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HDD Advice

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    #2
    uberpixie
    Registered Users Posts: 1,864 ✭✭✭uberpixie


    jamieh wrote: »
    Hi all,

    I have a 160GB 5400rpm HDD in my Dell M1330 laptop.

    I'm down to 7gb. I noticed that the hdd seams to be spinning a lot whenever I'm launching an application, and its spinning loads on boot up.

    I've tried a defrag but it hasn't helped.

    I'm wondering would a 7200rpm drive improve matters?

    I'm looking at this one: http://www.dabs.ie/productview.aspx?Quicklinx=57SD&CategorySelectedId=11154&PageMode=1&NavigationKey=11154,47250000,42240000,4294952270,45560000

    What version of windows are you running?

    How much ram do you have? If you have a low amount of ram for the amount of programs you are trying to run at the same time: harddrive space is used to provide "Virtual memory" when windows runs out of ram.

    Less ram = more times the harddrive is accessed.

    A 7200RPM will perform better than a 5400rpm, the laptop will be a bit more responsive for certain tasks, they will be more noise and a little more power drain usibng a 7200rpm vs a 5400rpm harddrive though.


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    #3
    jamieh
    Registered Users Posts: 2,073 ✭✭✭jamieh


    uberpixie wrote: »
    What version of windows are you running?

    How much ram do you have? If you have a low amount of ram for the amount of programs you are trying to run at the same time: harddrive space is used to provide "Virtual memory" when windows runs out of ram.

    Less ram = more times the harddrive is accessed.

    A 7200RPM will perform better than a 5400rpm, the laptop will be a bit more responsive for certain tasks, they will be more noise and a little more power drain usibng a 7200rpm vs a 5400rpm harddrive though.

    Thanks for the reply.

    I presumed it would be quieter as it could fetch data quicker and wouldn't have to spin as much.

    I'm running Vista Ultimate with 2gb of RAM.


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    #4
    Blazer
    Registered Users Posts: 17,435 ✭✭✭✭Blazer


    Your main problem is you have only 7gb left.
    You either need to free up some space and then do a defrag or get a bigger hard drive.
    Also if you can afford it up the ram to 4gb.


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    #5
    leninbenjamin
    Closed Accounts Posts: 8,983 ✭✭✭leninbenjamin


    jamieh wrote: »
    Thanks for the reply.

    I presumed it would be quieter as it could fetch data quicker and wouldn't have to spin as much.

    I'm running Vista Ultimate with 2gb of RAM.

    got a spare USB running around? could try using Readyboost, it will lower the amount of disk accesses at least.

    what the hell are you running that uses up the disk that much anyway? I was close enough to maxing out my HDDs (have two 120GB drives on a Vostro1700). I know this is the obvious thing to say but I just spent a day going through all the crap i didn't need, and offloading all media to disk copies or the external. the original Dell crap that came installed that i never bothered removing freed up a few GB. I ended up freeing over 120GB of crap i just didn't realise i still had on there and didn't need. then downloaded and ran the trial version of O&O defrag and it freed up another 10GB.


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