SATA Single 7200RPM or Dual 5400RPM? What's faster?

Hey everyone,

First time posting here. I am looking at buying a HP notebook (dv9500t) and want as fast of a HDD as possible. Size isn't that big of a deal.

So is it better to get a single SATA 7200RPM HDD or SATA 2x5400RPM HDD? I don't see how dual hard drives increases performance with 2 drives (not like RAID 0/striping right?)

Thanks for any help

 

First of all, welcome to the forums!

Just get a single drive. RAID 0 supposedly increases the speeds of your drives but it is almost unnoticeable. The only thing I like RAID for is RAID 1, which gives you data redundancy.

So, bottom line, stick to one 7.2k.

 

or get a SSD for OS and basic programs and a big 5400rpm drive for storage.

 

Thanks for the quick replies!

@lmark84l: I was thinking 7200RPM, but HP's website says "Imagine the capacity and speed you can have with Dual Hard Drive! This dual hard drive provides storage capacities not commonly available on notebook PCs. " which to me implies that its supposed to be faster when its doubled up like that?

@villageman: What's an SSD for OS?

 

A solid state drive (SSD), or solid state disk, is a data storage device that uses solid-state memory to store persistent data. SSD emulates conventional hard disk drive, thus easily replacing it in any application.

With no moving parts, a solid state drive largely eliminates seek time, latency and other electro-mechanical delays and failures associated with a conventional hard disk drive.

While SSD is not technically a disk, the term solid state disk emphasises the typical usage as an alternative for a disk drive.

 

SSDs are terribly expensive though, costing $500 for 32GB right now. Not very cost effective.

I agree, the single 7200RPM drive with a larger 5400RPM drive would be your best bet for performance. The 7200RPM drive has much faster access times so that is where you should put the operating system and frequently used data/programs.