Assume a drive is 5900rpm unless stated otherwise?

[pRICE cUBE]

Seeing some nice deals for external hard drives at Costco. Both the Seagate and WD drives do not list the RPM on the boxes. Should I assume this is the 5900 rpm drive since 7200 rpm is usually proudly shown?

[Trouble]

WD would be 5400

[Gareth]

Not sure you can assume anything really. They also like to advertise 54/5900 rpm drives as "Green".

I bought a Seagate USB drive, thinking it would be 5900 based on web reports. When I tore it apart, it was 7200. So, the manufacturer may just put in whatever they feel like/have overstock of/etc, if they don't specify.

[M A V I C]

Depends on what your goal is. If your goal is a fast drive, assume 5400/5900. If your goal is an energy efficient drive, assume a 7200 RPM

Some cheap WD enclosures have been coming with Black drives... so I tend to agree with Gareth that they come with whatever the mfg throws in.

On a side note, honestly I would invest in a good enclosure like those from OWC, and buy bare drives. Slightly more expensive in the short term, but in the long run you'll end up reusing the enclosure.

[bik]

Not sure you can assume anything.

I once bought a couple 2GB external Seagate drives. When I opened the enclosure, I found a model of 7200rpm drive that was not available as a bare drive in the US at that time.