Right now I have a 100 GB hard drive running at a painfully slow 4200rpm. I am ready to upgrade and was hoping that some of you might lend your insight regarding my question. I want to stay under $200 (US) and so I am looking at these two models:

A) 100GB 5400 RPM 16MB Cache
http://www.newegg.com/product/produc...82E16822149030

B) 80GB 7200 RPM 8MB Cache
http://www.newegg.com/product/produc...82E16822146047

Does the 16MB of cache help with speed as much as the 7200rpm of the other drive?

Thanks for any advice!

The 7200rpm drive will be much faster. That Toshiba drive tends to perform similarly to other 5400rpm drives with only 8mb cache.

keep away from toshiba harddrives!! they sucks!!!
go for hitachi or seagate!!
Samsung is a good choice too, not so quick than seagate or hitachi but if you are not a game player you wont notice any diference between segate or hitachi vs samsung!!
If are looking for the best relation price/gb , Samsung is the right choice!!

hmm..well i had a toshiba 60GB 16mb drive...and it lasted only 18 months.

then i switch it for a 60GB 8mb Seagate momentus.

both were/are 5400rpm...and honestly i feel the Seagate's much faster...

start up and shutdowns are really fast, much faster performance than the toshiba, but that might just be due to Seagates technology compared to Toshibas.

i'd suggest the Hitachi...faster rpm and slightly better manufacturer...you will just sacrifice that extra 20GB of space.

now, if you found a 120GB, 16mb 7400rpm drive, then i'd snagged that in a heartbeat.

you know those IBM commercials, where the guys drop their laptops? well, it's their harddrives that have the capability to take that much G-force and can withstand that punishment....they use Hitachi drives.

if you're looking for a good 100GB drive, i'd suggest the Seagate... http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16822148090

they're the only ones in the business that offer 5 yr warranty as well.

OK...so I understand to stay away from Toshiba but how much faster is a 7200rm 8mb cache hard drive compared to a 5200rpm with double the cache (16mb)?

I wish there was a 7200rpm 16mb cache but I don't believe there is one on the market as of yet.

The cache really doesn't make a difference, at least when you're comparing 16MB to 8MB. Where you will notice a difference is comparing 8MB to 2MB. A 7200 will outperform any 5400 of the same capacity.

Besides, no one other than Toshiba has a drive with 16MB cache. Go with a Seagate if you can find a good deal.

--removed--

posted in the wrong topic :P

Thanks for the info. I think I have settled on this one:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...P=OTC-mys1mo17

It's a bit more $ then what I was allowing myself to spend but I think I'll be happy. Before I buy I had another question. The hard drive I have now is ATA-6 interface so of course I am only looking to buy a hard drive with same interface. Now on Newegg's site it states that the hard drive I have decided to get is ATA-6 but when I go to Segate's site it says that it is ATA/100. Is ATA-6 & ATA/100 the same? Is it mislabled on Newegg?

yes...that drive is ATA(6)/100...same thing.

most sites just don't bother putting that extra 6# after ATA, because it's pretty much the standard type anyway.

you're good to go.

enjoy the drive.

Edo

Thank you!

Related to the Orignal Topic; What type of battery lost would we be dealing with from a 4200/5400/7200 RPM drive? The figures below are from Seagates Momentus drives:

4200RPM: ?watts
5400RPM: 2.0watts
7200RPM: 2.6watts

Hitachi:
4200RPM: 1.0watts
5400RPM: 2.0watts
7200RPM: 2.3watts

This will be in a form of the Yohan Duo Core unit. Per the specs on the laptop I am looking at the battery has a 60watt charge. Guessing at 3 hours, that would be 20watts on average use. So would going from a 5400 to a 7200RPM drive cost me a great deal? If I recall, the Yohan is a 25watt processor, so it does not seem that .3-.6watts would be anything important (10mins? maybe)

Speed is important, but I would like to actually have a laptop that can play a DVD without the battery life stopping me.

Well I changed my mind.....again. Instead of getting the 7200 rpm, I went for the one suggested above. Thanks EdoKoi!!! I don't have a gaming laptop and I just mainly use it for everday apps so I just couldn't justify the extra $100. Plus I think I will notice a big enough difference going from my current 4200 rpm to the Seagate 5400 rpm drive to satisfy me. Battery life will be a tad better as well by not getting the 7200.

Thanks for all your help....this forum rocks!

Just so you know, a 100GB 5400RPM performs just as well as a 60GB 7200RPM due to the areal density on a platter.

Here is an ultimate review of the mobile hard drives:http://www.laptoplogic.com/reviews/detail.php?id=92

Also see here for a new Seagte 'vertical' drive:
http://www.laptoplogic.com/reviews/detail.php?id=104

SAAA-WEEEET!