Anyone replaced a 5400 rpm HD with a 7200 rpm HD?

I'm interested in changing the 5400 rpm HD in my FW with a 7200 rpm one. Would I *notice* a difference?

I have six 7200 rpm HDs (all Seagates) in my two desktops, but it's hard to compare the perceived performance difference between the HD in my FW and the HDs in my desktops because other components in my desktops are faster.

 

I've replaced the 5400rpm 250gig hdd in my FW with a Seagate 7200rpm 320gig hdd and it definitely *feels* faster. Read speeds according to hdtune also went up from 42 mb/s to about 70mb/s.

 

You will notice a good difference. Mainly in Boot time and loading time for applications and games. But its worth it.

 

Yeah you should notice a difference... just note that if you didn't realize already: the literal size of the HD is different in laptops (2.5") and desktops (3.5")...

 

Thanks. I'm going to order one! Seagate or WD, that's the Q. I was browing Newegg and surprized with low prices of 2.5" 7200 HDs. I suddenly got interested. I'm going to give the current 5400 HD to my SZ which has a 80GB HD.

 

If I were you I would go with Seagate. I have owned a lot of them and always had good results.

As for WD, I am not a fan because in my experience they don't have in general the same performance as Seagate or the longevity...
Just my $0.02...

 

If you order whichever one, both are good, remember to have them shipped via FedEx. If you are here stateside that is. UPS has a nasty rep on Newegg and several other sites 'cause they are so rough on handling. Lot of HDDs gone bad because of the handling. I order monitors, hdd's, and other sensitive items through FedEx and the rest through UPS/USPS.

 

I love Seagate. That's why I have 6 of their 7200 rpm SATA HD's for my desktops. Super quiet and reliable.

However, Newegg user reviews seem to indicate that 2.5" WD HD's run cooler and quieter than Seagate counterparts. It's a tough decision for me.

 

Which Seagate HDD are you looking at? My 320GB 7200rpm Seagate hdd is virtually silent and runs really cool as well (never gets warmer than ~38 degrees). I highly recommend it.

 

How about the battery usage time ?

 

I haven't had a chance to try it yet but I've read a review about this hdd that it has longer battery life than most other 7200rpm hard drives... sorry I don't have a link but I think the review was on tomshardware or anandtech.

 

I havent had great experience with Seagate, id take the WD, but it might just be me... Personally, i like Fujitsu HDDs the best.

 

what do you guys do after you installed the HDD? Because the restore partition is gone, and you cannot restore with the restore cd's right?

 

You put in the OS Disk, boot from it, and itll install windows.

 

First you need to format the new hdd though.

 

Many manufacturers allow us to burn the restore partition to optical disks. We can also clone that partition to a new HDD, can't we ?

 

Oh yeah, forgot about that part... duh

 

I'm the OP. I ordered both WD & Seagate One for me and the other for my wife. Which one will I use? I don't know yet!

Anyway, here's what I'll do.

1. Put a new HD in an external USB/Firewire enclosure.
2. Clone the original HD onto the new one using True Image.
3. Test if the notebook boots from the new one.
4. Physically install the new one in the notebook.