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MacPowerbookG4 · Dec 22, 2006, 06:26 PM

Hi all,

Quick question: Has anyone replaced their Powerbook's stock 5400 rpm hard drive with one of the newer 7200 rpm hard drives? If so, is their a substantial difference in performance?

Any comments or thoughts would be much appreciated.

wilsonng · Dec 23, 2006, 03:14 AM

I think Accelerate Your Macintosh! News Page - 12/22/06 had some kind of study about the 5400s vs. the 7200s. I can't remember the gist of it but it said something about the bang-for-the-buck for the 7200s weren't that great.

I guess it's the law of diminishing returns.....

In any case, for most purposes, the 5400s were the best bang-for-the-buck over the 7200s. However things may have changed since hard drive prices change whenever newer high-storage capacityies and/or perfmance HDs come out...

SierraDragon · Dec 23, 2006, 04:10 AM

Originally Posted by MacPowerbookG4

Has anyone replaced their Powerbook's stock 5400 rpm hard drive with one of the newer 7200 rpm hard drives? If so, is their a substantial difference in performance?

BareFeats.com has tests. Drive throughput has a lot to do with how full the drive is but if two drives are equally full the 7200 rpm drives are indeed faster.

-Allen Wicks

chabig · Dec 23, 2006, 09:54 AM

Originally Posted by SierraDragon

Drive throughput has a lot to do with how full the drive is...

That only has an effect if you're trying to read or write a tremendous amount of data, as they did during the throughput test. You wouldn't see any difference in normal use.

Chris

wubrew · Dec 23, 2006, 01:13 PM

7200 rpm power consumption is tremendous. Your battery will last longer with 5400 rpm. There are 5400 rpm out there with similar spec as a 7200 rpm hd but consume power at 4200 rpm hd.

wilsonng · Dec 23, 2006, 11:46 PM

hmmm..... so if my head is on right and my reception is clear, it means that the 7200s would show its true advantage over 5400s only when saving huge-ass files....

Otherwise, typical user routines like copying files, saving and open documents would not show any real speed advantage....

PeterS · Dec 24, 2006, 03:19 AM

One point not mentioned so far is the heat factor. I replaced the original 4200 HD with a 7200 in my TiPB 867. I convinced myself that the increased speed factor was indeed the more important. And Yes, I assume that it is faster although of course now [some 8 months later] I can not of course remember the earlier speed of the 4200. But what has happened is that the fans of my PB now activate much much more frequently and usually ramp up to the second speed level quite quickly. So, a 7200 may give you greater speed [and I question this is discernible for the average user] but your machine will run hotter. If I had my time again I would go for the 5400.

Toyin · Dec 24, 2006, 08:44 PM

A recent thread on this can be found here

For a nice comparison check the Barefeats Review

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays everyone

molarszbt18 · Dec 24, 2006, 11:38 PM

You will only see a positive effect from this if editing a huge amount of data. 7200rpm drives take awhile to spin up to a full speed. Is it worth it? Unless you using some pro apps to edit video otherwise no....

mduell · Dec 25, 2006, 06:03 PM

Originally Posted by wubrew

7200 rpm power consumption is tremendous. Your battery will last longer with 5400 rpm. There are 5400 rpm out there with similar spec as a 7200 rpm hd but consume power at 4200 rpm hd.

Have you even looked at the product spec pages? All of the power consumption levels are within 10% and/or 0.25W.
The 5400RPM drives can't match the 7200RPM drives for seek time.

wubrew · Dec 26, 2006, 01:04 AM

Try not to get personal there Mark Duell. You know exactly what I meant in term of power consumption. I am sure you have more extensive knowlege to refute or validate a response. Let's keep it general instead of focusing on detail. " ....that's all I have to say about that...." Forrest Gump 1974. Merry Christmas.

rjt1000 · Dec 27, 2006, 07:06 PM

Originally Posted by MacPowerbookG4

Hi all,

Quick question: Has anyone replaced their Powerbook's stock 5400 rpm hard drive with one of the newer 7200 rpm hard drives? If so, is their a substantial difference in performance?

Any comments or thoughts would be much appreciated.

Note sure if this is directly comparible, but I boot my G4 12 inch 1.33 PB with either the OEM internal 4200 RPM Toshiba drive or a 7200 RPM Hitachi Travelstar drive in a Oxford 911 bridge enclosure. Although there may be measurable differences in system performance, there isnt much noticeable difference in the user experience, except when copying large files.

molarszbt18 · Dec 28, 2006, 04:48 AM

Originally Posted by mduell

Have you even looked at the product spec pages? All of the power consumption levels are within 10% and/or 0.25W.
The 5400RPM drives can't match the 7200RPM drives for seek time.

Its different per manufacture and some times there specs are a little off. Thats like now some manufactures are stating HD life (toshiba for one). In a real world scenario yes it does drain more battery faster.

alex_kac · Dec 28, 2006, 06:40 PM

How about for running Parallels or compiling? I notice a huge difference between my 5400 RPM laptop drive and my desktop drive in its FW800 case. Granted its a desktop drive, but I am wanting to get as close to desktop performance as possible

MacPowerbookG4 · Dec 28, 2006, 06:49 PM

Alex,

What speed is your desktop drive?