5400 rpm vs 7200 regular versus solid state

[pdxflint]

^^ I haven't used a 7200rpm drive, but I can vouch for the WD500g 5400 drive being smooth as silk in my MBP. Obviously, more speed can easily = more vibration and noise, although it doesn't necessarily have to.

 

[dlhuss]

you hear conflicting reports on the quietness of drives because it varies from drive to drive - even in the same model.

i have 4 identical seagate 5400rpm 500gb drives. two are whisper quiet, one i can hear in operation and the fourth one sounds like my girlfriends cat tearing up it's scratching pole.

so, are they quieter? depends on your luck.

ps: those 5400rpm 500gb drives will perform about as well as 7200 320gb drives due to higher density.

 

[js81]

you hear conflicting reports on the quietness of drives because it varies from drive to drive

Very true. I had a 120GB Fujitsu drive in both my Macbook and our last Windows laptop, an HP dv9205. Same speed, and I think it was even the same model. The Macbook's drive was inaudible, and the HP's always "clicked." My drive that was noisy and vibrated was a Seagate Momentus 7200.2 200GB. My current is a Toshiba 1652-GSX 160GB (5400rpm). It is dead-silent and silky-smooth. I think I'll stick with a 5400rpm in my laptop's from now on, unless I can get an SSD. 😀

 

[TXBDan]

I upgraded form the stock 200mb 5400rpm to a new 320gb Hitachi 7200rpm.

It is a bit noisier. I can't tell anymore, but i remember when i first installed it that it was noticably noiser. you hear it spin up and whurr a bit. But now i'm used to it and can't hear it at all. Its a nonissue to me, but it IS louder technically.

I also didn't notice any amazing speed improvements, but the whole machine feels snappy and slick. I wouldn't be surprised if i'd be like WTF if i went back to a 5400rpm.

I have an early '08 2.4ghz 4gigs of ram

 

[newConvert]

Great thread, was just looking for something like this! Anyways, I have to pick up a HD today, as I'm pretty sure mine is on the fritze, and only 120gigs anyways. I'm deciding between two different models..

- SEAGATE 320GB Momentus 7200.3 SATA 2.5in Notebook HDD w/ NCQ, 16MB Cache

- Hitachi 500GB Travelstar 5K500.B SATA 2.5in w/ 8MB Cache


opinions?

 

[maflynn]

I'm waiting for delivery of my seagate 500gig drive, and I'm hoping that the vibration isn't too bad. I've seen some posts here and other places of people complaining.

A +1 on the less power, less heat argument. Its just not true that 7200 drives produce more heat and use more power then their slower counterparts.

The only reason why we still see 5400rpm drives, especially for oem equipment is $$ its much cheaper to slap a 5400 rpm drive then a 7200 rpm

 

[JasonR]

I have a 200 GB 7200 RPM drive straight from Apple in my MBP and it's very quiet.

 

[gertruded]

After receiving my "new" refurb white early 2009 Macbook, I replaced the 120gb 5200 stock drive with a new 320gb Hitachi 7200rpm drive. The new drive is very quiet.

I also put in 4gb of 800mh memory to replace the 667mh 2gb stock memory. Yes it does run at 800 mh.

I used CCC to transfer OSX to the new drive and Winclone for the bootcamp partition.

It seems to run silly fast compared to my 1.66 core duo mini.