Improve Performance with Memory or Faster Drive

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wrfalk · #1 Post by **wrfalk** » Wed Feb 22, 2006 11:45 am

Have a t22 1ghz processor with 394m memory and 32gig hard drive... should I up memory to 512 by replacing my 128 with 256 stick or replace my 32/5400 drive with a 60/7200? Work horse is in its 4th yr of 5 yr warrenty and works like a champ, so how do I get it to go longer and keep up with newer TP's??

djpharoah · #2 Post by **djpharoah** » Wed Feb 22, 2006 12:21 pm

you will not really benefit that much if you change your harddrive from 5400rpm to 7200rpm. however it might be noticeable YMMV

also upgrading the ram will definitely help.

-dj

#3 Post by **AlphaKilo470** » Wed Feb 22, 2006 8:52 pm

When looking at hard drives, seek times, latency and cahce (buffer) sizes are some of the most important things to consider. As far as spin speed goes, the most important factor is making sure you don't get stuck with a slow 4200rpm drive.

wrfalk · #4 Post by **wrfalk** » Thu Mar 02, 2006 6:27 pm

I have now upgraded to 512 memory and like the results... am also going from W2K to XP... that being said what drive upgrade would be the best? Thanks for all your help!!

Nolonemo · #5 Post by **Nolonemo** » Thu Mar 02, 2006 6:58 pm

I wouldn't spend the significant premium to get a 7200 rpm drive for a T22. I went from a 4200 to a 5200 rpm drive, and didn't notice a dramatic change. The T22, if I recall correctly, only supports ATA33, so your drive throughput isn't that great. I would expect you'd see more of a performance boost from maxing out the memory.

#6 Post by **jdhurst** » Thu Mar 02, 2006 7:17 pm

I switched from 5400rpm to 7200rpm and the difference was instantly noticeable. I would never go back, and I would never save a few bucks by purchasing a slow hard drive. I also add memory as that is noticeable as well. ... JD Hurst

dsvochak · #7 Post by **dsvochak** » Fri Mar 03, 2006 2:11 pm

For various opinions on this issue search the posts for "7K60" and "7K100".

I've concluded we can't answer the question of whether upgrading to a 7,200 rpm drive is appropriate. It depends on too many subjective factors like one's bank account, usage patterns, software, ego, etc. etc.

Only you can decide.

#8 Post by **carbon_unit** » Fri Mar 03, 2006 8:12 pm

One thing to consider is that when you do upgrade your laptop you can take a fast hard drive with you, but not the memory.

brooklynboy · #9 Post by **brooklynboy** » Sun Apr 23, 2006 9:55 am

I just upgraded my T30 from its 40GB/4200rpm drive to a new 7K100. The difference is dramatic; for example, recovery from hibernation takes less than half the time. Between the new drive, an additional gigabyte of memory, and a good cleanup, its performance is not perceptibly slower in mundane tasks than a brand-new T60 burdened with all the resident cr*ap installed at the factory.

I did the clonng using the EZ-GIG software that came with the Second HDD Adapter. The software (a four-year-old version) successfully copied the boot sector and the NTFS partition, but did not i) copy the hidden system partition; or ii) expand the NTFS partition to use the remaining free space, leaving it the same size as on the original drive. (There was an option to modify partition size, but it refused to let me.) I wound up installing Partition Magic on the old drive (so as not to clutter up the new one) and used it to copy the hidden partition and expand the NTFS partition.

All told, a worthwhile expenditure of $160 ($175 at buy.com, less a $15 coupon that I had) and a few hours' time.

http://www.pricegrabber.com/search_getp ... code=11201

Improve Performance with Memory or Faster Drive

Improve Performance with Memory or Faster Drive

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