3 hard drives down - is there a conclusive recommended replacement?

[jamesraward]

I've had 3 HDs in my mac now:
The original Hitachi 250GB
A 7200 500GB (can't remember which, but it was brutal on my battery)
A 5400 500GB WD Green drive which is slow, causing problems, getting hot and I have to use a combination of downgraded firmware then HDPM + disabled drop sensor to stop the spinning ball from coming up all the time.

Enough is enough, I'm now either going to put the original one back in (going to have to strip down some of the stuff as I'm at about 290GB used space) or get a replacement that will work.

So that's the question, what will work? A Hitachi? Any help much appreciated, I'm going to order one today.

 

[miles01110]

Get an SSD if you want reliability. All platter-based hard drives will fail at some point.

 

[jamesraward]

Get an SSD if you want reliability. All platter-based hard drives will fail at some point.

True, unfortunately however my budget doesn't stretch that far for the capacity I require. If I were to get an SSD then I'd be looking at 160GB minimum (and I'd have to find elsewhere for a lot of data). What HD do you have? Hitachi TS?

 

[Xenophon]

Get an SSD if you want reliability. All platter-based hard drives will fail at some point.

SSD will eventually fail, too. And there's plenty of reports on sites like this mentioning problems with Macbook (pro) and SSD's. The solution to the problem doesn't lie in throwing more money at it. HDD are a proven technology, affordable and work just fine. The trouble lies in finding a model that works as well with the macbook pro as the original Hitachi but with higher capacity/speed. If I were you I'd put the original back in and shift some data to external storage.

 

[uniforms]

I would contact the tech department at other world computing (macsales.com) and see if they have any recommendations. I bought a 500 gig hd for my 13" Macbook Pro from them a year and a half ago and have had not one problem. They know which drives are good and will hold up, plus their prices and service are awesome! Hope that helps.

 

[miles01110]

What HD do you have? Hitachi TS?

Honestly I don't remember. I don't put much stake in brand names anymore; they're all equally bad.

HDD are a proven technology, affordable and work just fine.

...except when they don't, like in the OP's case.

The trouble lies in finding a model that works as well with the macbook pro as the original Hitachi but with higher capacity/speed.

Pretty much every drive "works well" with the MBPs. There's nothing special about MBP hard drives.

 

[Freyqq]

get an ssd and put non-critical files on an external, preferably something with firewire 800 connections

 

[jamesraward]

Honestly I don't remember. I don't put much stake in brand names anymore; they're all equally bad.

...except when they don't, like in the OP's case.

Pretty much every drive "works well" with the MBPs. There's nothing special about MBP hard drives.

The reason I want to stick with the original 'brand' is that OSX seems to play nice with it when it comes to the hard drive power management and freefall sensors.

Although none of the other drives have failed and the only reason I upgraded was for space (I remember now that the first 500GB drive I replaced was a Seagate Momentus which I then sold on quickly as it reduced my battery to about 1hr).

I think what I'll probably do is just put the original back in there (take it out of my PS3) and stick with that for a while, cutting down on space and backing up more frequently. I've a load of video editing stuff that I only do at home so I may as well get a 'working' firewire desktop external.

Bit of a pain that I have to go through this though, never had this kind of trouble before!

Thank you all for your comments

 

[Aboo]

You may also want to try the Seagate Momentum XT series which is a combo SSD and regular hard drive. Also, from personal experience, I have never had issues with the WD Scorpio Blue series.

 

[frunkis54]

You may also want to try the Seagate Momentum XT series which is a combo SSD and regular hard drive. Also, from personal experience, I have never had issues with the WD Scorpio Blue series.

I second the WD Scorpio Blue. I put one in my MBP over a year ago and it has been great not one problem. knock on wood

 

[MacModMachine]

Get an SSD if you want reliability. All platter-based hard drives will fail at some point.

eventually all ssd's will fail too.

 

[Lokrado]

True, unfortunately however my budget doesn't stretch that far for the capacity I require. If I were to get an SSD then I'd be looking at 160GB minimum (and I'd have to find elsewhere for a lot of data). What HD do you have? Hitachi TS?

well if you hadn't bought 2 other platter based drives you could have bought an SSD

 

[brdnboy]

I would highly recommend a Western Digital Scorpio Black (7200RPM) drive of whichever capacity you need. I have owned 3 and have convinced 4 or 5 friends to buy them as well. None of the ones I have had experience with have had problems and I don't hear of many issues online either. They are great fast drives, not to bad on battery for a 7200rpm drive and seem to be very reliable.