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New hard drive, but which? Hitachi 7K320 320GB vs WD Scorpio Black 320GB

P

Peter Cushion

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Aug 6, 2008
4
0
Hi

These have been shipping for a while now, so have any of you installed and used them yet? I had read that there are noise issues with both of these 7200RPM drives in MBP. If this is indeed the case, then I will most likely go for one of the previous generation 5400RPM versions. I need capacity and would prefer it if there was not a noise increase over my current FUJITSU MHW2120BH.

Anyone been there already? Any other issues to consider? Most importantly, how does the noise compare to the standard build hard drives?

Thanks in advance - cheers PC
 
Western Digital all the way. The only HD problems I have ever had were from non-WD drives. The Minimate HD I bought for my Mac Mini has started to come and go from Mac OS. It may be the cable, but it may not be. Arrgh.
 
i've wondered the same thing -- hopefully barefeats will test the scorpio against the travelstar soon.

fyi, theyve already tested the travelstar against 5400 drives if you haven't already seen that:

http://barefeats.com/note03.html

my guess is there's not a huge difference however -- and if you're thinking about how long the drive will last then no one knows -- both hitachi and wd fail, it only depends on your luck

in terms of noise -- yeah the 7200s will probably be louder just because they spin faster -- cant tell you if you'll be able to definitely notice it though


also, you say you're looking for capacity but not noise --- do you care about speed? if not, just get one of the 500gb's, just remember "If you plan to use the Hitachi 5K500 as a replacement for your MacBook Pro drive, it will only fit the 17" model."
 
I upgraded by Macbook Pro with a Western Digital 320 GB 7200 RPM Scorpio Black drive about a month ago (when they were first released) and have had nothing but good experiences with it. It is fast, runs cooler than the Hitachi 250 GB 5400 RPM that it replaced, and is silent. I know some folks have said that the 7200 RPM drives are louder, but I haven't had that experience. I use the MBP in a very quiet office, and I'd notice if it was making noise.

I agree with the positive comments about WD drives. I buy WD whenever I can.
 
get the hitachi. i have it, and i love it.

i've never really had a bad experience with ANY reputable manufacturer... reputable meaning seagate (probably my #1), western digital, hitachi, maxtor.

you can't really go wrong with any of those guys. even fujitsu was a pioneer in the notebook drive business. hitachi, for their part, seems to release the fastest drives the soonest, but seagate has been rock solid for almost decades.
 
I had several drives WD and any problems. Now, I have WD Scorpio 250GB and also is seamless and very quiet. I had bad experiences with Maxtor and Seagate.
 
Capacity over speed

If you're looking for capacity over speed check out the Samsung M6 500gb 5400, fits in any mac laptop

here

If anyone has one of these installed I'd like to get a review of it
 
I would say that this is more your call. Personally, I've had two bad hard drives with WD and great luck with Hitachi (one is in my 3 year old iMac I'm typing on).

There's no such thing as a perfect hard drive brand. No matter what brand you buy, it's going to have some failures...either one I'm sure you'll be happy with but with that being said...Hitachi all the way;) Or Seagate...I'm running three of their internal's converted into an external shell and all those work great too.
 
I won't touch a WD or Maxtor drive with a 10' pole. Too many failures in the past (and yes, they may have gotten better, but once burned, twice shy).

For that matter, I won't ever use a Seagate consumer drive any more, especially the ones in their enclosures (which crash Airport Extremes if you have more than one drive attached). I'm buying high-end cases and the video monitor quality seagates for external use.

For internal, since either would void the apple warranty (you can only replace the HD with an apple approved part, and the same is true for apple service centers), I'm not doing either. But if I were, I'd use the Hitachi. Just watch the thermals.

Keep in mind that drive reliability is highly correlated with the number of platters. The 320's have more platters than the 250s, which have more than the 120's, so you'll have higher failure rates with larger drives.

Clone early, clone often.
 
I've had no problems with WD externals/internals or Seagate externals/internals. *Knock on wood*. I see Seagate has a new 320GB out now that's pretty cheap.
 
Thanks for all the replies.

Are there any music users, especially Logic? Anyone get the Logic 10011 error with these drives? And how is the noise when recording/producing?

cheers PC
 
Motion Sensor Problem?

I read somewhere that WD Scorpio Black 320GB 7200rpm with the motion sensor option might have some problems on macbook pros, because it's clashing with the motion sensor of the motherboard. Does anybody know if this really is the case?

I am also considering Seagate 320GB Momentus 7200.3 G-Force SATA II. If there is a motion sensor issue, maybe Seagate's G-force option could be a problem too??

In any case, I am torn between the WD Scorpio and Seagate Momentus. Any advice?
 
motion sensor doubt in new internal hard disk

Yes I do know that, but I wanted to get it with the G-force because old 17" powerbook's hard disk died when it fell from my bed once, and it is still haunting me! :) But of course if it's gonna crash the computer, I wouldn't. Just wondering if anybody's got some solid information on that.
 
500 Gb 7200?

Anyone have any idea when the 7200 versions of the 500 GB portrable drives are comin' out?
 
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