Thinkpads Forum

In the real world (not just benchmark programs), have people who have upgraded from a 5400RPM drive to a 7200RPM drive noticed any real improvement? I'm talking about Windows startup times, loading files etc.
I know that 'in theory' it should be faster but is it / does it feel faster ?

it's a noticeable difference.   in fact, installing a faster hard drive makes the most humanly perceptible increase in system speed, typically more so than a faster processor and adding more memory.

my thinkpad s30 used to take about two minutes to boot into XP with the factory 20GB 4200RPM drive.   with a 40GB hitachi 7K100 it takes 45 seconds and boots faster than my former T61p with 10X the processor and memory specs.   to me, that's about as real-world as it gets.

erik wrote:it's a noticeable difference. in fact, installing a faster hard drive makes the most humanly perceptible increase in system speed, typically more so than a faster processor and adding more memory.

Really?...thanks for the advice, I never knew that the HDD speed was so significant. I have upgraded my ram, but never really thought that the HDD speed would be so influential.
Thanks!

Hmmm maybe I should have ordered the 250 GB 7200 instead of 5400 RPM then.

But 1 factor I considered is that the 7200 RPM consumes more battery life; so if you are planning to work on the go, it might not be as good a choice.

Trekk69 wrote:

erik wrote:it's a noticeable difference. in fact, installing a faster hard drive makes the most humanly perceptible increase in system speed, typically more so than a faster processor and adding more memory.

Really?...thanks for the advice, I never knew that the HDD speed was so significant. I have upgraded my ram, but never really thought that the HDD speed would be so influential.
Thanks!

something to keep in mind is that the HDD is usually the biggest bottleneck in any system. Most of the parts can process GB/s of data. The HDD can only deliver 100MB/s in most desktops (laptops are likr 60-80MB/s). So there's your biggest slowdown.

Cheers mate!
I tossed in another 2gb (total 3) for my system, but now will have to look at my HDD.
I will keeping my laptop for another bunch of years, and with the prices of HDDs/SSDs coming down, I think it will be a good investment because I will have the laptop for a few years.
Thanks

Cheers Eric, did you notice the drive getting hotter or noisier (clunks,clangs etc not that a hard drive should be making those sounds !!!) ?
In an ideal world a SSD would be nice but a. cost and b. size are the limiting factors at the moment.

folks,

i have spend an enormous amount of time investigating and searching for the most loiseless, fast and cool hdd.

my absolute, subjective as well as objective, winner is:

TravelStar 7K200 HTS722010K9SA00 100GB Hard Drive

see:
http://www.pcworld.com/product/specs/pr ... specs.html

its all thats stated there:
- quit, quieter than any 5400 hdd i have used!!!!!!!!
- cool, +- 30 degrees in my x60
- and high performance

results from hd-tune: faster than any i have tested!

I have been using the Travelstar 7K60 in my T42 and now 7K200 in my X61. The improvement in performance is significant and noticable, and the prices are very reasonable for such a jump in performance.

Don't Thinkpad harddrives come with some special "shock protection/aborption" thing that's different from other laptop drives?

Or is it just those 2 rubber black bumpers they put around the HDD frame??

snots wrote:Don't Thinkpad harddrives come with some special "shock protection/aborption" thing that's different from other laptop drives?

Or is it just those 2 rubber black bumpers they put around the HDD frame??

The shock protection is a software thing. You can put any compatible (hardware-wise) HDD into the system and the shock protection will still work. What it does is the protection software will park the HDD heads when it senses rapid movement (shock) to avoid damaging the HDD. When the shock is gone...or when there is no more movement...the heads will go back to what they were doing.

I swapped drives in my previous Sony plenty of times and it the shock sensor/protection worked just fine with all of them.

adrianaitken wrote:Cheers Eric, did you notice the drive getting hotter or noisier (clunks,clangs etc not that a hard drive should be making those sounds !!!) ?
In an ideal world a SSD would be nice but a. cost and b. size are the limiting factors at the moment.

the current hitachi hard drives are dead silent and don't clunk like i've heard in a few seagate drives.   i have a 200GB hitachi 7K200 in my X61 and it's barely noticeable.   heat generation doesn't seem to be much more than a 5400RPM drive.   these days there's no way i'd go with anything slower than a 7200RPM as my main system drive.

SSDs are fast.   my X300 boots and shuts down more quickly than any notebook i've ever used.   the processor is actually the bottleneck in this system, although it's really not that bad.

VietNinjaXTC wrote:

snots wrote:Don't Thinkpad harddrives come with some special "shock protection/aborption" thing that's different from other laptop drives?

Or is it just those 2 rubber black bumpers they put around the HDD frame??

The shock protection is a software thing. You can put any compatible (hardware-wise) HDD into the system and the shock protection will still work. What it does is the protection software will park the HDD heads when it senses rapid movement (shock) to avoid damaging the HDD. When the shock is gone...or when there is no more movement...the heads will go back to what they were doing.

I swapped drives in my previous Sony plenty of times and it the shock sensor/protection worked just fine with all of them.

Cool. Thanks for the explanation!


BTW: the Hitachi drives used to be the IBM drives where they had a Desktar that failed so much that it became known as the Deathstar. I'm a little wary of the IBM/Hitachi drives -- I guess they are much better now.

erik wrote:the current hitachi hard drives are dead silent

Silence means the absence of all sound. I'm pretty sure the drives in question still contain rotating platters, which, spinning through air, necessarily disturb air particles, thus creating sound.

A absolute statement like "are dead silent" is useless because they are not, and whether they are inaudible depends on a ton of things, none of which you have specified. What's "silent" in an air-conditioned office will not be in the middle of a winter night in the woods 5 km away from the nearest paved surface. What's "silent" to one person may not be "silent" to another. What's "silent" in one laptop may not be "silent" in another.

qviri wrote:

erik wrote:the current hitachi hard drives are dead silent

Silence means the absence of all sound. I'm pretty sure the drives in question still contain rotating platters, which, spinning through air, necessarily disturb air particles, thus creating sound.

it's what's called a "figure of speech" and not to be taken literally.   i'm an engineer and even i wouldn't read that far into a statement like what i made above.   life's way too short to take everything so seriously.

thormdac wrote:folks,

i have spend an enormous amount of time investigating and searching for the most noiseless, fast and cool hdd.

my absolute, subjective as well as objective, winner is:

TravelStar 7K200 HTS722010K9SA00 100GB Hard Drive

I guess as of now there is a new winner - the 7K320! "7200rpm Speeds With 5400rpm Power".

thormdac wrote:my absolute, subjective as well as objective, winner is:

TravelStar 7K200 HTS722010K9SA00 100GB Hard Drive

As far as I can tell, the 7K200 200GB is faster (fastest 2.5" hard drive in average read AND average write, according to Tom's Hardware) and just as quiet as the 100GB. I have one in my X61 Tablet and it's a great drive. Very quiet and cool, too. Highly recommended.

fuscob wrote:
As far as I can tell, the 7K200 200GB is faster (fastest 2.5" hard drive in average read AND average write, according to Tom's Hardware) ..

lets just objectize that quickly; as i mentioned in my fisrt post i extensively checked on this topic:

all plates tested with hd-tune within the same cloned xp environment!

Hitachi_HTS722020K9S 200GB
transfer rate:
min : 12,7 MB/sec
max : 63,1 MB/sec
average: 50 MB/sec

access time: 14,9 ms

burst rate 73,3 MB/sec


Hitachi_HTS722010K9S - 3. generation 100GB

transfer rate:
min : 32,5 MB/sec
max : 63,1 MB/sec
average: 51,9 MB/sec

access time: 14,9 ms

burst rate 73,1 MB/sec

Agreed, rather subjective, but i have to insist on the HTS722010K9S - 3. generation to be the most quiet HDD ever used in my X60

Greetz

In other news... Hitachi has just announced the 7K320...

http://www.engadget.com/2008/05/07/hita ... tar-drive/

I wish I'd said that !

loyukfai wrote:In other news... Hitachi has just announced the 7K320...

http://www.engadget.com/2008/05/07/hita ... tar-drive/

And 'SuperTalent' reveals some cheaper SSD options for those that want to go that route: http://www.engadget.com/2008/05/07/supe ... r-options/

7K320! HGST outdoes itself again and gives Fujitsu the kicker. I was just wondering how I am going to fill up my 7K200 and now there is a meaner monster out there. Way to go - until SSD becomes cheaper, that is!

erik wrote:the current hitachi hard drives are dead silent and don't clunk like i've heard in a few seagate drives.

I only have one Hitachi 7200 rpm SATA drive (a 100GB model) which is in a my T60. In my experience it is noisier than the 120GB Seagate 7200 rpm SATA drives I have in my X61 and T61.

Cheers,

Bill B.

bill bolton wrote:

erik wrote:the current hitachi hard drives are dead silent and don't clunk like i've heard in a few seagate drives.

I only have one Hitachi 7200 rpm SATA drive (a 100GB model) which is in a my T60. In my experience it is noisier than the 120GB Seagate 7200 rpm SATA drives I have in my X61 and T61.

your 100GB is likely a 7K100 and those were noticeably louder than the current 7K200 generation.   both of my 7K200 drives (a 200GB and 100GB) are dead silent.

again, for the nitpickers out there, "dead silent" is a figure of speech and is not to be taken literally.

Is there a particular brand that ships by default with the X61T's? If you compare "dead silent" to the default sound level, how much difference is there?

snots wrote:If you compare "dead silent" to the default sound level, how much difference is there?

its very much a subjective thing; until someone actually measures the diffrence in phones, i.e. does a sound measurement!

...lets say my current drive keeps me off hunting for a more silent drive

thormdac wrote:

snots wrote:If you compare "dead silent" to the default sound level, how much difference is there?

its very much a subjective thing; until someone actually measures the diffrence in phones, i.e. does a sound measurement!

...lets say my current drive keeps me off hunting for a more silent drive

hum... now i wish i didnt spend $80+ upgrading from 80GB to 250GB but instead should have done the upgrade myself O_O""

erik wrote:your 100GB is likely a 7K100 and those were noticeably louder than the current 7K200 generation.

It reports as a HTS722010K9SA00

Cheers,

Bill B.

bill bolton wrote:

It reports as a HTS722010K9SA00

not sure what to tell you, bill.   if you don't like it, go on the internet and complain.

@bill,

uh, oh...a seagate! happy with the constant "clunckling" when the head parks?