10k rpm hdd in older (2009+) iMacs, makes it sense?

[HoreaG]

As I anyhow want to open up my iMacs (2009, 2010, 2011 possible the 2013 also) to upgrade them with SSD, I thought exchanging the 7200 rpm harddisk with some having 10.000 rpm.

What do you think, adavantages, disadvantages? Is there something to gain?

 

[iProd]

A single SSD is going to run circles around a single 10k RPM HDD. The different in read/write speed alone will make a world of difference between most any HDD.

 

[rm5]

Hmmm, this is interesting. Although @iProd is right, booting off a 15k rpm drive in my ProLiant, it is just as fast as a SATA SSD. I mean a 10k is slower, but still......

 

[iProd]

Perhaps, but the cost per gigabyte between a 15k RPM HDD and an SSD for an average user is definitely in favor of the SSD. There's definitely a use case for the faster disk drives, but more when handling large pieces of data. If it's just every day use/no specialized need for what a fast-spinning drive can offer, roll with the SSD.

The energy footprint is to be considered as well

 

[HoreaG]

My plan is to plant an SSD as system disk (as I already wrote) and a 10k (or even better 15k) HDD as data disk. Lets say 250 SSD (so it can dual boot MacOS and Windows) and a 2-4 GB HDD.
Also I am wondering if I should risk used HDD. Those go for cheap but served years in servers. (That can be good or bad. Years are years, but on the other hand they were built on higher parameters than soho drives.)

 

[HoreaG]

If it's just every day use/no specialized need for what a fast-spinning drive can offer, roll with the SSD.

The energy footprint is to be considered as well

Nothing specialised, but are we not all here to play?
It is a mixture between "can be done" and "nice to have". What I would like to know beforehand is if it will bring anything noticeable, how little may it be.
Also seen some 10k in 2,5" format, what about those?

I guess the fast spinning HDD will produce more heat, but enough to be a problem in a 27" iMac? (Those PS in the 2009-11 models run hot already.)
The PS would support it? I dont know how much power those disks suck. My feeling is, not much more differenc to the 7200 rpm, specially being newer. But I may be wrong.

 

[velocityg4]

My plan is to plant an SSD as system disk (as I already wrote) and a 10k (or even better 15k) HDD as data disk. Lets say 250 SSD (so it can dual boot MacOS and Windows) and a 2-4 GB HDD.
Also I am wondering if I should risk used HDD. Those go for cheap but served years in servers. (That can be good or bad. Years are years, but on the other hand they were built on higher parameters than soho drives.)

I can't see why you'd do this. The 10K HDD has a higher cost per GB than even a high quality SSD. They are also noisy. A Samsung 870 Evo is better, cheaper, more reliable and will max out the SATA II BUS.

I certainly wouldn't risk a used one. It has probably spent five to ten years in a server under heavy read/write loads.

 

[MultiFinder17]

Honestly the heat would be my biggest concern. Goodness knows those iMacs already run hot enough, and with all the components inside going on well over a decade in age, the less heat around them the better. That's part of the reason that one of the first things I do with those machines when I get them is swap in a cheap SSD. Faster, more reliable, and far cooler.

 

[Juicy Box]

I would not put an HDD in the iMacs that you have. Does it have to be internal? Is there a reason why you cannot use external storage?

As I anyhow want to open up my iMacs (2009, 2010, 2011 possible the 2013 also) to upgrade them with SSD, I thought exchanging the 7200 rpm harddisk with some having 10.000 rpm.

What do you think, adavantages, disadvantages? Is there something to gain?

There will be no advantages using a 10K HDD over an SSD, with the exception of if you already owned the HDD and you were repurposing it, then there would be the cost advantage (you already own it).

A 10k or 15k rpm HDD will be more expensive, run hot, takes up more space, requires more power, lower read and write speeds to a modern SATA SSD, for both sequential and random.

I wouldn’t recommend putting any HDD in a Late 2009 and up iMac due to the heat, but would especially not recommend a 10K rpm HDD, as that would most likely run hotter than an equivalent 7200 rpm HDD.

Also I am wondering if I should risk used HDD.

If shopping for older HDDS, you also have to keep in mind that 10k rpm doesn't automatically equal faster than 7200 rpm HDD.

RPM is a characteristic of an HDD, and if all else is equal, a 10k rpm should be faster than a 7200 rpm HDD, but when comparing two different HDDs (especially if one is used on eBay), there are other characteristics that factor into the performance of the drives.

This reminds me of a story on the tech sites from many years ago, I can't remember the exact details, but IIRC, it was about Toshiba announcing the world's first 1TB HDD. Can't remember if it was 3.5" or 2.5", but the rpm on the drive was really low compared what was typically on the market. I think it was 3600 rpm or 4500 rpm, and a lot of people complained about the rpms.

Even though it had relatively low rpms, this new drive from Toshiba ended up being the fastest drive on the market due to the density of the platters.

The point is, just because it might be 10k rpm, doesn't necessary mean that it would be faster than a modern 7200 rpm HDD>

 

[Nguyen Duc Hieu]

The point is, just because it might be 10k rpm, doesn't necessary mean that it would be faster than a modern 7200 rpm HDD>

Modern HDDS rely not only on platters spinning speed, but also cache memory to improve read-write speed.
With that said, the only advantage of HDDs over SSDs nowadays is higher storage capacity at cheaper cost.