Best HDD for replacing optical drive? (+SSD)

[sneak3]

Hello!

Ill be buying a regular macbook pro and replacing the optical drive for an HDD.

Now, I know that when you have only one drive, you should go for a 7200 rpm one. But in my case, since the OS wil be stored in the SSD, should I go with a 5400 rpm or 7200 rpm HDD?

Obviously Ill be storing data there, but even though, wouldnt I benefit in any way from going with a faster drive?

Ive also heard that 7200 rpm generates more heat, but would that happen if it's not the main drive?

What do you guys think?

 

[Yahooligan]

It really depends on what you'll be using the HDD for, data archives and general file storage? If so then you shouldn't really have any issues with a 5400RPM drive as you'll either be copying data to/from the HDD or accessing specific data or files. I've attached screen caps showing sequential performance of both my internal drives. The slower one is the standard Apple (Hitachi) 1TB 5400RPM drive that originally came in my MBP, which is now in the optibay. I use that drive to store photos, music, downloads, etc. Things I don't access often that don't need to be taking up space on the SSD. I also have FCPX projects and events archived on it until the project is no longer going to be edited, then it gets shuffled off to external storage.

The slightly slower seek times and throughput with the 5400RPM drive isn't something that comes into play with my setup, so if you have similar plans then I would go for the largest drive and not worry about RPM.

People that are planning on creating their own Fusion Drive setup with an SSD+HDD as a single logical drive should keep HDD performance in mind as they won't be in control of what gets moved to the HDD and could get bit by a slower HDD being accessed more often than expected.

 

[sneak3]

Yeah, im planning on doing something similar to your setup.

But I wont be using the stock HDD since it's too small. Either way I have to buy a new one.

The price difference is not really that much at all between 5400 and 7200.

What im really concerned about is heat and battery life. Heard that 7200 rpm drives would heat the thing up and drain the battery more. However Im not sure if those would apply to my case since the OS wouldnt be stored in it.

Really confusing, I know.

 

[paul-n]

Compared to a SSD every HDD is slow, less for throughput and huge on IOs. I would recommend a SSD with the capacity that holds all your OS and Apps and maybe some additional Databases.
5400 rpm drives are using less power, create less heat and noise.
5400 rpm for storage of music, pictures and videos is fine.