Hitachi Travelstar 7K500 for my late 2009 macbook, got some questions

[henrikrox]

Hi

So i recently had a WD scorpio black, but i think it made to much noise, my friends got a Hitachi Travelstar 7K500 320gb (500gb is not available in norway).

Anyways, i found it very silent, and i took the plunge and orderd one.

I have some questions though, i have a external disk, and using time machine. Can i when i get the new disk, install osx, and choose a time machine backup?

Also is a pram neccesary after installing the new drive, i heard its nessecary and helps boot times etc. Im completly new to mac, so i dont know what pram and nvram does, but ill read up on it.

Lastly, how much off a peformance upgrade can i expect just be upgrading from the stock 250gb 5400rpm to the 320gb 7200rpm. By peformance i mean loading apps, photo editing (i use alot of aperture 3).

I only have 2gb ram atm, but i plan on upgrading

 

[xpovos]

The Hitachi drive should operate much more quietly than your Scorpio. Resetting PRAM isn't necessary but also wouldn't hurt anything. Your performance delta will be minimal. An upgrade to at least 4GB RAM would serve you better in that regard.

 

[lyons238]

i was going to get the hitachi 7200 but then i talked to an owc rep for a while and he showed me a few tests, and the seagate 7200.4 beat the hitachi in almost every aspect including seek/read/write power consumption.

my seagate is very silent i can only tell its the tiniest bit louder while hard at work than my old 5400. also i have had no compatibility issues, clicking, or lags as users have reported. iv been told those issues were related to the older models.

edit: oops didnt see that u already ordered your hitachi. but good luck with it.

 

[minsterkermy]

dude, i gotta tell ya, i think you made the right choice. I had originally purchased the seagate and have been happy with it. But i had read all those reviews online before i bought it about how it was a crappy drive and whatnot, but these hitachi's weren't available yet. so, i pulled the trigger anyway on the seagate, but have been kinda paranoid of it ever since..

well, i saw these hitachi's had finally made it into production and the seagate had started parking an awful lot, so I figured snatch one up. Got it for a steal from newegg.

Anyway, long story short, I have this hitachi in here now and I've noticed it does this weird spin up spin down thing and the drive is much more audible that the seagate was, in terms of disk activity. Both seem to be a bit noisier due to the spindle speed, but overall i think the seagate wins out. its certainly faster than the hitachi with booting and executing applications... xbench rates the hitachi two points below the seagate on 10.6.2.

at any rate, have you noticed the seagate parking at times? often more than once in say, a minute time frame? i'd really like to put the seagate back in but i'm freaked it'll crash on me in a month or something crazy..

 

[lyons238]

dude, i gotta tell ya, i think you made the right choice. I had originally purchased the seagate and have been happy with it. But i had read all those reviews online before i bought it about how it was a crappy drive and whatnot, but these hitachi's weren't available yet. so, i pulled the trigger anyway on the seagate, but have been kinda paranoid of it ever since..

well, i saw these hitachi's had finally made it into production and the seagate had started parking an awful lot, so I figured snatch one up. Got it for a steal from newegg.

Anyway, long story short, I have this hitachi in here now and I've noticed it does this weird spin up spin down thing and the drive is much more audible that the seagate was, in terms of disk activity. Both seem to be a bit noisier due to the spindle speed, but overall i think the seagate wins out. its certainly faster than the hitachi with booting and executing applications... xbench rates the hitachi two points below the seagate on 10.6.2.

at any rate, have you noticed the seagate parking at times? often more than once in say, a minute time frame? i'd really like to put the seagate back in but i'm freaked it'll crash on me in a month or something crazy..

i agree with you. i had the seagate and now have the hitachi and my seagate was faster and took less battery. this hitachi is noisier except the faint clicking the seagate made while booting up. but im also thinking of switching back to the seagate..not sure though..