[jzdziarski]

This is very strange; I just got my new powerbook (which is dead-on-arrival by the way, Airport card is dead) and did a lookup on the model number of the drive (ST9100823A). Come to find it has a 12.5ms seek time. This is very strange to me, as the hard drive in my old powerbook (which is 4200RPM) I distinctly remember having a 12ms seek time. So wouldn't this mean that the new hard drives are a tad slower than the old ones?

[markponcelet]

Originally posted by jzdziarski:
This is very strange; I just got my new powerbook (which is dead-on-arrival by the way, Airport card is dead) and did a lookup on the model number of the drive (ST9100823A). Come to find it has a 12.5ms seek time. This is very strange to me, as the hard drive in my old powerbook (which is 4200RPM) I distinctly remember having a 12ms seek time. So wouldn't this mean that the new hard drives are a tad slower than the old ones?

I dunno! You don't still have the old drive, do you? You could run a benchmark program on those two drives to see how they compare. There are plenty of instances where real-world tests bring out the true performance record of a given drive. Perhaps that very-quickly-spinning platter gives some other benefits that you weren't getting with the older drive.

Mark

[cpac]

I don't have technical knowledge, but my guess is that your drive in the new powerbook is quite a bit bigger than your previous drive, meaning that seek times will be longer regardless of speed. (i.e. it would be much more than 12.5ms if it were a 4200rpm drive, or that your old drive, at 5400rpm, would have been less than 12ms)

just a guess though.

[jzdziarski]

So if it's bigger and slower...how's that an upgrade? Other than the motion sensor that is.

[ricacu]

Originally posted by jzdziarski:
So if it's bigger and slower...how's that an upgrade? Other than the motion sensor that is.

u said it ... BIGGER

[jzdziarski]

ok, so you get an extra 20gb that most people won't use, slower access time, and higher level of power consumption (you can bet on that, with 5400rpm)...hmm still don't see it. *shrug*

[StiZeven]

Don't let the spec numbers fool you. The ST9100823A is the Seagate Momentus 5400.2 hard drive - which is a highly regarded, fast, large and nearly silent notebook hard drive. It's far from 'slow' and is one of the best out there. Due to it's high areal density and the 5400rpm speed, this drive will perform much better than your old drive. You should also count your blessings that you didn't get stuck with a noisy and whiney Toshiba!

[ntt]

Originally posted by jzdziarski:
ok, so you get an extra 20gb that most people won't use, slower access time, and higher level of power consumption (you can bet on that, with 5400rpm)...hmm still don't see it. *shrug*

Probably a higher burst rate.
Seek time is only part of the equation.