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kirkbross

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Mar 6, 2007
666
22
Los Angeles
Does Apple make their own hard drives or use a 3rd party drive like WD or Seagate or in their MPs?

I want to get some aftermarket drives for my new MP and I'm wondering which brand is thought to be the most reliable.
 
Apple sources from third-parties. Not sure if they have a preferred supplier, or they just take whomever has the best deal / best delivery date at the time.
 
They are both great drives, (personally) I would purchase the drive with the best warranty. I was a seagate guy until recently purchased a Hitachi Travel Star and a WD drive... WD, Seagate and Hitachi all make good drives.

One drive may be slightly faster, but Its really a matter of opinion and which brand you are comfortable with.
 
Apple doesn't make their own hard drives, they just charge more than double the retail price from their storefront.

You can pick up any SATA drive (the same drives that they sell on the apple store) from macsales, newegg, amazon or wherever and it'll work perfectly.

As for brands, Seagate, Western Digital, and Hitachi are the most popular, and what you'll typically find installed when you purchase a Mac Pro. As to what brand is more reliable, the evidence is primarily anecdotal. Different people have different experiences with both. I have both a Seagate Barracuda and a Western Digital Caviar and will probably get another 750GB or 1TB WD drive soon.
 
I believe people have had hard drives from Maxtor, Western Digital, Hitachi and Seagate in their Mac Pros. It's a bit of a lottery.
 
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