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Is my Laptop 4200 rpm hard drive compatible with a 7200 external hard drive?
I bought a 7200 rpm external hard drive recently to use with my laptop that has a 4200 rpm internal hard drive, but when I tried to transfer files into the external, it goes really slow (3mb/sec). It might've been a faulty external I bought, but can anyone educate me a bit about hard drive rpms and the compatibility between rpms of two connected hard drive?
Let's say I want to transfer a file from my external into my laptop or vice versa, will the hard drive with less rpm hold back on the full potential of the higher rpm hard drive? Thanks.
@brian: ohh I see. but I think my laptop's usb ports support 2.0
4 Answers
- 1 decade agoFavorite Answer
Yeah definitely you can, for sure use the 7200 ext.hdd with any laptop that has (i think it is USB,)usb. but that is not the problem.
Well rpm means the hdd spinning rate. and not necessarily how fast will it transfer data. Specially in usb devices, the highest transfer rate for USB2.0 is around 40MBps. and thats when reading. (compared to internal hdds using sata, which is around 70-80MBps) Plus, when you move very large files like >20GB, then you will see speeds around the number I mentioned, and will reduce drametiaclly if you try moving small files (like 100kb speed will go down to about 15MBps - I guess)
In the other hand, not all the external HDDs have same data transfer rate. If you can get somthing like http://reviews.cnet.com/hard-drives/owc-mercury-on...
then you will see the diffrence(Here they have given the speed in Mbps which is 8xMBps i have used)
Also, if you can go to Firewire or eSATA, that will improve the speed as well
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btw, your transfer rate is 3MBps = 24Mbps. so it definitely is USB2.0. USB1.1 can transfer only at 12Mbps,
know b4 u say guyz....!! :D
- Brian FLv 71 decade ago
It's not an incompatability... Your USB ports on the laptop are probably USB-1, not USB 2 slots, which are 15 or 20 times faster.
The hard drive RPM's aren't the limiting potential, it's the USB data rates... even with USB2, your limiting speed would be the USB, not a4500 rpm drive...
- Anonymous5 years ago
I couldn't find a reliable source for one However, does your laptop have esata or can you add it by a card? That way you could store whole directories on the external drive and copy them across when needed. I do that occasionally with DVD now.
- 1 decade ago
it is most likely the usb. Get a SATA cable if the external drive has a plug for it then hook it up to the motherboard and the external drive, or buy a usb 2.0 PCI card.
