Does number of platters affect speed?

[Anchundan]

I can't decide whether to go for either :

Samsung SpinPoint T HD321KJ 320GB SATA-II 16MB Cache (2 166GB platters)

or

Samsung SpinPoint T HD401LJ 400GB SATA-II 16MB Cache (3 133GB platters)

(Unfortunately, the 500GB version hasn't made it's way out here yet).

Will there be much of a performance hit for having 3 platters instead of 2?

 

[semi-pro waster]

I believe that the one with fewer platters should be faster although it isn't directly from the number of platters, it has to do with the higher data density on a 166gb platter.

//edit and no I doubt it will really make a huge difference for normal use whether you use 3 or 2 platters.

 

[Dutch Guy]

The number of platters doesn't matter regarding speed (more platter can be less reliable though)

What does matter is the data density per platter, the higher the data density, the faster the drive is.

133GB per platter is reletively low these days, most new drives have 200GB, 250GB or even more, the soon to be released Samsung F1 will have 334GB platters.

 

[mosfet]

As others have said, number of platters doesn't affect speed directly, but it does usually imply a greater platter density, which has a massive effect on throughput.

Fewer platters are also advantagous because the spindle motor has to do less work, producing less heat and noise.

 

[Anchundan]

Thanks for all the info.

It seems like it might be worth me hanging on for this new F1 drive when it arrives. Any ideas when it will be released?