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View Full Version : Hitachi Travelstar vs WD Scorpio Blue for Macbook HD upgrade



Alx9876
Jan 27, 2010, 01:59 AM
I'm going to upgrade my white Unibody Macbook's internal hard drive soon. Which hard drive would you pick?

What I have:
http://www.apple.com/macbook/features.html#battery

I'm leaning towards these two here:

(500 gig)
http://eshop.macsales.com/item/Hitachi/0A57915/

and

(500 gig ) http://eshop.macsales.com/item/Western%20Digital/WD5000BEVT/

(640 gig)
http://eshop.macsales.com/item/Western%20Digital/WD6400BEVT/

Sometimes it's better to stay with what Apple picked from the factory line. But I'm open to any suggestions. :)


Just found this for power consumption review:
http://www.notebookreview.com/default.asp?newsID=5003&p=2


bsblvnv
Jan 30, 2010, 04:04 AM
Try this (http://www.frys.com/product/5966014?site=sr:SEARCH:MAIN_RSLT_PG) I bought this one myself and put in the same macbook you have, I have had it for a couple of days now and I have absolutely no complaints. Plus the 7200rpm over the 5400rpm will give you about 20-30% more speed overall. It is still completely silent, and only very seldom do I feel any vibration at all.
amarcb
Jan 30, 2010, 05:18 AM
I put the WD 640gb in my aluminum macbook a couple of months ago. Seems a tad zippier than the 250gb hitachi that came with it, and just as quiet. Did a clean install of SL on the WD, so that may be the reason it seems quicker. Good drive so far, tho.
Alx9876
Jan 30, 2010, 11:19 PM
Thank you for the suggestions:). I'm still thinking it over. But I am ready to buy any day now.

I really want the bigger hard drive space of the WD 640 gigs. I am going to use boot camp so I want to partition off at least 200 gigs alone. The rest will go to Leopard OS.

Does anyone know if this year will bring us 750 gig or 1 TB notebook hard drives?

I'm still buying a 500 or 640 HD for now but I'll do it again if bigger ones come out.
RaceTripper
Jan 30, 2010, 11:29 PM
Does anyone know if 2010 will bring us 750 gig or 1 TB notebook hard drives?
Western Digital already lits the Scorpio Blue (http://www.westerndigital.com/en/products/products.asp?driveid=685) in 750GB and 1TB capacities, although they don't seem to be readily avaiable yet.
mathcolo
Jan 30, 2010, 11:30 PM
Western Digital already lits the Scorpio Blue (http://www.westerndigital.com/en/products/products.asp?driveid=685) in 750GB and 1TB capacities, although they don't seem to be readily avaiable yet.

640GB is the highest you can go in most notebooks for now. The 750GB and 1TB 2.5" drives have a height of 12.5mm, whereas most notebooks require a height of 9.5mm. The highest capacity 9.5mm is 640GB.
RaceTripper
Jan 30, 2010, 11:38 PM
640GB is the highest you can go in most notebooks for now. The 750GB and 1TB 2.5" drives have a height of 12.5mm, whereas most notebooks require a height of 9.5mm. The highest capacity 9.5mm is 640GB.Didn't notice that. My previous MBP (late '06 17") would have been able to fit a 12.5 mm drive. I wonder what the 15" uMBP can take. But I can see that the OP's white MB is limited to the 640.
Paul B
Jan 31, 2010, 12:47 AM
Seems like everyone on this forum loves the WD Scorpio Blue.
Alx9876
Jan 31, 2010, 01:37 AM
Awesome posts. :)

Yeah I'm leaning towards the Scorpio blue 640 gigs for sure now. Worse case scenario I can make it an external hard drive if ever. But I'm sure it will never come to that.

I thought about it and I need the drive space.
Rup
Feb 13, 2010, 01:04 PM
Just installed the 640GB WD drive, great price, silent, very pleased :)
anthony11
Jun 23, 2010, 02:41 AM
640GB is the highest you can go in most notebooks for now. The 750GB and 1TB 2.5" drives have a height of 12.5mm, whereas most notebooks require a height of 9.5mm. The highest capacity 9.5mm is 640GB.

The WD7500BPVT is spec'd at 9.5mm. Maybe when this was written there was an older 12.5mm model?
Alx9876
Jun 24, 2010, 03:33 AM
I finally got the hard drive I wanted. I ended up purchasing the Western Digital Scorpio Blue 750 gig 5400 Rpm internal hard drive for my white Unibody Macbook.

I am very pleased with the performance of this hard drive and love the huge room I now have on my laptop. I would highly recommend upgrading if you guys can get it done.
:)
Synchromesh
Jun 24, 2010, 04:26 PM
WD rocks. I've been using their drives for a long time.
gnasher729
Jun 24, 2010, 04:33 PM
640GB is the highest you can go in most notebooks for now. The 750GB and 1TB 2.5" drives have a height of 12.5mm, whereas most notebooks require a height of 9.5mm. The highest capacity 9.5mm is 640GB.

It seems that the Unibody Macbooks and MacBook Pros have space for 12.5 mm. Obviously you should check before you buy.