Hard drive upgrade advice

[Benoit56]

Hi all,

Im new to this forum, so hello!

Ive had a macbook pro for about 3 years now, its the aluminium case model 17" screen Intel 2.5ghz, 4gb DDR2 ram.

I am a music producer / dj so I have a massive collection of music & samples etc on my hard drive, and it is now full.

I have a 1tb backup drive which I use with time machine, but I want to have a bigger internal hard drive so I can keep all my stuff onboard. Im looking for at least 750gb @7200rpm.

Can you advise the best drive / place to get what im after.


PS im from the UK.

Cheers

 

[Stev0lution]

I can't really point you towards a HDD since I'm not familiar w/ UK pricing, but I thought I'd throw this out there: Do you use your optical drive often? If not, you might want to look into installing an optibay HDD if you're running out of storage room.

 

[Hellhammer]

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/192247

That's currently the biggest 2.5" 12.5mm drive.

If you prefer speed over capacity, then your best bet is 7200rpm drive and they top out at 750GB

http://www.dabs.com/products/seagate-750gb-momentus-7200rpm-sata-300-16mb-2-5--78YB.html

 

[Benoit56]

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/192247

That's currently the biggest 2.5" 12.5mm drive.

If you prefer speed over capacity, then your best bet is 7200rpm drive and they top out at 750GB

http://www.dabs.com/products/seagate-750gb-momentus-7200rpm-sata-300-16mb-2-5--78YB.html

Thanks, thats a great help.

With regards to speed 5400 vs 7200 is there a massive notable difference?

 

[Benoit56]

I can't really point you towards a HDD since I'm not familiar w/ UK pricing, but I thought I'd throw this out there: Do you use your optical drive often? If not, you might want to look into installing an optibay HDD if you're running out of storage room.

I havent heard about these before, am I right in saying it is an additional drive rather than a replacement? Whats the pro's & con's?

 

[Hellhammer]

Thanks, thats a great help.

With regards to speed 5400 vs 7200 is there a massive notable difference?

It is noticeable but if you're using the HD mainly as storage, then it will be fine. If you use e.g. Logic, then a faster HD would speed things up but in general usage, the difference ain't that big. Besides, the more you have free space, the faster it is so it's better to have 1TB with 700GB filled than 750GB with 700GB filled.

I havent heard about these before, am I right in saying it is an additional drive rather than a replacement? Whats the pro's & con's?

It will replace the SuperDrive. That way you would have two internal HDs, resulting up to 1.75TB of internal storage (OptiBay can only fit 9.5mm HD IIRC). Pros are that you gain more internal storage but the con is that you lose the ODD. If you don't need the ODD, then it's fine but if you play music from CDs sometimes, then the ODD is useful for you.

 

[Benoit56]

It is noticeable but if you're using the HD mainly as storage, then it will be fine. If you use e.g. Logic, then a faster HD would speed things up but in general usage, the difference ain't that big. Besides, the more you have free space, the faster it is so it's better to have 1TB with 700GB filled than 750GB with 700GB filled.



It will replace the SuperDrive. That way you would have two internal HDs, resulting up to 1.75TB of internal storage (OptiBay can only fit 9.5mm HD IIRC). Pros are that you gain more internal storage but the con is that you lose the ODD. If you don't need the ODD, then it's fine but if you play music from CDs sometimes, then the ODD is useful for you.

Ahh I think I'll stick with a hd replacement then. Think the 1TB is gonna be the baby.

Thanks very much for you advice & help, much appreciated & all the best for NY