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sammyman

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Mar 21, 2005
998
66
Is this a good hard drive? I just picked up a 500gb 16mb cache 7200RPM Hitachi Travelstar Hard Drive. Are these reliable drives? Are they quiet? I wish I could find a bigger HD that was 7200RPM that was reliable but this looked like pretty much my only choice. Thanks.
 
The Hitachi 7K500 is definitely a good hard drive. I just got mine last week and so far I have LOVED it.

PROS:
- Large capacity (I think 500GB is the largest notebook hard drive on the market as of now in the 2.5" factor at least...)
- Fast program launches (Microsoft Word used to take 10+ bounces to launch...now just 4; SL took 30 minutes to install vs 50 on my 5400 stock drive)
- Faster speeds in general
- no vibrations at all...in fact, i think it vibrates less than my stock drive

CONS:
- it is louder than the stock 5400rpm drives. It sounds like a soft whurrrrr but it is not loud to the point that you would be annoyed by it (at least in my opinion)

I don't know about its reliability since I've only had it for a week or so, but I definitely recommend that you use this drive.
 
The Hitachi 7K500 seems like a good choice. If I had to upgrade a 2.5 inch mac drive right now, I would get one.
 
Is this a good hard drive? I just picked up a 500gb 16mb cache 7200RPM Hitachi Travelstar Hard Drive. Are these reliable drives? Are they quiet? I wish I could find a bigger HD that was 7200RPM that was reliable but this looked like pretty much my only choice. Thanks.


I have a MBP 13" 2010, I replaced the original HD about 3 weeks ago. I love the new drive. I don't usually notice the speed difference but it's there, I do notice a slightly lower battery endurance but its still impressive. I would recommended.


I THINK that this is the original http://www.hitachigst.com/portal/site/en/products/travelstar/5K250/

This is the replacement http://www.hitachigst.com/portal/site/en/products/travelstar/7K500/
 
I have a MBP 13" 2010, I replaced the original HD about 3 weeks ago. I love the new drive. I don't usually notice the speed difference but it's there, I do notice a slightly lower battery endurance but its still impressive. I would recommended.


I THINK that this is the original http://www.hitachigst.com/portal/site/en/products/travelstar/5K250/

This is the replacement http://www.hitachigst.com/portal/site/en/products/travelstar/7K500/

I did the replacement. The original was a seagate something or other. The new drive sounds good, and runs good too. I did it before I turned it on so I can't comment on any speed increase.
 
I have had this drive in since early December in my early 08'. Runs smooth, no hiccups.
 
Hey everyone. I was also looking at getting this drive for my 15" uMBP late 2009
from Newegg. My computer currently has 2.53 Ghz C2D and 4 GB of Ram with a 250 GB HDD @ 5400 RPM.

I'm running low on space and wanted to get the upgrade in HDD space as well as the small performance boost, if any.

I just had a few questions first before I purchase it and make it official.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822145275

1. Read somewhere in the reviews something about the 1.5Gbps v. 3.0Gbps and having to boot it in a Windows machine first to configure the drive using a boot utility to work with Mac at 1.5Gbps. Has this issue been fixed or will I still have to do this? Does it work without having to do this?

2. Will physical space be an issue in the machine, (ie. being too big or small?)

3. Then I am guessing that all I would have to do is run a TM backup of my machine and use Winclone for my Bootcamp partition.

Put the new drive in, boot using the Snow Leopard disk, format it for Mac, install the OS and restore from a TM backup right?

Once I get the Mac OS up I am guessing that I can easily run Bootcamp assistant and restore my Winclone partition of Windows back to my machine.

Should those steps work as listed??

4. Is there anything else I should know or be aware of before taking the plunge?

I have support material (http://manuals.info.apple.com/en_US/MBPRO_13inch_Mid2009_Hard_Drive_DIY.pdf) for specifically replacing the drive and everything so I think I am good to go as long as it doesn't void the warranty.
 
Hey everyone. I was also looking at getting this drive for my 15" uMBP late 2009
from Newegg. My computer currently has 2.53 Ghz C2D and 4 GB of Ram with a 250 GB HDD @ 5400 RPM.

I'm running low on space and wanted to get the upgrade in HDD space as well as the small performance boost, if any.

I just had a few questions first before I purchase it and make it official.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822145275

1. Read somewhere in the reviews something about the 1.5Gbps v. 3.0Gbps and having to boot it in a Windows machine first to configure the drive using a boot utility to work with Mac at 1.5Gbps. Has this issue been fixed or will I still have to do this? Does it work without having to do this?
SATA-II and -III are backwards compatible.
2. Will physical space be an issue in the machine, (ie. being too big or small?)
It's 9.5mm, so it'll fit.
4. Is there anything else I should know or be aware of before taking the plunge?
https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/954923/
The thread starter asked for the very same HDD, by putting some Hamilton on top, you're likely to get better HDDs.

Regards
 
Thanks for the reply!! I think this is the drive I am going for if everything looks like its gonna work, which it does. I look forward to increasing hdd space and system performance considering i'm still two years in warranty and won't be getting another computer until the warranty expires.

now hitachi mentions a 3 year warranty... does that mewan if the drive dies between now and the next 3 years i can ship it back and they'll repair it for me?

and what is hamilton?
 
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