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I want a 7200 500 GB HDD for my MBP, but...

J

jon08

macrumors 68000
Original poster
Nov 14, 2008
1,894
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... I don't like it too loud and I don't want the horrendous vibrations users have reported. Has the firmware update Apple issued not long ago fixed anything?

Have some of the latest HDDs that came out recently been quieter and without those annoying vibrations? What would you suggest me to get?

I think getting another 5400 drive is rather unreasonable and uneconomic because a year from now 5400 will be looked upon as ancient, whereas 7200 will still be regarded as somewhat better and newer (if I decide to sell my MBP then).

So what's the verdict on the newest 7200 rpm drives?
 
Yeah I know about Scorpio Blue, but still I'm kind of skeptic about getting another 5400 drive...
 
NC MacGuy said:
Why? What is your rationale for not wanting a drive that spins less and performs the same?
Click to expand...

I'm kind of skeptical about it really performing about the same as 7200 in the first place, and secondly I think 5400 won't sell well a year or two from now...

It makes me wonder if Scorpio would really be any better than my current 5400 Hitachi HDD?
 
jon08 said:
I'm kind of skeptical about it really performing about the same as 7200 in the first place, and secondly I think 5400 won't sell well a year or two from now...

It makes me wonder if Scorpio would really be any better than my current 5400 Hitachi HDD?
Click to expand...

The hassle I've had w. various levels of noise/vibration aren't worth the minimal speed increase from the 7200's.

Got X Bench? Run disk performance test on your Hitachi. Here's one I ran on a Scorpio Blue:

Disk Test 58.94
Sequential 103.73
Uncached Write 122.38 75.14 MB/sec [4K blocks]
Uncached Write 120.24 68.03 MB/sec [256K blocks]
Uncached Read 66.20 19.37 MB/sec [4K blocks]
Uncached Read 143.54 72.14 MB/sec [256K blocks]
Random 41.16
Uncached Write 15.35 1.62 MB/sec [4K blocks]
Uncached Write 116.55 37.31 MB/sec [256K blocks]
Uncached Read 65.42 0.46 MB/sec [4K blocks]
Uncached Read 122.64 22.76 MB/sec [256K blocks]
 
Ok I just ran a test and here's the result:

Disk Test 35.12
Sequential 59.87
Uncached Write 67.25 41.29 MB/sec [4K blocks]
Uncached Write 61.25 34.66 MB/sec [256K blocks]
Uncached Read 44.62 13.06 MB/sec [4K blocks]
Uncached Read 75.73 38.06 MB/sec [256K blocks]
Random 24.85
Uncached Write 8.33 0.88 MB/sec [4K blocks]
Uncached Write 64.50 20.65 MB/sec [256K blocks]
Uncached Read 67.70 0.48 MB/sec [4K blocks]
Uncached Read 93.88 17.42 MB/sec [256K blocks]


and here's a Seagate Momentus X-Bench I found:

thumbs_seagate.jpg
 
Just thought I'd through in the test results from my Scorpio Black 320 7200RPM. I haven't see it run on a 500GB 7200RPM, though, but I would suspect it to be similar. I don't have any vibration or noise issues with this drive. It's very quiet. But, I would say there are variances out there - some have a slight vibration; some load/unload cycles are noisier. I don't think those variances are limited to a particular manufacturer, either.

Drive Type WDC WD3200BJKT-00F4T0
Disk Test 69.98
Sequential 111.04
Uncached Write 104.14 63.94 MB/sec [4K blocks]
Uncached Write 112.82 63.83 MB/sec [256K blocks]
Uncached Read 101.96 29.84 MB/sec [4K blocks]
Uncached Read 129.06 64.86 MB/sec [256K blocks]
Random 51.09
Uncached Write 18.33 1.94 MB/sec [4K blocks]
Uncached Write 164.90 52.79 MB/sec [256K blocks]
Uncached Read 93.66 0.66 MB/sec [4K blocks]
Uncached Read 142.83 26.50 MB/sec [256K blocks]
 
gr8tfly said:
Just thought I'd through in the test results from my Scorpio Black 320 7200RPM. I haven't see it run on a 500GB 7200RPM, though, but I would suspect it to be similar. I don't have any vibration or noise issues with this drive. It's very quiet. But, I would say there are variances out there - some have a slight vibration; some load/unload cycles are noisier. I don't think those variances are limited to a particular manufacturer, either.

Drive Type WDC WD3200BJKT-00F4T0
Disk Test 69.98
Sequential 111.04
Uncached Write 104.14 63.94 MB/sec [4K blocks]
Uncached Write 112.82 63.83 MB/sec [256K blocks]
Uncached Read 101.96 29.84 MB/sec [4K blocks]
Uncached Read 129.06 64.86 MB/sec [256K blocks]
Random 51.09
Uncached Write 18.33 1.94 MB/sec [4K blocks]
Uncached Write 164.90 52.79 MB/sec [256K blocks]
Uncached Read 93.66 0.66 MB/sec [4K blocks]
Uncached Read 142.83 26.50 MB/sec [256K blocks]
Click to expand...

Wow, your numbers are quite high. Did you run any system maintenance lately? (Don't know if this will affect the scores?)

I've checked some sites and your HDD seems to be getting lots of positive reviews, while Seagate Momentus 7200.4 seems to be a mixed bag - lots of positive yet lots of negative comments as well...
 
You're taking a chance on the Scorpio Black. Having installed three, one was fairly decent with little vibration. The others worked fine and I'm sure met specs. but the drive is right under your wrist and you will feel vibrations. Having had both, the Blue 5400 500GB is really the better deal. Nearly as fast and you don't have to worry about getting a drive with issues.

You keep posting about future - mechanical HDD's are a dying tech. A 7200 rpm drive will be just as obsolete in two years as a 5400 drive.

If you really want to man that computer up, get a SSD. BEST upgrade you can put in it - period:

Disk Test 279.80
Sequential 183.86
Uncached Write 155.73 95.61 MB/sec [4K blocks]
Uncached Write 152.13 86.08 MB/sec [256K blocks]
Uncached Read 157.82 46.19 MB/sec [4K blocks]
Uncached Read 412.42 207.28 MB/sec [256K blocks]
Random 585.11
Uncached Write 669.48 70.87 MB/sec [4K blocks]
Uncached Write 273.90 87.69 MB/sec [256K blocks]
Uncached Read 1527.60 10.83 MB/sec [4K blocks]
Uncached Read 964.25 178.92 MB/sec [256K blocks]

Scorpio Black:

Results 69.27
System Info
Xbench Version 1.3
System Version 10.5.8 (9L30)
Physical RAM 4096 MB
Model MacBookPro5,5
Drive Type WDC WD3200BEKT-00F3T0
Disk Test 69.27
Sequential 103.52
Uncached Write 122.94 75.49 MB/sec [4K blocks]
Uncached Write 118.73 67.18 MB/sec [256K blocks]
Uncached Read 67.55 19.77 MB/sec [4K blocks]
Uncached Read 137.39 69.05 MB/sec [256K blocks]
Random 52.05
Uncached Write 18.79 1.99 MB/sec [4K blocks]
Uncached Write 169.64 54.31 MB/sec [256K blocks]
Uncached Read 91.10 0.65 MB/sec [4K blocks]
Uncached Read 148.13 27.49 MB/sec [256K blocks]
 
jon08 said:
Wow, your numbers are quite high. Did you run any system maintenance lately? (Don't know if this will affect the scores?)

I've checked some sites and your HDD seems to be getting lots of positive reviews, while Seagate Momentus 7200.4 seems to be a mixed bag - lots of positive yet lots of negative comments as well...
Click to expand...

Nothing done maintenance wise, unless you consider an upgrade to Snow Leopard ;) But, these are the same numbers I got before the update. I don't remember seeing these sorts of speeds on my old 2.33 MBP (it had a 200GB 7200RPM Hitachi), but that could have been the drive/machine combination. In case you missed my sig line, the machine I used for the above test is a 17" Unibody MBP - Early 2009, 2.66GHz, 4GB RAM.

I did have one of these unit which had a very slight vibration - and I felt it (someone else posted it's right under your wrist - very true). I did a warranty swap with WD and had the new one in less than a week (they have a pre-return deal where you give them a credit card and they ship out the new unit before receiving the defective one - you have a month to return it.) The new one is the same as my other two 7200's - one WD and one Hitachi - neither of which have any spindle vibration or noticeable noise.

Bottom line: You'll probably end up with a unit that's fine (the odds are with you). If not, either return to store and swap, or use WD's on-line warranty - which I found to work very well.
 
FWIW: I just installed a Seagate 7200.3 to replace a Scorpio Black 7200/320g drive. The WD ticked and squeaked way too much for my taste. I'm not saying they all do it, but a quick goole search revealed this as a recurring issue with the WD. The Seagate is as quiet as the OEM 5400 drive. I can't hear it and I can't feel it.

IMHO the HD is one of the primary bottlenecks in any computer. So even if 5400->7200 isn't a huge performance gain, the price difference is insignificant enough to warrant the upgrade in my book (assuming you're going to upgrade).

J
 
jon08 said:
I'm kind of skeptical about it really performing about the same as 7200 in the first place, and secondly I think 5400 won't sell well a year or two from now...
It makes me wonder if Scorpio would really be any better than my current 5400 Hitachi HDD?
Click to expand...

Honestly??

I don't think any HDD will sell well a year or two from now, especially since the market are moving closer and closer to the faster, more energy efficient SSD. I hear they're gonna be releasing 1Tb version soon...
 
BTW: Here are by Xbench scores for the Seagate 7200.3 and the OEM 5400 rpm drive.

Of note:

Sequential
Uncached Write - 50% performance improvement w/7200
Uncached Read - 33% performance improvement w/7200

Random
Uncached Write - 50% performance improvement w/7200 (Look at the difference in the 2nd Unached write test under random)
Uncached Read - 50% performance improvement w/7200

Understand these are synthetic tests, but Tom's Hardware shows the 7200 RPM drives generally perform better as well with a thorough review here: http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/mobile-hdd-notebook,2305-13.html
 

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jmxp69 said:
BTW: Here are by Xbench scores for the Seagate 7200.3 and the OEM 5400 rpm drive.

Of note:

Sequential
Uncached Write - 50% performance improvement w/7200
Uncached Read - 33% performance improvement w/7200

Random
Uncached Write - 50% performance improvement w/7200 (Look at the difference in the 2nd Unached write test under random)
Uncached Read - 50% performance improvement w/7200
Click to expand...


What's really amazing is the comparison of your 17" 2.63 7200 Seagate vs. my 13" 2.26 w. the Intel SSD:

Results 199.34
System Info
Xbench Version 1.3
System Version 10.5.8 (9L31a)
Physical RAM 4096 MB
Model MacBookPro5,5
Drive Type INTEL SSDSA2M160G2GC
CPU Test 153.21
GCD Loop 264.29 13.93 Mops/sec
Floating Point Basic 128.13 3.04 Gflop/sec
vecLib FFT 107.95 3.56 Gflop/sec
Floating Point Library 190.25 33.13 Mops/sec
Thread Test 280.21
Computation 400.48 8.11 Mops/sec, 4 threads
Lock Contention 215.49 9.27 Mlocks/sec, 4 threads
Memory Test 181.99
System 204.45
Allocate 234.91 862.66 Kalloc/sec
Fill 175.65 8540.29 MB/sec
Copy 211.72 4372.99 MB/sec
Stream 163.97
Copy 156.65 3235.64 MB/sec
Scale 154.67 3195.51 MB/sec
Add 173.46 3695.15 MB/sec
Triad 172.98 3700.52 MB/sec
Quartz Graphics Test 183.74
Line 169.94 11.31 Klines/sec [50% alpha]
Rectangle 219.76 65.61 Krects/sec [50% alpha]
Circle 179.92 14.67 Kcircles/sec [50% alpha]
Bezier 176.92 4.46 Kbeziers/sec [50% alpha]
Text 179.62 11.24 Kchars/sec
OpenGL Graphics Test 145.46
Spinning Squares 145.46 184.52 frames/sec
User Interface Test 291.00
Elements 291.00 1.34 Krefresh/sec
Disk Test 265.19
Sequential 172.08
Uncached Write 159.78 98.10 MB/sec [4K blocks]
Uncached Write 131.04 74.14 MB/sec [256K blocks]
Uncached Read 144.44 42.27 MB/sec [4K blocks]
Uncached Read 411.20 206.66 MB/sec [256K blocks]
Random 577.83
Uncached Write 671.34 71.07 MB/sec [4K blocks]
Uncached Write 269.49 86.27 MB/sec [256K blocks]
Uncached Read 1465.52 10.39 MB/sec [4K blocks]
Uncached Read 961.78 178.46 MB/sec [256K blocks]
 
Yup, that's spectacular. If my MBP had two drive bays, OSX would be running from an SSD. My video editing takes up too much space though. I'm not willing to spend $600 for a 100gb smaller drive. My 7200 rpm drive was $79 from Newegg shipped. I'll save the other $521 toward a MBA :)
 
jmxp69 said:
Yup, that's spectacular. If my MBP had two drive bays, OSX would be running from an SSD. My video editing takes up too much space though. I'm not willing to spend $600 for a 100gb smaller drive. My 7200 rpm drive was $79 from Newegg shipped. I'll save the other $521 toward a MBA :)
Click to expand...

Technically it can...
Install a Opti-bay. Make that optical drive external.
 
jmxp69 said:
Yup, that's spectacular. If my MBP had two drive bays, OSX would be running from an SSD. My video editing takes up too much space though. I'm not willing to spend $600 for a 100gb smaller drive. My 7200 rpm drive was $79 from Newegg shipped. I'll save the other $521 toward a MBA :)
Click to expand...

There's always the HDD-optibay alternative. I'm going to be sticking the Scorpio Blue 500GB in my CD/DVD drives space. 500GB + 160GB isn't bad storage. Don't use the optical much anyway. Learned that lesson with the Air.;)
 
I have the Seagate Momentus 500GB 7200rpm drive in my mbp and its vibration free and quiet. I guess others have had problems with these drives but that hasn't been my experience. Maybe this was a problem early on that was corrected by the time I bought mine.
 
I can't imagine anyone opting for the 5400. Granted my 7200 500gb is in my Mini, but why would anyone go for less speed? The vibration issue can be solved with the right application of a strip of foam, I'm sure.
 
barkomatic said:
I have the Seagate Momentus 500GB 7200rpm drive in my mbp and its vibration free and quiet. I guess others have had problems with these drives but that hasn't been my experience. Maybe this was a problem early on that was corrected by the time I bought mine.
Click to expand...
This drive is in my 08/09 MBP. I don't hear it & I don''t feel it. It works just fine so far.
 
UltraNEO* said:
Honestly??

I don't think any HDD will sell well a year or two from now, especially since the market are moving closer and closer to the faster, more energy efficient SSD. I hear they're gonna be releasing 1Tb version soon...
Click to expand...

Well, yeah but having a 7200 HDD will certainly be some sort of an advantage as being a better "marketing trait" than having a 5400 (in case I decide to sell my MBP). Besides, I don't see the SDD prices of 320/500 GB drives (if there will be such) dropping to reasonable prices for at least another year or more likely two anyway, so I wouldn't hold my breath on those.

Meh, should I just go for the 500 GB Scorpio Blue then? How does it compare in speed to Scorpio Black (320 GB) 7200? Or Seagate Momentus 7200.3?
 
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