Upgrading Your Notebook Hard Drive: Does It Make Sense?
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Page 1:Notebook HDD Upgrade: 7,200 RPM Yesterday And Today
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Page 2:Old: Hitachi Travelstar 7K200
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Page 3:New: Hitachi Travelstar 7K500
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Page 4:Move Your Windows Installation With Windows Backup
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Page 5:Restore Your Windows To Your New HDD
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Page 6:Test Setup And MobileMark 2007 Results
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Page 7:Benchmark Results: SYSmark 2007 Preview
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Page 8:Benchmark Results: Time For Startup, Hibernation, Shutdown
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Page 9:Conclusion
Test Setup And MobileMark 2007 Results
| Platform | |
|---|---|
| Notebook | Dell Latitude D630 Mobile Intel GM965 Express Chipset |
| CPU | Intel Core 2 Duo T9500 (45nm; 2,600 MHz, 6MB L2 Cache) |
| RAM | Corsair ValueRAM 2 x 2048MB DDR2-667 SDRAM 5-5-5-15 |
| HDD I | Hitachi Travelstar 7K200 7,200 RPM, 160GB, 16MB Cache |
| HDD II | Hitachi Travelstar 7K500 7,200 RPM, 500GB, 16MB Cache |
| DVD-ROM | 8x DVD+/-RW |
| Wireless | Intel 4965 WLAN (802.11a/g/n) mini Card |
| Screen | 14.1" WideScreen WXGA+ LCD (1400x900) |
| Graphics Card | Intel Integrated Graphics Media Accelerator X3100 |
| Sound Card | Integrated |
| Power Supply | 9-Cell/85 WHr Primary Battery |
| System Software and Drivers | |
| OS | Windows Vista Ultimate SP2 Updated on November 9 2009 |
| Graphics Drivers | Version 15.12.4.1666 |
| Storage Drivers | IMSM 8.9.0.1023 |
| Benchmarks and Settings | |
| MobileMark 2007 | Version 1.06 Productivity |
| SYSMark Preview 2007 | Version 1.06 Productivity |
First, we ran MobileMark on the system running each of the hard drives. Although the power ratings of the new Travelstar 7K500 drive aren’t significantly lower, there was a benefit in battery runtime, even though the benefit of four minutes in a total runtime of more than six hours is tiny.
MobileMark does not reveal performance benefits for the new drive.
Summary
- Notebook HDD Upgrade: 7,200 RPM Yesterday And Today
- Old: Hitachi Travelstar 7K200
- New: Hitachi Travelstar 7K500
- Move Your Windows Installation With Windows Backup
- Restore Your Windows To Your New HDD
- Test Setup And MobileMark 2007 Results
- Benchmark Results: SYSmark 2007 Preview
- Benchmark Results: Time For Startup, Hibernation, Shutdown
- Conclusion
