Is a 40G hard drive, running at 5400, slower than a 20G hard drive at 5400?
Interesting question. Since the speed is the same, the same length of time will be required to spin the disk one revolution beneath the head(s), making any performance advantages or penalties a result of other considerations.
Since the larger drive would by necessity store more data on each track, and each track would take the same time to read or write, it follows that the larger disk would transfer more data in the same time. Maybe.
If the architecture of the disk were such that the larger disk contained more surfaces or cylinders, to accommodate the extra data, the performance could be identical.
I cannot see any way that the larger disk could be slower, at least not in data transfer once the heads are in place. If the larger disk contains more cylinders, seek times may increase.
Real-world observations indicate that larger drives are usually faster drives too.
Cheers, PW. |
