up vote 5 down vote favorite
1
share [g+] share [fb]

Can the drive you choose to boot off affect performance? Would I receive faster boot/shutdown times if I were to choose a smaller drive? How would partitions affect performance/boot speed? Assuming all drives are the same RPM, lets say 7200.

link|improve this question
80% accept rate
feedback

2 Answers

up vote 8 down vote accepted

Can the drive you choose to boot off affect performance?

  • It can affect it, but most likely in a positive way. Larger hard drives can be faster due to higher data density.

Would I receive faster boot/shutdown times if I were to choose a smaller drive?

  • Doubtful

How would partitions affect performance/boot speed? Assuming all drives are the same RPM, lets say 7200.

  • Depends on how you partition it, I'd recommend reading this great article by Mitch Tulloch on partitioning drives. He discusses partitioning techniques geared towards performance such as

    • having your page file on a different drive
    • using FAT32 for smaller partitions
link|improve this answer
I'd love to read this article by Mitch Tulloch but the link doesn't appear to work and Google doesn't appear to be my friend on this one. – Umber Ferrule Jul 14 '11 at 22:54
feedback
up vote 0 down vote

if you're using a Windows OS, it will take ages to defragment the drive.

Fragmentation of the system drive is a crucial factor for performance. So, even if there is a marginal gain due to higher data density, you will lose out on the time you spend defragmenting the drive to keep the drive in good shape.

Would I receive faster boot/shutdown times if I were to choose a smaller drive?

Most certainly, if you're using a WD Velociraptor as system drive. No 1TB drive is even remotely a match for the performance of a Velociraptor.

link|improve this answer
You sit there and watch your defrags? – John T Sep 28 '09 at 3:30
i don't, but the time spend on defragmentation has to be taken into consideration and a smaller drive is faster to defragment, as simple as that :) – Molly7244 Sep 28 '09 at 3:36
Newer windows operating systems do it for you in the background anyway when you aren't using a lot of CPU power so the time isn't that big of a deal. Also velociraptors are 10k rpm drives, he is assuming all are 7200 rpm for the comparison. – John T Sep 28 '09 at 3:38
"no 1TB drive is even remotely a match for the performance of a Velociraptor." - engadget.com/2009/08/03/… ??? – John T Sep 28 '09 at 3:49
are you implying that background defragmentation does not affect the system performance? and CPU utilazition is the least of the worries. – Molly7244 Sep 28 '09 at 3:50
show 2 more comments
feedback

Your Answer

 
or
required, but never shown
discard

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged or ask your own question.