manually reducing hdd rpm to increase battery life...


  1. Posts : 71
    DT and LT: Windows 7 and Fedora 14
       #1

    manually reducing hdd rpm to increase battery life...


    I have a dell studio xps 1340 with a 320GB Seagate Momentus 7200rpm hard drive. I was wondering if there is any way I could edit the firmware to reduce the rpm of the hard drive to something like 5400rpm to increase battery life. Any ideas?
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  2. Posts : 13,354
    Windows 7 Professional x64
       #2

    Sorry, I don't think that is possible, at least without a lot of advanced tweaking. You'll probably end up bricking the drive if you try.

    Wish I could bring you better news.
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  3. Posts : 1,506
    W7 Ult. x64 | OS X
       #3

    The only solution I can think of is to buy a 5400RPM drive. You could always throw the 7200RPM drive in a USB Enclosure for storage.

    Western Digital WD3200BEVT Scorpio Blue Mobile Hard Drive - 320GB, 2.5", SATA-300, 5400, 8MB, OEM at TigerDirect.com
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  4. Posts : 71
    DT and LT: Windows 7 and Fedora 14
    Thread Starter
       #4

    I hope that drive manufacturers are paying attention to this forum. That would be a great feature: A selectable speed drive.
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  5. Posts : 43
    Windows 7
       #5

    Hmm. Well, don't have a direct way to decrease the RPM, however if you want to increase battery life, I'd recommend tweaking options such as dimming the display earlier, and also shutting down the hard drive after a short moment of idle timer.

    Besides, I personally really wouldn't want to have my system work slower when storing or reading files. (that's real wait time right there)
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  6. Posts : 71
    DT and LT: Windows 7 and Fedora 14
    Thread Starter
       #6

    yeah, I know all the tricks. I have even undervolted my cpu to reduce consumption. I just wish I could modify the firmware to allow the selection of drive speed.
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  7. Posts : 43
    Windows 7
       #7

    Wow, even done that? Well, if you're willing to reduce specs in order to gain battery life, why not buy one of those batteries which claim 9 hours battery life? I've got that Asus 1000HE netbook, and I'm very happy with the 8+ hours it provides me.

    ... Only downside is you tend to forget charging it :P
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  8. Posts : 94
    Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit
       #8

    There are easy ways to do this....Google HDDGURU and it should have a setting in there about adjusting AAM (auto acoustic management). There are different levels you can put it at.

    There should be plenty of programs. Google "adjust AAM hard drive".

    It'll quiet the drive for you and subsequently give you a few minutes of battery life.
      My Computer


 

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