To upgrade the hard drive or not to upgrade?

I'm getting a Sager 2090 with the stock 80gb 5.4kRPM hdd.
Now this will be my desktop replacement until Q1 08, but I can use my current desktop as a file server for movies, music, etc until then.
I'm going to install Linux for most everything, and Vista for like 2 games.
Now I'm wondering if I should get a faster drive or a bigger drive.
I think I can fit linux and all my games onto 50gb leaving space for windows but it's a tight fit.
But I hate loading time.
Which do you guys see as better? More space or faster drive?
Plus will a faster drive cut into my battery life a lot?

 

I've used an 80 GB drive for the past few years - it's certainly enough space to get by, but as new operating systems come out (namely, Vista) and files generally get bigger, that drive is going to seem smaller and smaller.

You can also keep in mind that hard drives will probably get cheaper in the future as they have in the past, so if you think you'll be happy with 80 GB for the next two years or so, go ahead and get it.

As for a faster hard drive, there are tons of threads here about 5400 rpm vs. 7200 rpm. In short, a 7200 rpm drive will give you faster start up times and the effect it has on power/heat exhaust seems to be pretty minimal, but it probably depends on the drive.

 

A faster drive like 7200RPM provides the most advantage if you work with large files. Especially if you are handling uncompressed digital video for editing.

 

How about game loading time? Usually many small files, not very large ones.

 

Faster RPM = Faster Responses

 

Really? I thought the read/write head was what is important for response time. Shouldn't RPMs increase throughput assuming low fragmentation?

 

For random access on a drive, the average seek time is what is important, not the spinning speed. When you access many small files, the head has to seek across the platter a lot. So much of the time it takes to finish all operations is time when the head is not even reading. When looking at notebook drives a 5400RPM drive will have about 12ms average seek time, while a typical 7200RPM drive will have approximately 10ms average seek time. While 10 is better than 12, that is not going to be a huge noticeable difference. The real advantage to a 7200RPM drive occurs when you are reading large unfragmented files and not seeking. So, yes, a 7200RPM drive outperforms a 5400RPM drive, it might currently not be worth the costs to most people.

EDIT: It would be interesting to see what heat, power, and noise costs are incurred by moving to a 7200RPM drive, if any.

 

Here's a comparison thread for 5400RPM vs. 7200RPM:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=59053
I recommend either bumping up the capacity or getting a 7200RPM spindle speed.

Extra heat, noise, power - they're all a myth. I use 7200RPM and 5400RPM drives on a regular basis and I have had both in notebooks. The 7200RPM doesn't add much heat (there is a small increase - if your notebook is fine with a 5400 it will be fine with the 7200), the increase in power consumption is negligible, and they aren't any noisier.

 

5400 rpm is something from the 90's, and it still gets produced... that's weird, and that's how i think about it..