The Notebook Review forums were hosted by TechTarget, who shut down them down on January 31, 2022. This static read-only archive was pulled by NBR forum users between January 20 and January 31, 2022, in an effort to make sure that the valuable technical information that had been posted on the forums is preserved. For current discussions, many NBR forum users moved over to NotebookTalk.net after the shutdown.
Problems? See this thread at archive.org.

    What's generally faster? 5400 rpm internal or 7200 rpm external (usb) Harddrive?

    Discussion in 'Hardware Components and Aftermarket Upgrades' started by Rutagur, Jan 30, 2007.

  1. Rutagur

    Rutagur Notebook Enthusiast

    Reputations:
    0
    Messages:
    43
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    15
    I accidentially first posted this in Desktop Hardware without realizing it so now I'm posting this over in the notebook hardware section.

    I plan to take the 250 GB harddrive I have in my PC and find a case for it to make it external for my laptop. So I was wondering which would be faster.

    1) My internal Samsung HM160JI (160 GB) 5400 RPM SATA (External case hasn't been purchased yet, I think my brother has an old case lying around)

    or

    2) External Maxtor 250 GB 7200 RPM Ultra-ATA/133 16MB Cache


    And I read that a good external case will provide faster speeds. How much are we talking about in terms of $ and how much of a performance increase generally would you see between a high end expensive one or an average one?

    Also someone mentioned something about a USB-> expresscard (I think), is that really faster?
     
    Rutagur, Jan 30, 2007
    #1
  2. NetBrakr

    NetBrakr Notebook Deity

    Reputations:
    119
    Messages:
    1,344
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    55
    7200 Rpm.

    Jc
     
    NetBrakr, Jan 30, 2007
    #2
  3. Tokuman

    Tokuman Notebook Evangelist

    Reputations:
    -1
    Messages:
    344
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    30
    Unless you are confused on the speeds of your hard drive.. teh 7200 will always be faster =P
     
    Tokuman, Jan 30, 2007
    #3
  4. conejeitor

    conejeitor Notebook Evangelist

    Reputations:
    28
    Messages:
    652
    Likes Received:
    6
    Trophy Points:
    31
    No but wait, if the 7200 has a USB entrance, its speed will be limited by the port. An internal HD has a maximum data transfer speed of ~300 MB/sec but the USB port max is 50 MB/sec. At that level it wont matter what is the RPM speed of the HD, but the data transfer will. In summary, the internal 5400 rpm will be WAY faster.
     
    conejeitor, Jan 30, 2007
    #4
  5. Budding

    Budding Notebook Virtuoso

    Reputations:
    1,686
    Messages:
    3,982
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    105
    Conejeitor is right. The USB interface will make the drive much slower when it needs to transfer data to and from the computer. The SATA/PATA interface of the internal drive would piss all over the external.
     
    Budding, Jan 30, 2007
    #5
  6. Lil Mayz

    Lil Mayz Notebook Deity

    Reputations:
    599
    Messages:
    1,463
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    55
    The 5400 rpm Internal Drive. Even USB 2.0 cant match the data transfer rates of Serial ATA Interfaces, which are indeed, extemely quick. Internal HDDs are more versatile as well, as its the main HDD with all the Registry keys, programs, and the actual OS. Only use an external HDD if you want a backup device or want to use it for "file storage".
     
    Lil Mayz, Jan 30, 2007
    #6
  7. jak3676

    jak3676 Notebook Consultant NBR Reviewer

    Reputations:
    13
    Messages:
    184
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    30
    The only way an external drive can beat or tie an internal drive is if you use and eSATA (external SATA) connection. This allows the external drive to connect without being limited by the interface.
     
    jak3676, Jan 30, 2007
    #7
  8. moon angel

    moon angel Notebook Virtuoso NBR Reviewer

    Reputations:
    2,011
    Messages:
    2,777
    Likes Received:
    15
    Trophy Points:
    56
    Also depends on what you're using it for. Applications installed on external drives tend to run very slowly. Externals are fine for storage though, stuff like video, music, data files etc.
     
    moon angel, Jan 30, 2007
    #8
  9. Rutagur

    Rutagur Notebook Enthusiast

    Reputations:
    0
    Messages:
    43
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    15
    At the moment I plan to use it as storage, videos, etc.

    If I use bittorrents, would it be a bad idea to download/upload the files directly to my external drive?
     
    Rutagur, Jan 30, 2007
    #9
  10. moon angel

    moon angel Notebook Virtuoso NBR Reviewer

    Reputations:
    2,011
    Messages:
    2,777
    Likes Received:
    15
    Trophy Points:
    56
    It should be fine for storage videos etc. Bittorrenting to it will be fine, but it will take more system resources than torrenting to your internal drive. If you're not doing much else while the torrents are running you should be ok.
     
    moon angel, Jan 30, 2007
    #10
  11. RogueMonk

    RogueMonk Notebook Deity

    Reputations:
    369
    Messages:
    1,991
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    55
    An internal drive will always be faster than an external drive (except eSATA). As has been said, the USB or firewire bus speeds simply can't match the sustained transfer rates of the internal drive.
     
    RogueMonk, Jan 30, 2007
    #11
  12. rockharder

    rockharder Notebook Evangelist

    Reputations:
    26
    Messages:
    653
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    30
    1.5GB SATA vs. 480MB USB

    You do the math.
     
    rockharder, Jan 30, 2007
    #12