Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

Hitachi 7K320 vs. WD 320GB Scorpio Black

Whorehay

Whorehay

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Feb 17, 2008
631
1
There are a couple of threads on this that I've gone over on a couple of websites a couple of times each, but there still seems to be no definitive answer and some of them have gone off-track to enclosures, installation etc. rather than discussion about the drives.

What I've seen is that most people are saying the Hitachi is faster, slightly hotter and noisier. Since it's going in a laptop, I'll take the WD for running slightly quieter and and cooler.

The one thing that I'm worried about is that some WD owners are saying that there is "a audible click per second" which seems like it would be kind of annoying. Is this true?

Any suggestions or comments (about the subject matter) are welcome. The WD Black is about 3 dollars cheaper than the Hitachi, so the fact there is so little difference in price makes this an even harder decision! Haha. Thanks.
 
I recently upgraded my HD to the 7K320, got it from owc, awesome! So far, it runs at least at the same noise level, or quieter than my original HD. It definitely runs a lot quicker than my original 80GB did. However, I have not been able to compare it to the WD, so I cannot comment on that, but from my Hitachi standpoint, its definitely a worthy upgrade.
 
I just bought the Scorpio and it should be arriving Monday or Tuesday so if you're willing and able to wait until then, I'll be able to give you a review by Wednesday. Of course, that's going to be a limited, 24-36 hour review, but it should be enough to notice any clicking. I compared reviews, I think on Newegg, and I didn't really see anything bad about the Scorpio, but I do remember comments about heat and noise for the Hitachi.
 
WD Scorpion.......
Also look into Seagate Momentus 7200.3 320GB and 5400.5 320GB!
 
Whorehay said:
The one thing that I'm worried about is that some WD owners are saying that there is "a audible click per second" which seems like it would be kind of annoying. Is this true?
Click to expand...

I have one. It's not true.
 
Just an update... I just got the Hitachi Travelstar 320GB 5K320 and a USB HD enclosure for $114 after taxes, overnight shipping and rebate, ~100 dollars cheaper than either the Scorpio or the 7K320 with same HD enclosure. The allure of 7200rpm drives was there... just not $100 for the same amount of space there.

Installed it tonight with the scariest part being taking the top case off. Used SuperDuper to clone from my old HD and now I am here posting :) Currently indexing Spotlight so I'll be chiming in later with some experiences.
 
I want to upgrade my MBP's stock 160gb/5400rpm Hitachi 5k160 hard-drive to a 320gb/7200rpm one but I'm completely undecided between the Hitachi 7k320, the WD Scorpio and the Seagate Momentus 7200.3.

The drive should be as quiet as possible when sitting idle. High-pitched motor whine, constant clicking or vibrations are an absolute no-go. A bit of noise during access is okay as long as it's low-pitched.

So which drive should I go for?



BTW: How hard is it to get the different ribbon cables (for the keyboard etc.) back on after assembling the drive? Do they have normal plugs at the ends or those extremely flimsy "completely-falling-apart-during-disassemly"-things?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back