Need Opinions On HDD's Transfer Speed...

VengeFulHemi · 09 Apr 2013

This morning I have been comparing transfer rates between two of my hard drives because I presently have a SATA/500g and a IDE/150g. I have tons of files that I want to put on the 500(for safe keeping). Right now I use the 500 for win7 and two other hdd's for storage only. I want to change my system and use the 150/ide for the os&apps, and the 500 sata for just storage. I did a comparison this morning and transfered a 6gig file at the same time to each of those drives and it came up as showing(on average) 2-3 seconds slower on the ide. I also did another comp seperately on the drives and the ide was showing 3-4 seconds(on average) slower than the sata. 95% of the time we(the family) are just webbing,youtube, etc. A few times i'm doing video editing, capturing screen video, uploading to youtube. So given those numbers and what we do on the puter, would I be making a dumb move by using my ide over the sata for my os and the sata for just storage?

Many Thanks:
Don

linnemeyerhere · 09 Apr 2013

Don,
It's all about time and if you have it and don't mind the extra wait then no biggie as they say. Most here are placing our OS and critical software on a SSD for it's absolute speed. If you leave your system on for extended periods and don't mind waiting for the OS or software to load then it could be an OK plan. I would suggest with as inexpensive as SSD's have gotten to look into this as once you experience the speed of this drive you'll never understand how you managed without it.

TwoCables · 09 Apr 2013

I think it would be a bad move. The OS will take longer to start, and it will operate slower in general. I mean, you're going to have the same amount of space either way, so it's best to keep the OS on the fastest drive that you own.

essenbe · 09 Apr 2013

I think both linnemeyerhere and TwoCables are correct. The500GB drive is definately faster. It is difficult to compare transfer speeds as there are so many variables involved. Whether you are transfering 1 large file or a bunch of smaller files will affect the transfer speed. Plus, the biggest factor is the read and write speeds of the drives. One drive can only transfer as fast as the other can write, no matter which way. Your IDE drive is slower than the 500GB drive, so your transfer speeds you are seeing are being limited by the slower IDE drive. The IDE can neither read nor write as fast as the 500GB. I know this is more technical than you wanted to get, but the fact still remains, your tests were not indicitave of the Sata drive's capabilities.

TwoCables · 09 Apr 2013

Not only that, but there's also the possibility that the IDE drive could be a 5400 RPM drive and the 500 GB SATA drive might be a 7200 RPM drive. This makes a difference too.

VengeFulHemi · 09 Apr 2013

TwoCables said:

Not only that, but there's also the possibility that the IDE drive could be a 5400 RPM drive and the 500 GB SATA drive might be a 7200 RPM drive. This makes a difference too.

DANG!! Darn technicalities...

TwoCables · 09 Apr 2013

VengeFulHemi said:

TwoCables said:

Not only that, but there's also the possibility that the IDE drive could be a 5400 RPM drive and the 500 GB SATA drive might be a 7200 RPM drive. This makes a difference too.

DANG!! Darn technicalities...

hehe not to mention old and crappy hard drives. Well alright, they were cool when they were new! :)

OCIR · 09 Apr 2013

linnemeyerhere said:

Don,
It's all about time and if you have it and don't mind the extra wait then no biggie as they say. Most here are placing our OS and critical software on a SSD for it's absolute speed. If you leave your system on for extended periods and don't mind waiting for the OS or software to load then it could be an OK plan. I would suggest with as inexpensive as SSD's have gotten to look into this as once you experience the speed of this drive you'll never understand how you managed without it.

SSD!!!! IT'S THE WAY TO GO. I had mine for 2 mths and I can never go back , it makes me want to throw my work comp out the door its so sloooowwwwwww now

TwoCables · 09 Apr 2013

I have to admit that I would agree. A solid state drive is a very nice upgrade. It doesn't improve gaming performance, but it can improve map loading times, game saves and game loads. Of course, Windows starts faster and everything feels snappier when the drive has to be accessed for whatever reason because it's like running your computer from memory instead of a hard drive.