Best MBP 500GB 2.5" HDD replacement

[Apple%]

Hi,

I'm looking to replace my stock 160gb 5400rpm drive with a 500gb drive 7200rpm. SSDs are just a bit too expensive at the moment.

Looking around the Seagate Momentus XT seems to come top of all the reviews until you research a little more and find that there seem to have been loads of issues with them, esp on macs.

Can anyone recommend a next best alternative drive?

 

[Ifti]

Ive always used Seagate Momentus - runs cooler and quieter then others.
Many users have stated 7200rpm drives cause their system to virbrate a little more though.......

 

[mulo]

if i was getting a new drive i would be getting a momentus xt

 

[ryanrich]

if i was getting a new drive i would be getting a momentus xt

+1

Great compromise if you can't afford an SSD.

 

[Mac.World]

My personal favourite 7200rpm HDD has been the Western Digital Scorpio Black series. I have been using their drives of various sizes and speeds for a while now.

I can not comment on the Momentus XT, but a lot of people have had god things to say about them.

As for the SSD, you don't need them at this point in time, unless you absolutely need every last millisecond of time. You save approx 15-20 seconds on cold boot time and 'on average' just a few seconds on app load times (there are exceptions), when compared to a 7200rpm drive.
The trade-off of smaller storage space compared to those few seconds of speed is just simply not worth it IMO.

 

[FEINT]

I just switched hard drives a few weeks back. I ended up with the Hitachi 7k500. Have a search on the forum, lots of reviews on it. I got it based on the reviews here.

I didn't go with the Momentus XT due to cost.

 

[fysh3]

I have just ordered a MomentusXT Hybrid. Can't wait for it to come!

 

[s1lv3r]

I'm getting a 15" i7 with 8gb OCZ ram in 4 weeks and i'll be changing it standard 500gb 5400rpm HDD for a faster HDD. i'm probably buying one Momentus XT 500gb too, but i'm worried if it can bring my battery life too low.

I know i'll be losing some battery life, but does anyone knows more or less how much? It will last half? 1h less? 2h Less? Please consider normal usage - wifi internet, normal brightness, spreadsheets, text docs, etc - and not video encoding/editing or gaming.

tnx in advance!

 

[HBOC]

i have had the hitachi travelstar 500GB 7200 for over a year, and have never had any problems.

 

[Apple%]

Thanks for the help everyone, ordered the M XT... Fingers crossed.

 

[s1lv3r]

Thanks for the help everyone, ordered the M XT... Fingers crossed.

Good Luck buddy.

I would appreciate if you could post about battery lifetime difference after using it for some days, please

 

[miata]

Travelstars have been fast, quite and reliable for me for almost 10 years now.