped me!
Cheers,
Boebel.