5400 rpm time machine

[rerelease]

I'm interested in replacing my 250GB HDD for a 80GB SSD. I want to use the old drive as a USB backup disk for Time Machine, but is 5400 RPM fast enough for this?

 

[Jolly Jimmy]

Yes, of course.

 

[donuttakedonuts]

Spindle speed isn't as important as other bits. For example, what kind of drive is this? Does it use SATA 3gb/s? If you want a fast backup drive, a 7200 rpm drive will be better, I upgraded an iBook to 7200 and there was a BIGZ performance difference.

 

[MacDawg]

Bigger numbers don't always mean better performance
And not all drives are created equal

Here are some reviews to consider

Scorpio Blue 5400 and Black 7200 Review

WD Scorpio Blue 5400 vs. Seagate Momentus 7200

OP, yes, your drive will be more than capable of being a TM backup

Woof, Woof - Dawg

 

[BlueRevolution]

... I upgraded an iBook to 7200 and there was a BIGZ performance difference.

That's because running a computer involves a lot of random reads and writes, so the faster seek time of a 7200 RPM drive is a significant factor. On the other hand, making a Time Machine backup involves largely sequential writes, where seek time isn't as important. I would be surprised if there were a significant performance difference with Time Machine between 5400 and 7200 RPM drives on the same interface.

Besides, Time Machine runs in the background, so it doesn't matter how long it takes to make a backup.

So, in short: yes, the 5400 RPM drive will work just fine.

 

[tekio]

I've been using a wd passport with time machine for a while without a problem, tbh I haven't noticed much difference over the 7200rpm usb drive I used before.