# HD Upgrade Question



## Replytoken (Jul 30, 2008)

My laptop HD is almost full (thanks in part to a D3'' :cheesy, and I am considering two options.  The first, is to use my DVD drive bay to install a second Serial ATA HD (swapable w/the DVD burner).  My second choice is to buy a USB HD (think WD Passpsort).  I am assuming that the Serial ATA drive in the swapable bay will run as fast as my internally mounted Serial ATA drrive, so please correct me if I am wrong.  And I am also under the assumption that this is a much faster solution that using a USB drive (same RPM) pulling its power from the USB port.  My catalogs will remain on the internal drive, but my images will need to reside on this other drive.  So, in real life, can anybody shed some experience as to how noticeable of a difference should I expect when running LR (currently 1.4.1, but soon to be 2.' )?  I usually import images in batches of several hundred images that have already been converted to DNG files.  And, I frequently move through my catalogs which normally contain several thousand images.  Any input would be greatly appreciated as the price and hassle factor of the Serial ATA drive and caddy are a notch or two higher than buying an external USB drive with twice the capacity.

Thanks,

--Ken


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## Mark Sirota (Jul 30, 2008)

There are an awful lot of factors involved, but I'd predict the SATA drive to be noticably faster than the external USB2 drive.

Whether it's faster enough to justify the hassle and cost is not for me to decide, however...


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