What are your qualified opinions/observations in regards to the functional difference between these two “generations” of hard drives?
I realize that there are differences among various manufacturers, particular drive specifications, and the like. And I further realize that there is a “theoretical” difference of whatever percent (25%), but this is a “generally speaking” question.
The first “generation” would be those drives that are several years old, most commonly 5400 rpm, 10ms/11ms average seek time, 4 read/write heads, etc. A 6.5 GB Fijitsu Model MPC3064AT drive would fit into this category.
Here is a link to the specification page:
http://tinyurl.com/49ge
The second “generation” would be those most commonly sold the past one or two years, most commonly 7200 RMP, 8ms average seek time, 6 Read/Write heads, etc. The 20/40/60 GB IBM Deskstar drives would fit into this category.
A link to the specification page:
http://tinyurl.com/49gj
What I mean by “functional difference” is this: Would a normal user detect a difference in the speed of their computer running normal Windows 2000 functions, normal applications (MS Office), etc.?