Which should I get: a 160 GB hard drive @ 5200 rpm or a 250 GB hard drive at 4200 rpm?
Answers:
The 250 is better. You want more storage space. The difference in speed is negligible.
Get the higher capacity drive. You won't notice the difference in access speed.
well a 160gb hard drive with 5200rpm would be faster at storing information and retrieving it but the 250 gb hd would more storage space but a little less speed. If i were you i would choose the 250gb hd
The speed difference between 5400 rpm drives and 7200 rpm drives is vast and immediately noticeable. However, the difference between 4200 and 5200 is rather small, much smaller than the difference between 160 GB and 250 GB. I have to agree with size here as well, but if a much faster drive were available, the answer would change.
Contrary to what others may say, althou it won't be astronomical you would notice the difference. As soon as the 7200rpm drives came out people were pulling their 5400rpm drives out and putting the 7200s in. It was quite noticable. They spin 33% faster. A 5200 spins 24% faster than the 4200. Look at what ever machines youre using right now and see how much hard drive space you're using. See if you need 250GBs. Personally I'd never even load up a 160 GB drive but use an external to store photos movies and stuff i dont want to lose if my hard drive fails. If you actually need a 250GB hard drive go for it--otherwise go with the faster 160 especially if you plan on doing video editing.
The difference in RPMs won't make a noticable difference in file retrieval time- maybe a second, at that. However, you will find a more noticable difference in battery usage. The drive spins faster, thus using more energy while retrieving, as well as spinning up. If you're looking for more storage, you may look for an external drive. You can get a lot more storage for the price of upgrading to a different hard drive-- usually at 5400 to 7200 RPM.
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