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    HDD speeds

    Discussion in 'Hardware Components and Aftermarket Upgrades' started by pitz, Jan 18, 2010.

  1. pitz

    pitz Notebook Deity

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    I have a Hitachi 160gb HDD in my Dell Laptop, 7200rpm. Approximately 2.5 years old. I only use roughly 80gb, give or take.

    The latest/greatest drive is obviously the Seagate Momentus 7200.4. And of course, the SSDs, but they're out of my price range, although I'd love to have one.

    My question -- are the newest/latest 7200rpm 500gb drives meaningfully faster than the old ones?
     
    pitz, Jan 18, 2010
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  2. ZaZ

    ZaZ Super Model Super Moderator

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    There's two main parts to hard drive speed equation - access times and throughput. Access times are how fast the drive can find something. Here your older drive should be fairly similar to the newer drives. Throughput is how fast data can be put through the data bus. Here the newer drives will offer a significant faster speed, but this will only offer an advantage when working with large files. My own opinion would be to put your money toward a SSD unless you need the space or are working with larger files.
     
    ZaZ, Jan 18, 2010
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  3. Phil

    Phil Retired

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    I agree with Zaz, the speed difference will be small during normal usage.
     
    Phil, Jan 18, 2010
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