My laptop has a 5400RPM 250GB hard drive and my enclosure has a 7200RPM 320GB hard drive. I'm thinking of swapping them, since the external isn't being used much. Normally this would be a simple decision but I only get 3 hours of battery life with the 5400RPM drive in my laptop. How badly will the 7200RPM drive hurt my battery life? How much does this matter if we consider the larger capacity and higher speed? Should I swap??
http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=373711 post #8.. guy seems to think 5-10 minutes- another guy saying under heavy use you'll see a lot more cut off not sure without some direct tests
I wouldn't worry about the power drain. Its going to be 5W at best, so your not going to see a difference in battery life.
