Does spindle speed really matter for external drives?

I'd like to get a 1TB drive and pop it in an enclosure, but I'm wondering if I should bother spending the extra cash on a good 7200 RPM drive like the WD Caviar or if I should just go for a cheaper, older 5400 RPM Hitachi drive? Will I see a difference in read/write speeds?

What type of connection will you be using?

Well, what would you use it for? Since its external, would you have an OS installed on it?

You know, why not just get this. Its 7200 rpm. I was reading about the Samsung 1tb drive (only 5200rpm) and people were saying its a good drive, but a little slower. SO I guess the spindle speed does play a part.

neonblingbling said:

What type of connection will you be using?

Click to expand...

USB2 and/or Firewire 400. I don't have an SATA enclosure yet so I still need to buy one. It would primarily be used for mass storage/backups, but I could see myself installing a game or two on it.