Optibay HDD

[thatoneguy82]

I upgraded to a dual SSD/HDD several months ago, so I have a 256MB m4 Crucial SSD and my previous HDD, 500GB Momentus XT. Now, I find myself running out of space on the 500GB (SSD doesn't have much left either). I usually use it to store videos, pictures and music. I have been looking around and I can't seem to decide which would be best. It seems like to get a 7200RPM drive, the max is 750GB and to get a 1TB, max is 5400RPM. Cost between the two is negligible, and of course bigger would be better. My concern is that if I get the 5400RPM drive, would there be any performance changes on my MBP? The Momentus XT is a hybrid, so it's quite smooth. I would want something similar. Is there really a noticeable difference between 5400RPM and 7200RPM?

The drives I'm looking at are the WD Scorpio Blue (1TB) and the Scorpio Black (750GB).

 

[bcburrows]

I have the same set up as you are suggesting.

I use my stock 750Gb Hdd as a media store in the optibay and the 256Gb Samsung 830 as my primary. For video/media purposes I have not found a problem with the 5400rpm drive.

 

[thermodynamic]

Given the density of the platters, a 1TB 5400RPM drive will be faster than a 750GB 5400RPM drive, but I'd go for the extra space regardless of it all - if you can handle any latency time (which wouldn't be much, I'd suspect) that would be incurred with the 5400RPM drive.

I doubt the 7200RPM 750GB drive will be that much more worthwhile, if disk space is more important...

What model MBP is yours? My early-2011MBP has a big black ribbon cable going across, and I'm terrified to break it or the connector (and void the warranty)...

 

[yusukeaoki]

Ive been using a 500Gb 7200rpm drive in my main bay until I switched to optibay.

To b honest, I cant really tell the difference between the 5400rpm and 7200rpm in the optibay.

It transfers really fast.
Yes it takes a little longer to transfer huge files compared to a 7200rpm.
However, its just couple seconds.
It wasnt something that bothered me.

 

[Orlandoech]

Id opt for the 1TB drive and take a slight performance hit with the Hybrid to HDD.

 

[thatoneguy82]

What model MBP is yours? My early-2011MBP has a big black ribbon cable going across, and I'm terrified to break it or the connector (and void the warranty)...

I have a mid-2010, but I have that black ribbon that you're talking about. It's always nerve-wracking when I have to do something in the optibay.

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So, it seems like the consensus is to go for the 1TB 5400RPM drive. I thought it would be this, but just wasn't sure of the actual speed difference between the 7200RPM and 5400RPM. I can tolerate a slight performance hit if it gives me 500GB more space instead of 250GB more.

 

[thatoneguy82]

So, I finally bit the bullet and got the 5400RPM 1TB WD Blue. It had the most reviews and most were favorable. Plus, I've always liked WD. I used CCC to transfer everything, but I don't think that was necessary. There aren't any system files, etc on it, just media. Some apps like iTunes, iPhoto, Aperture "point" to this hard drive to access data so I just wanted to make sure it was an "exact" clone. Anyway, so far, I haven't really noticed a difference from my 7200RPM XT Hybrid but it's still new. But, I probably won't. And the space! I can finally leave stuff on there and not have to pick and choose which media files to delete!