SSD vs. SATA HDD speed?

[Sen]

Hello,

I recently got a MiniNote 2133 for $136 which came with a 4 gb internal SSD. I am thinking about replacing it with a SATA HDD but would like to know :

1: If the solid state drive is faster than a
a)5400 rpm sata drive
or
b) 7200 rpm sata drive

also, would either of the three options take significantly more power?

as a final inquiry, does hard drive cache size matter? the 7200 rpm drive has 16 mb as compared to 8 on the 5400 rpm one.

feel free to point me in the direction of the info to find it myself.

[newst]

First, the 7200 drive will be noticeably faster than the 5400. The larger cache will also improve write performance.

Next, there is some controversy over which drive draws more power. While the 7200 takes more power than the 5400 to spin the disc, the faster speed means it doesn't spin as long to move the same amount of data. A bit of a wash there.

I've had both a 7200 HD and a 60GB SSD in the Mini 2133 and both performed well.

Steve

[Sen]

did one generate noticeably more heat than the other? Does anyone know the exact transfer rates for SSD vs. Sata HDD. Sata is reputed to be 3 gb/s

[jakubd]

3Gb/s i SATA interface speed, not a real drive speed. Both SSD and regular HDDs are usually connected to SATA interface.
HDDs range from 40-100MB/s read/write and 10-20ms seek time.
SSD usually start from 100 and can even up to 250MB/s depending on model (write speeds are usually a bit lower than read speeds). What is most important is the seek time, that usually does not exceed 0,01ms - and this makes SSD really screaming fast beasts.

Now back to 2133: the original 4GB drive that was provided with some Linux model is not the fastest one and probably some 7200 spinner drives can surpass those in head-to-head tests. But if you use a "real" branded device like OCZ Agility or Intel X25, this would make a real difference.

Are there any benchmarks of this 4GB drive that was installed in 2133 Linux models?

[Sen]

not that I know of. How would I make one?

[jakubd]

1st problem: you need to have Windows XP available on this computer (probably just installed on that drive). Then you have to download at least 2 basic (and free) tools:
1. HdTach from SimpliSfotware
2. ATTO Disk Benchmark
All you have to do is to run it and report your findings

[Sen]

I got a 320 GB 7200 rpm 16 mb cache and installed it. I had to use pliers to bend the tabs holding the ssd and because of its thickness, it raised the 3 keyboard screws slightly as well as giving a sizable warp to the enclosure. It also vibrates noticably to the hand as compared to the SSD. Nonetheless, the advantage is almost 100 fold in size over the 4 GB SSD.

One disturbing thing I noticed was that there was a power connector on the SATA hdd which did not connect to the SATA adapter in the notebook. Is this power connector optional somehow?

I will be putting XP home on the drive first, then Ubuntu 8.10 and probably many others for testing.

[Peterkorse12]

7200 SATA HDD will give much better improved performance than 5200 or SSD. As it has a larger storage capacity it has one drawback also and that is it consumes more power so the heating problem arise. For storing large amount of data if you want to use this 7200 drive than you should have its required specifications that resolve its heating problem.

[jakubd]

In general a typical SSD drive will be always MUCH faster than any spindle HDD. This might not be true for the cheap 4GB drive given with the cheapest 2133's, but still I haven't seen any speed tests.

[newst]

I have a Corsair P128 128GB SSD in my 210HD and it is significantly faster than a 7200 rpm spindle. It's fast enough on WIN7 that I use hibernate exclusively to save battery and avoid the risk of waking from sleep while the netbook is in a bag.