HDD Choice 5400vs7200

[raubar]

Hi guys,
I have an IBM T23 1Ghz, 512Ram, and i am about to change my hdd, i have a choice between a hitachi 100Gb 5400RPM and an Hitachi 60Gb 7200RPM. Is it worth, performance wise (is it a noticeable increase) to go for the 60gb.
10x

[djpharoah]

you will notice the max performance from the 7200rpm drive. however that 7200rpm drive will drain your batteries much faster than your 5400rpm drive. Also the 7200rpm drive will put out more heat. its a classic balance that you have to choose from.

-dj

[raubar]

i agree that the max performance is from the 7200, but is it noticeable in day to day work over a 5400 one?

[dsvochak]

...is it noticeable in day to day work over a 5400 one

Like a lot of things, it depends. What do you mean by day to day work?

There's a significant gain in performance between a 5400 rpm drive and a 4200. See this thread for an example http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?p=127888 (LtTPFan's comments). There would be another gain by going to 7200, but how much is questionable.

Search here for "7k60" and you'll get a lot of threads regarding speed, noise, etc. with varying opinions. Regarding battery drain, the consensus seems to be there isn't much difference between 5400 and 7200 rpm drives.

[ttan98]

There is significant gain from 4200rpm to 5400rpm. I believe the gain from 5400rpm to 7200rpm is only marginal.

The latter the price difference is large, eg 60G -5400rpm is AUD$138 and 60G- 7200rpm is AUD$205. I believe it would be the same for the prices in the states.

I will stick with 5400rpm and save the money for your next laptop upgrade to say T40 /41/42.

[raubar]

10x a lot guys. I think i'll go for the 5400 one. The 7200 doesn't seem that much of a performance increase for the money

[jdhurst]

FWIW, I will offer an alternative opinion. Given the time and effort to change a hard drive in the first instance, I would not use less than a 7200 rpm hard drive. Side by side a 5400 rpm drive, it is noticeably faster and smoother (because it is faster). It does not use up any more battery that I can see, and it runs nice and cool. I put one in a T30 before I sold it, and I have it now in my T41. If money pinches, I can understand, though.
... JD Hurst

[raubar]

I agree that a 7200 would be a sweet drive, but at almost double the cost (for a 60Gb one) it's not for me, i use it mainly for web surfing, and from time to time for some lite cad work.

10x

[BryanHarig]

It seems you have already made your decision but I wanted to offer my experience here for anyone else thinking about this.

I went from the stock 40gb 4200rpm drive to a 60gb 7200rpm hitachi and I am very happy with it. I have not been bothered by the slightly louder read/write noise as it is over faster. Heat seems exactly the same to my wrist and leg. Battery life was almost unaffected, i got about 5min shorter life with the 7200rpm drive the one time I compared them. BUT it wasnt a perfect test as I didnt put both configurations through the exact same usage.

Performance has been great, everything loads snappy'er and file transfers go faster. If you can get a good deal on a 5400 go for it, it will be better than the stock drive. But I am very happy I spent the extra money on the 7200.

[rfcroc]

My experience pretty much mirrored BryanHarig's.
I'm very happy with the money I spent for my Hitachi 7K100.

[raubar]

Ok, now i don't know what to buy, a hitachi 5K100 or a Seagate 5400.2 or maybe a Fujitsu 5400 one. There more i read, the more i don't know which one to choose. Some say the hitachi is louder, some say the seagate is slower, and consume less batery, as for fujitsu ihear is dead quiet. What would u advice me to get?

[dsvochak]

I use Hitachi 5k100's. When adjusted with the Hitachi feature tool to max performance, they make virtually no noise. I tired a Seagate 5400.2 which was basically the same performance as the Hitachi's, but a little "louder". No experience with fujitsu.

As far as advice, go with what you're most comfortable with.

[ttan98]

I use the seagte momentus drives, runnning at 5400rpm. I can hear some noise but not irritating noise, I found it to be very relaible, I have no hesitation in recommmending it.

So far I have use 2*5400rpm unit at 40G each. Very happy with them.

[lithium726]

double post...

[lithium726]

i ran HDTACH on my 7k60 and a 5k40 drive i have, the 5k40 is *only* 10mb/s slower in burst speed, 10mb/s slower in sustained speed (this is more noticable) and has a latency of 16.7ms compared to 14.7ms of the 7200rpm drive. I would go with the 100gb drive, the areal density would offset the speed increase that the 60gb/7200 drive may have.

[raubar]

I just pick up my seagate momentus 5400.2 60Gb hdd, and i can't even describe the difference between this one and my old ibm travelstar 4200, 20gb hdd. The seagate is dead (and i mean dead) quiet, u have to put your ear next to it to hear something, and in terms of speed, it gets even better, the multitasking is very smooth, and the overall speed is better. It was a very good investment.

[schen]

I'm sure that it's been pointed out in previous threads, but no one seems to have mentioned that these newer drives (read 5400/7200rpm) have 8Mb caches. This makes a big difference, especially when combined with the higher spindle speed. Most (if not all) 4200rpm drives only have 2Mb caches.