which should have better performance (Laptop)

[musicman_ace]

I'm buying a bigger hard drive for my laptop. I run VMware on it in case anyone thinks that could impact which would be a better choice

80GB Hitachi 4200RPM 16MB cache
80GB Hitachi 5400RPM 8MB cache.


It seems odd that the faster rpm drive had less cache, but I don't generally have to research laptop hardware so I'm asking the experts here.

Thanks
adam

 

[neo86]

The one with more cache would have higher sequential transfer rates, but the one with more RPM would feel faster over all because of reduced access time.

 

[unhappy_mage]

The one with more cache would have higher sequential transfer rates, but the one with more RPM would feel faster over all because of reduced access time.

Um... no, not really. There's 16MB of cache to compensate for the fact that latencies (seek times) are higher. Thus, you can write to cache with no latency and avoid waiting for the disk to rotate all the way around. Transfer rates are lower on slower spinning media, not higher. Think of cdroms - a 24x is slower than a 48x because the disk spins slower.

The higher rpm one will be more responsive, but drain batteries faster. I'd go for it anyways.

 

[musicman_ace]

The higher rpm one will be more responsive, but drain batteries faster. I'd go for it anyways.

Battery life isn't too important and I usually plug in.
It seems like that is 1 vote apiece, how about a ty-breaker

 

[Ice Czar]

80GB Hitachi 5400RPM 8MB cache

 

[tiebird321]

laptop drives are all rated for the exact same power
5v 500MA
or 2.5W
so it makes very little diference in teh bat life if its sucking down 1w or 2.5w

the 5400rpm 8mb drive is a better option
its going to have a faster sustained transfer rate
and the seek time is going to be quicker for anything not in the cache

as for 8mb vs 16mb
the size is less important as the quality of the logic which dictates what the drive thinks it should keep in the cache

you could have a 256mb cache and have it be worthless cause it never gueses right....

in this case its pretty hard to take a guess as to who has the better logic
so its something to think about for interest

i just got a 40gb 5.4k 8mb to drop into my P2 toughbook
and it really improves everything about the machine

the bat life changed a total of 15min
from 5hours 5 min
to 4 hours 50min