Hard drive speeds?

Vengeance · Sep 22, 2003, 06:02 AM

Is there that much diffrence in performance in a 120gb 5400 rpm HDD and a WD 80gb 7200 rpm with an 8 mb cache Ultra ATA/100?

I have 2 HDD's, A 120gb 5400 rpm that came with my PC and I have an 80gb Western Digital 7200 rpm Special Edition 8mb cache.

Right now I have the 120 set as the master and the 80 set as the slave

Will I gain much performace by swapping them?

Vengeance · Sep 22, 2003, 06:39 AM

Anyone?

Sharkims · Sep 22, 2003, 09:57 AM

I would say... YES!

FluffyChicken · Sep 22, 2003, 10:07 AM

Yes,

btw what is the make and model of your older drive.
Once you find that. Pop along to SR's compare the drives againdt each other and read a review of the drives.
This will give you more information
http://www.storagereview.com/articles/article_ndx.html
Your fastest drive should be your general everday work drive. the slowest as a 'storage' drive

BWX · Sep 22, 2003, 10:08 AM

Yes, probably. You could test each of them, then install windows on the fastest one. Also- create a partition the size of your swapfile + 5mb and set your swapfile on it. Pallet size has allot to do with hd speed, so the 120g might be faster than you think. There is a great little HD benchmak that was in the news a few days ago- http://www.hardwareheaven.com/showthre...threadid=26699

Just don't do a write test- I think it deletes info- not sure about that though. The burst test is pretty interesting too.

FluffyChicken · Sep 22, 2003, 10:12 AM

BWX232 what do you mean by pallet size ?

BWX · Sep 22, 2003, 10:16 AM

The size of the pallets- I heard from many different places that bigger HD's have larger pallets, and the data is compacted more on the larger sized pallets than smaller ones, therefore the data is transferred faster at the same rpm speed.

I think the pallets are the actual physical disks in the hard drive.

My 40gb Western Digital 2mb buffer, 7200rpm, ATA-100/udma-5 gets about 46mb/s sustained and 71mb/s burst on the above benchmark. I think it's faster right after you defrag too.

Vengeance · Sep 22, 2003, 10:23 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by BWX232
The size of the pallets- I heard from many different places that bigger HD's have larger pallets, and the data is compacted more on the larger sized pallets than smaller ones, therefore the data is transferred faster at the same rpm speed.

I think the pallets are the actual physical disks in the hard drive.

My 40gb Western Digital 2mb buffer, 7200rpm, ATA-100/udma-5 gets about 46mb/s sustained and 71mb/s burst on the above benchmark. I think it's faster right after you defrag too.

Thats about the samething my 80gb Western Digital 8mb buffer was getting, And my 120gb Samsung 5400 rpm only got 37mbs sustained and 47mbs burst.

FluffyChicken · Sep 22, 2003, 10:29 AM

do you mean the platters ?

Yes the larger the density on the platters, generally the faster the transfer rate.
The faster the RPM the faster the search and transfer rate.
BUT the larger drive in the same model of drive can gain performace due to more platters being used.
As transfer rate decreases as you get to the end of a drive (opposite to a CD-R)
So if you use 2 platters 2x80GB platters (total 160GB) compare it to 1 platter (single 80GB)
the transfer rate over the first 80GB of the two platter version
will be faster than the single platter version as only the first halves of the platters are used...

For a better benchmark grab AIDA32 and look in the plugin menu.

BWX · Sep 22, 2003, 10:39 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by FluffyChicken
do you mean the platters ?

yeah, I meant platter-

I wasn't even thinking about the word I was writing

~~HawK~~ · Sep 22, 2003, 10:42 AM

Here in visual the difference between HD's
first the WD80jb (SE) 80gb ntfs

And here a 72krpm Seagate ATA IV 80 gb ntfs

both on the same machine (Win2000)
So yes get them swapped and make the WD your bootdrive !, wel go on wadde ye waiting for?

Vengeance · Sep 22, 2003, 10:46 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by HawK
Here in visual the difference between HD's
first the WD80jb (SE) 80gb ntfs
And here a 72krpm Seagate ATA IV 80 gb ntfs
both on the same machine (Win2000)
So yes get them swapped and make the WD your bootdrive !, wel go on wadde ye waiting for?

Thanks

This will turn into a weekend project.

Vengeance · Sep 22, 2003, 10:49 AM

Damn I never thought about it, but I have sandra as well

could have done these tests too.

~~HawK~~ · Sep 22, 2003, 10:54 AM

Yeah when I changed WB to be my boot drive, the first boot I just could not beliefe my eyes!
cold boottime for the Win2k is now down to 40sec (ti until every thing is loaded: Norton isec, Virusch. all included) was 2min's

And remember Norton Ghost & Pmagic are your best friends in those day's

Also remember to kill the active partion on your current bootdrive first !!

~~HawK~~ · Sep 22, 2003, 10:55 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by Vengeance
Damn I never thought about it, but I have sandra as well could have done these tests too.

sigh sure let me do all the hard work

BWX · Sep 22, 2003, 11:00 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by Vengeance
Damn I never thought about it, but I have sandra as well could have done these tests too.

You still should though-

Vengeance · Sep 22, 2003, 11:00 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by HawK
Also remember to kill the active partion on your current bootdrive first !!

Whats this?

~~HawK~~ · Sep 22, 2003, 12:10 PM

Sorry for the delay, my isp is Cr@p atm

windows, or rather the bios, does not accept 2 active partitions (bootpartitions)
you have to delete the current boot partion before you can make the other drive active.
simpler said than done, knowing fdisk

wish I could give you some links on the best way to do it, but like i said my isp...
I can only reach 10% of the sites iI usualy visit, including google

WildChild · Sep 23, 2003, 12:20 AM

ATTO gives alil better reading of the drives from what I've read and seen

Sep 22, 2003, 06:02 AM	#1
Vengeance DriverHeaven Senior Member Join Date: May 2003 Location: Fort Worth TX Posts: 643 Rep Power: 0	Hard drive speeds? Is there that much diffrence in performance in a 120gb 5400 rpm HDD and a WD 80gb 7200 rpm with an 8 mb cache Ultra ATA/100? I have 2 HDD's, A 120gb 5400 rpm that came with my PC and I have an 80gb Western Digital 7200 rpm Special Edition 8mb cache. Right now I have the 120 set as the master and the 80 set as the slave Will I gain much performace by swapping them? __________________ [color=red]Rage3D Super Moderator[/color] [color=red]BFG 6800 GT [/color] Last edited by Vengeance; Sep 22, 2003 at 06:12 AM.

Sep 22, 2003, 06:39 AM	Thread Starter #2
Vengeance DriverHeaven Senior Member Join Date: May 2003 Location: Fort Worth TX Posts: 643 Rep Power: 0	Anyone? __________________ [color=red]Rage3D Super Moderator[/color] [color=red]BFG 6800 GT [/color]

Sep 22, 2003, 09:57 AM	#3
Sharkims Seen my brain? Join Date: Jul 2003 Location: WA,USA Posts: 760 Rep Power: 0	I would say... YES! __________________ System-1: MSI K8N Neo Platinum \|\| A64 3200+(200x11) - Zalman 7000A-AlCu \|\| 1x1gb OCZ PC3200@400(3-3-3-7) \|\| 9800XT \|\| WD Raptors 2x36 RAID0 System-2: MSI 875P Neo-FIS2R \|\| P4 2.4c(FSB:200) - Intel Cooler \|\| 2x256 GEIL PC3200@400(2-3-3-6) \|\| AIW9000 \|\| WD SE 120x2 RAID0 System-3: DELL Inspiron 9100 \|\| P4 3.0c(mobile) \|\| 2x256mb PC3200(3-3-3-8) \|\| Mobility Radeon 9700 - 128mb \|\| WSXGA+ 15.4" \|\| 60gb 5400RPM 8mb

Sep 22, 2003, 10:07 AM	#4
FluffyChicken DriverHeaven Addict Join Date: Nov 2002 Location: England Posts: 320 Rep Power: 0	Yes, btw what is the make and model of your older drive. Once you find that. Pop along to SR's compare the drives againdt each other and read a review of the drives. This will give you more information http://www.storagereview.com/articles/article_ndx.html Your fastest drive should be your general everday work drive. the slowest as a 'storage' drive __________________ [COLOR=#455b64]Team mauisun.org [/COLOR]

Sep 22, 2003, 10:08 AM	#5
BWX unplugged Join Date: Nov 2002 Location: USNY Posts: 19,669 Rep Power: 110 System Specs	Yes, probably. You could test each of them, then install windows on the fastest one. Also- create a partition the size of your swapfile + 5mb and set your swapfile on it. Pallet size has allot to do with hd speed, so the 120g might be faster than you think. There is a great little HD benchmak that was in the news a few days ago- http://www.hardwareheaven.com/showthre...threadid=26699 Just don't do a write test- I think it deletes info- not sure about that though. The burst test is pretty interesting too. __________________

Sep 22, 2003, 10:12 AM	#6
FluffyChicken DriverHeaven Addict Join Date: Nov 2002 Location: England Posts: 320 Rep Power: 0	BWX232 what do you mean by pallet size ? __________________ [COLOR=#455b64]Team mauisun.org [/COLOR]

Sep 22, 2003, 10:16 AM	#7
BWX unplugged Join Date: Nov 2002 Location: USNY Posts: 19,669 Rep Power: 110 System Specs	The size of the pallets- I heard from many different places that bigger HD's have larger pallets, and the data is compacted more on the larger sized pallets than smaller ones, therefore the data is transferred faster at the same rpm speed. I think the pallets are the actual physical disks in the hard drive. My 40gb Western Digital 2mb buffer, 7200rpm, ATA-100/udma-5 gets about 46mb/s sustained and 71mb/s burst on the above benchmark. I think it's faster right after you defrag too. __________________

Sep 22, 2003, 10:29 AM	#9
FluffyChicken DriverHeaven Addict Join Date: Nov 2002 Location: England Posts: 320 Rep Power: 0	do you mean the platters ? Yes the larger the density on the platters, generally the faster the transfer rate. The faster the RPM the faster the search and transfer rate. BUT the larger drive in the same model of drive can gain performace due to more platters being used. As transfer rate decreases as you get to the end of a drive (opposite to a CD-R) So if you use 2 platters 2x80GB platters (total 160GB) compare it to 1 platter (single 80GB) the transfer rate over the first 80GB of the two platter version will be faster than the single platter version as only the first halves of the platters are used... For a better benchmark grab AIDA32 and look in the plugin menu. __________________ [COLOR=#455b64]Team mauisun.org [/COLOR]

Sep 22, 2003, 10:42 AM	#11
~~HawK~~ Banned Join Date: May 2002 Posts: 2,092 Rep Power: 0	Here in visual the difference between HD's first the WD80jb (SE) 80gb ntfs And here a 72krpm Seagate ATA IV 80 gb ntfs both on the same machine (Win2000) So yes get them swapped and make the WD your bootdrive !, wel go on wadde ye waiting for?

Sep 22, 2003, 10:49 AM	Thread Starter #13
Vengeance DriverHeaven Senior Member Join Date: May 2003 Location: Fort Worth TX Posts: 643 Rep Power: 0	Damn I never thought about it, but I have sandra as well could have done these tests too. __________________ [color=red]Rage3D Super Moderator[/color] [color=red]BFG 6800 GT [/color]

Sep 22, 2003, 10:54 AM	#14
~~HawK~~ Banned Join Date: May 2002 Posts: 2,092 Rep Power: 0	Yeah when I changed WB to be my boot drive, the first boot I just could not beliefe my eyes! cold boottime for the Win2k is now down to 40sec (ti until every thing is loaded: Norton isec, Virusch. all included) was 2min's And remember Norton Ghost & Pmagic are your best friends in those day's Also remember to kill the active partion on your current bootdrive first !!

Sep 22, 2003, 12:10 PM	#18
~~HawK~~ Banned Join Date: May 2002 Posts: 2,092 Rep Power: 0	Sorry for the delay, my isp is Cr@p atm windows, or rather the bios, does not accept 2 active partitions (bootpartitions) you have to delete the current boot partion before you can make the other drive active. simpler said than done, knowing fdisk wish I could give you some links on the best way to do it, but like i said my isp... I can only reach 10% of the sites iI usualy visit, including google

Sep 23, 2003, 12:20 AM	#19
WildChild I'm Still Watching Join Date: Dec 2002 Location: New Jersey,U.S.A. Posts: 1,068 Rep Power: 0 System Specs	ATTO gives alil better reading of the drives from what I've read and seen __________________ Knowledge is SCARY,Stupidity is REALLY frightening