I want to upgrade my hard drive to 500 GB

you need a 2.5" Sata spinning at anything upto 7200Rpm

On Ebay

on Amazon

Just a heads up... I have heard bad reviews of the Seagate 7200.4 and also the Toshiba laptop drives.

I'm awaiting my new Hitachi Travelstar 7K500 2.5" 500GB 7200rpm in the mail, which has had stellar reviews. Hopefully it lives up to the promise.

bLiss said:

Just a heads up... I have heard bad reviews of the Seagate 7200.4 and also whatever Western Digital 7200/500GB 2.5" is on the market now.

I'm awaiting my new Hitachi Travelstar 7K500 2.5" 500GB 7200rpm in the mail, which has had stellar reviews. Hopefully it lives up to the promise.

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bLiss are you referring to the WD Scorpio drives? I recommended one of these to a friend and if this is true I need to let him know so he can research/buy another drive.

Glad I caught this fast - double checked what I had heard and it was actually Toshibas (along with the Momentus) that came with stories of hot drives and low battery. I'll edit out the WD comment, I haven't heard anything about the Scorpio.

Has anyone used the Seagate Momentus 500GB SATA 7200RPM with 16MB Cache? I can get a great price on this drive, I'm just not sure how well it would do in a MBP?

Jon-Luke said:

Has anyone used the Seagate Momentus 500GB SATA 7200RPM with 16MB Cache? I can get a great price on this drive, I'm just not sure how well it would do in a MBP?

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That's the one I've heard of bringing down the MBP battery to around 2.5 hours.

WD Blue Drive - 5200 rpm

I bought this drive and got it under 100 and its 500GB. I have noticed my MBP is moving a bit slower, but I was told it was because I cloned the drive and everything should speed back up.

Personally, I'm against 7200rpm drives in a laptop - I had vibration problems and loss of battery when I put one in my wife's white Macbook. However, times have changed, so this may not be as much of an issue any more...

Before you buy any drive, check its model number for performance:

http://www.harddrivebenchmark.net/

I recently bought a 250GB Samsung HM250HI to replace the pokey 160GB Toshiba in the Macbook - both were 5400rpm and 8MB cache, but the Samsung is a single-platter drive. It made a WORLD of difference - its even faster than the 7200rpm I have previously installed (a Seagate 7200.4).

Moral of the story: It ain't all about RPMs; a 5400 can be just as fast as a 7200 if its the right drive. Research first - buy second.

(BTW, OP are you dead-set on eBay/Amazon? If not, try newegg.com - great prices, even better customer support. I can't recommend them highly enough.)

You will find plenty of people as supporters and detractors of the various brands based on their own personal experience. This person used a Seagate and it died, so Seagate sucks. This person uses a WD and it runs good, so WD rules. Truth is, it is about personal preferences, and much of the performance differences between the drives and brands are more perceived than actual. The same is true of heat, battery drain, vibration, and speed. Everyone's expectations are different in that regard.

The bottom line is, pick a brand with the specs you want and enjoy it. Regardless of your research it could vibrate, run loud, run hot or even die just as easily as the next brand.

FWIW, I use the WD Scorpio Blue and have a very good experience with it
But you would probably be just as happy with another drive if you don't overanalyze it

Scorpio Blue and Black Review

WD Scorpio Blue vs. Seagate Momentus

MacDawg said:

... much of the performance differences between the drives and brands are more perceived than actual.
WD Scorpio Blue vs. Seagate Momentus

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Not in my case, although in general I must agree with you. I had a WD that was horrible, beachballing every time I moved the mouse, and then the 7,200 Seagate I replaced it with was (is) very good indeed. No perceptible vibration or noise, excellent speed, and only a little (10%?) more battery drain. Like you said, everyone has a different experience, so it's best to discard your preconceptions. Switch drives 'till you get one that works for you, use the ones that don't in USB cases for backup (how's that for a luxurious strategy?). Anyway that is what I had to do after the "Oh so highly recommended" WD Scorpio Blue refused to work in my MacBook Pro. (It works fine in a USB case). There are too many factors involved here to draw any definite conclusions on which HD will work in any particular laptop model. Despite that I still like my MacBook Pro.

Buy a scorpio Blue 500gb or 640gb drive. Or a Samsung 500gb.

Agreed; I'd go with a 5400 RPM Scorpio Blue from WD. Even though I prefer Seagate over WD, I have to admit that that particular drive has been getting better reviews than the Seagate equivalent. (and is five dollars cheaper)

My current Seagate 7200.4 vibrates my MacBook Pro like theres no tomorrow. Holding a 17" with one hand right now feels like a vibrator, literally. It's loud too, I keep hearing "click" "click" "click"... Soooo returning this drive after my 1TB arrives today.

I must say I'm not entirely a fan of Seagate drives. I never had a good experience with them.

I've installed numerous drives in many macbooks. Newegg has a great selection and occasional sales.

WD drives seem to be the best. Hitachi's work well too. Samsung spinpoint are somewhat loud.

I'm currently running a WD 640GB HD and am happy with it. It does make a subtle hissing sound. From my experience the WD 500GB drives are the quietest.

Yes.

If money isn't an issue, consider a 256gb SSD drive. I downgraded back to a HDD at one stage on the MBP and couldn't stand the slowness of it. SSD made everything responsive again when I put it back in.

Agreed. SSDs are pretty amazingly fast. Still, not sure if OP is interested in one of those due to price/capacity ratio.

bLiss said:

That's the one I've heard of bringing down the MBP battery to around 2.5 hours.

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I have one of these in my MBP, and while it's not 2.5 hours, the most I can get is 4 - no where near the 7 it's ment to get. I dont care much, tho the heat might be a worry.

Does anyone know what the largest 2.5 inch 9.5 mm notebook drive available is currently? Is it still only 640 GB?

i have the seagate 7200.4 500gb (without g sensor) and it works perfectly. i still get 6-7 hours battery life on 40% brightness, browsing, itunes. it runs just as cool as my old 5400 (a few degrees hotter, when im working it), and i dont notice any considerable vibration or noise. the speed is great and really lit up my macbook especially with 4gb of ram.

the older versions of this drive were the ones giving the problems, but now they're good. a customer service rep at owc told me this and he uses one himself.

also the seagate 7200.4 beats the hitachi 7200 in almost every single aspect when tested.

kdum8 said:

Does anyone know what the largest 2.5 inch 9.5 mm notebook drive available is currently? Is it still only 640 GB?

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yes, i think so i recently looked for bigger but had to buy the 640gb in the end

spiralz said:

yes, i think so i recently looked for bigger but had to buy the 640gb in the end

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OK, thanks. Damn, it seems like I have been waiting ages for a bigger (750 GB) drive to be released.

There are other threads out there that the 750/1tb fits in 13, 15, 17" mac books. :]