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Hard Drive Questions

PaperMacWriter

PaperMacWriter

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Apr 5, 2009
260
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EDIT: I've decided on the new Seagate Momentus XT 500GB for a hard drive and Carbon Copy Cloner to help me set it up - now I just need a good, inexpensive enclusure to help set it up - preferably sold and shipped by amazon. Thanks to all who've helped!

/EDIT

I got my MacBook Pro a little under a year ago - a 2.26GHz 13.3" - which I absoultly adore. However, I hate one thing: its puny hard drive. I went for the baseline, since I wanted it ASAP at the time, but 160GB is really small, and it's almost full. I'm now finally going to upgrade it, now that I have only 30GB left (and a bunch of movies to add once upgraded), and I need some help and advice:

1) I don't have much cash, hence I was putting it off. If I can cut corners without cutting preformance and without possible future regret, I'd love to know.

2) What is the maximum height for a HDD in a MBP? Will a 12.5mm fit?

3) Whats the most cappacity I can fit in it? How much will it cost from a reputable retailer?

4) What's the best way to install a new HDD? I don't really want to buy an enclosure, but if I have it I want one with FW so I can at least reuse it with good speed.

5) How much louder and more power draining is a 7200RPM drive v.s. a 5400RPM drive?

Thanks in advance! If you need any more clarification on this, I'll gladly give it to you.

SG :apple:

PS Sorry if there's something that answers these questions that I could have found by searching. A quick glance at the results I was getting didn't show me what I wanted, so I figured I'd have better luck outright asking.
 
Thanks for a link to a good store. Do you know about my other questions though (7200 vs 5400, any model/make advice,etc)?

Thanks!
Stan
 
All brands have 3 years warranty. I bought a 7200RPM 500GB Samsung and it is fine so far.
About the RPM and battery I haven't notice any difference. You can chat with the guys form OWC and they could give you better tech details.
 
Cool, thanks. What's the best way to chat with them? Phone, some online thing, etc.? Could you post a link to these things? THanks

Stan
 
Well...

The live chat wasn't 100% helpful. They couldn't tell me much I hadn't found, and I still don't know which drive to buy. Can anyone recommend a particular model? Im thinking of either a 7200RPM 500GB or a lower speed 640GB+. Any advice?

Stan
 
7200rpm:
Seagate Momentus 7200.4 500GB
Hitachi Travelstar 500GB

5400rpm:
Western Digital Scorpio Blue 640GB

You can find those in Best Buy, or Newegg.com
 
Thanks! Now, one last question: anyone know a good (and somehow inexpensive) HDD enclosure to use? Im thinking I'll need it to create a copy of my current drive from what I've read (I don't have a second drive currently, and it wouldn't hurt to use my old drive for a redundant backup of my iTunes or something along those lines), but I need FW800 to make it seem worthwhile. I know OWC has one, but at $72, Im not buying. I found one on newegg made by "Rosewill" - anyone know if they're any good? Any other suggestions?

Thanks!
Stan
 
By the way, anyone know about this 1TB drive? It's out of my price range, but I could save up for it if anyone knows how good it is.

Stan

EDIT: Looking around, I don't think that drive will fit. So that leaves me with the Hatachi 7200RPM 500GB and the WD 5400RPM 640GB. THey're the same, or insignificantly different, prices where I've looked, so it's up to the choice between speed or size. Anyone feel like helping me make that choice?
 
I really want to get some advice on the latest questions soon, as I plan on ordering today, so *BUMP*
 
As far as speed vs capacity argument- its all up to you. If 500gb will be sufficient, then why not go for a 500gb 7200rpm drive? If you're going to need (want) more than 500gb in your laptop, go for a 640, 750, or 1tb drive. As of right now, those drives are only available in 5400rpm.

At the time I did my upgrade, I only had the option (at the price I wanted to pay) to either get a 320gb 7200rpm or a 500gb 5400rpm. I chose the latter because the capacity was more important than the speed. Also you cant really go wrong with the WD scorpio blue drives. Thats the 500gb I have and I love it. I only buy WD drives and I'm about to buy the 1tb for my MBP.
 
PaperMacWriter said:
Thanks! Now, one last question: anyone know a good (and somehow inexpensive) HDD enclosure to use? Im thinking I'll need it to create a copy of my current drive from what I've read (I don't have a second drive currently, and it wouldn't hurt to use my old drive for a redundant backup of my iTunes or something along those lines), but I need FW800 to make it seem worthwhile. I know OWC has one, but at $72, Im not buying. I found one on newegg made by "Rosewill" - anyone know if they're any good? Any other suggestions?

Thanks!
Stan
Click to expand...

Unless you plan using the enclosure a lot, save your money and get a USB one, instead of a FW800. Tigerdirect/compusa has a Sabrent 2.5" SATA to USB enclosure for $9.99 ... I have it, it's cheap and works well.

The OWC FW800 enclosure seems good, but it's kinda steep for $72.00

Regarding the 1TB drive, the only issue is the benchmarks for this drive. Since the drive is 5200rpm, I think it'll be slow compared to other drives mentioned, especially if you plan to use it as your boot drive. That 1TB drive is more of a storage-only drive. Go for the 640GB.
 
fehhkk said:
Regarding the 1TB drive, the only issue is the benchmarks for this drive. Since the drive is 5200rpm, I think it'll be slow compared to other drives mentioned, especially if you plan to use it as your boot drive. That 1TB drive is more of a storage-only drive. Go for the 640GB.
Click to expand...

I agree with your other words, but the 5200 RPM WD drive is pretty quick. RPM is not everything as relative density plays its part too (along with seek times etc). The density of the 1TB drive is such that it achieves speeds more akin to a lower capacity 7200 RPM drive.

I get 72.4 MB/s Write and 80.2 MB/s Read (real world figures) from my 1TB, which is pretty good for a spinner.

Of course, a few SSD users on here cannot imagine anything that slow....:eek:
 
for reference. I just put a 320gb western digital Scorpio black 7200rpm in my early 08 mbp. got it for 39.99 on dell website. bought an enclosure on slickdeals for 1.99 free ship. noticeable increase in performance, slight increase in vibration (only if i feel for it), no change in heat, and maybe 15 mins less battery time. hope this helps


doug
 
RobbieTT said:
I agree with your other words, but the 5200 RPM WD drive is pretty quick. RPM is not everything as relative density plays its part too (along with seek times etc). The density of the 1TB drive is such that it achieves speeds more akin to a lower capacity 7200 RPM drive.

I get 72.4 MB/s Write and 80.2 MB/s Read (real world figures) from my 1TB, which is pretty good for a spinner.

Of course, a few SSD users on here cannot imagine anything that slow....:eek:
Click to expand...

1TB isn't that much more denser as it's triple platter (3 x 333GB) while e.g. 640GB is double platter (2 x 320GB). 750GB is the densest as it's made of 2 x 375GB

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/scorpio-notebook-hdd,2109-6.html
 
I'm using a 160GB HDD 5400RPM now - will I really notice a difference at a density that's insanely higher than mine at a slightly lower speed? I'd expect performance to more or less stay the same from that...

And, just confirming: can a 13" MacBook Pro can fit a 12.5mm drive? I don't think anyone specifically answered my question, so I wanted to clear it up just in case.

Thanks for all the help!
Stan
 
McGiord said:
The HDDs that fit in your MacBook Pro are 9.5mm in height, the 12.5 mm doesn't fit.
Click to expand...

Not true at all... All unibody MacBook (Pros) can fit 12.5mm drives

1.0TB WD Scorpio Blue 5200RPM SATA *12.5mm* HD with Advanced Format Technology - Fits all Apple MacBook/MacBook Pro 'Unibody' Models (13/15/17"), MacBook Pro 'pre-unibody' 17", and PC Laptops which support 12.5mm SATA Drives. New with 3yr WD Warranty. (WDGWD10TPVT)
Click to expand...

http://eshop.macsales.com/item/Western Digital/WD10TPVT/
 
What about the new Momentus XT Hybrid?

I was about to order my HDD when I read about the new Seagate Momentus XT and decided to reconsider. It looks really appealing - do you think it's worth the extra $20 or so for it over the Hatachi?

Oh, and if anyone can link to a good (inexpensive) enclosure for setup and instructions on how to clone my drive (for free) so I can use it, that would be amazing.

Thanks y'all for all of your help!
SG
 
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PaperMacWriter said:
I was about to order my HDD when I read about the new Seagate Momentus XT and decided to reconsider. It looks really appealing - do you think it's worth the extra $20 or so for it over the Hatachi?

Oh, and if anyone can link to a good (inexpensive) enclosure for setup and instructions on how to clone my drive (for free) so I can use it, that would be amazing.

Thanks y'all for all of your help!
SG
Click to expand...

that has a 4GB solid state NAND chip in it - its a hybrid drive. the benefits of it are increased application boot times and whatnot - startup wont take that much of an increase in load times.

i think it is definitely worth a try. :)
 
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McGiord said:
Good to know that I was wrong about the physical size.
Here is a link for Carbon Copy Cloner:
http://www.bombich.com/
Click to expand...
Thanks for that!

DoFoT9 said:
that has a 4GB solid state NAND chip in it - its a hybrid drive. the benefits of it are increased application boot times and whatnot - startup wont take that much of an increase in load times.

i think it is definitely worth a try. :)
Click to expand...
Thanks. I was thinking that it sounded pretty good, but I wasn't sure if it was worth the money. Thanks!

Oh, and I still need help on deciding upon an enclosure/some way to preform the cloning of the drive. Thank you all so much!
Stan

EDIT: Looking at the drives I was conisidering again, it looks like there's actually a much bigger gap in price than I thought - they're only $90 for the normal drives, as opposed to $140 for the Hybrid! Is it really worth $50? $20, yes, but $50 seems like a lot...
 
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