bighoo93
04-06-2012, 11:16 AM
Background: I recently built a new PC (http://forums.mysuperpc.com/showthread.php?4640-Second-build-completed). Part of my rationale in doing so was to pass my previous build (http://forums.mysuperpc.com/showthread.php?1550-Success!-With-a-few-temporary-snags) on to my kids who were increasingly encroaching on my machine. But I am still not finished, and I have a question about the hard drives and performance.
The original hard drive on my first build was the Western Digital Caviar SE16 WD5000AAKS 500GB 7200 RPM HD. I don't even know if that exists anymore (is it this one (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136073)?).
As I started filling my hard drive up with home videos, and then increasingly high-definition home videos, it became apparent that I was going to run into a storage problem. Also, I wanted to run a local backup. So I decided to buy another hard drive (this was about a year ago, when they were dirt cheap). I bought the Seagate Barracuda Green ST1500DL003 1.5TB 5900 RPM 64MB Cache SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822148725) (only $60 at the time!). I installed that as my primary drive and moved the smaller drive for my backup.
Very shortly thereafter, I perceived a drop in performance. Maybe it wasn't actually happening, but it seemed to me like the computer was slower in starting up, opening applications, etc. My first question is, could this be due to the difference between the two drives, primarily one being 7200 RPM and the other 5900 RPM? I have read various reviews indicating that RPM is not the only or maybe even best indicator of speed. So maybe it was just psychological, or maybe due to something else entirely.
OK, getting to my final point. I want to move the backup drive to my new PC. I am wondering if I should put the original 7200 RPM as the sole drive on my old PC and use the 5900 RPM 1.5 TB drive in my new PC for backup. If the RPM difference really does translate to performance, then it won't impact me when used as a backup drive and the old PC will perform better with the 7200 RPM drive. The downside of this of course is that I have to go back and reinstall everything on to the other hard drive. I don't mind doing this, but don't want to do it for nothing.
Thoughts and recommendations appreciated.
The original hard drive on my first build was the Western Digital Caviar SE16 WD5000AAKS 500GB 7200 RPM HD. I don't even know if that exists anymore (is it this one (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136073)?).
As I started filling my hard drive up with home videos, and then increasingly high-definition home videos, it became apparent that I was going to run into a storage problem. Also, I wanted to run a local backup. So I decided to buy another hard drive (this was about a year ago, when they were dirt cheap). I bought the Seagate Barracuda Green ST1500DL003 1.5TB 5900 RPM 64MB Cache SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822148725) (only $60 at the time!). I installed that as my primary drive and moved the smaller drive for my backup.
Very shortly thereafter, I perceived a drop in performance. Maybe it wasn't actually happening, but it seemed to me like the computer was slower in starting up, opening applications, etc. My first question is, could this be due to the difference between the two drives, primarily one being 7200 RPM and the other 5900 RPM? I have read various reviews indicating that RPM is not the only or maybe even best indicator of speed. So maybe it was just psychological, or maybe due to something else entirely.
OK, getting to my final point. I want to move the backup drive to my new PC. I am wondering if I should put the original 7200 RPM as the sole drive on my old PC and use the 5900 RPM 1.5 TB drive in my new PC for backup. If the RPM difference really does translate to performance, then it won't impact me when used as a backup drive and the old PC will perform better with the 7200 RPM drive. The downside of this of course is that I have to go back and reinstall everything on to the other hard drive. I don't mind doing this, but don't want to do it for nothing.
Thoughts and recommendations appreciated.