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Choosing my MBP Hard Drive Upgrade

G

gkp

macrumors member
Original poster
Feb 4, 2009
45
0
Hello, I have a Macbook Pro 15" 2.53gHz with a 320 HD installed. I would like to upgrade to either a 500 gig 7200 or a 640 5400
Here are the links to each:

Seagate Momentus 7200
and:
Western Digital 640 gig

Before I make a purchase I would like to ask advice to see if anyone has had noise, heat or vibration problems with a 7200 hard drive?
I don't mind sticking with a 5400 if that is the case, just curious.

thanks a lot for your input.
 
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The 5400rpm HDD might be as fast as the 7200rpm HDD due to the higher density on the platters.
The 7200rpm HDD delivers 95MB/s during a read and write benchmark, a former 5400rpm 500GB HDD delivered 75MB/s during the same test, so the 640GB HDD will give you speeds in between those.

I myself have the Seagate Momentus 7200.4 (the one you linked to) and the vibration and noise are tolerable but they can be heard in a quiet environment.
 
I have had a good experience with the WD 500 GB 5400 Scorpio Blue
So if it were me, I would opt for the WD 640 GB 5400

Most of the perceived performance differences in the 7200 v. the 5400 will be negligible in my opinion, and I would prefer to have the extra GBs

Tolerance for noise and vibration are a personal matter and will vary widely by user
I have had not complaints about my 5400
 
Thank you!

It really counts to get some personal experiences from others. Thanks for your input.
 
I've not had any noise, heat or vibration problems with the 7200 RPM 2.5" HDDs that I've used.
 
Fuchal said:
I would recommend the Hitachi 7K500 over the Seagate.
Click to expand...

I was thinking the same.

I bought WD 640gb 5400rpm from newegg. It worked pretty good at first, since there wasn't much stuff on it, but as soon as I began to load up the hard drive...took a little longer to load/shut down. I'm looking at the Hitachi 7200rpm 500gb.

The 640gb 5400rpm gets a little warm after long periods (2-3hrs)...and it can definitely be heard in a classroom. It'll give off a revving noise.
 
Go for the Hitachi

Last month I upgraded my 5400RPM 250GB stock Hitachi HD with the 7200RPM 500GB Hitachi Travelstar. So far everything has been great! I cannot notice any noise or vibration with the new drive. If it wasn't for the quicker boot times and access times, one would think that this is the drive that came with the computer. Hope this helps!!!
 
I have the Seagate 7200.4.

No complaints, its fast, quiet, no vibration, actually I think its cooler than the stock drive.
 
gaps said:
Last month I upgraded my 5400RPM 250GB stock Hitachi HD with the 7200RPM 500GB Hitachi Travelstar. So far everything has been great! I cannot notice any noise or vibration with the new drive. If it wasn't for the quicker boot times and access times, one would think that this is the drive that came with the computer. Hope this helps!!!
Click to expand...

Agreed. I upgraded a WD 320GB 5400RPM to the Hitachi 7K500 in January. Noticeably faster (50% faster boot time) than the previous drive, benchmarked faster than the Seagate, no noise or vibration, inexpensive - and better battery times as a bonus!

Get the Hitachi.
 
7200 or not 7200?

I have a Macbook Pro 17" unibody.

Recently I could not help my curiosity and just had to instal a 7200rpm Seagate Momentus!

First thing I noticed was there is a wee more noise than the original 5400 Hitachi!

Next thing was that the drive never seemed to 'wind down' when not in use like 5400 tend to! I spent 2 weeks trying to find a firmware fix but nothing seemed available.

Next next thing I noticed was that overall heat seemed to rise. Not just the palmrest above hard drive but also the processor! When I would go out for a couple of hours and return the computer would be quite warm, when original drive would do little heat wise.

Despite looking and looking I could not find anything to settle the situation down so I have replaced the original drive. It is a little bit slower but works a charm.

Hope this helps, look for Seagate 7200 on eBay 2morrow!

Cheers
 
I have the Seagate 7200rpm that's listed. No noise or vibration. Much faster then the stock HD.
 
Have the 640. Quiet enough for me. Never had a 7200 so I don't mind the speed of the 5400. Only had it for a week or two but love it so far.
 
I upgraded from a 250GB 5400 RPM drive to a 500GB 5400 RPM. The first one had a noticeable vibration. I took a chance and returned it. The next one was fine.

I know that this is not a 7200 drive but I wanted to point out there is a lot of variation between individual drives. If you get a vibrating 7200 drive, you might try another of the same model to see if you get the same effect.
 
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