Hard drive speed

Archived from groups: comp.sys.laptops (More info?)

"Sven" <ohsosven@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:1f888818.0409142029.173893a8@posting.google.com...
> G'day,
>
> Does anyone have recommendations on hard drive speed?
>
> Specifically, I can buy either:
>
> 80gb Ultra ATA Hard drive (4200rpm), or
> 60gb Ultra ATA 7200rpm Performance Hard drive.
>
> The 7200RPM is AU$100 more expensive...
> My question is: is the faster hard drive worth it?

Depends on how much disk intensive work you do.

> Is there a noticable difference?

Yes.

> Does it drain the battery faster (it's got a
> pentium M processor)?

Yes.

Archived from groups: comp.sys.laptops (More info?)

> Go for the 7200 you wont regret it.

Done and done.

Cheers, Sven.

--
Using Opera's revolutionary e-mail client: http://www.opera.com/m2/

Archived from groups: comp.sys.laptops (More info?)

Sven,

If price is an issue consider these as a satisfying compromise:

USD$128 for a Toshiba MK6026GAX - 60GB ATA-6 -
9.5mm - 5400RPM - 16.3MB Buffer
http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/Prod [...] ode=101671

USD$181 for a Toshiba MK8026GAX - 80GB ATA-6 -
9.5mm - 5400RPM - 16.3MB Buffer
http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/Prod [...] ode=101678

I've been pleased with both for several months.

Regards ... John

Archived from groups: comp.sys.laptops (More info?)

Quaoar <quaoar@tenthplanet.net> wrote:
> Ian Stirling wrote:
>> Sven <ohsosven@hotmail.com> wrote:
>>> G'day,
>>>
>>> Does anyone have recommendations on hard drive speed?
>>>
>>> Specifically, I can buy either:
>>>
>>> 80gb Ultra ATA Hard drive (4200rpm), or
>>> 60gb Ultra ATA 7200rpm Performance Hard drive.
>>>
>>> The 7200RPM is AU$100 more expensive...
>>> My question is: is the faster hard drive worth it? Is there a
>>> noticable difference? Does it drain the battery faster (it's got a
>>> pentium M processor)?
>>
>> Go to the datasheets, and compare idle powers.
>> There may be a fair difference between the two.
>> 7200 drives will generally drain battery faster.
>
> Hitachi and Toshiba both claim better idle optimization with new fluid
> bearing tech for their 7200rpm notebook drives than for their lower
> speed drives, resulting in equal or reduced idle power.

Look at the claims carefully.
Some of them are bogus, based on meaningless (for a laptop) measures,
like power per gigabyte.
(important in a server farm, with thousands of drives, irrelevant
in a laptop)

Archived from groups: comp.sys.laptops (More info?)

"EzAk" <crucial@execulink.com> wrote in message
news:Wsudnd4RmeMTof3cRVn-hw@golden.net...
|
|
| "John wrote:
|
| > USD$128 for a Toshiba MK6026GAX - 60GB ATA-6 -
| > 9.5mm - 5400RPM - 16.3MB Buffer
| >
| > USD$181 for a Toshiba MK8026GAX - 80GB ATA-6 -
| > 9.5mm - 5400RPM - 16.3MB Buffer"
|
|
| wow 16mb buffer,,,, never knew
|

the 16MB buffer gets them close to the 7200RPM Hitachi speeds.

Archived from groups: comp.sys.laptops (More info?)

"Ron Reaugh" <rondashreaugh@att.net> wrote in message
news:5h_7d.480717$OB3.199320@bgtnsc05-news.ops.worldnet.att.net...
>
> "Thunder PC" <reply@board.nomail> wrote in message
> news:2VX7d.21228$yp.16557@bignews1.bellsouth.net...
> >
> > "EzAk" <crucial@execulink.com> wrote in message
> > news:Wsudnd4RmeMTof3cRVn-hw@golden.net...
> > |
> > |
> > | "John wrote:
> > |
> > | > USD$128 for a Toshiba MK6026GAX - 60GB ATA-6 -
> > | > 9.5mm - 5400RPM - 16.3MB Buffer
> > | >
> > | > USD$181 for a Toshiba MK8026GAX - 80GB ATA-6 -
> > | > 9.5mm - 5400RPM - 16.3MB Buffer"
> > |
> > |
> > | wow 16mb buffer,,,, never knew
> > |
> >
> > the 16MB buffer gets them close to the 7200RPM Hitachi speeds.
>
> NO!


OTOH the 50GB Toshiba MK5024GAY with
7200rpm and 16MB cache outperforms
the E7K60 Hitachi drives. I have
tested both, and the Toshiba is
the better drive -- also much
quieter.



dk

Archived from groups: comp.sys.laptops (More info?)

"Dan Koren" <dankoren@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:41607d1d$1@news.meer.net...
| "Thunder PC" <reply@board.nomail> wrote in message
| news:2VX7d.21228$yp.16557@bignews1.bellsouth.net...
| >
| > "EzAk" <crucial@execulink.com> wrote in message
| > news:Wsudnd4RmeMTof3cRVn-hw@golden.net...
| > |
| > |
| > | "John wrote:
| > |
| > | > USD$128 for a Toshiba MK6026GAX - 60GB ATA-6 -
| > | > 9.5mm - 5400RPM - 16.3MB Buffer
| > | >
| > | > USD$181 for a Toshiba MK8026GAX - 80GB ATA-6 -
| > | > 9.5mm - 5400RPM - 16.3MB Buffer"
| > |
| > |
| > | wow 16mb buffer,,,, never knew
| > |
| >
| > the 16MB buffer gets them close to the 7200RPM Hitachi speeds.
| >
|
|
| Nope.
|
| Sooner or later the cache fills
| up and the drive reaches steady
| state.
|
|

On paprer, sure. However I have seen many many many benchmarks contrary to
your logic. The 7200RPM is definately still faster, but not by much in most
operations.

Archived from groups: comp.sys.laptops (More info?)

I'm thinking it would depend on what you're trying to do. If you're working
with a 4GB database file, that 16MB buffer will have limited effect, I would
guess. Benchmarks vs. real-world are often quite different.

Clint

"Thunder PC" <reply@board.nomail> wrote in message
news:yad8d.14975$DV3.13236@bignews5.bellsouth.net...
>
> "Dan Koren" <dankoren@yahoo.com> wrote in message
> news:41607d1d$1@news.meer.net...
> | "Thunder PC" <reply@board.nomail> wrote in message
> | news:2VX7d.21228$yp.16557@bignews1.bellsouth.net...
> | >
> | > "EzAk" <crucial@execulink.com> wrote in message
> | > news:Wsudnd4RmeMTof3cRVn-hw@golden.net...
> | > |
> | > |
> | > | "John wrote:
> | > |
> | > | > USD$128 for a Toshiba MK6026GAX - 60GB ATA-6 -
> | > | > 9.5mm - 5400RPM - 16.3MB Buffer
> | > | >
> | > | > USD$181 for a Toshiba MK8026GAX - 80GB ATA-6 -
> | > | > 9.5mm - 5400RPM - 16.3MB Buffer"
> | > |
> | > |
> | > | wow 16mb buffer,,,, never knew
> | > |
> | >
> | > the 16MB buffer gets them close to the 7200RPM Hitachi speeds.
> | >
> |
> |
> | Nope.
> |
> | Sooner or later the cache fills
> | up and the drive reaches steady
> | state.
> |
> |
>
> On paprer, sure. However I have seen many many many benchmarks contrary to
> your logic. The 7200RPM is definately still faster, but not by much in
most
> operations.
>
>

Archived from groups: comp.sys.laptops (More info?)

"Ron Reaugh" <rondashreaugh@att.net> wrote in message
news:mWm8d.665057$Gx4.291656@bgtnsc04-news.ops.worldnet.att.net...
|
| "Thunder PC" <reply@board.nomail> wrote in message
| newscd8d.14976$DV3.13733@bignews5.bellsouth.net...
| >
| > "Ron Reaugh" <rondashreaugh@att.net> wrote in message
| > news:5h_7d.480717$OB3.199320@bgtnsc05-news.ops.worldnet.att.net...
| > |
| > | "Thunder PC" <reply@board.nomail> wrote in message
| > | news:2VX7d.21228$yp.16557@bignews1.bellsouth.net...
| > | >
| > | > "EzAk" <crucial@execulink.com> wrote in message
| > | > news:Wsudnd4RmeMTof3cRVn-hw@golden.net...
| > | > |
| > | > |
| > | > | "John wrote:
| > | > |
| > | > | > USD$128 for a Toshiba MK6026GAX - 60GB ATA-6 -
| > | > | > 9.5mm - 5400RPM - 16.3MB Buffer
| > | > | >
| > | > | > USD$181 for a Toshiba MK8026GAX - 80GB ATA-6 -
| > | > | > 9.5mm - 5400RPM - 16.3MB Buffer"
| > | > |
| > | > |
| > | > | wow 16mb buffer,,,, never knew
| > | > |
| > | >
| > | > the 16MB buffer gets them close to the 7200RPM Hitachi speeds.
| > |
| > | NO!
| > |
| >
| > Yes ... do the research.
|
| So do it.

I have.

|
| > Every benchmark I have seen
|
| Provide a citation.

Google.com would be a good starting point

|
| > as well as my own
| > experience has shown that to be the case. The 7200RPM is still faster,
but
| > not by a very large margin.
|
| No, try something that is seek intensive like a database access.
|

I'm not arguing that the 5400 16MB cache is the same speed as the 7200RPM.
I personally prefer the 7200RPM drives, and am well aware they are faster.
The 16MB cache drives do work to close the gap between the 5400 and 7200RPM
drives though. If you believe otherwise, you have obviously never used the
three or done the research.