RPM's 5400 vs 7200 (Heat, Noise, Reliability)

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snakyjake

Member
Jan 22, 2014
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I'm considering Western Digital RED 5400 RPM and Seagate Wolf 7200 RPM drives for my media server NAS with will stream over a wired network to my TV. I will install eventually a maximum of 8 drives.

In regards to the RPM's of 5400 vs. 7200:

Is there a heat difference I should consider?

Is there a noise difference I should consider?

Is there a reliability difference I should consider?
 

CyberSkulls

Active Member
Apr 14, 2016
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This is all strictly opinion but here goes..

7,200 rpm drives do run warmer, and are typically louder. That's not a bad thing, it's just the nature of a drive running at a higher rpm.

Reliability is debatable. Any drive can die at any time for any reason. So I honestly wouldn't base how reliable a drive is/will be simply by the rotation speed of the platter.


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Blue)(Fusion

Active Member
Mar 1, 2017
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Chicago
My 10k SCSI drives from a decade ago are running just fine, still.... They're even approaching 100,000 power on hours!

I don't think rotational speed will make much difference to drive wear and tear before planned obsolescence. Starting and stopping the drives, regardless of rotational speed is worse for wear and tear.

7200RPM drives are slightly louder than 5400/5900RPM drives. 7200RPM drives run slightly warmer - only noticeable with very minimal/no airflow, IMO.