7200 rpm or not 7200 rpm? (ie. 5400 rpm)

[SonicBoom1981]

I'm still undecided if it's worth the money to get the 500 GB Serial ATA @7200 rpm preinstalled when buying my new MBP. I know I'd save a little money by buying one separately and exchanging them, and I'd end up with a spare drive, but I don't really want the hassle to do that. Is there chances of ending up with a HDD that won't run as well/soothly when installing one yourself? Does it affect your warranty if you exchange a HDD yourself?

My personal options are:
2.4GHz Intel Core i5 with matte display:
with 320GB Serial ATA @ 5400 rpm (£1,392 with student discount)
or
with 500GB Serial ATA @ 7200 rpm (£1,495 with student discount)

 

[Hellhammer]

Upgrading HD doesn't void your warranty and so far there is only one 500GB 7200rpm drive so it doesn't matter what way you go. Keep in mind that you can get even bigger (up to 1TB) if you upgrade it yourself

 

[psingh01]

I'm still undecided if it's worth the money to get the 500 GB Serial ATA @7200 rpm preinstalled when buying my new MBP. I know I'd save a little money by buying one separately and exchanging them, and I'd end up with a spare drive, but I don't really want the hassle to do that. Is there chances of ending up with a HDD that won't run as well/soothly when installing one yourself? Does it affect your warranty if you exchange a HDD yourself?

My personal options are:
2.4GHz Intel Core i5 with matte display:
with 320GB Serial ATA @ 5400 rpm (£1,392 with student discount)
or
with 500GB Serial ATA @ 7200 rpm (£1,495 with student discount)

Ive upgraded my mbp hdd myself with no problem. I don't know if 7200 is worth it as even my upgrade was 5400, but you shouldn't run into problems by doing it yourself.

 

[SonicBoom1981]

What's the normal procedure when changing HDD to transfer the data or to clone the drive? I'm not sure how it's done, but I guess backing up to an external drive is an option?

 

[Hellhammer]

What's the normal procedure when changing HDD to transfer the data or to clone the drive? I'm not sure how it's done, but I guess backing up to an external drive is an option?

Yea, TM backup to ext HD or buy an enclosure and stick that HD in there, boot from it and copy it into the new with Carbon Copy Cloner

 

[grahamnp]

Keep the original drive and buy the 500gb 7.2k rpm with the difference. I think the speed boost is worth it.

 

[skiltrip]

Has anyone used Super Duper to do the hard drive cloning? I saw a video about it on YouTube and have seen it mentioned elsewhere.

 

[SonicBoom1981]

Where's the best place to buy one, or what's the best one to go in a new 15" uMBP of the 500GB 7200 rpms?

 

[trondah]

Easiest way to clone your drive, boot from OSX DVD and execute this command in the terminal:

asr restore --source /Volumes/FROMVOLUME --target /Volumes/TOVOLUME --erase --noverify

FROMVOLUME = Your OSX installation, i.e. "Macintosh HD" (keep the ")
TOVOLUME = Name of your new drive

No need for Carbon Copy or other utilities. This method is very fast and 100% accurate.

 

[irontony]

I just brought the new 13" Macbook Pro.
I pre-purchased Hitachi Travelstar 7K500 Hard Disk Drive, 500GB, 7200rpm, 16MB Cache, SATA-2. As soon as I received my Macbook I replaced the HD with the Hitachi. Re-installed OSX from the DVDs.

The drive is quiet and I have no complants. The performance is very satisfying.

The original HD is in a external case being used for time machine

 

[ValSalva]

Just a word on the differences between a 5400 rpm and a 7200 rpm drive. In my experience there has been only a small performance increase. The 7200 rpm drive can cause bothersome keyboard vibration that can make the tips of your fingers numb/tingly after extended typing. The 7200 rpm drive is also much hotter and harder on battery life. Some 7200 rpm drives are better than others but these are some of the risks.

 

[SonicBoom1981]

I think I'll just leave the upgrade just now, and consider it in the future. It'll give me a little money for a case or something to protect it.

I've no idea what I'm going to do with my 2005 17" iMac G5 iSight, or if I'll ever use it again. Surely having two computers is better than one right?