[Darth-Apple]

I'm actually running from a 5400 RPM hard drive on a desktop. (Nope, that's no typo. ) It's a 1TB drive, and it is almost as fast as my 7200 RPM 750GB drive. It appears that the higher data densities make up for the slower RPM rate.

Of course, 10000 RPM drives can't store nearly as much data, and thus have lower data densities. I guess my main thought is, what's the actual improvement of using a 10000 RPM drive if the latest 3TB drives are almost as fast, thanks to the higher data densities. They may have a very slight improvement, but is it really worth the extra price per GB?

Also, while it used to be that 5400 RPM drives were the norm, even for desktops, it seems nowadays that 7200 RPM will remain the standard, at least for a few more years. I can't really imagine desktops needing 10TB hard drives at this point, so do you think that a progression towards 10000 RPM drives will be occurring over the coming years?

Be sure to share your thoughts.

[Gmdykfuiygh66476]

Keep in mind that the higher the storage, the slower the drive will be. I had a 5400RPM 80gb drive that was just as fast as my 7200RPM 500gb one. If it were the other way around that little 80GB drive would be very fast.

[Darth-Apple]

Perhaps it's the older drives in general that aren't as fast. Manufacturers don't have to raise the RPM rate to make a drive faster, which may explain a lot.

My old 4GB drive that's just sitting in a box of old supplies in my closet is ridiculously slow. It may be 5400 RPM, but so is my desktop hard drive, and my desktop does just fine.