Upgrading the Primary HDD in G73SW; Questions!

[Banshee]

I am preparing to upgrade the primary hard drive and add a second internal hard drive to my G73SW.

Currently, it has the pre-installed 500 GB drive in there, and I want to do the following:

1. Replace it with a 1TB drive.
2. Add a second 1TB drive to the second internal drive bay.

Since I do DAW work, and have about 1.5 TB+ of static sound samples in my libraries, I plan to use drives that spin at 7200 RPM. I already have an HGST internal drive, 1TB, 7200 RPM, 32MB Cache.

Sure, a pair of large capacity 2.5" SSDs would be faster, use less power, and not be exposed to damage from vibrations, but two SSDs would run me > $1,200; most of the cost of a new laptop. This G73 is already over 2 years old, so I'm not sure I can justify spending that much money on it if two economically priced spinners will suffice.

I might reconsider an SSD next year if bigger capacities are available for less money and if the laptop is still in good working order.

I already bought an HGST 1TB, 7200RPM, 32MB cache model. Got it locally for <$100. But I see that Newegg has 64MB Cache models available from other manufacturers for about $230. I need a second internal drive anyway, so before I place any order...

Questions:

1. Will there be a significant/noticeable performance improvement from a 7200 RPM drive with 64 MB cache as opposed to 32MB?

2. Do you think the performance improvement in the 64MB cache drive is worth the extra $130? How could I quantify and qualify this for myself and my decision making process?

3. I will need a bracket for the new drive. I see the one in the Asus eStore, but it will cost me $40-$50 US with tax and shipping. Is this pretty much a standard bracket that can be obtained elsewhere?

Thanks in advance!

[Banshee]

Okay, I did some light research and found that 32 vs. 64 MB Cache probably won't make that much of a difference. I decided that I didn't need to care about splitting hairs and that 64 MB cache was not worth an extra $130.

So I went ahead and ordered a new bracket from the Asus eStore, and a second HGST hard drive from newegg. They'll arrive next week sometime. I plan to transfer the OS with Macrium Reflect's "bare metal recovery" feature, and also install the second drive and move my sound sample libraries from the external drives to the internal.

This should help me reduce my travel weight by many small parts and several pounds (cables, hubs, external drives, etcetera).

[junglejuice72]

Hiya buddy, how did this go? Any issues with the OS?