Windows 7: What Is Best Performance WHen Adding New Hard Drive?

smokedawg81 · 24 Nov 2012

I want to add another hard drive to my PC, and I was wondering is their any certain kind of hard drive to add when adding a new one as far as: SPEED/PERFORMANCE? Also, witch is better, a Internal, or external hard drive?
My PC Specs:
Motherboard:Chipset-AMD 780
CPU type-Athlon IIx4
CPU speed-630(2.8 GHz)

Power Supply: 600W

I don't know if their is anything else that I need to list that matters...
Any help would be grateful, THANKS

UnknownReverent · 24 Nov 2012

The only performance difference you will see is if you get a higher RPM hard drive than you already have. Even then, it won't be much of a difference. On the other hand, you will see a great difference if you spend the money getting a solid state. External will make no difference because the OS is on the internal.

smokedawg81 · 24 Nov 2012

Thank you for the quick response. So if I do decide to get an external I wont be losing any speed as opposed to getting a internal hard drive? And that leads to my next question, To your knowledge, Is an Internal hard drive cheaper then a External? Is the RMPs something that is easy to find in the specs?

whs · 24 Nov 2012

If you want speed, get a SSD and move your OS onto it. SSD - Install and Transfer the Operating System It will be a LOT faster.

TVeblen · 24 Nov 2012

Quote: Originally Posted by smokedawg81

Thank you for the quick response. So if I do decide to get an external I wont be losing any speed as opposed to getting a internal hard drive? And that leads to my next question, To your knowledge, Is an Internal hard drive cheaper then a External? Is the RMPs something that is easy to find in the specs?

An external hard drive is slower in reads and writes than an internal drive because of the data path. The path on the motherboard through the SATA controller is multiple times faster than the path through USB, eSATA, Firewire, or them all.

An internal drive is always faster, and almost always cheaper than an external drive.

(FYI: The actual hard disk inside the external drive is exactly the same as an internal disk. You can actually take a hard disk out of an external drive case and install it internally. Externals cost more because you pay for the case, power supply, cable, and the built in controller.)

whs · 24 Nov 2012

Just one little correction: eSata is nearly as fast as an internal drive. They are sitting on the same bus. All the others are indeed slower - even USB3 which is not obvious when you read the specs.

Lady Fitzgerald · 24 Nov 2012

[QUOTE=TVeblen;2190488]

Quote: Originally Posted by smokedawg81

...You can actually take a hard disk out of an external drive case and install it internally...

Not always. I've seen a few posts from people who have had problems when they tried to do that. It appears to depend on the brand of external drive.

whs · 24 Nov 2012

[QUOTE=Lady Fitzgerald;2190520]

Quote: Originally Posted by TVeblen

Quote: Originally Posted by smokedawg81

...You can actually take a hard disk out of an external drive case and install it internally...

Not always. I've seen a few posts from people who have had problems when they tried to do that. It appears to depend on the brand of external drive.

Right! I just took an external Seagate apart and the inners came out. And now I am stuck with the HDD in a solid aluminium casing that I don't know how to open.

TVeblen · 24 Nov 2012

That is good to know! I have not seen that. I guess I better go a little slower when I crack these things open and they don't belong to me!

whs · 24 Nov 2012

Here is a picture of the thing.

Uploaded with ImageShack.us

Windows 7: What Is Best Performance WHen Adding New Hard Drive?

What Is Best Performance WHen Adding New Hard Drive? problems?