2.5" HDD vs 3.5" HDD?

Hardware Hub Storage
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Okay, so I've been wondering, how much of a difference is there between a hard drive that's 3.5" and a hard drive that's 2.5", provided that they're the same make and model, the only difference being the physical size. Is there any difference between the two in terms of reliability, life span, performance, noise levels, temperatures, etc?

I've looked into it a tiny bit myself, but I was just getting back a bunch of numbers really, although numbers are reliable, it doesn't provide you with a real-life example as to how much of a difference there is between the two. From what I've seen online, the 3.5" HDD has a VERY minor edge over the 2.5", but it's so minor that you'd never in 100 years notice the difference. But I say that you'd never notice it, I mean this is providing that you're not running some complex algorithms that relies on storage being to it's best it possibly can be in all departments. Not just speed but reliability, and life span.

But I wanted to actually get an answer from someone who has actually owned a computer with 2.5" HDD's installed, but has also used plenty of 3.5" HDD's, or currently has both installed on their current system. Is there actually a noticeable difference? Or is it more of a theoretical difference?

I've read and heard arguments supporting one side, and arguments supporting the other side, so I'm a bit confused here? Like one guy said, typically a 2.5" drive is actually designed to experience more shock and more physical abuse, because of the fact that they're more designed to go into laptops.

=== EDIT:
Also would you guys suggest looking into NAS for a large amount of storage capacity, for things like basic programs, maybe some compilers? I actually haven't looked into how great NAS is for performance or anything, so I really don't know, hence why I'm asking would if be a good idea to invest into NAS storage or not?

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Nope, they're the same

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Cool, I appreciate how subtle and precise your answer is too btw, honestly, as long as you can say you've had experience with both, that's more than enough evidence for me. Like I've said, all I've seen is that in theory the 3.5" is slightly better for speed, but reliability they're both 100% the same.

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2.5 and 3.5 HHDs are both fragile the same amount, that's why in some notebooks are built in accelerometers that detach the HDD head when they detect a fall. What matters are RPMs: usually 3.5 HDDs have a rotation speed of 7200RPMs and 2.5 HDDs of 5400RPMs. Because of this a 2.5 drive is usually slower but I think that with similar RPMs come similar transfer speeds. To be honest I trust more 3.5 HDDs for storing drives because at the same capacity sectors are more spaced out compared to a 2.5 drive so the risk of getting some corrupted is less likely. I've never done any special testing, all of this comes from my hardware knowledge.

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For the same speed (7200 rpm etc.) 3.5" disks will have a higher average speed as the outer tracks of the disk are longer and therefore move faster. However 2.5" disks will have a faster average random access speed as there is less total distance for the head to move.

Other than that they're both the same thing.

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I don't have proof, but in my experience, data recovery is far more likely on a desktop than a laptop, but that could be attributed to other things- like dropping. I can definitely say that I've had less luck with the smaller drives than with bigger drives in terms of data recovery, but that is just my experience.

I've used a laptop HDD (500GB) for a time in my desktop as a boot drive and never had any issues in 5+ years on my system. I pulled it from a consumer grade Acer, which I used for school. I've replaced plenty of the same/similiar drives out of laptops, including my own, from dropping it(I use an ssd now). They are the same, but laptop drives get abused a lot from transportation I think.

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Hello guys,

I have a similar question for a specific use. I am looking into building a NAS and I can find cases for both sizes hot-swappable. What would you suggest? Do you have experience with these things? Space is not really a problem in my application, it's for my small business.

Thank you.