60GB 5400RPM vs. 100GB 4200RPM

Hey guys,
I am wondering which one of these notebook IDE hard drives would be better for my old laptop (#2 in sig). I currently have the 100GB 4200RPM drive installed and I find that since the system only has 256MB of RAM installed that while the CPU is barely stressed, the hard drive is constantly used for probably 3 minutes after startup. Windows XP is only running ~26-30 processes, which seems pretty good compared to 45 on my desktop. So, I am wondering if the 5400RPM drive is actually faster than the larger capacity 4200RPM drive. The 100GB drive is a Fujitsu with 8MB cache and manufactured in late 2004. The 60GB is a Hitachi manufactured in December '04, and it takes 1 amp vs. 0.48 for the Fujitsu.And if you are going to say that the IDE controller is slow on a P3 laptop, it isn't on mine because it runs ATA-100 (ICH-2M southbridge). So, if anyone can weigh the difference between these two drives and whether the 60GB one is faster in real life, I would greatly appreciate it.

-J.B.

 

The 60gb would be faster, access times and transfer rates should be faster than the 4200rpm drive.

However, you should try to get memory for that PIII laptop (even if it maxes at 512MB). I have a Dell PIII 750 that is still usable with 512MB.

 

Ya I am in the process of trying to get more RAM for it. Unfortunately, Toshiba was retarded and put 128MB on the motherboard and left 1 memory slot, so they say I can only upgrade to 384MB of SDRAM. I was wondering if I could get a low density 512MB stick of RAM and pry the 4 chips off the motherboard so that my system wouldn't become unstable/sluggish if I went over the 512MB barrier. It would be nice if it supported 512MB in 1 bank so that I could hit the Intel 815EM's 512MB limit.

-J.B.

 

if you 100GB HDD is new (2007 - 2008) It is likely to ba as fast as the 60GB one. What you need is more Ram in particuar if you have an antivirus installed in your laptop.

Up the ram to 1GB if you can (and if your laptop supports it) and you'll see a significant boost in the performance even with the 4200 rpm HDD.

 

Chech crucial.com. they have a memory configuration tool built in their website, that will tell you the max ram supported by your laptop.

 

Both hard drives are from late 2004. The laptop also "only" supports 384MB of RAM since there is only 1 slot and 128MB soldered onto the motherboard.

-J.B.

 

Your notebook uses DDR SODIMMs ?
BTW the 5400RPM will be faster....Which drives (model no.) ?

 

The notebook uses PC-100 SDRAM, some of which is soldered onto the motherboard itself. The drives (and model numbers):

Original drive: IBM Travelstar ICN25N030ATDA04-0 30GB 4200RPM ATA100 1806K cache 05/2001 1.0 Amps
Current drive: Fujitsu MHU2100AT 100GB 4200RPM ATA100 8192K cache 09/2005 0.55 Amps
Drive in question: Hitachi Travelstar HTS548060M9AT00 60GB 5400RPM ATA100 ?K cache 12/2004 1.0 Amps

-J.B.

 

I just tested the 30GB drive with HDTune and Windows 2000 installed on the drive. The Fujitsu drive has ~35% faster sustained speed (19.6MB IBM vs. 30MB Fujitsu), but it has ~4ms higher latency (18ms IBM vs. 22ms Fujitsu) and a really bad burst rate (75MB/s IBM vs. 30MB/s Fujitsu). I am wondering if my Fujitsu drive just has really bad firmware or is possibly going bad. I should probably test it with HDTune again.

-J.B.

 

run hdtune on all three and compare from their. Most likely the 5400rpm drive is going to be the fastest of the three.
Also check the health readings on each to see that they are all performing properly.

K-TRON