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    Hard disk vs DVD power usage

    Discussion in 'Dell' started by trebuin, Jul 21, 2007.

  1. trebuin

    trebuin Notebook Evangelist

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    I don't know why people haven't caught on yet, but here is a little intel:
    Hard drives tend to use more power as you go up in rpm. If I were to watch a 2 hour movie saved on hard disk as opposed to using a DVD and constant rotation, I would run out of battery about 15-25 mins sooner. I have a 7200 rpm drive on my sony, runs 2.5 hours on hard disk and 3 hours worth of DVDs. About a disk and a half...This is what happens when you have a 15 hour flight across the ocean with 3 extended batteries.

    This isn't up for a discussion...check it out and see what you find, don't take my word on it.
     
    trebuin, Jul 21, 2007
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  2. aaa

    aaa Notebook Consultant

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    I think it's more of the codec the movie's in, dvd's mpeg2 uses alot less power compared to others, with the caveat of taking lots of space.

    The general logic behind HD saving more power than DVD drive is that the HD tends to be spinning either way, so why not just have one spinning? And from what I've read, the optical drive actually uses more power.

    Plus the difference between 7200 and 5400 power usage is teeny.
     
    aaa, Jul 21, 2007
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  3. John Ratsey

    John Ratsey Moderately inquisitive Super Moderator

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    I found on the Samsung Q35 that having a SD card as ReadyBoost extended the DVD playback time by 10 to 15%. With ReadyBoost in, the DVD drive was playing intermittently so I assume that Vista was using the SD card to cache the DVD data. Something I haven't got round to testing is whether I can get much longer playback time by compressing the DVD onto an SD card. then the DVD drive wouldn't be needed and, in theory, the HDD could go to sleep as well.

    John
     
    John Ratsey, Jul 21, 2007
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