I question the 7200 rpm drives

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Guest · #1 Post by **Guest** » Mon Aug 30, 2004 11:33 pm

I recently posted this under T series in a reply but that it may be better here.

I question the 7200 rpm HDs. People keep saying that they are faster and they are but only in when compared to a 4200rpm drive. The thing is most laptops are sold with a 4200 rpm drive. Go to the store or look online most of the Hds are 4200 rpm. The R series only have 4200 rpm drives. Meaning what are available to consumers are 4200 rpm drives. So there is no big deal. When people write reviews about computers they speed of the HD is never mentioned because obviously they are more important things. I personally hope to get the 60 7200 rpm HD only for future proofing. I am assuming at one point in time 4200 rpm drives used to be the fastes there were? AM I correct or has HD techology just start to increase? How long has this 60 gig 7200 rpm drive been available? Maybe I am wrong? What do you guys think.

stgreek · #2 Post by **stgreek** » Tue Aug 31, 2004 1:29 am

I was ranting just like you before I got my 7200 drive and I haven't stopped praising it since. Just to put it into context, the difference in speed between my T40 with 4200 and 7200 drives feels bigger than the difference between the T40 1.5 Pentium M processor and my X23's PIII-M 866 processor with the same hard drive!

All the reviews that you mention DO say something about the drives, they say that "The hard drives are the bottleneck of laptop performance today, since they've had the slowest advancement". And trust me, the 7200 drive is as big an advancement as you can get. The 60gig drive is not that new, so it is not considered a technology gadget but simply that fastest drive available.

You shouldn't think of it as an altogether different "future-proof" technology, such as dual-layer drives (I know, bad example) but think of it as the difference between 16x vs 1x DVD writers. You can do your job with both, but which one would you prefer?

Stavros

mpcook · #3 Post by **mpcook** » Tue Aug 31, 2004 8:04 am

I put a 7200rpm drive in my X31, replacing a 4200 drive. I have not spent any time actually timing things. However, any disk related program or activity is noticably faster, some are very much faster. One thing I noticed was when Outlook crashes (due to forgetting to change my default printer), it takes a long long time to come back up, reading the disk all the while. Now it takes just a few seconds. Much faster. Like everything else, YMMV.

-Mike

#4 Post by **jdhurst** » Tue Aug 31, 2004 8:49 am

I did not bother with numeric analyses in the fast drive. Here is my view:

1. I started with the 7200-rpm drive on a T30 I no longer have. I purchased the drive here from Bill. The T30 had a 40Gb 5400-rpm drive and I wanted more space. I purchased the Hitachi Travelstar 7K60 60Gb 7200-rpm drive and installed it. I put the original drive in the drive bay so I could boot from either. In A - B comparisons, I could easily notice the difference in that the 7200-rpm drive was faster and smoother to start and to load applications. Subjectively, it was faster and smoother enough to never go back.

2. I sold the T30 with its original drive and purchased at T41 with a 4200-rpm drive. The intent was to upgrade and I did. That drive collapsed in the big APS debacle, so I had the opportunity to use the 4200-rpm drive in production while getting a replacement. The difference between the 4200-rpm drive and the the 7200-rpm drive is like the difference between night and day. The 4200-rpm drive is like a slug compared to the faster drive.

So if you are not sold or don't see the need to move, that's fine. But I have compared the 7200-rpm drive to both the 5400-rpm and 4200-rpm drives for myself and I know the 7200-rpm drive to be faster and smoother in daily use. .... JDHurst

JHEM · #5 Post by **JHEM** » Tue Aug 31, 2004 11:01 am

I'll have to travel far back in time to answer this adequately, but my original introduction to the merits of the 7K60 came during a period of experimentation with my venerable 600X to see how it could be made to be all it could be.

I had installed one of the first of the 5400RPM 40GNX HDs in it and was immediately moved to sing it's praises far and wide on Lists and NGs. The increase in performance was far in excess of the approx. 25% increase in HD speed over the 4200RPM it replaced.

When the 7K60 was introduced I couldn't resist grabbing one, although I was planning to use it in my T21. I threw it in my 600X and never looked back! The machine almost hovered with new-found speed and reliablility, especially when I installed the latest Beta of W2K on it.

In an effort to end this trip down memory lane, I'll simply end by saying that one of the first upgrades I perform on all of my Thinkpads is the installation of a 7K60 HD and I've never been disappointed with the increase in speed and reliability. Swapping the 7K60 for the 5K40 might not be a knee-jerk reaction swap, but swapping a 7K60 for a 4200RPM HD is a no-brainer.

Regards,

James

Guest · #6 Post by **Guest** » Tue Aug 31, 2004 10:45 pm

Still funny how most people don't know or don't care about the rpm of the HD. Still can someone answer my question. how long have 4200 rpm HDs been out. Was this always the slowest drive. At what time was this the fastest drive?

JHEM · #7 Post by **JHEM** » Wed Sep 01, 2004 12:04 am

Your question can't really be answered because different HD manufacturers had differing "standard" speeds for the laptop drives.

Slowest Travelstar HD was probably the 80/120 MB model that came in the original 300/500/700 series which ran at 3400RPM and the 360/540/720 MB model that came in the old 75X series and were 3800RPM.

4000RPM became the standard for Travelstars when the GB threshold was broken, quickly followed by a bump up to 4200RPM which was then the standard for several years.

The 40GNX was the breakthrough HD with it's 5400RPM and was king of the hill until the introduction of the 7200RPM 7K60.

Regards,

James

Guest · #8 Post by **Guest** » Wed Sep 01, 2004 10:29 pm

Sorry I guess i need to clarify. I mean, when was 4200 rpm the standard HD in all machines? Right now on most websites 5400rpm or 7200 rpms are only on or made available on business or workstation, workhorse models. Example T seris and Tecra series. I imagine in the future that 5400 rpm drives will be standars on regular models and 7200 rpms drives will be te standard on business type models like what 5400 is right now

stgreek · #9 Post by **stgreek** » Thu Sep 02, 2004 3:49 am

I still don't understand what you are asking

Yes, the technology is advancing all the time and in the future 7200 will be standard and the 10k scsi will be standard and then the new 15k scsideserialblablabla will be standard. What is your point? You can never be "future-proof" with technology, whatever it is it will be over in a couple of years. People should buy things because they cover their needs (or simply because of personal taste), not because they might be standard in 1,2,5 yeards time. If the only thing you want to buy the 7200 for is "future-proofing", don't, as when the 10k 100gig one comes out what will you do?

Stavros (sorry if I sounded offensive, I am just confused)

plucky duck · #10 Post by **plucky duck** » Thu Sep 02, 2004 11:10 pm

Exactly. Buy what you need NOW, unless something is coming up in the VERY near future. Even then you may shy away from it due to pricing concerns.

Guest · #11 Post by **Guest** » Thu Sep 02, 2004 11:16 pm

First of all. No one attempt to answer my question again. Don't want to get anyone annoyed and thank you for those who replied. I am looking at it this way. My sister got her laptop two years ago and it has a 4200rpm HD. Right now that is the most common one and in two years it probably wont be. For the future proofing I was only talking about my HD. If I get 7200 rpm while most people are getting 4200rpm it is good. Because 5400rpm will first have to replace then 7200. it is a process.

Guest · #12 Post by **Guest** » Thu Sep 02, 2004 11:18 pm

Again i am looking at it from a consumer point of view. Of course the T series and other business notebooks will have passed 7200 rpms HD in 2-3 years. But again the consumer models probably won't so I am good.

stgreek · #13 Post by **stgreek** » Fri Sep 03, 2004 5:06 am

needalaptop wrote:Again i am looking at it from a consumer point of view. Of course the T series and other business notebooks will have passed 7200 rpms HD in 2-3 years. But again the consumer models probably won't so I am good.

I think that everyone in this thread is trying to tell you that "I am good" has nothing to do with what everyone else buys, but with what YOU buy. 600 series are considered outdated, not "good", but many many people are more than happy with their 600s, including me. So what if 4200,5400 or 7200 is common?. If you are happy with an 1000 rpm drive you use that. If you want the latest and greatest all the time, well, I hope you have a deep wallet...

Guest · #14 Post by **Guest** » Fri Sep 03, 2004 12:15 pm

stgreek. I don't get it. Maybe you should know that I am gettting the computer with the idea that my HD will still be a great HD in four years just like the 4200 rpms HDs are just great now. I am not looking to be better than anyone else or to say I have the latest and greatest. I am THANKFUL that IBM and has an educational discount program where college students like myself can get laptops fo ALOT less than retail is. Sorry for all those who felt that I was trying to say get the best. I know like everyone knows nothing can be good for ever. I am independent I could care less about what people around me have. I would be happy using my four yaer old Toshiba if the tab key an dnumber one key worked, the HD was not failing, the HD was big enough, but i can't. Thank You Any other comments please private message me i hate to see "arguing" in forums.

stgreek · #15 Post by **stgreek** » Fri Sep 03, 2004 1:16 pm

needalaptop wrote:First of all. No one attempt to answer my question again. Don't want to get anyone annoyed and thank you for those who replied.

I did not see that, I am sorry. Case closed

Roland · #16 Post by **Roland** » Mon Sep 20, 2004 12:51 am

Hi all there,

during the last 10 years now I am using TPs (starting with the famous 750c) and upgarde at every machine the hdd mainly in order to increase the hard disk capacity of my notebook.
To be honest I never focussed at the rotation speed of these drives I replaced but always noticed a speed improvement.
Sometimes the improvement was very noticeable, sometimes not so much. My experience was, that the all-over performance increase I "felt" was also depending on the age and intensitity of usage of my hard drive which I replaced now by a new one - and by the rotation speed (of course).
Harddrives loose up to 30% of their performance (slower access and data transfer time by more re-adjustments of the head) depending on how heavy you have used them. PCmagazin tested this with different hard drives in a continues 3-month test.
So, if a hard drive was already heavy used and now it will be replaced with an even faster one you get a very strong performance increase.
A harddrive as a mechanical part loose performance by its usage...

Second thing you should consider if deciding which rotation speed you maybe choose for a notebook hard drive is the energy consumption. The 7200rpm drive consumes remarkble more current compared to the "slow" 4200rpm drives. If this is critical for you, the 5400rpm drives are a nice compromise.

I will buy now a 80gig or 100gig 5400rpm drive from Hitachi for my subnotebook...and 7200rpm drive is available only with 60gig...but thats another story...

I question the 7200 rpm drives

I question the 7200 rpm drives

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