Internal hard drive upgrade: Need definitive answer

the best would be a totally silent SSD

I had a 7200 320GB hitachi and it was noticeable. It hummed, no clicks and such.

A 500 GB 5400 rpm disk should be reasonably quiet.

 

Nobody can say for sure what is the best drive.

I an speak from my own experience. I got my MBP in July and replaced the stock Hitachi drive with 500GB Hitachi drive also. I didn't do the wrong choice. The drive is as silent as the stock drive, a little faster according to the benchmarks, and 3x times more capacity. So not a bad choice!

The best choice will be a 512GB SSD for $90. Silent, power efficient, very very fast. Oh wait the price is outrageous. 3-4 years must past before the price drops that much.

 

def. answer

I have the same MBP (3,1) 2.4ghz, 4gb ram... and I recently replaced the stock drive with a Western Digital Scorpio Blue 500gb drive.

There are (or were) two models of this drive. One with the built-in G-force drop protection and one without. MBP's have the drop protection built into the drive controller and most speculate it is the notebook and the hard drive protection systems fighting each other causing the clicks and whirls. Just make sure you get the drive without the feature built in.

If you order off Newegg you can sometimes check the model numbers and see which ones have shock protection and which don't. Currently I don't see anything other than OEM vs. Retail box.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...309740009&Description=scorpio blue&name=500GB

If you use iFixit's instructions be careful when lifting off the top cover with the keyboard. I, like many others, had trouble with two front clips holding the case together not releasing properly and as a result slightly bent it. It all goes back together well and snugs back up when you replace the case screws, but you might end up with a very slight 1/2mm gap between the palm rest and the bottom half of the case. Be patient and all will be well.

Good luck!

 

Buy the cheapest freaking drive you can find with the best warranty. One isn't any better than the other and there is no "magic quality" built into them - it's all a myth.

Even the WD scorpios use the same chinese crap parts.

 

I have a 7200 Scorpio Black.
I've read it makes all kinds of noise, etc. as well, but honestly, I don't notice anything with it.
I think I have it in the same MacBook pro as described by the OP.

 

I highly recommend the Toshiba 500GB 5400rpm drive Newegg has right now. With a promo code you get it for $79 w/ free shipping. It's dead quiet in my 10/08 MBP and my battery life has actually improved by 10 minutes. Also a bit faster. Fast and easy upgrade. And Snow Leopard recognizes the full 500GB as well, which is nice.

 

I installed a 500gb WD Scorpio Blue into my 2009 MBP 13" 2 days ago. It makes no discernable extra noise, no clicks, whirs etc.

Seems to run quite a bit cooler as well.

 

Native Command Queuing - not really needed in a laptop/standard desktop machine.

As a note the Blue 500 does have NCQ (I have one in my macbook). Very nice drive - can't hear it and its plenty quick enough. Very nice choice of drive in my opinion.

 

I bought the Seagate Momentus 7200.4 ST9500420AS 500GB 7200 RPM and i couldnt be happier. It is extremely silent and fast....

 

i had the same drive but ended up returning it after all the threads i was reading here and then i started hearing humming and clicks .. probably all in my head because my stock drive does the same thing

will definitely get another hd soon .. just trying to see if the SSD drives come down some more in price