Are older model HDD's slower?

[spat55]

Just a quick thought, would a 2012 1TB Black Caviar with 0 hours be slower than a 2017 1TB Black Caviar? I know we are mostly told to look at RPM/Cache but if they are identical then surely other things come into it?

[Mira Yurizaki]

If there's any speed changes, it's likely the software (i.e., firmware), not the hardware.

 

However the hardware can affect it depending on how many platters the drives have. Smaller platter count means more data density, which leads to generally better performance.

[ShadySocks]

The RPM can only sometimes indicate speed.

[kb5zue]

19 minutes ago, ShadySocks said:

The RPM can only sometimes indicate speed.

So, if RPM (revolutions per minute) doesn't indicate speed, then what does it represent?  The old drives ran at 5400rpm with the newer drives running at 7200rpm so naturally speed wise the drives at 7200rpm do run faster.  That doesn't necessarily mean faster data transfer, just means faster drive platter rotation.