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Hard Drive Upgrade - Definitive Answer?

ElusiveTramp

ElusiveTramp

macrumors member
Original poster
Jul 2, 2009
32
0
So I've trawled through the many, many threads of this forum about upgrading a mid-09 13.3" Macbook Pro's hard drive, and basically, I've come to the conclusion that any 500GB 2.5 SATA has had issues with clicks and beeps etc whether it be Seagate Momentus or Western Digital.

I've literally spent a whole day, trying to find a 500GB hard drive (that gets a good review on this forum) that I can put in an 09 MBP and rest assured that I'm not going to drift in to madness with beeps and noise. However, the 10th hour of looking is coming to a close and I'm very near bald, Amazon must be sick of seeing my IP address log on.

So I plead from you, is there any hard drive out there that is fast, silent and not going to implode on me that you can all agree on?

Or am I completely wrong and these issues that have been talked about with be solved with a simple firmware update from Apple? :D
 
Unfortunately, as much as I would adore a SSD (albeit a little bit bigger), being a poor and slightly smelly student I'm only just about affording a MBP with a 500GB SATA.
 
Duh - I think 2 hard drives will make MORE noise

jmann said:
You can put in a 250 GB hard drive, and then remove the optical drive and replace it with another 250GB internal drive. Then they will both be quiet. :) I never hear my 320GB drive.
Click to expand...

Just think about this one. TWO hard drive Mechanisms, means (100% definitely) twice as much mechanical and electronic noise. So two 250Gb hard drives will definitely make more noise than even the worst single 500Gb hard drive.

Also, I have a 500Gb Seagate 5400 RPM 2.5" Hard drive in my 15" MacBook Pro (Non Unibody) and a 500Gb Seagate Momentus 7200RPM drive in my 13" MacBook Pro and the 7200 is far quieter, does not "knock or squeak" and is SO quick. (Not as quick as SSD, but fast enough for my needs as a very (VERY) demanding Wedding Photographer).
 
davegoody said:
Just think about this one. TWO hard drive Mechanisms, means (100% definitely) twice as much mechanical and electronic noise. So two 250Gb hard drives will definitely make more noise than even the worst single 500Gb hard drive.

Also, I have a 500Gb Seagate 5400 RPM 2.5" Hard drive in my 15" MacBook Pro (Non Unibody) and a 500Gb Seagate Momentus 7200RPM drive in my 13" MacBook Pro and the 7200 is far quieter, does not "knock or squeak" and is SO quick. (Not as quick as SSD, but fast enough for my needs as a very (VERY) demanding Wedding Photographer).
Click to expand...

I've seen around here that the 7200rpm models were the culprits mainly for this!? Can you give an opinion as to why there's been all this hoo-har about clicks and whirs etc? I'm begrudged paying like £60 approx, for something that's going to give me a mental breakdown (saying that I did spend 10x that on a PC :D)

Is it all random? Or are there things that make it liable to happen? For example the 7200 rpm models?
 
ElusiveTramp said:
I've seen around here that the 7200rpm models were the culprits mainly for this!? Can you give an opinion as to why there's been all this hoo-har about clicks and whirs etc? I'm begrudged paying like £60 approx, for something that's going to give me a mental breakdown (saying that I did spend 10x that on a PC :D)

Is it all random? Or are there things that make it liable to happen? For example the 7200 rpm models?
Click to expand...

I honestly think that there is something in it - for so many people to have reported noise issues. However in my case no problem at all. It is possible that fitting a hard drive in one of the older (i.e. NON unibody) MacBook Pro's is an issue as it is a real pain to take apart and put together correctly. - Noise is an issue if the hard drive is not mounted 100% correctly, with the rubber that stops the drive bouncing around on the screws in place. In the new machines (unibody) it is FAR easier to mount the drive. The 7200 drive was a no-brainer to fit, works almost silently (Seagate Momentus 7200) and with no noticable difference in power consumption either.
 
I could be wrong, but it seems to me that some of the problems people are having with HDDs is that the new drives with built-in drop protection are having conflicts with the protection that Apple laptops already have built into them. I seem to remember reading this somewhere on this forum before I got my 500GB WD 5400rpm HDD. For that reason I got the version of the drive without the built-in protection. I'm not sure if that really matters, but I haven't had an problems at all for 6 months now, and the non-protected drives are a little cheaper anyway.
 
Ok . . . . . .

jmann said:
Well my 320GB doesn't make any noticeable noise. So why would two 250GB?
Click to expand...

I think this is a silly post - why would two 250Gb drives make more noise than one 320Gb ? . . . . . Well, take into consideration TWO Hard Drive Spindle Motors, TWO voice Coil head actuators, the inertia of spinning TWO seperate Hard Drive mechanisms up to speed (and keeping it there). You also have to take into consideration the far greater current draw of two hard drives and it just does not make sense having two smaller hard drives in a laptop unless it is for security reasons, i.e. Mirrored or raw speed ie. striped. Overall I would generally recommend ONE fast hard drive over a pair of drives in a laptop.
 
Seems like a flip of a coin between the WD and Seagate will determine the brand.

Was wondering how one would come into possession of a drive without the shock protection. I would need it to be delivered to the UK though.

What's the worst that could happen? I have to return the drive and get a new one? I see no down side :D
 
I've built pc's for over 10 years. Almost every hard drive brand has had issues. They seem to rotate every year or two.
 
If you're going with teh 7200.4 Momentus, just make sure you get the model without the shock sensor. Mine is working great, and seriously, it's a lot faster than the stock 5400 Hitachi. Just a thought.
 
Upgrade

I upgraded to a 500GB 7200RPM **RETAIL** seagate drive. so far it's quiet and quick, also I like the 5 year warranty. I'd recommend the same.
 
relativist said:
I upgraded to a 500GB 7200RPM **RETAIL** seagate drive. so far it's quiet and quick, also I like the 5 year warranty. I'd recommend the same.
Click to expand...

I did the same except for its the OEM version w/ 3 year warranty. Extremely quiet, no clicks or beeps... its a very quick drive. The only other differences I've noticed is that it creates slightly more vibration, and a tad more heat, but very minor amounts of difference at that. This is coming from stock Hitachi 320gb 5400rpm.
 
I upgraded my stock Hitachi 120GB HDD in my Nvidia whitebook to the WD scorpio blue = I only wanted to spend $100 including a 4GB ram upgrade...

Now the only difference between my Nvidia whitebook and the "most" current gen Nvidia whitebook in the refurb store for $849 is the newer machine has 130 Mhz faster CPU but I have 4GB PC6400 RAM and a 320GB HDD so the CPU difference is moot...
 
J&JPolangin said:
I upgraded my stock Hitachi 120GB HDD in my Nvidia whitebook to the WD scorpio blue = I only wanted to spend $100 including a 4GB ram upgrade...

Now the only difference between my Nvidia whitebook and the "most" current gen Nvidia whitebook in the refurb store for $849 is the newer machine has 130 Mhz faster CPU but I have 4GB PC6400 RAM and a 320GB HDD so the CPU difference is moot...
Click to expand...

Do you think the 2.0GHz White Macbook can be comparable to the 2.0GHz Mac Mini in terms of speed? I'm planning to buy the White Macbook refurbished in the future.
 
MacMini2009 said:
Do you think the 2.0GHz White Macbook can be comparable to the 2.0GHz Mac Mini in terms of speed? I'm planning to buy the White Macbook refurbished in the future.
Click to expand...

...yes, they are similar... I was going to get a refurb mini current 2.0 model but with re-shipping to my FPO USN address it wasn't worth the cost vs. what I got the whitebook for cost wise (NIB for $749 as it was the last one in the store) since apple won't ship to US military addresses directly.

Both the iMac and whitebook in my sig are my "hold over" machines for the next couple years until the computer architecture changes fairly dramatically (and to see if I want to keep with macs)...
 
I think a previous poster has probably identified the problem, drives with built in shock protection clash with the shock protection built into portable macs.

If memory serves me correctly, the drives with the shock protection usually have an additional letter on their model number. If you're not sure, you can ask the brick and mortar or online store to verify the absence of shock protection before you buy it. Send it back if you're not happy with it.

I've installed a seagate 7200.4 in my 2.4 uni macbook and a wd scorpio black in my uni late 08 mbp. Neither one has a clicking issue. However, my seagate does seem to have a noticeable vibration issue, but it's one I can live with.

The 500 gig wd scorpio blue supposedly has near 7200 rpm performance, maybe that may be an option for you to try.
 
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