Is buffer size important to HDD performance

[trinaz]

I have the following 2 choices for my main drive:

Seagate ST3650323AS
7200 rpm
640gb
32mb buffer

and

Hatachi Deskstar HD30500 IDK/75
7200rpm
500gb
16mb buffer

Does/would it matter which drive I use for my main Win 7 Pro 64bit installation and what would...if any...difference would it make in my system performance, etc ?

Also..is/are there urls around that you can enter your drive modle/id and compare the two in perfomance tests ?

Thanks, TR

 

[A Guy]

The buffer memory is a small amount of RAM that is physically located on the hard drive. It caches the most frequently used data from the drive, which would then be pulled from the buffer. This allows the drive to serve the data to the computer faster and with less wear on the drive. While buffer size doesn't have a huge effect on performance, it never hurts to have more.

That Seagate drive (which is ST3640323AS BTW ) is a 7200.11 drive. Many people are down on Seagate because of major issues they had with their 7200.11 drives. But then again, people also seem to be down on the Hitachi's, which are commonly referred to as "Deathstar".

Seagate has 7200.12 drives that seem to have restored Seagate's normal good reputation (I have 2 myself, see my specs).

Here is a link to a Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 ST3750528AS 750GB 7200 RPM 32MB

HERE

I couldn't find the Seagate you want in stock anywhere. I have no personal experience with the Hitachi drives, so I will leave it for others to expound on them.

A Guy

 

[Wishmaster]

Depends on the drive I think.

In my experience, there isnt a huge difference between my 16MB WD drive and the 32MB one.

I think the jump from 8-16MB was a far larger improvement.

Thats not saying the 32MB will not be beneficial. It just wont really be noticable.

If the 32MB isnt that much more expensive, I certainly would go for it. But if its to much of a price jump, may not be worth it.

Best bet if your after performance, is a SSD for the OS. No spinning drive can match them, even in RAID.
Just my 2 cents

 

[Dixon Butz]

Get rid of those and get any Samsung HD. They run fast, cool, quiet, and are extremely reliable.
Samsung Spinpoint HD203WI 2TB HDD review
Have external backups if you stay with your current HD's.
http://www.guru3d.com/article/samsung-spinpoint-hd203wi-2tb-hdd-review/