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    Replacing 250GB HDD 5400rpm with a 400GB HDD 5400rpm?

    Discussion in 'Hardware Components and Aftermarket Upgrades' started by kohyeekan, Dec 17, 2008.

  1. kohyeekan

    kohyeekan Notebook Consultant

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    Hi,

    I read before about the read and write speed of a 500GB 5400rpm HDD is actually as fast as the latest 320GB 7200rpm. I saw sale on a portable 400GB 5400rpm from WD (which is as below):

    http://www.circuitcity.com/ssm/West...sem/rpsm/oid/224525/rpem/ccd/productDetail.do

    My questions are:
    1) Anyone ever opened the portable hard drive and know the model number of the drive inside?
    2) Anyone ever did benchmark tests on the HDD, especially how it does compared to the WD 500GB 5400rpm HDD?
    3) Will I see any improvements on the performance with the replacement? Will you recommend me to do so?

    Thanks for your help.

    Yee Kan
     
    kohyeekan, Dec 17, 2008
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  2. Phil

    Phil Retired

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    Almost as fast. 320GB/7200rpm will still be slightly faster.

    The drive inside the WD passport may be WD (which is good) but could be Samsung or Fujitsu which are not so good.

    3) No!
     
    Phil, Dec 17, 2008
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  3. kohyeekan

    kohyeekan Notebook Consultant

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    Thanks PhilFlow for your comments. What I understand is that 400GB 5400rpm HDD should be about the same speed with 250GB 5400rpm HDD, no significant improvement and not worthy of the upgrade. However, 500GB 5400rpm HDD and 320GB 7200rpm HDD are about the same speed and are significant faster and worth the upgrades. Do I understand you correctly? Thanks.

    One additional question: is the speed proportional to the space of HDD (same rpm)? For example, is 500GB 5400rpm HDD 2 times faster (in both read and write) than 250GB 5400rpm HDD?

    Thanks again.
     
    kohyeekan, Dec 17, 2008
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  4. Michel.K

    Michel.K 167WAISIQ

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    No it depends on how new it is, how many platters and so.

    But almost always the bigger the faster, but nowhere near twice the speed.
     
    Michel.K, Dec 17, 2008
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  5. Phil

    Phil Retired

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    No. Many variables are important. Brand, type, RPM, nr. of platters, data density etc.

    Read some reviews on Tomshardware.com or Techreport.com if you want to know more.

    At the moment the WD5000BEVT and WD3200BEKT are the ones to get in my opinion. Untill Seagate 7200.4 500GB arrives.
     
    Phil, Dec 17, 2008
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  6. kohyeekan

    kohyeekan Notebook Consultant

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    Thanks. I plotted the benchmark scores of WD Scorpio Blue (5400 rpm) available from Tomshardware.com. I found that the relationship is not proportional but is a straight line, roughly. So, I interpolate the plot to estimate the benchmark scores for the 400GB drive (as it is not available). I found that I can get 50% improvement in read speed if I replace a 500GB 5400rpm drive (WD5000BEVT) and I get 30% improvement if I replace a 400GB 5400rpm WD Scorpio Blue.

    Thanks for your inputs again :)
     
    kohyeekan, Dec 17, 2008
    #6