I am looking for a Portable Drive with USB 3.0 Interface and with a Rotational Speed of 7200 RPM.
Is there such a device from WD?
I am assuming that a 5400 RPM Drive will deliver data across a USB 3.0 Interface slower than a 7200 RPM Drive would deliver the same data across a USB 3.0 Interface. (AND it is the drive rotation speed that limits the actual transfer rate, NOT the USB 3.0 Interface).
I guess I am also assuming that Portable Drives do in fact run at 5400 RPM by default. (I may be completely incorrect here).
I’ve seen a couple of posts where the reply states that the size is all that is guaranteed, and NOT the Interface/Rotational speed etc… however it does become a factor when trying to determine the best choice of product to buy.
Thanks in anticipation.
Hello,
On external drives the transfer rate is limited by the interface and not the drive’s RPM.
I’m not sure I understand that response.
Roughly data leaves a 5400 rpm drive head at 772.5Mb/sec, and a 7200 rpm drive head at 1030Mb/sec.
Now, they are both well under the USB 3.0 interface speed of a little under 5Gb/sec.
Yes, there is no doubt a Buffer Cache between the Drive head(s), and the USB interface, that helps boost burst transfers, but for sustained transfers, the higher speed rpm drive would perform much better than the lower speed rpm drive.
Hence I would much rather buy a 7200 rpm Portable Drive, than a 5400 rpm, and hence this question, where I’m trying to determine which WD Portable a drives spin at 7200 rpm.
Feel free to correct my understanding… I may be wrong.
