There are not too many situations where most users would be able to notice
the performance difference, but in the not too far distant future these fast
drives may be needed for faster apps. They are so cheap now that the price
difference is insignificant, so why not.  I just bought a Western Digital 30
gig, 7200 rpm a couple of months ago.  It came with the same 3 year warranty
as the 5400 rpm drives, and was only about $20 more than the 5400 rpm on
line.  My recollection is that this drive's Maximum Time Before Failure
(MTBF) is about the same as my slower drives, 150,000 hours.  There are only
8700 hours in a year, so if it only lasts to 75,000 hours, that's longer
than you'll keep it anyway.



To dramatically demonstrate the speed difference
download a harddrive benchmarking program like Hd Tach
from http://www.tcdlabs.com/hdtach.htm (free demo)
 I am running IBM 7200rpm drives in my system..
I recently built a new system for my brother using the Maxtor 7200 rpm 30
gig drive
The Maxtor is much faster than my IBMs according the Hd Tach, especially the
burst speed.
Both computers have  ata 100 controllers.
7200 rpm drives do tend to run hotter,
 I have mine in removable hard drive caddies with a built-in  fan.
My two cents.



> I have both a 5400 rpm and 7200 rpm Hard Drive (both at ATA100), there is
> really NO massive difference in speed.
> If you have the money though, I guess you might as well get one, but you
> would never notice a difference if you didnt have them sitting beside each
> other, I am talking only a matter of a few seconds. Good Luck on your
> choice.

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