Help choosing hard drive for MacBook Pro mid 2009

martinirams · Nov 2, 2012

Hi people.
I know there is properly a billion threads already like this but i really need a qualifyed opinion.

I have a 15" macBook Pro from mid 2009. (model A1286)
I want to upgrade the RAM (from 4gb to 8gb) and the hard drive (currently it has a 320gb)

The RAM is straight forward, but i'm struggling to find the right HDD

.
SSD is not really a part of my considerations since it's too expensive. And i'm horrible at managing space.

I have looked at the WD Blue WD10JPVT 1 TB. And at the Seagate Momentus XT 750 GB.

Originally I was looking for a 5400rpm drive since i really don't want any more noise than I have now. (it's nice and quiet currently

).

So what should I look for in a hard drive? Anything would be an upgrade since my current drive is almost full and very slow (27 MB/s write, 25 MB/s read).

So do you have any good recommendations. On specific drives or what to look for.

Anything is much appreciated.
- Martin

ISKOTB · Nov 2, 2012

Take a look here. I have the m4 and I'm happy with it

davidlv · Nov 2, 2012

I had a 2009 MBP, and so I know that model has had issues with the firmware version 1.7, making the choice of HD a little sensitive. I had problems with a WD Blue 500GB drive, constant beachballs. I had good results with a Seagate 500GB and even better luck with a Hitachi 500GB. For that model I would suggest trying the Hitachi 750GB 7,200rpm drive.Costs about $140 at OWC
http://eshop.macsales.com/Search/Se...ice|0&N=0&Ntt=Hitachi+travelstar+7200rpm+SATA
and you may be able to find it cheaper if you look around.

T5BRICK · Nov 2, 2012

My mid 2009 13" MBP shipped with a Seagate 5400RPM HDD, I've run a 256GB Samsung 830 and a 256GB Crucial M4 without any issues. I've never tried a WD though.

I've got the most recent boot rom, version 1.7, and it works fine. I've even had 3.0Gb/s link speed and good performance on both SSDs.

martinirams · Nov 3, 2012

Thanks for the replys.
I wasn't looking for an SSD do to the price and the space constraints.

I have read somewhere that a 7200rpm drive is noisier and less reliable than a 5400rpm. Is that the case still.

So David, should any hitachi be good(or better than a WD)? I live in Denmark I we might not have that exact drive model.

Again thanks for the help.

davidlv · Nov 3, 2012

martinirams said:
Thanks for the replys.
I wasn't looking for an SSD do to the price and the space constraints.
I have read somewhere that a 7200rpm drive is noisier and less reliable than a 5400rpm. Is that the case still.
So David, should any hitachi be good(or better than a WD)? I live in Denmark I we might not have that exact drive model.
Again thanks for the help.

In general, modern drives are much better than they used to be, quiet and reliable regardless of the speed. I didn't notice any sound at all with either the Seagate or the Hitachi 500GB. As for better than a WD, in this case the SATA controller on the 2009 model and the economy "Blue" WD series were not working well together, something to do with the power saving features of that drive. The "Black" WD drives have a good reputation too, but I suspect they are a little louder than the HGST drives, being optimized for speed. In my case, the result with the blue WD was constant lags and spinning beachballs. I suspect any of the bigger HSGT or Seagate drives (HSGT used to be called Hitachi) would suit your needs, and yes the 7,200 rpm drives do feel a little faster than the 5,400 drives, but that is a small difference. Modern 1TB drives are not bad, even at 5,400 rpm. If you can't find an HSGT locally, OWC (see link above) will ship internationally, you will have to do the currency calculations to see if that is viable for you.
I just updated my refurbished 2011 MBP with an Intel 335 SSD 240GB (new series just out) for about $212 and the speed difference is quite obvious compared with the standard 5,400 rpm drive

. But as you say, they are expensive.

martinirams · Nov 3, 2012

davidlv said:
In general, modern drives are much better than they used to be, quiet and reliable regardless of the speed. I didn't notice any sound at all with either the Seagate or the Hitachi 500GB. As for better than a WD, in this case the SATA controller on the 2009 model and the economy "Blue" WD series were not working well together, something to do with the power saving features of that drive. The "Black" WD drives have a good reputation too, but I suspect they are a little louder than the HGST drives, being optimized for speed. In my case, the result with the blue WD was constant lags and spinning beachballs. I suspect any of the bigger HSGT or Seagate drives (HSGT used to be called Hitachi) would suit your needs, and yes the 7,200 rpm drives do feel a little faster than the 5,400 drives, but that is a small difference. Modern 1TB drives are not bad, even at 5,400 rpm. If you can't find an HSGT locally, OWC (see link above) will ship internationally, you will have to do the currency calculations to see if that is viable for you.
I just updated my refurbished 2011 MBP with an Intel 335 SSD 240GB (new series just out) for about $212 and the speed difference is quite obvious compared with the standard 5,400 rpm drive . But as you say, they are expensive.

Okay, thanks for the info. Super helpful!

One more question. I did consider the Seagate Momentus XT (750gb).
Would I be able to feel the speed difference of the hybrid drive on my relatively old macBook pro? I mean it is not that much more expensive but if there is no difference in speed on general tasks, I would rather save my money and get more space.

So many choices

- Martin

MH01 · Nov 3, 2012

martinirams said:
Okay, thanks for the info. Super helpful!

One more question. I did consider the Seagate Momentus XT (750gb).
Would I be able to feel the speed difference of the hybrid drive on my relatively old macBook pro? I mean it is not that much more expensive but if there is no difference in speed on general tasks, I would rather save my money and get more space.

So many choices
- Martin

Id avoid the momentus.

If you want to go non ssd, i would recommend getting a few opinios from people here and then review the models in question, as in google them. Once your happy with that google the drive your thinking and include with the search your macbook. In the past i have been set on getting a particular upgrade to then learn it did not play nice with my macbook, research saved me alot of wasted time.

In regards to HDs, i tend to avoid seagate, WD are good though it all varies on the model in question.

Goodluck.

P.s. if you do not use your superdrive, ditch that and get a caddy for a 1tb HD and put cheap ssd for your os drive. Best of both worlds, the non retina mbps are awesome in regards to running 2 drives

CASLondon · Nov 3, 2012

martinirams said:
Hi people.
I know there is properly a billion threads already like this but i really need a qualifyed opinion.

I have a 15" macBook Pro from mid 2009. (model A1286)
I want to upgrade the RAM (from 4gb to 8gb) and the hard drive (currently it has a 320gb)

The RAM is straight forward, but i'm struggling to find the right HDD.
SSD is not really a part of my considerations since it's too expensive. And i'm horrible at managing space.

I have looked at the WD Blue WD10JPVT 1 TB. And at the Seagate Momentus XT 750 GB.

Originally I was looking for a 5400rpm drive since i really don't want any more noise than I have now. (it's nice and quiet currently ).

So what should I look for in a hard drive? Anything would be an upgrade since my current drive is almost full and very slow (27 MB/s write, 25 MB/s read).

So do you have any good recommendations. On specific drives or what to look for.

Anything is much appreciated.
- Martin

I hear you saying no SSD, but you can set up a dual drive that allows you both benefits. I just did it, and its one of the best upgrades you can do to that machine to keep it humming. The Samsung 830s are dropping in price to make them pretty compelling, if you have the case open anyway I'd say go for it.

martinirams · Nov 3, 2012

CASLondon said:
I hear you saying no SSD, but you can set up a dual drive that allows you both benefits. I just did it, and its one of the best upgrades you can do to that machine to keep it humming. The Samsung 830s are dropping in price to make them pretty compelling, if you have the case open anyway I'd say go for it.

Yeah. But i want to keep my optical drive.
But that was what I was thinking when i found the Seagate Momentus XT.
It's still gives me a lot of storage but with better speeds than a regular hard drive, if my mac can take advantage of it.
But i'm not sure if it's a good option.

- Martin

stickyfingers85 · Nov 3, 2012

I have the exact same laptop as you.

Ip upgraded to the momentus XT750 and good god the speed increase was incredible.

Obviously i can see people don't like it but mine has been running with the new HDD for about 10 months and no problems so far, and the boot speed for me was a 200% increase

martinirams · Nov 3, 2012

stickyfingers85 said:
I have the exact same laptop as you.

Ip upgraded to the momentus XT750 and good god the speed increase was incredible.

Obviously i can see people don't like it but mine has been running with the new HDD for about 10 months and no problems so far, and the boot speed for me was a 200% increase

How is the noise with that drive, like the old one? Or? And what about battery have you noticed anything?
Thanks for sharing

- Martin

CASLondon · Nov 3, 2012

martinirams said:
Yeah. But i want to keep my optical drive.
But that was what I was thinking when i found the Seagate Momentus XT.
It's still gives me a lot of storage but with better speeds than a regular hard drive, if my mac can take advantage of it.
But i'm not sure if it's a good option.

- Martin

Sure. I can just report that sticking my optical in a thin external case has been painless, and I'm using the two drive combination far more than the disk drive. When I have used it, it works fine as a USB drive (though I might just buy an external blue ray anyway).

The SSD as a boot drive is quiet and fassssst.

martinirams · Nov 4, 2012

CASLondon said:
Sure. I can just report that sticking my optical in a thin external case has been painless, and I'm using the two drive combination far more than the disk drive. When I have used it, it works fine as a USB drive (though I might just buy an external blue ray anyway).

The SSD as a boot drive is quiet and fassssst.

Also quite expensive if i need to get both a SSD and a new harddrive.

snaky69 · Nov 4, 2012

itegypt said:
Take a look here. I have the m4 and I'm happy with it

Did you even bother reading the first post? The OP specifically said he/she does not want an SSD.

OP, use whatever hard drive you want from a reputable vendor and brand and you'll be good to go. It all depends on your budget, really. A platter hard drive is a platter hard drive.

The momentus XT is slightly faster than most as it is a hybrid drive, a bit of SSD space and the rest is a regular hard drive. It decides by itself what goes where and it's been known to speed up systems quite a bit, though not as much as a true SSD does.

T5BRICK · Nov 4, 2012

Frys has a Hitachi 1TB 7200RPM 2.5" drive on sale today for $89. From the specs I can find, it's a 9.5mm drive.

CASLondon · Nov 4, 2012

martinirams said:
Also quite expensive if i need to get both a SSD and a new harddrive.

You can do a boot SSD at 128 gigs for the same price as a HD (93 bucks), then move your old one over to the Optical slot, and if you want more capacity then change that one down the road.

http://www.amazon.com/SAMSUNG-2-5-Inch-Internal-MZ-7PC128B-WW/dp/B0077CR60Q/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1352060004&sr=8-2&keywords=samsung+830+128gb

I'm not saying you have to, just that if you are complaining about slow access you can really change things by doing this. Spend a bit more and get a 256, same effect but even better

pletsch · Nov 7, 2012

need help deciding on a new hard drive

hello,

these are the specs of my computer. I am going to be upgrading my RAM to 4gb, but need help deciding what Hard drive to upgrade to.

Hardware Overview:

Model Name: MacBook
Model Identifier: MacBook5,2
Processor Name: Intel Core 2 Duo
Processor Speed: 2.13 GHz
Number Of Processors: 1
Total Number Of Cores: 2
L2 Cache: 3 MB
Memory: 2 GB
Bus Speed: 1.07 GHz
Boot ROM Version: MB52.0088.B06
SMC Version (system): 1.38f5
Serial Number (system): W8925EX59GU
Hardware UUID: 4ADEE7CE-40A0-5307-B9F5-8DE8AA946F86
Sudden Motion Sensor:
State: Enabled

I've done research and know that I need 2.5" hard drive SATA. What I am confused about is whether my computer will be compatible with a hard drive that has 6gb/s or needs to have 3gb/s to properly utilize the speed. I am looking for a hard drive that is 500gb.

This is the one I've had my eye on, just want to make sure the motherboard is capable of utilizing the 6gb/s or if I should downgrade to a 3gb/s hard drive.

http://eshop.macsales.com/item/Seagate%20Technology/ST500LX003/

I appreciate any help i can get. If you have other HDs in mind that would be better, just post the link.

Side note, will new hard drives come with data transfer or could I just plug in my external hard drive that has my back ups on it?

Thank you

robvas · Nov 7, 2012

pletsch said:
hello,
I've done research and know that I need 2.5" hard drive SATA. What I am confused about is whether my computer will be compatible with a hard drive that has 6gb/s or needs to have 3gb/s to properly utilize the speed. I am looking for a hard drive that is 500gb.

This is the one I've had my eye on, just want to make sure the motherboard is capable of utilizing the 6gb/s or if I should downgrade to a 3gb/s hard drive.

3Gb/s or 6Gb/s doesn't matter - a platter hard drive is only going to be pushing 130MB/s at it's peak. That's only 1.3Gb/s

That 500GB Seagate XT is a few generations old as far as the platter drive is concerned, and the hybrid portion is buggy. I'd skip it. You can get a 512GB SSD for $299 these days on sale, or just get a regular 1TB/750GB HD

NewishMacGuy · Nov 7, 2012

robvas said:
3Gb/s or 6Gb/s doesn't matter - a platter hard drive is only going to be pushing 130MB/s at it's peak. That's only 1.3Gb/s

That 500GB Seagate XT is a few generations old as far as the platter drive is concerned, and the hybrid portion is buggy. I'd skip it. You can get a 512GB SSD for $299 these days on sale, or just get a regular 1TB/750GB HD

Well, I put the Momentus XT 2 (which is 750GB) into my wife's 2011 cMBP-13 and it positively flies, she gets 12-15 second boots. Plus the bugs got worked out with efi updates. Can't be beat if you want a simple install and need lots of space. $150 from Best Buy and $130 from Amazon.

martinirams · Nov 16, 2012

Hi. Just wanted to give an update.

I went with the XT 750gb. I also maxed out my ram to 8gb.
And everything is nice and fast. The computer boots in 40 sec, compared to around 3 minutes before.

The XT 750 makes a little more noise that my stock (5400 rpm) drive. But it's not bad at all. If your room is not completely silent you wont event notice.

Thanks for all the advice guys!

Help choosing hard drive for MacBook Pro mid 2009

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