What factors determine a hard drive's speed? My laptop has a 120 GB Hitachi 4200 RPM HD and I think it's slow

the RPM's and the gb/s the average new hard drive is 7200RPM and 3gb/s which about the fastest they come, it may also matter on the MB cache i would assume your hard drive is 1.5gb/s so it may be slow.

Although there are several different factors that have an effect, like seek time, cache size, etc, the most obvious benefit is the RPM. Most standard desktop HDDs run at about 7200RPM. There are some models like the Western Digital Raptor which run at 10,000RPM, and I've even seen some at 15,000RPM.

The faster the RPM, the faster your hard drive can seek information, and thus the faster it should be displayed to you.

opposite to what others would say, althou it is not astronomical you're able to observe the distinction. as quickly by using fact the 7200rpm drives got here out human beings have been pulling their 5400rpm drives out and putting the 7200s in. It grow to be quite noticable. They spin 33% quicker. A 5200 spins 24% quicker than the 4200. seem at what ever machines youre making use of top now and notice how lots no longer basic force area you're making use of. See in case you opt for 250GBs. individually i could in no way even load up a a hundred and sixty GB force yet use an exterior to save photos video clips and stuff i dont want to lose if my no longer basic force fails. in case you certainly want a 250GB no longer basic force choose for it--in any different case bypass with the quicker a hundred and sixty particularly in case you intend on doing video enhancing.

Yes 4200 is slow they havent made those for around 2-3yrs most laptop drives atleast 5400 or higher.. But you would not see a huge increase in speed but you would see a little bit of increase if you changed the hdd out. Thanks