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Would I notice the difference between a 7200 rpm and a 5400 rpm laptop hard drive?

If I replace my current harddisk with a faster one, and reinstall the os in this harddisk, will the computer run faster in general? Is the difference in speed big?

If there is any difference, what factors are responsible for this?

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closed as exact duplicate by slhck, ChrisF, Mehper C. Palavuzlar, Sathya♦ May 24 '11 at 8:51

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Yes, the computer will run faster. The data transfer speeds of faster hard drives are higher, and since the majority of what could be called 'general use' computing is actually disk I/O, these higher transfer speeds translate into better responsiveness. But, assuming a like-for-like swap (that is, same manufacturer, same size), the faster drive will speed your machine up. If you really want a speed boost though, you want a Solid State Drive.

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Some clarification is needed here: The computer won't actually run faster as the CPU itself is unaffected (e.g., SETI calculations won't complete any sooner), but the disk I/O will definitely be faster. If you see a lot of swap file activity, then the difference should be very noticeable. – Randolf Richardson May 24 '11 at 8:15
Good point, +1 for you. – Lukasa May 24 '11 at 8:18
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