Not Understanding New Internal Hard Drives

olobmot · Dec 30, 2012, 03:37 PM

Hey guys, I am looking to upgrade my hard drive in my mid-2009 13" Macbook Pro (2.53 GHz).

The hard drive is stock right now, and I am looking to get some more space and quickness. I use Logic Pro a lot and would love an upgrade. I got some new memory and it has been an improvement, as well.

I have been looking at two in particular. The Seagate Momentus (http://www.amazon.com/Seagate-Moment...I32F2FIDEQQHQD) and the Western Digital Scorpio (http://www.amazon.com/Western-Digita...I1BH8GVGH39BD8)

I like the sizes, but I keep reading in reviews about the whole difficulty with them being 3GB/s and this particular MBP only using 1.5GB/s.

I am not sure what this means, but I definitely don't want to have any issues. I want it to work like my old hard drive. People suggest lowering the hard drive to 1.5GB/s but I don't know how to do that and stuff...

Any suggestions for me? That would be greatly, greatly appreciated.

MisterKeeks · Dec 30, 2012, 03:50 PM

They should be backwards compatible. If not, there are ways to make that work. If you want speed, I would opt for an SSD.

simsaladimbamba · Dec 30, 2012, 03:55 PM

2009 MBPs support S-ATA 3.0 Gbps (S-ATA II), it is the stock HDD, that is only S-ATA 1.5 Gbps (S-ATA I) (though HDDs do not even saturate that speed).
I also have a 2009 MBP and a Crucial M4 SSD in mine, it is an S-ATA 6.0 Gbps (S-ATA III) SSD, but works just fine at S-ATA 3.0 Gbps (S-ATA II) speeds.

The-Pro · Dec 30, 2012, 07:05 PM

both of them will work flawlessly. no need to worry about the speeds.

olobmot · Jan 1, 2013, 12:02 PM

Thanks guys! Everything looks good, I'll probably just decide on the Seagate. A friend of mine has a Western Digital external hard drive and I am not crazy about his theirs is working.

Thanks again!

aarond12 · Jan 1, 2013, 12:53 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by olobmot

Any suggestions for me? That would be greatly, greatly appreciated.

My suggestion is to check the reviews on Amazon and other sites for that drive. There were several "drive died in a month" posts on this product. Given Seagate's reliability as of late, I might check around to see if this is a major problem with this drive.

I would also like to second the notion about the SSD for speed. I put an Intel 320 SSD (160GB) in my first-gen MacBook Pro and was amazed at the difference in performance. Cold booting in less than 10 seconds is great!

Dec 30, 2012, 03:37 PM	#1
olobmot macrumors newbie Join Date: Dec 2012	Not Understanding New Internal Hard Drives Hey guys, I am looking to upgrade my hard drive in my mid-2009 13" Macbook Pro (2.53 GHz). The hard drive is stock right now, and I am looking to get some more space and quickness. I use Logic Pro a lot and would love an upgrade. I got some new memory and it has been an improvement, as well. I have been looking at two in particular. The Seagate Momentus (http://www.amazon.com/Seagate-Moment...I32F2FIDEQQHQD) and the Western Digital Scorpio (http://www.amazon.com/Western-Digita...I1BH8GVGH39BD8) I like the sizes, but I keep reading in reviews about the whole difficulty with them being 3GB/s and this particular MBP only using 1.5GB/s. I am not sure what this means, but I definitely don't want to have any issues. I want it to work like my old hard drive. People suggest lowering the hard drive to 1.5GB/s but I don't know how to do that and stuff... Any suggestions for me? That would be greatly, greatly appreciated.
	0

Dec 30, 2012, 03:50 PM	#2
MisterKeeks macrumors 65816 Join Date: Nov 2012	They should be backwards compatible. If not, there are ways to make that work. If you want speed, I would opt for an SSD. __________________ Core Duo 1.83 Mac Mini, Dual 2.7 Power Mac G5, Dual 1.8 Power Mac G5, Dual 1.25 MDD G4, 1.6 GHz iMac G5, 900 MHz iBook G3, 800 MHz iMac G4, 500MHz iMac G3, 400MHz iMac G3
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Dec 30, 2012, 03:55 PM	#3
simsaladimbamba macrumors Core Join Date: Nov 2010 Location: in front of it	2009 MBPs support S-ATA 3.0 Gbps (S-ATA II), it is the stock HDD, that is only S-ATA 1.5 Gbps (S-ATA I) (though HDDs do not even saturate that speed). I also have a 2009 MBP and a Crucial M4 SSD in mine, it is an S-ATA 6.0 Gbps (S-ATA III) SSD, but works just fine at S-ATA 3.0 Gbps (S-ATA II) speeds. __________________ This is not amn attempt t write with two brokemn keybards
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Dec 30, 2012, 07:05 PM	#4
The-Pro macrumors 65816 Join Date: Dec 2010 Location: Germany	both of them will work flawlessly. no need to worry about the speeds. __________________ 2010 15" i7 AG MBP, 2009 17" AG MBP, 2009 8C 2.26 MP, 2010 quad MP,2010+07 MM, 17" 2007 MBP, 20" iMac G5,17" PB G4,4x30"CD,9 screens, G3's,G4's, 17"iMac g4,iMac G3 turquoise,macintoshes dating to 1990
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Jan 1, 2013, 12:02 PM	#5
olobmot Thread Starter macrumors newbie Join Date: Dec 2012	Thanks guys! Everything looks good, I'll probably just decide on the Seagate. A friend of mine has a Western Digital external hard drive and I am not crazy about his theirs is working. Thanks again!
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