Buying Harddisk for early 2008 MBP

[ibd]

Hi all,

I'm looking into buying a new hard drive for my early 2008 (4.1) MBP. I would like to get something bigger and faster than my current (200 GB, 5400 rpm) drive, so I considered a 500 GB 7200 rpm drive. I can spend about 100$.

I'm not sure where to start looking... I'm a bit overwhelmed. There is a RAM buying guide on this site but I couldn't find one for harddisks. Could you give me advice where and what to search, or even links to drives you recommend? What kind of drive is compatible with my laptop?

Thanks a lot!
-ibd

 

[Hellhammer]

WD Scorpio Black 500GB 7200rpm OR Seagate Momentus 7200.4 500GB

Installation tutorial

Tools you need + USB 2.0 enclosure

 

[mjgillen]

I also bought the Western Digital Scorpio Black 500GB 7200 RPM

I just installed the Scorpio this morning and I think it works great. Installation was quite easy.

I used Carbon Copy Clone to clone the drive and it worked flawlessly - took about 2 hours to clone 75GB of data on my old HDD.

Instead of the enclosure listed above I used the all-in-1 adapter from OWC here:
https://eshop.macsales.com/item/Newer Technology/U2NV2SPATA/

Good luck!
Michael

 

[ibd]

Thanks a lot!

Before deciding on one of these, are there any comparisons on how noisy these drives are, and what power consumption they have? What's your impression, mjgillen? I would prefer a less noisy and power consuming drive over one that is a few percents faster.

 

[toxic]

Thanks a lot!

Before deciding on one of these, are there any comparisons on how noisy these drives are, and what power consumption they have? What's your impression, mjgillen? I would prefer a less noisy and power consuming drive over one that is a few percents faster.

my battery life sank by nearly an hour after installing a 320GB WD Scorpio Black. dunno how the Seagate compares power-wise, but I think a bigger 5400RPM drive would've been better. a 1TB 5400RPM drive would probably be as fast as a 500GB 7200RPM drive if you have a lot of data.

it's noticeably noisier. I wouldn't say enough to be annoying or a distraction, but it's there.

 

[ibd]

my battery life sank by nearly an hour after installing a 320GB WD Scorpio Black. dunno how the Seagate compares power-wise, but I think a bigger 5400RPM drive would've been better. a 1TB 5400RPM drive would probably be as fast as a 500GB 7200RPM drive if you have a lot of data.

it's noticeably noisier. I wouldn't say enough to be annoying or a distraction, but it's there.

Wow, that sounds really negative. I get about 2h, 3h max out of my MBP as it is now, lowering that by an hour would really make it less "portable".
I dislike the noticeable noise, too. What battery life did you get before?
I have about 300 GB of data, why does that matter for speed?

 

[Hellhammer]

I have about 300 GB of data, why does that matter for speed?

Because the fuller the HD, the slower it is. Why? Because the tracks closer to the centre are slower. Having much free space will speed up as then the fastest part (outer part) of the HD will be used.

 

[toxic]

Wow, that sounds really negative. I get about 2h, 3h max out of my MBP as it is now, lowering that by an hour would really make it less "portable".
I dislike the noticeable noise, too. What battery life did you get before?
I have about 300 GB of data, why does that matter for speed?

I got about 4-4 1/2 hours with the stock drive.