TiVo Community Forums Archives - Is 7200RPM a "no-no"?

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Is 7200RPM a "no-no"?
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Posted by: mykall

It's getting difficult to find 5400 RPM drives
in any large capacities. Because of heat they
are obviously preferred, but there must be some
people using 7200 w/o problems..right?

Additionally, there was mention of WD offering
special 5400 drives for Tivo and the like, any
info on these, I couldn't find anything on their
web site? They're likely to be higher priced
well.

Thanks

Mike

Posted by: stevel

5400 RPM drives are not hard to find. Look for Maxtor. I bought two 120GB 5400RPM Maxtor drives the other day, $209 with tax at a local PC show. The Western Digital announcement you referred to has to do with them supplying drives to TiVo directly - not necessarily drives you can buy on the open market.

A 7200 RPM drive will work fine, but will generate more heat that may cause a problem if your ventilation is marginal.

Posted by: feldon23

Define no-no.

They're a lot louder, they run hotter, and the extra speed isn't needed.

Posted by: OregonDuck

I've been running a Maxtor 30GB 7200 for more than a year. No problems. I keep my TiVos under my house, so I don't really know if they're louder or not.

Posted by: yankeestom

Tivos under the house... how do the remotes work?

Posted by: mykall

What I meant by "no-no" is that inside a
PC case there is at least 1 fan(often more) and especially in ATX cases the ventilation is good. Tivo is almost entirely enclosed and I don't believe that there is a fan and therefore wondered if there was a high failure rate trying to use
7200 rpm drives.

Mike

Posted by: OregonDuck

quote:
Originally posted by yankeestom
Tivos under the house... how do the remotes work?

Xantech IR distribution. I have a sensor on top of the TV that is wired to IR emitters taped to the TiVos (and several other components that really don't need to be in the living room). There's also a wireless solution, Powermid transmitter and receiver.

Posted by: stevel

All TiVos have a fan. But the temperature will definitely be warmer with a 7200RPM drive.

Posted by: cactus46

I replaced my original 30 GB Quantum A drive with a WD 100 GB 7200 RPM hard drive on 12/30/01. The temperature is cooler than the Quantum and the WD is quiet. So far there are no problems to report.

I'll post here should any problems develop.

Posted by: binki

I've got two of the WD100GB 7200 RPM drives in my TiVo, which is on a shelf between two other components, and everything's happy. The internal temperature has reported as normal every time I've checked.

Posted by: 2Tivoman

I upgraded a new Hughes unit with a WD 7200 rpm drive almost two months ago. The reported temperature hasn't changed more than 1 degree, and it's FAR less noisy than my "stock" Phillips unit. Just one sample, but I think the heat and noise "fear factor" is overplayed.

Posted by: Darin

It seems to me that head seeks are more objectionable from a noise standpoint than the spinning of the platters, so I would think drive speed to be a non-issue when it comes to noise. In fact, the constant sound of spinning could help to drown out the more erratic sound of head seeks, which some might find preferable. Besides, as far as noise & heat goes, you could find more variance between brands/models than you would of two similar drives where only rotational speed is different.