More Cache means it's faster? (how to comepare HDD?)

[ragingazn628]

I noticed that there are different cache levels 8 - 32MB Cache - is it the more cache the faster?

Pros: 32MB cache size makes ""11s"" drives notably faster than the same size ""10s"" with their 16MB cache -- if your programs are a burden on your drives. I have new 11s and 10s and both are perfect for their respective jobs. Fast setup (using Acronis). Remember to remove the tiny 1.5/3.0 jumper.

what does he mean 11s and 10s?

 

[assasin32]

Off hand I think he is refering to the seagate barracuda hard drives, I think their referring to the "10s" as tenth generation and "11s" as 11th generation (example 7200.10, and 7200.11). Well at least that's my impression of it, I could be wrong this is only a guess. And cache doesn't determine the speed of the hard drive, there are several other factors in it as well, best to research the drive before buying it.

 

[UncleDave]

I noticed that there are different cache levels 8 - 32MB Cache - is it the more cache the faster?

Generally yes but as with everything there are exceptions. Have a look at :- http://www.tomshardware.com/charts/3-5-hard-drive-charts/maximum-read-transfer-rate,666.html?p=1781. There really are a number of factors that effect "speed" including spin rate, number of platters, interface, etc.

UD.

 

[bobbknight]

Seagate Barracuda 7200.11
ST3320613AS,SATA/300,320 GB,16 MB Cache
127.30 through put

Western Digital VelociRaptor VR150
WD3000GLFS,SATA/300,750 GB,16 MB Cache
124.60 through put

As you see an $80 Seagate drive beats a $300 Western Digital VelociRaptor drive, why?

Density of the information on the drive, the read write head only passes over the information once to read it on the Seagate , where on the WD the head might pass over the same place 2 times before it fully reads the info.

This again, just goes to show you that with today's drives your just wasting your money on the Raptor drives. When a single platter drive at at lower speed beats the faster more expensive drive.

This changes when you move into a raid configuration, where the drives cache will play a more important role in data through put.

In raid 0, 2 Seagate 7200.11 series drives with the 32MB cache will beat 2 Raptors in all but one benchmark.

But unless your moving large files and or doing video rendering, just buy a big drive and spend as little as you can on it, the longer the warranty the better.

 

[SK711G]

The drives with larger caches will perform better since they can temporarily store more and larger files in their memory for repeated access. While transfering large files, such as when editing large video files, the cache size will make almost no difference. However, for working with many smaller files, the transfer speed will be greater.