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General Forums => Hardware and Software => Topic started by: lulu on February 24, 2013, 10:24:52 AM

Title: to run AH is it better a 2,5 or 3,5 inches hard disk ?
Post by: lulu on February 24, 2013, 10:24:52 AM
As it said in the subject,

Is it better running AH with a 2,5 or 3,5 inches hard disk ?    :O


 :salute
Title: Re: to run AH is it better a 2,5 or 3,5 inches hard disk ?
Post by: Spikes on February 24, 2013, 10:33:03 AM
It doesn't matter. 2.5" drives are considered "portable" or "laptop drives". 3.5" are the standard desktop ones.
Title: Re: to run AH is it better a 2,5 or 3,5 inches hard disk ?
Post by: MrRiplEy[H] on February 24, 2013, 11:26:00 AM
As it said in the subject,

Is it better running AH with a 2,5 or 3,5 inches hard disk ?    :O


 :salute

Size makes no difference whatsoever. It's the other qualities of the drive that matter.
Title: Re: to run AH is it better a 2,5 or 3,5 inches hard disk ?
Post by: MrRiplEy[H] on February 24, 2013, 11:27:03 AM
It doesn't matter. 2.5" drives are considered "portable" or "laptop drives". 3.5" are the standard desktop ones.

Except SSD disks where 2,5" is the norm. The 3,5" drives are an oddity in that field - so if it's going to be SSD go for 2,5" - more selection and lower prices in that category.
Title: Re: to run AH is it better a 2,5 or 3,5 inches hard disk ?
Post by: Bizman on February 24, 2013, 11:53:13 AM
And if you are going the standard hdd way, 3.5" hdd's are cheaper, faster and more reliable. They also consume more energy and produce more heat than 2.5" ones. Just don't choose any "green" hdd for gaming: They are slow to reduce energy consumption, heat production and noise.
Title: Re: to run AH is it better a 2,5 or 3,5 inches hard disk ?
Post by: Denniss on February 24, 2013, 03:53:06 PM
Green HDDs are not slow, just a bit slower than usual drives because they use 5400 to 5900 rpm instead of 7200rpm. Has also the positive side-effect that you typically don't hear them operating. Vibration is also reduced.
Title: Re: to run AH is it better a 2,5 or 3,5 inches hard disk ?
Post by: Krusty on February 24, 2013, 05:30:32 PM
5400 rpm is glacially slow. All transfer rates are noticably slower, and seek times are longer as well.

I've used 5400 and moved up to 7200, then moved on to SSD. The jump from 5400 to 7200 was almost as noticable as the one from 7200 to SSD.


Not as big a jump, but just as "noticable," IMO.
Title: Re: to run AH is it better a 2,5 or 3,5 inches hard disk ?
Post by: MrRiplEy[H] on February 25, 2013, 12:16:50 AM
5400 rpm is glacially slow. All transfer rates are noticably slower, and seek times are longer as well.

I've used 5400 and moved up to 7200, then moved on to SSD. The jump from 5400 to 7200 was almost as noticable as the one from 7200 to SSD.


Not as big a jump, but just as "noticable," IMO.

It's all very relative in the spinner disks. A 4Tb 5400rpm drive can be faster than a 1Tb 7200rpm drive due to the higher platter density. But if you compare two disks with similar sizes then usually higher rpm is the faster one.
Title: Re: to run AH is it better a 2,5 or 3,5 inches hard disk ?
Post by: Denniss on February 25, 2013, 01:40:43 AM
The jump from a similarly sized/equipped 5400rpm to 7200rpm drive is hardly noticable except in max sustained transfer rate. It all depends on what you want - maximum performance or silence.
SSD offers both but at a risk of limited lifetime and high cost for their size.
Title: Re: to run AH is it better a 2,5 or 3,5 inches hard disk ?
Post by: Torquila on February 25, 2013, 02:21:39 AM
It is tradtionally better to go with a 3.5 hd because the smaller ones always had lower throughput (when comparing magnetic storage).
Title: Re: to run AH is it better a 2,5 or 3,5 inches hard disk ?
Post by: Rob52240 on February 25, 2013, 02:34:19 AM
7200 RPM will run AH better than 5000 RPM.  Size doesn't matter.
Title: Re: to run AH is it better a 2,5 or 3,5 inches hard disk ?
Post by: Torquila on February 25, 2013, 02:48:16 AM
Size does matter.
Title: Re: to run AH is it better a 2,5 or 3,5 inches hard disk ?
Post by: Denniss on February 25, 2013, 03:03:07 AM
7200 RPM will run AH better than 5000 RPM.  Size doesn't matter.
Do you really believe a 250GB 7200rpm HDD is faster than a 1TB 5400rpm?
Title: Re: to run AH is it better a 2,5 or 3,5 inches hard disk ?
Post by: MrRiplEy[H] on February 25, 2013, 04:00:48 AM
7200 RPM will run AH better than 5000 RPM.  Size doesn't matter.

You mean to say the drive size doesn't matter BUT:

Higher density drive = faster drive when spin rate is equal
Higher rpm drive = faster drive when density is equal

However if a lower rpm drive has double density, it can deliver data faster than the faster rpm drive with half the density. This is generally true even when accounting for the changes in seek times.
Title: Re: to run AH is it better a 2,5 or 3,5 inches hard disk ?
Post by: Rob52240 on February 25, 2013, 04:01:27 AM
Physical size doesn't matter.  The speed that the platter rotates does matter.
Title: Re: to run AH is it better a 2,5 or 3,5 inches hard disk ?
Post by: MrRiplEy[H] on February 25, 2013, 04:03:49 AM
Physical size doesn't matter.  The speed that the platter rotates does matter.


No, both the capacity and rotational speed matters due to the platter density. Physical dimensions of the drive do not mean anything.
Title: Re: to run AH is it better a 2,5 or 3,5 inches hard disk ?
Post by: Torquila on February 25, 2013, 05:58:21 AM
Don't be delusional, size allows more platters.
Title: Re: to run AH is it better a 2,5 or 3,5 inches hard disk ?
Post by: MrRiplEy[H] on February 25, 2013, 06:04:35 AM
Don't be delusional, size allows more platters.

There are already 1Tb 2,5" drives so that's hardly a problem. Regardless of the fact I wouldn't recommend to anyone to get a regular HDD in 2,5" form factor, they're best in 3,5" form. Just the mounting brackets are good reason to get the 3,5" model. SSD:s are however different, the 3,5" size drives are rare and generally overpriced compared to the regular 2,5" models.
Title: Re: to run AH is it better a 2,5 or 3,5 inches hard disk ?
Post by: Torquila on February 25, 2013, 06:09:58 AM
I have yet to see a retail 3.5 SSD as well, I think they are only reserved for enterprise applications.
Title: Re: to run AH is it better a 2,5 or 3,5 inches hard disk ?
Post by: Denniss on February 25, 2013, 06:26:01 AM
Physical size doesn't matter.  The speed that the platter rotates does matter.
Using your example: a 2-liter 4-cylinder engine generates more power than an 4-liter 8-cylinder engine just because it runs at up to 6000rpm vs the 4000 of the 8-cylinder.
Do you see the problem with your argument?
Title: Re: to run AH is it better a 2,5 or 3,5 inches hard disk ?
Post by: lulu on February 25, 2013, 08:51:06 AM
TY
Title: Re: to run AH is it better a 2,5 or 3,5 inches hard disk ?
Post by: lulu on February 25, 2013, 08:54:10 AM
TY


 :salute


P.S.

Sorry, a mistake have made me to duplicate the post.
Title: Re: to run AH is it better a 2,5 or 3,5 inches hard disk ?
Post by: Bizman on February 25, 2013, 09:36:30 AM
No, both the capacity and rotational speed matters due to the platter density.

I agree, that is totally logical. A faster spinning speed brings a required disk sector faster under the read/write head, whereas more capacity means more tracks and sectors to bypass while searching for the required one. Wikipedia has a nice short article about hdd performance characteristics (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hard_disk_drive_performance_characteristics)

Quote from: MrRiplEy[H
]Physical dimensions of the drive do not mean anything.

I disagree with that: Logically, if all other values are identical, the actuator arm needs to make smaller movements on the smaller platter. A smaller distance takes less time to travel if the speed is the same.

Title: Re: to run AH is it better a 2,5 or 3,5 inches hard disk ?
Post by: Skuzzy on February 25, 2013, 09:46:39 AM
Hard drive performance is all about areal density and rotational latency, regardless of the form factor.

Take a 2.5" 100GB drive versus a 3.5" 200GB drive.  The areal density is higher with the 3.5" drive and if both have the same rotational latency, then the 3.5" drive is faster.

Take a 2.5" 100GB drive rotating ay 15,000 RPM, versus a 3.5" 200GB drive rotating at 5400RPM, the and the 2.5" drive will be faster due to a significantly lower rotational latency.
Title: Re: to run AH is it better a 2,5 or 3,5 inches hard disk ?
Post by: MrRiplEy[H] on February 25, 2013, 10:37:26 AM
I disagree with that: Logically, if all other values are identical, the actuator arm needs to make smaller movements on the smaller platter. A smaller distance takes less time to travel if the speed is the same.

Yet it has nothing to do with the drive form factor. Take for example WD Velociraptor which is 3,5" form factor but has 2,5" platters.
Title: Re: to run AH is it better a 2,5 or 3,5 inches hard disk ?
Post by: Bizman on February 25, 2013, 11:03:34 AM
Yet it has nothing to do with the drive form factor. Take for example WD Velociraptor which is 3,5" form factor but has 2,5" platters.
Sorry, my bad. I mismatched form factor and platter diameter.
Title: Re: to run AH is it better a 2,5 or 3,5 inches hard disk ?
Post by: Spikes on February 25, 2013, 02:08:53 PM
Except SSD disks where 2,5" is the norm. The 3,5" drives are an oddity in that field - so if it's going to be SSD go for 2,5" - more selection and lower prices in that category.
I was under the assumption he was not asking about SSDs since he said hard disk (drive).
Title: Re: to run AH is it better a 2,5 or 3,5 inches hard disk ?
Post by: MrRiplEy[H] on February 25, 2013, 02:43:51 PM
I was under the assumption he was not asking about SSDs since he said hard disk (drive).

There is reasonable doubt considering he was asking about SSDs in the parallel thread.