hitachi 7200 rpm drive in R40

[wolfman]

I'm considering a 7200 rpm hard disk (60 gig) as a replacement for my factory 30 gig 4200 rpm disk in an R40. Does anyone have any experience with the performance gain I can expect? (Unit is a 2896-72U model with mobile celeron 2.0 gigahertz and 1 gig of PC2100 ram).

Also, I see lots of posts for the hitachi 7K60 model - but don't see that for sale at www.newegg.com, for example - but they have 2 other 7200 rpm Hitachi units for sale, both with 8 meg of cache (08K0939, 08K0889).

Anyone have experience with either of these? Thanks!!!

[w0qj]

Just had a similar discussion on the T-series forum:

http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?t=2372


Basically:

try these:

Fast And Furious: Notebooks vs. Battery Life Drain
www6.tomshardware.com/mobile/20031031

Revolt of the Munchkins: 2.5" 5,400 and 7,200 rpm Hard Drives
www20.tomshardware.com/storage/20030813/index.html


i've been following this forum for 2 mths on this very topic of 7200rpm vs. 5400rpm hard drives.


the forum consensus (pls correct me if others don't feel this way):

A) from 4200rpm to 5400rpm: BIG HDD performance gain
B) from 5400rpm to 7200rpm: Smaller noticable HDD performance gain

C) IBM Thinkpad T42's use Hitachi Travelstar, so you choose either:
Hitachi 7200rpm and 60GB, or
Hitachi 5400rpm and 80GB
Note: some say there is only a slight performance difference between the two, but with 20GB more HDD space on the latter 80GB drive.

D) i've read in Toms Hardware Review that these 2 above HDD's consume about the same amount of power (almost no battery penalty!).
but be aware 7K60 (7200rpm) HDD runs hotter, so you pay by keeping the cooling fan on for longer.