9.5 Versus 12.5 mm: Which Notebook HDD Is Right For You?

Features
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Notebook drive manufacturers can choose between two drive heights: 9.5 mm and 12.5 mm. At 9.5 mm, most drives are limited to two spinning platters, while 12.5 mm has enough room for three, enabling higher capacity. We compare the two 2.5" variants.

Benchmark Results: Throughput And Interface

The 1TB drive at 12.5 mm delivers higher throughput than the 640GB 9.5 mm model. In fact, the new terabyte drive does remarkably well here.