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    Is 250GB 5400rpm faster than 160GB 7200rpm? (in T61p)

    Discussion in 'Lenovo' started by Axure, May 26, 2008.

  1. Axure

    Axure Notebook Enthusiast

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    I know this sounds like a silly question - theoretically 7200rpm should be faster - but I've seen an opinion on this forums that 250GB has higher data density which gives it an advantage despite slower platter rotations... Can anyone provide any opinions or data?
     
  2. pukemon

    pukemon are you unplugged?

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    similar performance if not better. some argue a 2:1 ratio makes it faster while others say about 1.5:1 and it performs faster. i try to look at it like, if the 5400 upgrade is the same cost as the lower density 7200 choice, it's probably best to pick the 5400 for similar performance, lower heat and lower power consumption and extra gigs as a bonus.
     
  3. WILLY S

    WILLY S I was saying boo-urns

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    I'm interested in this aswell. This effects the speed at which data can be read but for writing the faster RPM's should be better right? Also what about fragmentation? WIll the faster RPM hdd not be more concistant?
     
  4. pukemon

    pukemon are you unplugged?

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    not 100 percent sure but i would think the ratio also applies to write/read. i am guessing the 7200 would defragment faster but it might be comparable. i think it might be faster because of access/search times but that's negligible when your talking about milliseconds.
     
  5. Pascal_TTH

    Pascal_TTH Notebook Geek

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    Really not sure a 5400 rpm will follow a 7200 rpm 200 GB. It also depend on the brand. Seagate and Western Digital have good/great 5400 rpm while Hitachi and Samsung ones are really poor. Seagate and Hitachi offer the two best 7200 rpm 200 GB drives.

    Momentus 7200.2 200GB within my T61p :
    [​IMG]

    Momentus 5400.4 250GB found on the net :
    [​IMG]
     
  6. Axure

    Axure Notebook Enthusiast

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    Yeah, we don't really know whether it's Hitachi or Seagate in the latest T61ps, do we? Or perhaps it's both, randomly, like the 15'' matrices - either LG or Samsung.

    If we knew the exact HDD models (160GB 7200rpm and 250GB 5400rpm) then at least we might be able to compare the specs...
     
  7. Pascal_TTH

    Pascal_TTH Notebook Geek

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    Last week, two guys from an other forum and I buy a T61p. We all have a Hitachi drive. I already have a Momentus 7200.2 200GB from some times and use it with my T61p. Seagate or Hitachi, performances are very close. I use to find Seagate quieter.
     
  8. zephyrus17

    zephyrus17 Notebook Deity

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    I just bought a T61p. Hitachi for me as well.
     
  9. Volker

    Volker Notebook Consultant

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    Data transfer rate is probably not the limiting factor in your laptop's performance unless you spend most of your time copying huge files around. The bottle neck is the access time. Harddisks have to wait (on average) half a turn until the data is under the read/write head. More RPM means faster access times.
     
  10. Axure

    Axure Notebook Enthusiast

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    Okie dokie,

    So it seems like most of the time it's Hitachi [although I have one user reporting a WDC (sic!) on Lenov0 forums.]

    From further reconaissance the models seem to be: Travelstar 5K250 for the 250GB 5400rpm and Travelstar 7K200 for the 160GB 7200rpm.

    When you look at the nominal parameters provided by Hitachi, the internal data transfer rate is about 5% higher (665 Mbits/ps vs 695 Mbits/s) and the access time is 10-20% faster (latency avg 5.5ms vs 4.2ms, seek avg 11ms vs 10ms) for the 7200rpm. Power consumption comparison is the inverse, but what difference does it make whether it's 2.5W or 3W, when you have a 35W processor and a 35W graphics card.

    So the bottom line is the 7200rpm is more efficient than the 5400rpm, but nowhere near what you'd imagine from the rpm difference. And it certainly doesn't justify the capacity loss (250GB vs 160GB) unless you're a speed freak - especially when the 250GB T61p is oftentimes cheaper.

    Hereby I thank myself for responding exhaustively to my own question :)
     
  11. Pascal_TTH

    Pascal_TTH Notebook Geek

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  12. Axure

    Axure Notebook Enthusiast

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    Pascal_TTH, thanks for that link.

    Unfortunately, what many people miss out is that capacity indeed influences speed just as rpm does. I've seen a great comparative review on Tom's Hardware of 5K250 250GB and 7K200 - but not 160GB version, but rather the top 200GB version. And I know it's hard to beliebie, but within the 7K200 model, the capacity impacts speed! You can see that in the 7K200 specs provided by Hitachi: The maximum media transfer rate is 876 Mbit/sec and 695 Mbit/sec for 200GB and 160GB respectively. I guess this is the result of data density.

    So you're a lucky bastard to have a 200GB 7200rpm :D (although I'm too lazy to check details for Momentus.) But please be careful, when you encourage others to compare 250GB 5400rpm to 200GB 7200rpm, when they need to compare it to 160GB 7200 rpm ;-).
     
  13. Pascal_TTH

    Pascal_TTH Notebook Geek

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    Yes, it's true. There is a difference in performances between 160GB and 200GB hard disk. I was geek enough to upgrade from 160GB to 200GB Momentus. :D
     
  14. LinXitoW

    LinXitoW Notebook Consultant

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    Depends on how u define fast and what u primarily want from a hdd.
    a higher density 5400 will have faster overall read/write, so big files can be transfered faster. Lower power consumption, less heat.
    The 7200 will give u faster boot up time, because its random seek time and access time are better.