What internal mac mini 09 HDD are you self upgrading to?

beatmonkeytwo said:

As post title please?
I would like to know if the majority are going for a faster 7200rpm or just the standard 5400rpm but a much bigger drive?
I'm struggling to decide what to upgrade to...

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I have decided to use an external Firewire800 1TB 7200 rpm drive as a boot drive and leave the stock 120GB Fujitsu drive alone.
That way I'll have huge storage, a faster boot, and not worry about damaging anything internally, overheating or vibration issues. I ordered mine with 2GB of RAM and it seems to be OK. If need be, I'll crack the case to go to 4GB. I'm looking at 2 external FW800 drives; a Seagate FreeAgent Desk for Mac, and a WD My Book Studio Edition for Mac.

I have ordered the Seagate Momentus 7200.4 500GB laptop hard drive. Bare Feats gave the drive a very positive review.

Waiting on Western Digital to release a 500GB 7200rpm mobile drive

I upgraded to a Hitachi 7200rpm 320GB drive. I'm not a fan of WD drives due to their flaky firmware.

Western Digital Scorpio Blue WD5000BEVT 500GB 5400 RPM for the internal.

Western Digital Caviar Green WD10EADS 1TB for the external, in a newerTech miniStack case.

Got it all put together last Friday when the mini arrived. Easy to install, and tons of space!

Upgrading to a 500GB 7200 drive. Not sure what brand yet. Also not sure that the mac mini can handle that drive in terms of heat, vibrations, etc, any input is apprechiated.

I do wish that instead of putting in the 7200.4 500GB Seagate that I could shove a bare VelociRaptor drive in there. That would make for a screaming fast mini. Too bad the drive is 12mm and not the standard 9.5mm.

LeeTom said:

Western Digital Caviar Green WD10EADS 1TB for the external, in a newerTech miniStack case.

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How noisy is the 1TB in the ministack case? I bought one of the ministack cases, but for the 750GB Seagate drive I had, the fan noise was unbearable. When I stuck an older 80GB drive in it, the fan never came on, so it was quiet.

brand said:

I do wish that instead of putting in the 7200.4 500GB Seagate that I could shove a bare VelociRaptor drive in there. That would make for a screaming fast mini. Too bad the drive is 12mm and not the standard 9.5mm.

Click to expand...

I used the Seagate 500GB 5400. It works great. I thought about moving the Seagate 500GB 7200 drive from my Sony but decided it was just too much of a hassle.

Cheers,

I installed the Western Digital Scorpio Black 320 gb 7200. Very happy so far and it is very quiet. Xbench score increased from 112 to 169 after installing the new drive.

I am kicking this around. I just got the Mini last night and try as I might I cannot get the thing to turn the fans on. I got it up to 85 and it was still
<1500 rpm.

So now I am reevaluating the fact that heat is not going to be the issue. I was going to swap the 320 out of my MB for the 120 in here, both 5400, but now I am thinking about getting a 7200 down the road.

The performance is so good right now for what I do I cant really see the need to spend the 90 for a new drive.


BTW...get Plex if you haven't. Has to be the best app around.

bigbird said:

I have decided to use an external Firewire800 1TB 7200 rpm drive as a boot drive and leave the stock 120GB Fujitsu drive alone.
That way I'll have huge storage, a faster boot, and not worry about damaging anything internally, overheating or vibration issues. I ordered mine with 2GB of RAM and it seems to be OK. If need be, I'll crack the case to go to 4GB. I'm looking at 2 external FW800 drives; a Seagate FreeAgent Desk for Mac, and a WD My Book Studio Edition for Mac.

Click to expand...

The external Firewire 800 drives were too expensive. I changed my mind and ordered this:Hitachi Travelstar 7K320 320GB 2.5IN SATA 7200RPM 16MB Notebook Hard Drive OEM 3YR MFR Warranty. It was on sale at NCIX.com in Canada for $59.
I also ordered 2 of these:Crucial CT25664BC1067 2GB 1X2GB PC3-8500 DDR3-1066 204PIN SODIMM Memory for $34.99 each.
I'll update next week after installing everything.

brand said:

I do wish that instead of putting in the 7200.4 500GB Seagate that I could shove a bare VelociRaptor drive in there. That would make for a screaming fast mini. Too bad the drive is 12mm and not the standard 9.5mm.

Click to expand...

Worse, it's actually 15mm and won't even fit in the 17" MBP (which can take 12.5mm).

http://westerndigital.com/en/products/products.asp?driveid=496

Cheers,

beatmonkeytwo said:

Is anyone using the Hitachi TravelStar 7K320 7200rpm 250GB or 320GB?

I'm thinking about upgrading to a 7200rpm rather than a bigger 5400rpm. Will the speed difference be that noticeable?

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I have one in this 2.16 MBP. It is noticeably faster than the original drive and even a bit faster than my previous Hitachi 200GB 7200. Slightly faster boot and slight faster loading game levels. I don't see much difference working in general business apps.

Cheers,

Toying with the idea of putting in this...

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820227393

As mine will be an HTPC connecting to a NAS space isn't a concern, and in that context bang for the buck perfomance-wise is probably the best thing I can do.

Getting a 2.26, 4GB RAM, 250GB config straight from the online Store. I've got 2 x 500GB 7200rpm fw800 externals... I'd like to stick an SSD in there later down the line though

beatmonkeytwo said:

How do I tell if the HDD has a dual head?

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Does it matter?

thinking about putting in this drive in my mini:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822148374

reviews anyone???

jerryskid said:

thinking about putting in this drive in my mini:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822148374

reviews anyone???

Click to expand...

I have one in an external housing. It runs a bit warm but otherwise has been very stable. I went with the 5400 version in my mini.

Cheers,

panzer06 said:

I have one in an external housing. It runs a bit warm but otherwise has been very stable. I went with the 5400 version in my mini.

Cheers,

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Do the Seagates run warmer than comparable Hitachi or Western Digital drives?

Whackintosh said:

Do the Seagates run warmer than comparable Hitachi or Western Digital drives?

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The Seagate 500Gb 7200 is the only 7200rpm 500GB 2.5 9.5mm drive so far. My Hitachi 200GB 7200 drive also runs a bit warm in the external housing but these housing have no fan and their aluminum enclosure acts like a heat sink so they tend to be warmer than the plastic enclosures I have.

Cheers,