5400 vs 7200 RPM HDD

[Romek]

I'm planning on buying a new HDD. I was initially planning on getting the Samsung Spinpoint F3 1TB HDD, as it's cheap and cheerful. Just as I was about to purchase it, I noticed the Samsung Spinpoint F4EG 2TB HDD, which is much better value for money in terms of price/GB, but has a slower spindle speed.

So the actual question: How much slower is a 5400 RPM HDD compared to a 7200 RPM one? The drive will be used solely for storage of videos, music and images. I won't be installing any programs (let alone an OS) on it. Will I notice any significant difference? Am I better off with the faster, lower price/GB HDD?

 

[13lade619]

While a hard drive with a high RPM will improve overall computer performance and especially the time to start programs and transfer data, upgrading a computer's hard drive will likely not lead to large increase in performance. When a computer runs, the hard drive stores data to RAM, which is able to transfer it more quickly to the processor for use. As a result, the processing and multitasking speed of a computer is more often limited by inadequate RAM or a slow processor, than hard drive RPM. High-RPM hard drives are often used by hard core gamers and techies that like to have computers which operate as fast as technology will allow, but for normal users a hard drive average RPM and high storage capacity should be satisfactory.

http://www.ehow.com/how-does_4928941_rpm-affect-hard-drive.html

 

[Slapshot136]

compare and decide

generally you use a smaller fast HDD for your system/apps and a larger slow drive for your media (pictures, videos, backups, etc.) since the performance of that one doesn't really matter as much

 

[AnthraxXx]

I hope I'm not too late.
I have that 2TB hard drive and it is comparable to the older 7200rpm drives.

That is to say, it flies! I would love to see a 7200rpm version of it and see the speeds it has to offer. For price/GB you can't beat it. I use it to store most of my media on it. If it's raw speed speed you're after for say video rendering, then you're better off with a Raid 0 setup using 7200rpm drives or faster, or an SSD...

For a 2TB drive, you won't be disappointed. For 2TB 7200rpm alternatives you'll be looking at the WD Black drives.

 

[Romek]

I'm well aware of what to use faster/slower HDDs for. I just wanted to know to what extent a 5400 RPM drive is actually slower, since I only use an SSD and a 7200 RPM HDD.

> compare and decide
Thanks for this. I've bought the slower, 2TB hard drive.