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What's your boot time?


  • Total voters
    108

Mac OS fills the inner part of the harddrive first, because the data access rate is higher there. It's higher in the center because the amount that the platter has to rotate by to reach the spindle is reduced (think: s = (theta) * r -- less radius, less of an arc length to traverse).

When you have lots of data on your harddrive, recent files that need to be loaded during boot are forced to the outer edge... because there's no room in the inner portion. So you have data being loaded from the outer (slower) and inner portions. Add on to the fact that it takes additional time for the spindle to switch from the outer portion of the drive to the inner portion, and you have a lot of extra time.
 
what are the specs of your hdd?

I was bored so I took my extra 60GB from the ps3 and install a fresh copy of OSX (10.5) and it took 30 seconds flat.

Could you guys post up specs of your hdd after y'all vote (Yes I'm from Texas)?
Seagate Momentus 5400.2 (ps3 hdd)
12GB/60GB 5400rpm

Appreciate everyone's input

I have the 128GB SSD HDD from Apple.
 
Mac OS fills the inner part of the harddrive first, because the data access rate is higher there. It's higher in the center because the amount that the platter has to rotate by to reach the spindle is reduced (think: s = (theta) * r -- less radius, less of an arc length to traverse).

When you have lots of data on your harddrive, recent files that need to be loaded during boot are forced to the outer edge... because there's no room in the inner portion. So you have data being loaded from the outer (slower) and inner portions. Add on to the fact that it takes additional time for the spindle to switch from the outer portion of the drive to the inner portion, and you have a lot of extra time.

Actually I think it's reversed. The fastest access in on the outer edge of the drive, just think of a spinning disc, the outer edge is moving the fastest, while the inner edge is moving slower per the same rpm. Larger drives are faster also due to the fact that the density is increased so the tracks are narrower, so it takes less time for the drive to move between tracks.

Anyhow I installed a seagate momentus 7200.3 320gb and it boots up significantly faster than the standard 5400rpm 160gb... I'll time it later when I get home.
 
Actually I think it's reversed. The fastest access in on the outer edge of the drive, just think of a spinning disc, the outer edge is moving the fastest, while the inner edge is moving slower per the same rpm. Larger drives are faster also due to the fact that the density is increased so the tracks are narrower, so it takes less time for the drive to move between tracks.

And you would be right. My bad.
 
So I just pulled the trigger on my new drive... Hitachi Travelstar 7K320 for $60 after MIR at newegg.

I decided I don't another 500GB hdd as I already have a few wd passports [500gb, 320gb (in my macbook), 250gb, 160gb]... Yes I collect them.

I'll chime in another result when it comes in (hopefully Friday).
 
So I just pulled the trigger on my new drive... Hitachi Travelstar 7K320 for $60 after MIR at newegg.

I decided I don't another 500GB hdd as I already have a few wd passports [500gb, 320gb (in my macbook), 250gb, 160gb]... Yes I collect them.

I'll chime in another result when it comes in (hopefully Friday).

WD Passports have 2.5" drives in them. If you have a 2.5" 500GB WD Passport, just open in up and waiting inside for you is a 2.5" SATA HD, and it'll fit in the MacBook...
 
So, the more data on your Mac you have stored, the longer it takes to boot up?

If I had 400gbs full on a 7200rpm drive how long do you estimate it would take to open?
 
WD Passports have 2.5" drives in them. If you have a 2.5" 500GB WD Passport, just open in up and waiting inside for you is a 2.5" SATA HD, and it'll fit in the MacBook...

I currently have the hdd from the 320Gb passport in my macbook. I just purchased the 500gb passport from eBay a few weeks ago and decided I wasn't going to install it in my mb. I was looking for a 7200rpm hdd or SSD to install as my next upgrade.

Thanks for your suggestion though.
 
Did the test twice, from pressing the power button to the desktop finished loading, took about 21-22 seconds. The longest portion was waiting for the hard drive to start being accessed, when the circular icon appears on the grey screen. (That was around 13-14 seconds.)

Using G Skill 256GB SSD.
 
I received my Hitachi hdd yesterday. So far I don't feel the difference. My macbook has the same boot time. I thought I could get it around 30 seconds. Attached are the xbench tests.

I guess I'll have to wait until intel's x-25m ssd go down (under $100 ;))
 

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Thats one of the things love most about my mac compared to a windows pc, my macbook boots up in under 30 seconds and since putting 100gb's of stuff on it, it hasn't slowed down one bit.

My friend just got a gateway, a really nice one, 500gb hdd and 320gb hdd (it came with the 320 and there was space for another one so he put one in), 4gb of ram, some type of nvidia card with a gig of ram dedicated to graphics, and a 2.2ghz processor. The thing is so slow! it takes at least 3 to 4 minutes to boot up and at least 5 to 6 minutes before you can really do anything on it (aka once everything is loaded).

He hates mac's btw. :p
 
Thats one of the things love most about my mac compared to a windows pc, my macbook boots up in under 30 seconds and since putting 100gb's of stuff on it, it hasn't slowed down one bit.

My friend just got a gateway, a really nice one, 500gb hdd and 320gb hdd (it came with the 320 and there was space for another one so he put one in), 4gb of ram, some type of nvidia card with a gig of ram dedicated to graphics, and a 2.2ghz processor. The thing is so slow! it takes at least 3 to 4 minutes to boot up and at least 5 to 6 minutes before you can really do anything on it (aka once everything is loaded).

He hates mac's btw. :p

Oh yes I love that about my Mac! During the summer when I play games with my cousins, one of them has a MacBook and the other some gaming laptop with a pretty highend graphics, but the best thing is, by the time he even loads, me and my other cousin are already halfway through a game :p
 
When I had my SSD in it took a mere 10 seconds from startup to idle (logged in) :). Unfortunately, 32GB was not enough for a portable, so I have the 5400RPM in again, which takes under 30 seconds.
 
Now that I think about it I've had some trouble in the past with Seagate drives. It was my first external hdd, I backed up all my gf's pictures and you know what... it failed... and every so often I get a friendly reminder. I still have the hdd in hopes that someday I'll recover her pictures. I tried everything to my knowledge and when there was nothing left I could do, I called Seagate and they quoted me something like $100 per 50MB.
Attached is what it looks like.

So since then I have purchased WD and they have never failed. Well anyway I think I might wait for WD to come out with a 500GB 7200.

I fear this might happen to me and my entire iTunes media.

WD is the way to go, as I have a Seagate 320gb external. Is there hopes of getting my money back from it, since I bought it from Best Buy a year and a half ago? I still have the receipt. The Seagate has a 5 yr warranty... so yeah. Thanks for posting this. It might help.
 
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