Hard Drive
How Large, How Fast? Choosing the Right Hard Drive Size and Rpm
There are two important considerations when looking at hard drive specifications for your computer notebook: hard drive size and hard drive RPM.
Hard Drive Size
Hard drive size simply refers to the data storage capacity of a hard disk drive. Desktop computer hard drives offer sizes of up to 500 gigabytes (GB), while notebook computer hard dives offer sizes of up to 160 GB. Notebook computer hard drives are more expensive than desktop computer hard drives with more than twice the capacity of the notebook hard drive. This is due to the engineering difficulties inherent in making high-capacity hard drives for the smaller notebook computers form-factor.
A notebook computer’s hard drive size indicates how much data a notebook computer can store. If you are interested in storing large amounts of movies, pictures, or music, you want to go with a larger hard drive to avoid running out of space.
A hard drive’s size has very little to do with its performance, unless the drive is almost full. The Windows NTFS File System requires a minimum of 10% of the hard drive to be free space for optimum performance, and it frequently requests as much as 15%. This means that, on a 40 GB drive, Windows prefers that you use a maximum of 34-36 GB, leaving 4-6 GB of space unused. On a 160 GB drive, Windows prefers that you use a maximum of 136-144 GB, leaving a massive 16-24 GB unused. If you start to go over these Windows storage limits, you may notice your computer’s performance taking drastic hits.
Hard Drive RPM
Hard drive RPM is a hard drive’s rotational speed, measured in revolutions per minute (RPM). Desktop hard drives now have speeds as high as 15,000 RPM. Notebook hard drives, on the other hand, currently have an RPM ceiling of 7200 RPM.
A hard drive’s RPM indicates how fast the drive’s spindle will move or how fast the hard drive platters will spin. The higher the spin rate is, the shorter the seek time and latency will be. This translates to quicker data access and transfer.
How Large and How Fast
The greater the free space and the higher the RPM, the better your notebook computer’s performance will be, so go for a slightly-more-than-comfortable size and the highest RPM for your notebook computer’s hard drive. A large hard drive gives you the option to expand in the future, and you can never go wrong with a notebook computer that can give you fast access to your stored data.
It is even more crucial that you go with the top-of-the-line hard drive size and RPM for your notebook computer if you are fond of computer games, you have a lot of multimedia files, or you want to be able to easily upgrade your programs. These games, content and programs take up a lot of space. A high RPM hard drive can also cut down on game load times, giving you more time enjoying your games and less time staring at loading screens.
This article may be republished freely as long as this copyright notice and box of resource links are included at the bottom.
Copyright © 2007 MALIBAL, lLc
MALIBAL is the Home of the World’s Fastest Laptop! Headquartered in Las Vegas, this groundbreaking company has transmuted the world of mobile computing with its nonpareil laptops and unrivaled 24-hour USA-based support.
Please, check out these recommendations for the best notebook computers.
About the Author
Inside of Hard Drive
|
|
ACER ASPIRE 5315 HARD DRIVE COVER (A68) $8.30 |
|
|
New IDE to Serial SATA Hard Drive Power Adapter Cable $1.70 |
|
|
SEAGATE 2.5″ HDD SATA 250GB $85.00 |
|
|
2.5″ SATA U SAS Hard Drive Tray Caddy DELL R710 T710 R410 T410 R510 R610 server $11.78 |
|
|
WESTERN DIGITAL WD5000AAJS-55A8B0 DCM:EARNHT2CA SATA $175.99 |
|
|
24CH CCTV H.264 Network 600TVL IR Camera DVR Surveillance System 2TB Hard Drive $1,532.00 |
|
|
OEM Motherboard mainboard 3.5″ IDE PATA ATA 66 100 133 HDD CD DVD RW 40pin Cable $0.99 |
|
|
8CH 1000GB HDD Net DVR 6pcs ADUIO 48LED DOME CCTV Camera System Mobile ACCESS $389.99 |
|
|
25x Foxconn Motherboard mainboard 3.5″ IDE PATA HDD CD DVD RW signal DATA Cable $59.99 |
|
|
QNAP TS-412 Turbo 4-Bay SATA RAID-5 eSATA USB File Media Share Backup NAS Server $419.95 |
|
|
GATEWAY 200ARC HARD DRIVE CABLE CONNECTOR BA41-00383A $4.00 |
|
|
New IDE to Serial SATA Hard Drive Power Adapter Cable $1.39 |
|
|
2.5 INCH SATA TO USB SATA EXTERNAL ENCLOSURE HDD CASE $5.99 |
|
|
New IDE to Serial SATA Hard Drive Power Adapter Cable $1.39 |
|
|
USB 2.0 to IDE/SATA 2.5 3.5 Hard Drive Converter Cable $3.99 |
|
|
25x OEM Motherboard mainboard 3.5″ IDE PATA ATA 66 100 133 HDD CD DVD RW Cable $29.99 |
|
|
40GB 3.5″ IDE Maxtor Fireball 3 Hard Drive 2F040J0310613 VAM51JJ0 $28.44 |
|
|
Western Digital WD 640GB Elements USB 2.0 External Hard Drive WDBAAU6400EBK $42.99 |
|
|
Maxtor Atlas 15K II 73GB Ultra 320 SCSI Hard Drive X 2 $71.13 |
|
|
USB to SATA IDE 2.5″ 3.5″ Hard Drive Adapter+Power $11.99 |
|
|
USB 2.0 to IDE/SATA 2.5 3.5 Hard Drive Converter Cable $3.99 |
|
|
2.5 INCH SATA TO USB SATA EXTERNAL ENCLOSURE HDD CASE $5.99 |
|
|
IBM-25L2142-18.2GB 7200RPM 3.5″ ULTRA SCSI 80PIN SCA HD $69.00 |
|
|
IBM-26K5679-73GB 15KRPM ULTRA-320 SCSI NON-HOT-SWAP HDD $169.00 |
|
|
Dell PowerEdge 73Gb 2.5″ SAS 10k Hot plug Hard drive pn UP937 for server $132.78 |
|
|
Compaq CQ60 HDD, Memory, Wifi , Plastic Covers Set HP pt# 486621-001, Grade A $13.99 |
|
|
SATA 40GB 2.5″ 5400RPM FAST HARD DRIVE SEALED FITS LAPTOP AND PS3 QUICK DELIVERY $18.95 |
|
|
HITACHI 40 GB – INTERNAL – 2.5″ – HARD DRIVE $15.00 |
|
|
NFL Blitz 2000 Jamma Hard Drive–Brand New Never Used $19.99 |
|
|
Compaq Presario M2000 Laptop Hard Drive Caddy Assembly. Tested Good! $2.95 |
|
|
HP Compaq Presario G61 / G61-401SA Plastic Hard Drive Door Cover $7.90 |
|
|
HP COMPAQ NC6220 HARD DRIVE CADDY 5725 $18.95 |
|
|
TOSHIBA SATELLITE P300 LEFT SIDE HARD DRIVE COVER (T51) $9.09 |
|
|
2.16GB IDE SAMSUNG WN321620A – HD 16, SEC 63, CLY 4186 $25.28 |
|
|
Samsung R45 BA41-00568A OEHC051 Hard DISCK Drive CABLE $12.00 |
|
|
IBM 8189 G1U Desktop Computer w/320 GB Hard Drive $79.99 |
|
|
Samsung Laptop Q45 Q70 HDD Cable OEHC067 BA41-00725A $6.00 |
|
|
New Panasonic Toughbook CF-18 CF-29 HDD Cable $18.60 |
|
|
Iosafe PA50500F1YR 500gb Extreme Portable Dual Ext Fw800/usb 2.0 Waterproof Mac $216.81 |