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    2.5" / 9.5mm hard drives OVER 1TB

    Discussion in 'Hardware Components and Aftermarket Upgrades' started by spandexninja, Dec 21, 2012.

  1. HTWingNut

    HTWingNut Potato

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    Unless you have an older laptop, most newer laptops offer at least the option of an mSATA or M.2 drive plus a full size 2.5" drive. Otherwise there are 1TB SSD's reasonably priced (at least as far as SSD's go). I think SSHD's are quickly disappearing. Very little need for such a device any more.
     
  2. cdoublejj

    cdoublejj Notebook Deity

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    mPCIe to M.2 adapter,

    High quality turn NGFF SSD Mini PCIe adapter - Newegg.com
     
  3. triturbo

    triturbo Long live 16:10 and MXM-B

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    I think this is for WiFi modules only, unless I see it working with M.2 SSD :) What would be the performance is another story.

    How about this 10TB HDD :D I know that recently there is NO advancement on the 2.5" HDD front, but maybe this is going to change things.
     
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  4. Qing Dao

    Qing Dao Notebook Deity

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    They have recently come out with improved faster and higher capacity 7mm height drives.
     
  5. cdoublejj

    cdoublejj Notebook Deity

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    Newegg.com - PPSSXTXPZMDGRI

    They also sell mPCIe to M.2 adapters now. :D
     
  6. triturbo

    triturbo Long live 16:10 and MXM-B

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    Let me put it this way - nothing that I would care about :) Since they've ditched the 7200 lines, the other thing I care is space/price. There are still quite a handful of 9.5mm HDD notebooks out there. They seem to have forgot about them. WD hasn't put out a new 9.5mm 2.5" HDD for couple of years now.

    I have just checked their site, it's like they gave-up on this segment :( So the only hope for something inspiring is HGST, which is part of WD now...

    Someone brave enough to try the adapter :) There are some cheap options, like the $40 Transcend to pair it with.
     
  7. Qing Dao

    Qing Dao Notebook Deity

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    Who has ditched 7200rpm 2.5" drives?
     
  8. Starlight5

    Starlight5 Yes, I'm a cat. What else is there to say, really?

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    cdoublejj, sadly the adapter is crap.
     
  9. triturbo

    triturbo Long live 16:10 and MXM-B

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    Everyone. The last one was Hitachi 7K1000. Ever since then - 5400 :( I guess you could find lower capacity 7200 drives, but 1TB and above, only 5400 (the only exception - 7K1000) and then again, HDD is for storage, so lower capacity is not really what I'm looking at.

    Thought so.
     
  10. Qing Dao

    Qing Dao Notebook Deity

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    Perhaps early next year we will see other drives coming out. But I don't think the 7200rpm and 5400rpm distinction means a whole lot. The HGST 5K1500 is more or less the same speed as the 7K1000.
     
  11. cdoublejj

    cdoublejj Notebook Deity

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    why is it crap?
     
  12. John Ratsey

    John Ratsey Moderately inquisitive Super Moderator

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    I haven't been following the developments of this technology closely but I wonder whether an engineering constraint is the rate at which the data can be passed through the read / write heads in which case the 7200 rpm data is more widely spread to compensate for the faster rotation. 7200 rpm still offers faster access but this advantage is diminished by the bigger caches being used.

    John
     
  13. djembe

    djembe drum while you work

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    My understanding is that hard drive access speed is determined by both rotation speed and data density (higher capacity). A faster rotation speed makes the discs able to more quickly get to a certain location, and higher data density makes information closer together and more quickly accessible. An increase in density can be enough to equal or exceed the advantage of a faster rotation speed.

    Still, I would guess that the slow death of 7200 RPM drives is due to the acknowledgement that spinning drives are never going to be as fast as solid state drives. As such, continuing to make higher-performance (7200RPM) versions of what is becoming a budget product is not in a company's best interest.
     
  14. Starlight5

    Starlight5 Yes, I'm a cat. What else is there to say, really?

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    cdoublejj, the adapter in question is said to provide USB2.0 speeds only, rendering it useless for data storage.
     
  15. triturbo

    triturbo Long live 16:10 and MXM-B

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    7200 just feels snappier even when benchmarks tell you that 5400 is not far behind. It's a sad day, look at WD's laptop section, there are only 3 drives and all of them 5400 :( No 7200, no hybrids, no dual drives, nothing. I hope that it means that HGST would take over the mobile segment. This new write technology should bring 4TB 2.5" (if they ever decide to scale it down) and I guess this would be it.
     
  16. cdoublejj

    cdoublejj Notebook Deity

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    Well TriTurbo was telling me on the 5920G mSata and mPCIe might be matter of swapping pins???
     
  17. TBoneSan

    TBoneSan Laptop Fiend

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    I'm hoping this means we see a 4TB 2.5 or something. That would be magical.
     
  18. Qing Dao

    Qing Dao Notebook Deity

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    As it stands now, the tri-platter 2TB Samsung M9T is the highest density drive out there, higher than any 3.5" drive.
     
  19. cdoublejj

    cdoublejj Notebook Deity

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  20. triturbo

    triturbo Long live 16:10 and MXM-B

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    Just a theory, but it should be. All the pins are the same, but the data ones - 4 wires for PCIe vs 4 - SATA.

    That's what I'm counting on.

    Even with the Hitachi In question?
     
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  21. TBoneSan

    TBoneSan Laptop Fiend

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    Yes true, but after Hitachi's announcement of those 10TB Helium drives I'm hoping we see that materialize into 2.5
     
  22. Qing Dao

    Qing Dao Notebook Deity

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    Ah, no. Not even close. The M9T's platter density is only a tiny bit higher than any of the new 6TB 5 platter drives.

    There are very few details on it, but from the looks of it, we won't be seeing any laptop 2.5" drives like that any time soon. That drive is made to be filled up once with data and then rarely accessed. Performance, especially write performance, is extremely low. It may or may not last very long under continuous use, and it will be agonizingly slow.
     
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  23. Starlight5

    Starlight5 Yes, I'm a cat. What else is there to say, really?

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    I believe those aiming for 7200rpm drives should rather be concerned whether the drive parks heads on every possible and impossible occasion. Now that affects real-world performance.
     
  24. cdoublejj

    cdoublejj Notebook Deity

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    here is all that i know,

    The Tek 0143: The Unimaginable Dangers of AI - YouTube

    but, parking helps, prevent damage if it gets move or jostled or dropped or suddenly turned off and dropped/jostled. right?
     
  25. idiot101

    idiot101 Down and Broken

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    triturbo and cdoublejj like this.
  26. Qing Dao

    Qing Dao Notebook Deity

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    I just picked up two M9T's. One is louder and vibrates more than the other.... IDK if I should be worried.

    NVM. I just pulled them out of their external cases and they sound the same now.
     
  27. tilleroftheearth

    tilleroftheearth Wisdom listens quietly...

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    Probably normal variance, but still within specs. If you can return it though, I would.
     
  28. Qing Dao

    Qing Dao Notebook Deity

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    If anyone is interested, I know of four sources of Samsung M9T drives. Samsung P3 Portable in 1.5TB and 2TB varieties, Seagate Expansion 2TB Portable, Seagate Backup Plus 2TB Slim, and the Seagate Backup Plus Fast 4TB (which has 2 drives in it).

    There must have been something with how they were fitted into the external case, because once bare, they felt and sounded the same.
     
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  29. trvelbug

    trvelbug Notebook Prophet

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  30. TomJGX

    TomJGX I HATE BGA!

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  31. Starlight5

    Starlight5 Yes, I'm a cat. What else is there to say, really?

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    trvelbug, M9T is the only 2.5" 9.5mm 2TB drive available. It performs well, and is reasonably priced if bought as external, as Qing Dao described. It is the best 2.5" HDD as long as you don't use it for OS - that's what SSDs and hybrids are for.
     
  32. Qing Dao

    Qing Dao Notebook Deity

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    If you don't need 2TB, but 1.5 TB or 1 TB, go for Hitachi drives. They are the most reliable drives on the market, offer great performance, and don't break the bank. You can't lose with the 5K1500, 7K1000, 5K1000, or Z5K1000.
     
  33. trvelbug

    trvelbug Notebook Prophet

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    is there any difference in performance/battery consumption between the 5k1000 and the 7k1000? which one would you rec between the two as a data drive?
     
  34. Qing Dao

    Qing Dao Notebook Deity

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    The 7K1000 offers about 15% increased performance across the board compared to the 5K1000. Any difference in battery consumption should be minimal. For a data drive, I would personally just stick with a 5K1000. However, others might feel that a slight bump in performance for a data drive would be beneficial. The 5K1000 is no slouch though.

    Comparison of 5K1000 and 7K1000.
     
  35. trvelbug

    trvelbug Notebook Prophet

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    thanks for the link, although i think they are comparing the 7k1000 to a 3.5 inch instead
     
  36. tilleroftheearth

    tilleroftheearth Wisdom listens quietly...

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    I think that is just a misprint... there are no Travelstar 3.5" drives. :)

    Click the Amazon link to see it show the 2.5", expected, version.
     
  37. trvelbug

    trvelbug Notebook Prophet

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    thanks for the heads up. i did order the 5k1000.
     
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  38. alexhawker

    alexhawker Spent Gladiator

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  39. cdoublejj

    cdoublejj Notebook Deity

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