Using laptop Drives in a Desktop PC.

[galwaydave]

Just a quick question. I'm looking at build a Mini ITX build and have one of the NZXT h210 cases so my 3.5 Drives are limited to 1. Just wondering if there's any performance difference between a 7200rpm 2.5 drive and a 3.5 7200RPM Drive ?

I was interested in the Firecuda drives for example.

 

[lsg1r]

IIRC there is a small difference purely due to the size of the platter with the 3.5 being faster.

Personally though if you're going 2.5" drives I'd suggest you look at sata ssd's unless you're after larger capacities... they'll be faster than both 2.5 and 3.5 hard drives, not just in transfer but in a noticeable responsiveness of your system.

 

[galwaydave]

Thanks for the Reply, I guess given the limits of the case I'll likely use a Large 3.5 Drive for Gaming along with some SSD's for the games that demand them (Star Citizen for example). But could pop in a few Firecudas for storage and older games.

 

[Maundie]

I would imagine the smaller 2.5" drives are more difficult to keep cool compared to the 3.5" drives, as lsg mentioned above I would look at SSDs if you have to go the 2.5" route but appreciate that price maybe an issue.

 

[lsg1r]

Thanks for the Reply, I guess given the limits of the case I'll likely use a Large 3.5 Drive for Gaming along with some SSD's for the games that demand them (Star Citizen for example). But could pop in a few Firecudas for storage and older games.

You could look into ssd caching where a small ssd is used to speed up access to a hard drive, it won't be as fast as a pure ssd build but it should be faster than a purely hard drive option.

Seagate even have some 'ready made' hybrid drives iirc, usually going under the term sshd, although I can't really comment on them directly as I've never used them. (edit: might be what you're on about with firecuda but that's also pure ssd to confuse things lol)

 

[sandys]

You could look into ssd caching where a small ssd is used to speed up access to a hard drive, it won't be as fast as a pure ssd build but it should be faster than a purely hard drive option.

Seagate even have some 'ready made' hybrid drives iirc, usually going under the term sshd, although I can't really comment on them directly as I've never used them. (edit: might be what you're on about with firecuda but that's also pure ssd to confuse things lol)

I am using fuzedrive/storeMI for this very purpose to speed up a slow 2.5 hdd I got from a games console, it works well on the data management side of things.

It works better than a hybrid drive, it is tiered storage rather than caching so move data you use to fast tier and leaves it there, moving data that is unused to slow drive. the paid for version allows a 1TB fast drive, the free one with AMD on 256Gb will only work with 2 drives though.

I run a 2 lane nvme, so not that fast, with a 2.5Gb HDD I had lying around from playstation in my daughters machine it works really well, slow drive rarely makes itself known.

I have used hybrid drives in the past though and if it is your only option, it is better than nothing.

 

[galwaydave]

I actually found a little 3.5inch Drive adapter that allows me to stack another 3.5 drive on top of my existing one. $15 but not sure how long it will take to get to me. I'll keep you posted.