i7 MBP and 7200 RPM HDD woes

[philosopherdog]

Just bought the i7 a few months back and I'm still trying to get the hard drive situation ironed out. I order the custom config with the 7200 rpm drive. The first drive was making a revving up sound that sounded ominous, and wrong. I think that was a Hitachi 500 gb drive. Apple just replaced the drive with a new one. No revving up sound, but now the whole machine is vibrating. I'm sure Apple will replace the drive without any issues. However, I'm wondering whether the 7200 drive is the way to go after all. Is there really going to be a noticeable speed difference? Is it possible to get one that isn't going to vibrate this machine noticeably? The drive they put in there was a Seagate ST9500420ASG . I notice a couple of reports of excessive vibration on these drives. It's like a buzzing under the palm rest. What would you do?

 

[S.B.G]

Just bought the i7 a few months back and I'm still trying to get the hard drive situation ironed out. I order the custom config with the 7200 rpm drive. The first drive was making a revving up sound that sounded ominous, and wrong. I think that was a Hitachi 500 gb drive. Apple just replaced the drive with a new one. No revving up sound, but now the whole machine is vibrating. I'm sure Apple will replace the drive without any issues. However, I'm wondering whether the 7200 drive is the way to go after all. Is there really going to be a noticeable speed difference? Is it possible to get one that isn't going to vibrate this machine noticeably? The drive they put in there was a Seagate ST9500420ASG . I notice a couple of reports of excessive vibration on these drives. It's like a buzzing under the palm rest. What would you do?

I just put a new 7200 RPM Seagate Momentus drive in my 2007 MBP last night. (https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/1033199/)

So far so good on mine, no buzzing or other noises and no vibrations. I wonder if the vibrations are caused by the drive rubber bumpers not being seated correctly.

 

[snsr]

However, I'm wondering whether the 7200 drive is the way to go after all. Is there really going to be a noticeable speed difference? Is it possible to get one that isn't going to vibrate this machine noticeably? The drive they put in there was a Seagate ST9500420ASG .

7200rpm drives vary greatly in speed, but in general a 7200RPM drive should make a noticeable difference. Your HD is the slowest component in your system, so any improvement will help.

 

[Blu101]

No problems, no vibration and no noise whatsoever from my Hitachi 7k500. The DVD drive is more noisy and I can feel its vibration when ripping DVDs, but nothing from the HDD no matter what I'm doing.

You probably have a defective unit. Can you replace it?

 

[Bill Gates]

Quality control is not Seagate's forte. I would go back to Apple and try to have the drive exchanged for another drive, although you will probably get another ST9500420ASG.

 

[philosopherdog]

Quality control is not Seagate's forte. I would go back to Apple and try to have the drive exchanged for another drive, although you will probably get another ST9500420ASG.

Well the first one was a Hitachi I believe. So maybe not. I let someone else test it and they said they'd return it too. So here it goes for drive #3! Timemachine makes it pretty easy, but it's still a hassle.

 

[Bill Gates]

Well the first one was a Hitachi I believe. So maybe not. I let someone else test it and they said they'd return it too. So here it goes for drive #3! Timemachine makes it pretty easy, but it's still a hassle.

Hitachi usually makes high-quality drives so chances are that if you do end up with one you'll be pleased, despite having gotten a defective one to begin with. From ready these forums it seems like Apple usually installs a Seagate drive in the 7200 RPM models though which is why I suspect you'll be provided with another one. That was the deciding factor for me in sticking with a 5400 RPM drive from Apple, and then upgrading it myself later.