is there a performance difference between 2.5" hard drives and 3.5" hard drives?

Triflexer · Jun 6, 2015

ive notices the difference in storage capacity. i just want to know if one is generally slower or faster than the other

drtoast · Jun 6, 2015

not really no. The 2.5" form factor was originally intent for laptops. Just a smaller case, near the same drive. but obv. smaller so less of it.

Unless you are talking 3.5" mechanical hdd to 2.5" SSD. in which case heck yes. Although im assuming if you meant that you would have said that

USAFRet · Jun 6, 2015

Triflexer :

Assuming both are 7200 RPM, no.

Iamsoda · Jun 6, 2015

Triflexer :

A lot of 2.5inch ones are 5400rpm, because they are made for laptops. If they are the same speed then no.

Outlander_04 · Jun 6, 2015

2.5 inch drives are slower even if they spin at the same speed , and most are slower anyway .

USAFRet · Jun 6, 2015

It also depends on the user and what they use the PC for.
Until very recently, my wife's PC had an ex laptop 5400 RPM drive, the only drive. For her purposes, worked just fine.

Outlander_04 · Jun 6, 2015

Lets get this very clear . Even at the same speed a 2.5 inch drive is slower . A LOT slower .

The reason is simply that the amount of recording track that passes under a read head in each rotation is way less .
Even in the best case scenario the 2.5 inch drive will be a minimum of 25% slower .
In the worst case its closer to 50%
and thats even at the same spin speed . But then almost all 2.5 inch drives are 5400 rpm

If you want 2.5 inch format and speed then buy an SSD

Iamsoda · Jun 6, 2015

Outlander_04 :

That is true the outer sectors of a 3.5inch will be faster, but the middle will be the same.

Outlander_04 · Jun 6, 2015

Iamsoda :

The middle of a 3.5 inch drive would be faster than a 2.5 inch drive .
At the very inner track the smaller hub size of the 2.5 inch drive means the 3.5 inch drive is at the highest advantage .

If we compare apples to apples and say 50% out from the start of the track on both drives the 3.5 inch drive is faster too.
There is no scenario the 2.5 inch drive is competitive

Iamsoda · Jun 6, 2015

Outlander_04 :

Iamsoda :

The middle of a 3.5 inch drive would be faster than a 2.5 inch drive .
At the very inner track the smaller hub size of the 2.5 inch drive means the 3.5 inch drive is at the highest advantage .

If we compare apples to apples and say 50% out from the start of the track on both drives the 3.5 inch drive is faster too.
There is no scenario the 2.5 inch drive is competitive

Lets say in the middle they both spin at 7200rpm. At 2.5inches or less the 3.5 would be the same as the 2.5; however I can imagine manufactures measure the outside ring speed to advertise the most for the least meaning the 3.5 is all around better.

USAFRet · Jun 6, 2015

I see a lot of talk from both sides. Anyone want to cough up a performance chart or two, comparing the performance?

Actual data beats an unlimited supply of handwavium.

computertech82 · Jun 6, 2015

Tthe correct answer (and you can find benchmarks for this) that as long as both drives are at the same rpm, they will perform about the same. If you want a truly fast harddrive, then get a SSD drive. Far faster than any hd.....PERIOD.

Iamsoda · Jun 6, 2015

computertech82 :

Eh the problem there is so little difference it is hard to pin point the size as making that difference, because of all the variables. The difference is maybe a couple MBS give or take? not much to write home about......

Well raid is a good option for speed as well as a ram hard drive, but if you want super reliability (Raid needs to be backed up plenty same thing with a ram hard drive) and speed SSD is the best.

Outlander_04 · Jun 6, 2015

Iamsoda :

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=laSieDPOcF0

56% slower 4K transfers

System speed overall wont drop that much but when you are moving files you will notice the performance hit

USAFRet · Jun 6, 2015

Outlander_04 :

Iamsoda :

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=laSieDPOcF0

56% slower 4K transfers

System speed overall wont drop that much but when you are moving files you will notice the performance hit

Comparing drives of 2 different speeds. 5400 RPM vs 7200 RPM.

ZandaThebigbluePanda · Jun 6, 2015

Totally wish I kept my 7200RPM HDD from my old mac.

it was 2.5" and was almost EXACTLY the same as my 3.5" 7200RPM drive in my other Old mac...

I had alot of macs XD, just sold both of them... by sold I mean I gave the expensive one away and smashed the cheap one then took a lighter and a can of hair spray and burn't my fingers.

popatim · Jun 8, 2015

Given speed and platter density are equal, 2.5" and 3.5" will perform nearly identically from the 2.5" mark and inwards. The 3.5" drive will have worse 'whole drive' latency just because of the larger platter the heads will have to span but a significantly higher 'top speed' out at the 3.5" edge. This is where the performance gain of short stroking a 3.5" are gained. By limiting the drives access to the inner (& and slower) portion of the drive you extract max speed & reduced latency from it.

The main problem is that while Desktop drives are using up to 1.2TB platters, their laptop counterparts are at half that or lower.

Heres a 375Gb Platter drive from WD: http://www.legitreviews.com/wd-scorpio-black-750gb-notebook-hard-drive-review_1658/3

(Im not sure how big a 375gb platter would be if extended out to 3.5")
Heres a 500gb Platter drive for comparison, WD1002FAEX Black :
https://www.techenclave.com/community/threads/western-digital-1tb-black-sata-3-wd1002faex.98712/

Both 7200rpm drives. Notice how close they are if you actually look at the benchmarks closely.

is there a performance difference between 2.5" hard drives and 3.5" hard drives?

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