>Keep in mind that the 5300 can only work with hard drives in PIO >Mode-4. That should give a grand total of some 16 or so MB/s under >ideal conditions. Combined with the fact that the 5300 can't do any >DMA (direct memory access) of any sort, has a very slow system bus >(33 MHz) and a pokey CPU (100 - 117 MHz), you won't get much more >benefit from anything modern over anything even 6 years old at 5400 >RPM. > >So, really, anything over 5400 RPM won't ever really be noticed. >Newer drives that use DMA, UATA, ATA-6, whatever-fancy-feature aren't >any better than your bog standard 5400 RPM IBM, Toshiba, Hitachi, >whatever drive from 6 years ago. > >So don't go crazy and buy a spec'ed out new hard drive when another >drive on the used market can save you $100. > >One thing that's nice about new drives is the _huge_ buffer. 8 MB of >buffer can be nice when you are constantly accessing the same info. >It can also help to keep power expenditure down. Combined with >setting the Mac OS's disk cache to some ridiculous value, you can >really (being a relative term, of course) save battery life while on >the road. > >Peace, >Drew >-- >
Thanks for the info, I'm not really able to plunk down money on a new hard drive anyway, I was going to put in one from a disassembled 4400, a Quantum Fireball ST2100. I'm not sure of it's speed, but would like to see if it boosts the performance a little. Someone else mentioned that the 5300 runs cooler than a 3400. Is that the hard drive or the processor generating that heat? Dan5300c -- PowerBooks is sponsored by <http://lowendmac.com/> and... Small Dog Electronics http://www.smalldog.com | Enter To Win A | -- Canon PowerShot Digital Cameras start at $299 | Free iBook! | Support Low End Mac <http://lowendmac.com/lists/support.html> PowerBooks list info: <http://lowendmac.com/lists/powerbooks.shtml> --> AOL users, remove "mailto:"; Send list messages to: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To unsubscribe, email: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> For digest mode, email: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subscription questions: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Archive: <http://www.mail-archive.com/powerbooks%40mail.maclaunch.com/> Using a Mac? Free email & more at Applelinks! http://www.applelinks.com
