Real world difference?

[chef7734]

Well I have seen the numbers and wondering if I would see a difference moving from a WD black TB drive as my primary drive to a velociraptor as primary. Was looking at a SAS controller and SAS drive but not sure if it is worth the extra 200.00 over the wd.

 

[IH8U]

Short answer, is yes. However a cheaper normal 250GB HDD will show a decrease in seek times for loading an OS, or game, (there is less drive space to seek through) I typically use the larger drives for storage (secondary drive).

 

[cjl]

Yes, there is a difference. Whether it is worth it or not depends on how picky you are.

Oh, and ih8u, moving to a 250GB drive would actually tend to slow down seeks. The way to improve seeks on a normal drive is to short stroke it - buy a 1TB drive or something similar, and only use the first 200GB (create a partition on the first 200GB or so, and leave the rest untouched). That will decrease seek times significantly, while still being cheaper than a velociraptor (though it will not match a velociraptor for speed).