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Best aftermarket 7200rpm HD for MBP?

B

BigdaddyMBP

macrumors member
Original poster
Mar 19, 2008
30
0
NYC
Hey All,

Will be using my new 500GB 5400 rpm as an external and wanted feedback on the best aftermarket 7200rpm drive.

Price / Speed / Battery Impact.

I would appreciate some info from all you techies.

Thanks
 
BigdaddyMBP said:
Hey All,

Will be using my new 500GB 5400 rpm as an external and wanted feedback on the best aftermarket 7200rpm drive.

Price / Speed / Battery Impact.

I would appreciate some info from all you techies.

Thanks
Click to expand...

http://mroogle.*************/ is a good resource for this kind of thing.

A quick summary: there are two 7200 500 GB laptop drives out now, the hitachi 7k500 and seagate 7200.4 something or other. The hitachi is better. I say this after doing a lot of research and reading a mind numbing amount of reviews.

If you want a smaller drive, you have more choices, but I assume you don't.
The drive's about 100$, give or take 10$. Battery impact is negligible; most users don't notice a difference (a 5% increase in hard drivepower consumption, say, will make a less than 5% decrease in battery life because of all the other power-drawing components. even 5% of 5 hours is 15 minutes; battery life varies a lot more than that anyway).

Performance increase is debatable from 5400 to 7200 (again, lots of variables involved) , but performance increase going to a bigger drive can be good.
 
breathesrain said:
http://mroogle.*************/ is a good resource for this kind of thing.

A quick summary: there are two 7200 500 GB laptop drives out now, the hitachi 7k500 and seagate 7200.4 something or other. The hitachi is better. I say this after doing a lot of research and reading a mind numbing amount of reviews.

If you want a smaller drive, you have more choices, but I assume you don't.
The drive's about 100$, give or take 10$. Battery impact is negligible; most users don't notice a difference (a 5% increase in hard drivepower consumption, say, will make a less than 5% decrease in battery life because of all the other power-drawing components. even 5% of 5 hours is 15 minutes; battery life varies a lot more than that anyway).

Performance increase is debatable from 5400 to 7200 (again, lots of variables involved) , but performance increase going to a bigger drive can be good.
Click to expand...

This would be to replace the stock 500gb in the new MBP 15" I figured it better to not spend the $45 to upgrade the the 7200 via apple, and just buy an aftermarket and use the 5400 as an external.

Thanks for the info!
 
Any idea if the new I7 MBP still have the 3.0gb sata issue?

breathesrain said:
http://mroogle.*************/ is a good resource for this kind of thing.

A quick summary: there are two 7200 500 GB laptop drives out now, the hitachi 7k500 and seagate 7200.4 something or other. The hitachi is better. I say this after doing a lot of research and reading a mind numbing amount of reviews.

If you want a smaller drive, you have more choices, but I assume you don't.
The drive's about 100$, give or take 10$. Battery impact is negligible; most users don't notice a difference (a 5% increase in hard drivepower consumption, say, will make a less than 5% decrease in battery life because of all the other power-drawing components. even 5% of 5 hours is 15 minutes; battery life varies a lot more than that anyway).

Performance increase is debatable from 5400 to 7200 (again, lots of variables involved) , but performance increase going to a bigger drive can be good.
Click to expand...

Any idea if the Hitachi will work without being reconfigured down to 1.5gb/sec as the 2009 MBP had to?
 
Don't bother with 7200rpm drives imo. If you can afford it, get an ssd, otherwise save your money.
 
Does anyone know yet what drives they're using for the 7200rpm 500GB upgrade? Ideally it would be that aforementioned Hitachi. I called Apple Sales and an Apple store but they couldn't provide this info.
 
Apple's 500GB drive might be Hitachi.

I have a Seagate, it's quiet and only draws marginally (1%, apparently) more power than the 5400rpm version.

If noise or power consumption is not an issue, get a Scorpion, they are fantastic! Blue or black, either will be fine.

About the SSD - I would still wait. Can you afford the premium? It's a lot of money for not a significantly improved performance, if you consider the 500GB mostly filled with media. I think SSDs today make sense in the 65GB region - they are sort of accessible, but they are enough to accommodate all applications and some data and media to work with. Anything more expensive would be just an overkill.
 
I ordered a Hitachi 500Gb 7200 from Amazon $89 shipped. The stock HD I have now is a 250Gb 7200 Hitachi
 
Raima said:
Don't bother with 7200rpm drives imo. If you can afford it, get an ssd, otherwise save your money.
Click to expand...

So says Prince Charles.

Hey while you are at it don't rent an apartment if you can't afford a house. Just save your money and live in the park. :rolleyes:

SSDs are great but they are not exactly affordable especially in a usable size. Meanwhile people need to store their data. Saying don't buy a faster HD is just silly. Do whatever you can afford to make your system as fast as possible. 7200 beats 5200 every day and at no huge $ premium.
 
I've had my Hitachi TravelStar 500GB (7200) for 5 months now. Works great, quicker than the stock 250GB (5400) for sure.

I think i am going to replace the superdrive with either an SSD or another 500GB drive. The head genius at one of the local Apple Stores told me this doesn't void the warranty, as long as nothing is damaged when installing/removing! I was quite surprised.
 
Just curious, did all of you swapped out the HD yourselves? I've read the the guide on iFixIt.com, but still kind of afraid to open up small electronics like this.
 
^ Of course piece of tiramisu.. Don't worry be happy mon.

Got mine w00t!
 

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Noise

I have upgraded my macbook 13" (the one before they announced the pro) and it's very easy to do (unlike the current macbook pro 13s).

I find the the Hitachi 500/7200 is noisier and seems a bit warmer. Not really complaining and I think that stuff is faster for what it's worth.

I'm going to take the plunge and get a new 13" with the standard drive, I'm also interested (like jlin615) as to the effort to put a new drive in the new 13's.

bob
 
BigdaddyMBP said:
This would be to replace the stock 500gb in the new MBP 15" I figured it better to not spend the $45 to upgrade the the 7200 via apple, and just buy an aftermarket and use the 5400 as an external.

Thanks for the info!
Click to expand...

That's my plan, too, for the 250 on the 13". Waiting for the back-to-school discount, though.
 
I like the Seagate Momentus 7200.4 500G for speed:
http://barefeats.com/note05.html

It may be the model Apple is shipping since they use the 5K 500G drive from Seagate for the standard drive.

We'll be able to confirm this by Tuesday as that's when our CTO MBP is due to arrive.
 
The 5400 500GB that I swapped out of my 17" i5 to replace with my existing Seagate Momentus 7200 500GB (which I love, and which was clearly faster than the 5400 that it previously replaced) from my older MBP, is a Hitachi, FYI.

And, yes, cracking open a unibody and switching drives is a piece of cake, as long as you keep a very close grip/eye on those tiny screws!
 
I just ordered the Seagate Momentus 7200.4 drive with the FW800 On-The-Go enclosure from OWC. I look forward to getting it installed.
 
barefeats said:
I like the Seagate Momentus 7200.4 500G for speed:
http://barefeats.com/note05.html

It may be the model Apple is shipping since they use the 5K 500G drive from Seagate for the standard drive.

We'll be able to confirm this by Tuesday as that's when our CTO MBP is due to arrive.
Click to expand...

Robert,

The 500GB 5400rpm drive that came in my 15" Core i7 is a Hitachi.

As for 5400rpm vs. 7200rpm, I echo other comments. Save your money and live with the 5400rpm drive for as long as it takes to have the coin to buy an SSD. Someone earlier commented that the speed increase with an SSD is only "marginally" better. Hogwash! The speed increase with SSD is HUGE! Monster HUGE! It makes the entire computer feel much much faster!

Mark
 
Just installed the Hitachi 7K500 yesterday. It's much faster than the original 120GB Fujitsu that came with my late-2006 MBP, and just as quiet. I was looking for a factory-like replacement HD, that'll provide great performance and larger size. So I've done extensive of research before buy the Hitachi, in the end it was a excellent choice.
 
Thanks for the input folks.

I'm in the same boat as the OP. Tempted to swap out the stock 500gb 5400rpm with a bigger/faster drive - and then use the apple supplied drive as an external somewhere else.

Been reading quite a bit on this forum - but would love more opinions.

Western Digital 640GB, 5400RPM seems to get some plusses (2 platters with higher density equals speedy, even though lower RPM)....some are saying it's actually quicker than the 750GB drives with increased RPMs due to the increased data density.

Breathesrain is suggesting the Hitachi 500gb 7200rpm drive in this thread

and then I'm wondering if a 12mm depth 2.5" sata drive like this 1 TB Western Digital would fit into the 17" uMBP (being built currently)?

Lots to think about.
 
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Mark Booth said:
Robert,

The 500GB 5400rpm drive that came in my 15" Core i7 is a Hitachi.

As for 5400rpm vs. 7200rpm, I echo other comments. Save your money and live with the 5400rpm drive for as long as it takes to have the coin to buy an SSD. Someone earlier commented that the speed increase with an SSD is only "marginally" better. Hogwash! The speed increase with SSD is HUGE! Monster HUGE! It makes the entire computer feel much much faster!

Mark
Click to expand...

This is true. My mbp with an ssd is ridiculous. 15 second boot up compared to 1minute plus. Apps open like right after I release the click of my mouse.

But I wouldn't hold out for an ssd. You get utility if you get the 7200rpm right now, and great use out of the product until SSDs finally get cheaper. Right now they are so expensive, and it might be a good while before you can pick up a good large one for a good price. So I say get the 7200rpm, use it well and good and be patient until the ssd drops to more reasonable prices.
 
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