Like the title says, I have a 2.4ghz 20" iMac and just bought a 1tb seagate hd rated at 5900 rpms. My hd right now is a 320gb at 7200 rpms. Will I see a big difference in speed? Should I just put the new 1tb in a case and use it as an external drive? Thanks for any info.
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Replacing 320hd 7200rpm with 1tb 5900rpm, will I notice a differnece in speed?
- Thread starter ixi
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I'd partition the 1 TB drive and use it for your main iTunes access and a TM back up for the other partition... that way you don't have to worry about taking your iMac apart and dust under the screen...
It might run at the same speed or faster, if you don't fill it up too much. Detailed info:
http://macperformanceguide.com/Storage-WhyYouNeedMoreThanYouNeed.html
Putting a Time Machine backup on the same drive defeats the very purpose of a backup. If the drive fails, you've lost all your data.
It should still run much faster.
RPMs: 5900/7200 = 81.9% the RPMs
Platter density: Now, if you got the 7200.12 1TB model, it fits 1TB onto only TWO platters, for 500GB/platter. I can only speculate about the # of platters in your old hard drive (depending on the age), so I'll give a few cases...
500/320 (1-platter 320GB drive): 156.25% the density
500/160 (2-platter 320GB drive): 312.50% the density
and so on
So at best it may still be nearly 30% faster over sustained speeds. Randoms will of course rely on access times and what not and may not be that much better.
RPMs: 5900/7200 = 81.9% the RPMs
Platter density: Now, if you got the 7200.12 1TB model, it fits 1TB onto only TWO platters, for 500GB/platter. I can only speculate about the # of platters in your old hard drive (depending on the age), so I'll give a few cases...
500/320 (1-platter 320GB drive): 156.25% the density
500/160 (2-platter 320GB drive): 312.50% the density
and so on
So at best it may still be nearly 30% faster over sustained speeds. Randoms will of course rely on access times and what not and may not be that much better.
I don't get it. Why can you not just pick up a 7.2k 1TB?
They definately aren't rare, nor expensive for that matter. WD makes a 2TB Caviar Black.
They definately aren't rare, nor expensive for that matter. WD makes a 2TB Caviar Black.
I thought the same thing too when I saw this drive at Newegg last week. I thought it was a typo.
Apparently, Seagate has a whole bunch of 5900 RPM drives. Here's the LINK - Barracuda LP.
...also WD is being secretive about the speeds of their "green" drives... they are between 5900 - 7200 RPM and the specs aren't easy to find info beyond that...