5400 Vs 7200 Rpms Options

[Cryofax]

Western Digital makes 2 2.5" 9.5mm drives that are 750gb. One is 5400 RPMs, the other 7200 RPMs.

I would assume XBox 360 stock drives are 5400.

Which would you recommend for a jtag? The 7200 is obviously faster, but would likely generate more heat, although the drive enclosure is on the side and it might not matter. But would 7200 cause some strange incompatibility due to faster access time? Looking for feedback.

This post has been edited by Cryofax: Feb 4 2011, 07:47 AM

[Aldanga]

I have a 7200rpm drive. It doesn't seem to make a real difference, though I have done no scientific tests. There are no incompatibilities due to the spindle rate.

[Ketchup_Bomb]

I opted for the 5400 RPM HDD. Hasn't hiccuped at all.

[Toddler]

I went with the 5400 RPM as well. Regardless of rotational speed, make sure you disable the drive idle setting (wdidle3 utility) or else you can get skipping in games like Rock Band when the drive spins up again.

This post has been edited by Toddler: Feb 19 2011, 12:46 PM

[grandmaster]

I went with the 5400rpm they dont get hot they run at a warm temperature which is good considering its enclosed. All my pc external cases 3.5" i even run WD Green 2TB drives they are 5400rpm i have ran 7200rpm drives in cases and 5400rpm drives and the heat difference is huge and the drive will last longer and perform better if it is not boiling to the touch. The speed difference between the 2 spin rates is minimal in read it is more noticable in write that is on PC external drives on E-Sata to a pc with raid drives that do upto 140mbs.
E-Sata speed 5400rpm from memory was around 60-90mbps, write = 60 or so read in the 80s. 7200rpm is around same in read get little more upto 105mbps on abgx but that was not the avrg id say write be in the 70-80mbps and read upto 100mbps. This will differ in drive types, file sizes, fragmentation of files and pc setup aswell but the 5400rpm drive is a better drive when you are running it in a enclosed space.
XBOX360 games run from usb with no problem so i do not see any point in adding a drive that may give a slight 1second or so saving on load times for games when a 5400rpm drive will perform just as well if not better as its not going to be cooking every time it is being used but this is my opinion and the best way to find out is test a couple drives on your pc in a external enclosure i did my tests last year but this was my results from memory. Use win7 gives drive speeds as transfers are running or you can use diagnostic testing software.

[tk_saturn]

I've done a few tests and found there wasn't a huge difference in load times between 5400RPM drives and 7200RPM drives. I also didn't find a huge difference between a USB drive, and a drive connected via Sata although there was less glitches in video playback. The difference between USB and 5400 Sata was pretty much the same as the difference between 5400 Sata and 7200 Sata. I ended up sticking to the 2TB 5400.

I did find a huge difference in speed between even a USB drive and a retail DVD though.

[Shintax909]

I have a Samsung SpinPoint MT2 1tb, 5400rpm, will i have a drive idle problem?