Linux Mint Forums

Hi All
Im rebuilding a older pc to use as a music box as well as watch shoutcast tv and hulu streams.(maybe grab a torrent here n there to watch)
its got a
old hp motherboard
p3 @1.1
1/2 gig ram(maxed out)
nvidia 5500 PCI vid (256)
power supply i like as its quiet is only 150 watt


My question is I have several HD's I can use - 5400 rpm's and 7200 rpm's(the 5400's seem quiter that is from slower speed i assume)
part 1
will i see any difference in performance with the different speeds?(other than boot times)
part 2
do slower hd's use less power?

Thanx in advance guys.
And keep up the good work
I love mint flavored ice cream too
mint flux ce rocks

A 7200 rpm hard drive on average will give you a 33% hard drive performance boost or larger. So I would definitely use it!

Generally speaking, newer IDE 7200 drives use less power than any drive older than about 3 years. If you have two drives that are roughly the same age, check the lables. By law they are required to give you Voltage and Amps as an average. There is a formula you can use from this info to give you Watts. Google "IRV" I think its IxR / V gives you Watts. Cant recall but its been a long time since Uni. Where's an electrician when you ned one.
My suggestion- Given the current price of hard drives, if you are able, buy a new one. The other reason for this, IDE drives are end of life effective December 2008 (yes- last month) Seagate have deleted them and Western Digital have stopped production and trade on current stock only. I will find the press release from my supplier and post a link back. This is bad news for all those folks runnig linux to get the most from older PC's. But linux doesnt make money...new computers and Hard Drives do. Sad but true...

thank you so far,video is "choppy" when full sized, any ideas?
and i remember that announcement about hd,s