Best 500gb HD for MBP

[aerove]

Hey guys! i've got a SR mbp with a paltry 120gb hd.. so i was out looking for a 500gb drive, i was wondering, now that the normal drives have shot upto 2Tb how long would it be before we see laptop drives hitting 1tb and more ?

Also, Since the mbp has the drive protection thing in it .. which drive would you guys suggest ? i was looking at these drives ...

HITACHI Travelstar 5K500.B HTS545050B9A300

or

Seagate Momentus 5400.6 ST9500325AS 500GB 5400 RPM

or

Western Digital Scorpio Blue WD5000BEVT 500GB 5400 RPM

or

SAMSUNG Spinpoint M6 HM500LI 500GB 5400 RPM

any suggestions would be appreciated !!

 

[isaki87]

what about the seagate 500gb 7200rpm drive?

 

[grindking134]

^Its not in stock.

 

[isaki87]

^Its not in stock.

I know newegg is sold out. I ordered mine from there shortly after its release, and they haven't had any in stock since February.

OWC should have it within the next six to seven days.

Provantage has it on special order $27 cheaper than OWC, and closer to the price of Newegg.

I have ordered from Provantage in the past, and it has been a pleasant experience, albeit its the only time I ordered from there.

 

[aerove]

i was against going wit a 7200rpm drive because it might be noisy and might heat up faster, so among the ones i mentioned above which one would be the best?

 

[isaki87]

i was against going wit a 7200rpm drive because it might be noisy and might heat up faster, so among the ones i mentioned above which one would be the best?

If you were to choose from the four mentioned drives, I would go with the Samsung. After beta testing for Samsung, I really like their drives; pure quality and value. This drive in particular is what I am using for my PS3, its awesome. I leave that thing on for weeks at a time... I know its bad, but its working like a champ.

However, the 500gb 7200.4 Seagate is not noisy, nor does it get hot at all, also in terms of power consumption it is very efficient. I haven't noticed any loss in battery charge, noise or heat when compared to the stock (5400rpm) drive that came with my MBP.

 

[pdxflint]

I was in your shoes a couple of months ago, and decided on the WD Scorpio Blue 500gig. Here's a good write-up on it, and comparison charts with it and a lot of other laptop drives. Read the whole article, and the performance charts. It's near the top in a lot of the performance specs, and also is one of the most energy efficient drives in normal use.

I installed it in the same MBP you have (2.2 with an original 120gig HD) and it's been better than I expected. It is fairly quiet, and I don't have all the clicks and head-parking issues some people have written about - at all. I'm hardly aware it's even there. In my MBP it rarely exceeds 90-95F, usually under that, so it's a cool running drive. So far, it's been a winner. I like the fact that it's a two-platter drive, unlike the Hitachi and Samsung. It's a newer design, and is quite a bit faster on data throughput. Also, the Hitachi 500gig drive is a 12.5mm height drive, and won't fit in a MBP. The Samsung will fit.

Here's a link to Newegg's comparison of the drives. Make sure to compare the customer reviews and ratings. Right now you can get a "combo deal" which includes a USB external 2.5" SATA enclosure along with the drive for free, but the shipping will cost a little over $5, instead of free. If you order the drive alone, shipping is free. But it's a good price for an enclosure which you can use during cloning, and put your original drive into later.

Good luck whichever you decide...

 

[aerove]

I was in your shoes a couple of months ago, and decided on the WD Scorpio Blue 500gig. Here's a good write-up on it, and comparison charts with it and a lot of other laptop drives. Read the whole article, and the performance charts. It's near the top in a lot of the performance specs, and also is one of the most energy efficient drives in normal use.

I installed it in the same MBP you have (2.2 with an original 120gig HD) and it's been better than I expected. It is fairly quiet, and I don't have all the clicks and head-parking issues some people have written about - at all. I'm hardly aware it's even there. In my MBP it rarely exceeds 90-95F, usually under that, so it's a cool running drive. So far, it's been a winner. I like the fact that it's a two-platter drive, unlike the Hitachi and Samsung. It's a newer design, and is quite a bit faster on data throughput. Also, the Hitachi 500gig drive is a 12.5mm height drive, and won't fit in a MBP. The Samsung will fit.

Here's a link to Newegg's comparison of the drives. Make sure to compare the customer reviews and ratings. Right now you can get a "combo deal" which includes a USB external 2.5" SATA enclosure along with the drive for free, but the shipping will cost a little over $5, instead of free. If you order the drive alone, shipping is free. But it's a good price for an enclosure which you can use during cloning, and put your original drive into later.

Good luck whichever you decide...

Thanks for the ton of info!! i guess i'll be goin with the same one can't wait to be done with school so i can take my mac to the store to get the drive replaced!

 

[johnmclane2000]

The Hitachi is a 5K500 B not the old 5K500, so it is 9,5mm and has only two platters.

The only drive the threadstarter listed in the first post that has three platters is the samsung. For that reason I would not go with it.

The new Hitachi is slighty faster than the WD500 but not noticably.

See this review:

http://www.i4u.com/section-viewarticle-527.html

Seems to be down to taste between the WD, Hitachi and Seagate drives. The Hitachi, although being the last one to be released is also the cheapest.

 

[jazz1]

Delay Again on Seagate 500GB

^Its not in stock.

I've had one on order at Dell and the ship date has slipped twice. Now June 1. Is anyone getting this in? Wonder what the problem is?

 

[zer0tails]

they're all reputable brands. I personally would favor the drive that's the quietest.

 

[clyde2801]

Seagate drives generally have a 5 year warranty, and WD has 3 on theirs.

I've installed a wd scorpio black on my uni 2.4, and I can tell some vibration on the left hand rest.

I just got through installing a seagate 320 gig 7200 on my 2.33 mbp, and I honestly can't tell that there's a drive in there.

I can't speak for the 5400 drives, but I did a lot of reading on performance between WD and Seagate 7200's. The WD has faster small seek/read performance (which is what most people will notice using a laptop in everyday use, while the seagate has faster sustained drive performance (moving large files, FCP, etc). There wasn't a large difference between the two I looked at.

 

[RKpro]

Well the absolute best 500GB option is this:

http://www.engadget.com/2009/04/08/super-talent-ships-1-500-2-5-inch-masterdrive-rx-512gb-ssd/

if you wallet is thick enough...

 

[natebookpro]

Cant vouch for any of the others, but I have the WD 500 Blue and love it. Quiet and fast. Just for reference I had the Scorpio Black in first and scored 149 with the black drive and the blue drive. The stock drive had me scoring 132. Apparently the high data density on the blue helps with the speed.

 

[kimnkk]

Cant vouch for any of the others, but I have the WD 500 Blue and love it. Quiet and fast. Just for reference I had the Scorpio Black in first and scored 149 with the black drive and the blue drive. The stock drive had me scoring 132. Apparently the high data density on the blue helps with the speed.

+1 for this. Was close to getting the 320gb 7200rpm black, but then i saw reviews on this little guy

 

[Animalk]

I am extremely happy with my WD Blue 500Gb. Very quick and more then quiet enough for me. No noticeable loss in battery life. I recommend it!

 

[Timur]

I went for the Hitachi 5K500.B instead of the WD Scorpio Blue because the Hitachi draws only 1.4W, which is nearly half of what the WD draws, and because in some comparison test the Hitachi showed equally good performance with all different block sizes. But in practice I don't think there is much of a difference between the two.

The Hitachi features quiet spinning noise, but is clearly audible on access/head movement. The original Hitachi 250gb / 7200 rpm had slightly louder spinning noise, but access noise was virtually undetectable unless you put your ear onto it.

 

[alphaod]

I had a 500GB 7200RPM Seagate; it wasn't that bad.

 

[sm0]

I am extremely happy with my WD Blue 500Gb. Very quick and more then quiet enough for me. No noticeable loss in battery life. I recommend it!

Chur. How does this the WD Blue Scorpio compare to the stock in the Unibodies and to the Seagate 7200rpm?

 

[pdxflint]

I had a 500GB 7200RPM Seagate; it wasn't that bad.

"Had" would be past tense... so you don't have it anymore? And if it wasn't 'that bad,' how bad was it? Somehow it doesn't sound like a ringing endorsement. More info, please.

 

[machomer]

I know newegg is sold out. I ordered mine from there shortly after its release, and they haven't had any in stock since February.

OWC should have it within the next six to seven days.

Provantage has it on special order $27 cheaper than OWC, and closer to the price of Newegg.

I have ordered from Provantage in the past, and it has been a pleasant experience, albeit its the only time I ordered from there.

Does special order mean that Provantage has it in stock? I've been waiting to buy this drive, but it's never in stock. Curious how Provantage would have it in stock.

 

[Shivetya]

Can someone provide a link to instructions on how to move to a new drive? I am under the impression I need an external sata enclosure and software.

(I am using a 2.4mbp)

 

[Ploki]

you need alot of disk space or an external enclosure.
you can clone it with Disk Utility
its a topic on the first or 2nd page, "cloning HDDs"