A search is an excellent idea but here is a summary of drive design issues:
rpm, cache, access time, seek time and interface.

RPM: faster rpm can equal faster data transfer as moe data moves under the
driveheads in a given time.  Especially older 7200 RPM drives should have extra
cooling and or space between drives... varying by manufacturer.

cache: memory for stashing information until a mechanically convenient time to
wrote it rather than repeatedly shuttling the drives heads from one track (in &
out) to the next.

seek time: how long it takes the heads to align over a particular track.  This
is an average or a maximim.  After all, sometimes your head needs only move over
one track while others it may start at track zero and have to move to the end of
the disk.  The better defragged your disk is, the less seek time is an issue.

Interface
UDMA refers to how the IDE data channels are linked to memory and at what speed
it commucates
UDMA -33 (at PCI clock)
UDMA -66 (faster and requires a special data cable)
UDMA -100(Still faster and requires same special data cable)

From here, figure out how much more you want to know... :-)

Matthew


Ed Rennacker wrote:

> Hello, in all the rush and fuss I musta missed the details about these new
> HDD's and their interfaces. Hard drives running at 5400 rpm are just as
> capable of ATA/100 performance as the faster ide drives at 7200rpm?

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