Hi EdBag4:
___I am almost an exclusive user of 7200 RPM drives today because they speed up everything else not related to HTPC use. If you load an OS, Driver, or SW app, the 7200’s will load them faster. Boot up times are also slightly shorter. If you have run the lengths of your installed RAM and are swapping, the 7200’s are still slow in comparison to main memory but they are faster than the 5400’s and the feel is very noticeable in comparison.
___As far as the Seagate Barracuda ATA IV’s, we all know the dB output is second to none in the 7200 RPM drive arena but with the dB output cutting utility running (all Barracuda ATA IV’s come this way that I know of), they cannot touch the latest 7200 RPM WD, Maxtor, or IBM’s to date. This you can easily see in an HD Tach bench (less than 80 MB/S burst rates) as well as feel against the WD 120’s in particular.
___I only want to emphasize this discussion is for non-HTPC uses because there isn’t an HTPC app that can challenge even a 5400 RPM ATA 33 drive let alone the 7200 RPM ATA100/133 based drive we have available to us today.
___Good Luck
___Wayne R. Gerdes
___Hunt Club Farms Landscaping Ltd.
___
[email protected]