HDD

[bagavan]

will 7200 rpm consume more power?

 

[Wishmaster]

Im not sure, as I am not that familiar with power usage of HDs in laptops.

 

[bagavan]

I just checked for electrical requirements..I noticed that 7200 RPM drives consume a bit less power than 5400 RPM one..IS it okay?

 

[Dave76]

It might be the new models use less power, so it's possible.



@Wishmaster,

Newegg standard price for the X25-V is $99 now, the 25nm's are coming....

 

[bagavan]

should I consider 5400 or 7200?

 

[Keiichi25]

High Speed HDs means slightly better access time, especially with regards to larger capacity. However, at higher speeds, there is a chance of it being hotter.

However, it has been a while since I actually looked and tested drives for laptops and seeing the results for the thermal part of it. I am pretty sure that higher RPM HDs will have better access times though.

 

[Wishmaster]

That and the fact most (like the one I linked for example) will have a large cache as well.
Looked like many of the 5200RPM laptop drives had a 8MB cache, as opposed to the 16MB on the 7200s. This will help with performance slightly.



Dave I was thinking the $99 was just a sale And thats a good price for those SSDs. Even though its a value drive, they are great performers.

I want another one, but think Ill wait just a bit longer to see how these next ones look.

 

[bagavan]

So do u suggest me to go for 7200 RPM?

 

[Keiichi25]

That strictly depends on you.

Does it need to be 'fast' or just usable. 5400 RPM is fine if you don't give a hoot on disk access speeds. How heavy of data use are you going to be using the drive or how much you willing to spend. SSD would be idea if you want performance, as there is no worry about spindle speed to deal with data, but it is overkill if the laptop is just doing simple word processing and web browsing. It's like buying a porche to do sunday driving around the block.

 

[bagavan]

I only use it for browsing and for lite games..So can I go for 640 GB 5400 RPM drive?

 

[bagavan]

I checked about my HDD in HD tune pro.I was shocked to see this..Is the cable really damaged?

 

[Keiichi25]

Hard to say on the drive issue, as I was under the impression this is a Laptop. You would hardly have access to the cable in general.

As for the drive, 640 gig 5400 RPM is fine for general web browsing and non-high performance gaming.

 

[bagavan]

this is my 160 GB drive..I have never accessed the hard drive cable..how did it get damaged?I am not experiencing any problems.

 

[bagavan]

I asked the laptop dealer and he told to upgrade to 500 GB rather than 640 GB..he told core 2 duo is old processor and processor can`t handle such massive disks..How cum processor is involved?

 

[strollin]

I asked the laptop dealer and he told to upgrade to 500 GB rather than 640 GB..he told core 2 duo is old processor and processor can`t handle such massive disks..How cum processor is involved?

I would dump that dealer because he doesn't know what he's talking about. By today's standards a 640G HDD is NOT considered a "massive" drive. The fact that it's a core 2 duo doesn't matter as the processor doesn't know or care how big the drive is. The question really should be "How large of a drive do you need?" If you need to carry that much data around in your laptop, then go for the larger drive. Personally, the largest drive I've ever had in a laptop is 320G and have never come close to filling that. Your needs may be different.

If I was doing the upgrade, I would go for the 7200rpm drive but it's your money and your computer so if you feel the 5400rpm drive is best then go for it. Either will work fine.

I wouldn't worry about a single "Interface Communication Error" as reported by HDTune. If you were getting many errors I would be concerned. Regardless, do regular data backups and you never have to worry about losing data.

 

[bagavan]

I already knew that 640 GB could be easily handled by the computer.And about the HD tune only one error is displayed as mentioned above...So the sata cable is not damaged rite?

 

[strollin]

If the SATA connection (there probably isn't a cable) were damaged you would see many/constant errors. A single error is nothing to be concerned about.

Most likely there is a compartment on the underside of your laptop where the HDD is housed. With the power off, open the compartment, pull the HDD and then re-insert it. That will make sure you don't have any issues due to dirty contacts on the SATA connector. However, as I said before, I wouldn't worry about a single error.

 

[bagavan]

And one more thing that I asked the dealer was which company HDD with which he would upgrade,he just told that which is recommended by acer..I was very insistent to use seagate but he did not answer..

 

[bagavan]

Will changing the hard disk reduce the life span of my laptop?

 

[madtownidiot]

Not at all. In fact if you are already seeing errors with the one you have.. not changing the HDD will reduce the life span of the laptop.