7200 RPM vs. 5400 RPM HDD

[wing7788]

Ewww wyvrn, didnt mean to sound like that. Just treat the command, instruct and pressure in jest. Nothing serious...

[wyvrn]

Yeah I know man I am sorry. I totally misread it. Sorry about that it won't happen again (where is the embarrasment smiley?)

[LadyTech]

Geez you guys!

I'm running around today at work (without coffee). I'll see if I can dig up some reading for you in a bit. I feel now after peeking back and reading the lasts posts that I have to or no one will believe my words from here on out. Give me a bit...real, real busy at work...many people needing help this morning.
-Leslie

[wing7788]

Take your time LadyTech... Take your time...

See how I carefully picked out the (kinder)words now, hehehe

[wyvrn]

I am looking for articles for you, and will let you know if I find any.

Don't take my angst as representative of Sysopt, most people here are genuinely nice

[LadyTech]

no offense taken, guys.
I cannot locate the review I read on the various manufactures hard drives, giving comparison across board on seek time, access time, etc. It might have been in PC World mag, becuase I can't find it on my usual links. Hummm...

[tvclyly]

I agree with most of you that the 7200rpm is faster than 5400rpm. However, I have to say that it is not a lot faster for the bucks. I have 15GB @ 7200, 20GB @ 5400, and 40GB @ 5400. It's faster when loading OS but after that, they are not much different. The 7200rpm claimed that the through put increases upto 25% (or 33% I forgot) over the 5400rpm. This means that if you copy 3GB of data from one drive to another, you will see 25%/33% faster. However, most games and applications are not that big so you will see only couple seconds diiferent are the most.

You will see big different if you have an old HD that is running at 5400rpm. I believe that old HDs (40MB - 8GB) are running DMA33. New HDs with 10GB @ 5400rpm or bigger will come with UDMA66/100. All 7200rpm comes with UDMa100. If you compare 6GB @ 5400rpm with 20GB @ 7200rpm, you will see big different because (1) the seek time is slower, (2) the through put is only 1/3 of the 7200rpm drive. This apply even when you openning small application or copy small amount of data.

If you want to compare, compare the drives that have the same size and manufacture but different rpm. The result is not big enough for you to pay extra on it. I also heard that 7200 creates more noise than the 5400rpm. My biggest comment is "If you use your home computer for about an hour a day, can you afford to spend an additional 10-15 seconds max". If your answer is NO, than you should go with the SCSI system with raid 3/5 implementation and 10,000rpm SCSI HDs.

Here is the price that I checked at Pricewatch (05-30-01):

WD 20GB @5400 UDMA66/100 = $69
WD 20GB @7200 UDMA100 = $82
WD 30GB @5400 UDMA66/100 = $82

I rather have the 30GB @ 5400 than 20GB @ 7200.

[This message has been edited by tvclyly (edited 05-30-2001).]

[This message has been edited by tvclyly (edited 05-30-2001).]

[This message has been edited by tvclyly (edited 05-30-2001).]

[Fingers]

Here's a head to head comparison between a 13GB 5,400rpm Quantum Fireball and a 13.6GB 7,200rpm Quantum Fireball.

ATA-66 vs ATA-33 / 5,400 vs 7,200

[Fingers]

OuT, I don't want to take this off-topic, but here's another one along the same line.

ATA/100 - Real Performance or Marketing Hype?

<EDIT> I just re-read that article, and it gives some support for LadyTech's statements also.

[This message has been edited by Fingers (edited 05-30-2001).]

[prexaspes]

I'd bet you'd notice the difference betwixt the two when using a RAID 0 stripe...

4 x 5400
vs.
4 x 7200

eh?

[helldiverCDN]

For that, you can check here :
http://www.realworldtech.com/page.cf...WT022201021241


Cheers,

hell out

[djallanj]

In the March 2001 issue of PC WORLD, they did an article on hard drives. They found that some of the 5400 drives outperformed some of the 7200 drives. It's worth a read. I'm about to purchase a new drive and I think I will go with the IBM 60gxp 60GB, a 7200 rpm drive.

[BBA]

I read the 80 GIG Maxtor 5400 RPM drive outperforms the 60 GIG 7200 RPM drives, this due to data density and number of platters making a higher effect on throughput than the increased rotational speed of older technology.

How many of you have a drive that does a sustained 46 MB/Sec? The Maxtor 80 Gig 5400 RPM does.

[wildchild978]

All you need to do is look at a spec comparison to see the difference between the different drives, but while you're there, compare them to SCSI HDDs. If you're really after a fast HDD SCSI is the way to go.

[ragtop]

The article that Fingers linked doesn't specifically draw a conclusion on the 5400 vs 7200 question, but if you review and compare the tables yourself it shows that the 7200 RPM drive is 20% faster in random access time, and 30% faster in copying a large file.

The only question is whether you will notice the difference in real world applications and whether the difference is worth the price. My guess is that you will notice a significant difference when launching apps or copying files, but not much difference once the application is running. As far as whether its worth the price - I guess that depends on how fat your wallet is.

[This message has been edited by ragtop (edited 05-30-2001).]