Which brand hard drive is better? 5400rpm or 7200rpm.

[AkumaX]

dude! maxtor 7200rpm ata/100 is the way to go

 

[Bad Dude]

But money is the limiting factor. My buddy only got about $130 for each drive and he wants two drives.

 

[AkumaX]

hmmm.. that sux. you could have gotten a 45gig 7200rpm maxtor in nov. for around... $89 + tax? of course that involves PM/coupon/ritualistic dance

 

[jamarno]

Quality seems to be the same, within margin of error, but that may change if Western Digital's finances turn worse. IBM and Maxtor are probably the fastest for any RPM, Maxtors the quietest (especially during seeks), Quantum the noisiest. But differences in speed aren't important to significant to the vast majority of users, mostly only to those obsessed with benchmarks. Try to get something with an idle power rating of under 6 watts, even if it means buying a 5400 RPM.

 

[Bad Dude]

Hi jamarno,
How can you know what's the idle power is?

 

[jamarno]

It's the power consumption when the drive spins but does nothing, although the power used during reads isn't much higher. If the manufacturer doesn't specify the power directly, find the current ratings for the +5V and +12V lines, and multiply each rating by its respective voltage, and add the products to get the total power.