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Seagate Momentus XT 500 GB 7200RPM
- Thread starter hypervish89
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FYI I have this drive in the same model MBP that you have and it kills the battery. I can literally watch the battery drop its that bad. I've never used another drive in this MBP as I bought it second hand and its what came with it, but OMFG I am seriously thinking of swapping out the drive so I can get more then 3hrs of battery life.
I'm not too worried about battery life, but it's good to know so thanks for the heads up.
The hard drive is 2.5 but will it fit height wise or will i need a converter?
I already bought the hard drive I'm just waiting for it to come in the mail now, just bought it today from amazon along with 8gb of ram.
The hard drive is 2.5 but will it fit height wise or will i need a converter?
I already bought the hard drive I'm just waiting for it to come in the mail now, just bought it today from amazon along with 8gb of ram.
I looked at these drives. While some have used them successfully, if you search the web there are LOTS of people that have had issues with them. Enough so that I stayed away. They seem like a good idea in theory, but it seems the execution is flawed and they're plagued with a rash of compatibility and performance problems.
Not true, especially if you get an Apple stock one. Hitachi and Toshiba drives mainly. They don't have the same problems as WD or Seagate with loudness and vibrations.
Of course, Apple does not offer a 7200 RPM drive in the 13" MBP . . .
I've tried every brand Microcenter carries, including Hitachi and Toshiba, and ALL of the 7200 RPM drives created noticeably more vibration in a 13" MBP. Some people aren't as sensitive to the increased vibration, but it drives me nuts.
I know there are many reports of people having issues with this drive, but I put one in my 2008 aluminum macbook about two months ago and haven't had any problems. Make sure you have the most recent firmware - can download updates from their website. Once I updated it I have seen no decrease in battery life compared to the stock drive. I only notice a slight increase in vibration when my hand is on the palm rest. The boot time is faster and I get fewer beachballs. So far I've been very happy with it.
It's a Seagate hard drive, so of course lots of people have issues with them. I always see people with issues when I search for popular hardware. However, I've also never heard do many good things about a Seagate hard drive in the last 5 years......
I put one in my 13" that I no longer have. I had no problems with battery life and I didn't notice the vibration; that's more of a personal preference. I don't know if firmware is an issue; I always update that 1st thing when I add new hardware.
When you put it in your 13inch did you need any like converters or was it just plug and play like other computers?
I'm a IT dude, and do this for living, but I haven't EVER opened an apple computer in my life, that's about friggin' 46 years. LoL >>> I figure it's probably the same as other windows machines, they can't be that special...can they??
I'm a IT dude, and do this for living, but I haven't EVER opened an apple computer in my life, that's about friggin' 46 years. LoL >>> I figure it's probably the same as other windows machines, they can't be that special...can they??
BTW: I ordered this ram, will it work in my macbook pro? probably should have asked before buying... LoL
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I have this drive in my 15" MBP 2,2 from early 2006 and I don't have any vibration issues. It does drain the battery quicker than the stock 5400 rpm drive, but that should be expected of a drive with a faster spindle speed.
I installed the drive last fall and it's worked great all along.
I have this drive in my 15" MBP 2,2 from early 2006 and I don't have any vibration issues. It does drain the battery quicker than the stock 5400 rpm drive, but that should be expected of a drive with a faster spindle speed.
I installed the drive last fall and it's worked great all along.
I bought this one yesterday. It does vibrate more than the regular hard drive that came on my 2011 13" Pro. It used to make a loud spinning noise until I downloaded SD24. Overall, it's faster but not as fast as a SSD. I really haven't had time to really test it like I want since all of my files and documents aren't loaded on it yet. But so far, I recommend it.
I used this drive in my late 2009 13in mbp, like previously mentioned it has a significant effect on battery life. I went from getting an average for 6-7 hours, to about 3-4.
All the compatibility issues involving the drive spinning down, beach balls, and wake issues, were resolved in the latest firmware (SD24).
All the compatibility issues involving the drive spinning down, beach balls, and wake issues, were resolved in the latest firmware (SD24).
I used this in my early 2008 15" and now my early 2011 15" and I see no difference in battery life between this and the other 7200 rpm drives had installed prior to the switch, so your results may vary. I find it hard to believe that the battery could take that significant of a hit from just a hard drive swap. 30-45 min difference makes sense, but that much doesn't. I wonder if the install isn't reading the temperature sensor correctly and causing the fans to run faster to cool (seen this happen when the sensors weren't reading correcty).
No converters or anything needed - just plug and play. Remember to remove the screws on the sides of the old drive and put them in the new one. There are a lot of guides/manuals with step by step instructions online (in addition to the one from apple).
I'm going to return the drive. The vibration is VERY annoying and unbearable. The SD24 gets rid of the high pitch noise, but the vibration is horrible. The fan won't stop spinning no matter what. If you can deal with it, then its a good drive; however, its not for me. I'll rather save up for a SSD or something.
If your fan is spinning then you have a sensor that isn't reading correctly. I am not sure about the internals of the 2011 13", but on my 2008 15" they had a sensor that taped to the hard drive. If it didn't make good contact or read correctly it would send the fans into orbit trying to cool down the hard drive (retape the sensor correctly and the problem would go away). I transplanted that drive to my 2011 15" and no tape needed and the sensors are reading correctly, so my fans are running normally.
I love mine. It is a bit louder than some would have you believe. Can't complain about the vibration or noise for that matter. (Came from a 9 fan gaming PC with 3 gtx480's) Sold all the gaming stuff, bought a 2011 i7 2.3GHZ 15inch and debated between a 256 SSD or the Seagate. Didnt want to spend the dough for half the space. Fits perfectly and boots everything to my password screen in 22 seconds. No battery issues. I get around 8 hours or so of use with the drive. Going to use in a few other machines. 
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I love mine. It is a bit louder than some would have you believe. Can't complain about the vibration or noise for that matter. (Came from a 9 fan gaming PC with 3 gtx480's) Sold all the gaming stuff, bought a 2011 i7 2.3GHZ 15inch and debated between a 256 SSD or the Seagate. Didnt want to spend the dough for half the space. Fits perfectly and boots everything to my password screen in 22 seconds. No batter issues. I get around 8 hours or so of use with the drive. Going to use in a few other machines.
What's your battery life (running unplugged)?
conventional wisdom would make you think so. the problem is that in earlier firmwares, the drive was going to sleep a lot, and seagate was having a lot of problems getting the drive to wake up from sleep in a reasonable time, thereby causing os x to beachball a lot. so, in their infinite wisdom, hacked it so that the drive wouldn't respond to the os x sleep commands... so, no sleep, no wakeup problem! ...uhh fine if you are always plugged in to power.
On my new early 2011 I get around 6-6.5 hours battery life (and that has it reporting on reserve battery) with basic usage (although when doing work for my job, which requires high cpu cycles and the usage of VMWare Fusion and a Windows 7 image for software doing automation, I usually get about 4-5, but the program is cpu intensive and like playing a high performance game in Windows, so not a fair comparison). With my early 2008 that I pulled it out of, I got about 3-4 depending on usage patterns (pretty much the same as the previous hard drives in the system).