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The *Final* 7200rpm Drive Thread

OS X Dude

OS X Dude

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Jun 30, 2007
1,181
693
UK
Hi guys :)

So, I just upgraded my 2006 Core 2 Duo MacBook (still a nice machine, handles Logic fine) to a 2011 15" MacBook Pro. Absolutely loving it so far... can hardly believe I'm hitting 7h:30m of battery life with a display that awesome and a quad i7 under the hood :O

I'd like a 500GB 7200rpm HDD to improve boot times and program launching. I've been doing some reading, and I've been put off the Momentus XT due to reliability issues. But, I've also heard mixed stories about people noticing a big fall in battery life (1h 30m in one case) and only a modest performance boost with standard 7200rpm drives.

There's a WD Black I think that everyone seems to like and I'm considering that. An SSD is out of the question due to the cost, I really need a minimum of 250GB - and more like 500GB as I have currently.

My uses are: Steam, Logic Pro (recording, using Logic for the guitar amps and effects), MainStage, WaveBurner, occasional iMovie and all the other usual stuff everyone does on a computer.


Thanks guys :)

PS - Maybe we could sticky this, if it takes off with a lot of concise answers?
 
iMackPro said:
why not go SSD?
Click to expand...

For the size I need, you're looking around £500 at least - way out of the question. I also don't want to have a small internal SSD and then rely on an external for my other stuff.
 
OS X Dude said:
For the size I need, you're looking around £500 at least - way out of the question. I also don't want to have a small internal SSD and then rely on an external for my other stuff.
Click to expand...

why not? thats exactly what im doing, i have a thread going right now about it. theres really no reason that you need more than 120 GB of stuff at any given time. and when the external is needed just hook it up. or get a TC and then its always hooked up, but wirelessly! how cool is that?

plus SSD are just so dam fast its just amazing, i love having a 18 second boot time.
 
Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 4_3_2 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/533.17.9 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.0.2 Mobile/8H7 Safari/6533.18.5)

I got 2011 MBP 2.3. I've got a 120GB ssd OWC 6G & a 7,200 500GB in my SuperDrive slot with an optibay conversion.

It's rapid. Just trying to understand root & stuff. Coming from pc to mac, you can't just use a mac like a pc. I'm gonna have to get used to that.

My point is, I've got speed & storage. It's an affordable solution. Drive & optibay was just under £300 from OWC & arrived from US to UK in like 4 days. Better than internal post although fedex cost a bit. No import duty either!!! & I live in the isle of man.
 
Sadly there's going to be very little advantage for you to upgrade from your current hard drive to a 7,200 rpm drive. The hybrid drive is really the only option worth considering between the drive you have and an SSD.

Personally, I'd recommend the ssd + optibay route for you. Personally, I bought a Vertex 3 240g SSD. Pricey though.
 
there is a alternative ..but unsure if its cool enough running in a laptop but certainly fits inside , it still is just a 2.5" drive, very pleased with it in my iMac core duo and i find its the ideal compromise faster then all the other HDD's and cheaper then a SSD and because its a enterprise drive highly reliable
http://www.wdc.com/en/products/products.aspx?id=20
 
Last edited:
MacHamster68 said:
there is a alternative ..but unsure if its cool enough running in a laptop but certainly fits inside , it still is just a 2.5" drive, very pleased with it in my iMac core duo and i find its the ideal compromise faster then all the other HDD's and cheaper then a SSD and because its a enterprise drive highly reliable
http://www.wdc.com/en/products/products.aspx?id=20
Click to expand...
Yes, I've owned several Raptors over the years and they are excellent drives. However, considering the power draw, vibration and price per gig picking a raptor would involve a lot of compromises for a MBP owner. I still think an affordable SSD and an Optibay is the best approach.
 
iMackPro said:
plus SSD are just so dam fast its just amazing, i love having a 18 second boot time.
Click to expand...

Funny how SSD people love to brag about their boot times. Guess what, my machine sleeps instead, instant boot, beat that!

Seriously though it's been on for the last 10 days according to iStat, it only ever reboots for updates, so it's not like my 45 second boot time has any effect whatsoever on my life.
 
I upgraded from my stock 5400 drive to a 7200. Didn't affect my battery life at all... no vibrations or extra heat. HOWEVER, my performance gains were minimal.
 
I agree there should be a stickied "harddrive" thread.

I was searching recently for a replacement internal drive for me late 2010 13" and it was hard to find anything recent. I found so many conflicting results on the 5400 vs 7200 rpm effect on battery life too.

In your situation, I more or less searched and read a ton which led me to the Scorpio Black drives but I am hesitant to buy one because I really value my battery life.
 
Thanks for all your replies :) From the number of responses, this seems like a thing MacBook Pro owners have thought a lot about - and have, like me, read conflicting views on each method.

I'm gonna sum up the main points everyone made. If this thread does manage to get stickied, it'll make for easier reading that way.

Replace the HDD for an SSD:
Currently, the capacity I need is way too expensive. I think it's gonna be a couple of years before big capacities hit the £150 ballpark. I also don't want to rely on carrying USB/Thunderbolt external drives for my major storage. The no-brainer - as soon as prices come down and TRIM support gets more refined.

Keep the HDD, and swap out the SuperDrive for an SSD
I personally can't, because I write, produce and burn music regularly. I don't want to rely on an external drive when I'm in the minority who needs an integrated drive. I also love physical CDs and importing them into iTunes. A great idea for those that don't, though :)

Use a 7200rpm Hybrid Drive
The most likely option if I'm going to do anything. I reallllly want a Momentus XT, hopefully Seagate have ironed out the kinks with them. It also seems like the only option without a compromise somewhere.

I suppose the only thing is that SSDs are new, and therefore expensive. In a few years, this will all be a non-issue. But until then, it seems the most practical option - for me at least - is a hybrid drive.


Thanks for all your input guys! Hope this helps any others in this situation too.
 
Last edited:
OS X Dude said:
Hi guys :)

So, I just upgraded my 2006 Core 2 Duo MacBook (still a nice machine, handles Logic fine) to a 2011 15" MacBook Pro. Absolutely loving it so far... can hardly believe I'm hitting 7h:30m of battery life with a display that awesome and a quad i7 under the hood :O

I'd like a 500GB 7200rpm HDD to improve boot times and program launching. I've been doing some reading, and I've been put off the Momentus XT due to reliability issues. But, I've also heard mixed stories about people noticing a big fall in battery life (1h 30m in one case) and only a modest performance boost with standard 7200rpm drives.

There's a WD Black I think that everyone seems to like and I'm considering that. An SSD is out of the question due to the cost, I really need a minimum of 250GB - and more like 500GB as I have currently.

My uses are: Steam, Logic Pro (recording, using Logic for the guitar amps and effects), MainStage, WaveBurner, occasional iMovie and all the other usual stuff everyone does on a computer.


Thanks guys :)

PS - Maybe we could sticky this, if it takes off with a lot of concise answers?
Click to expand...

Depends on the drive and the amount of amperage it requires. Some 7200RPM drives require less! :eek:

I had a Momentus XT and hadn't any problems, but I never used sleep mode either. As I ultimately found out people still have problems with firmware SD25, I'm returning it -- I got a Momentus 7200 500GB drive in exchange. Saved $50 -- the difference in price suggesting Seagate could put in more than 4GB for the SSD aspect...

As for SSD, with people reporting hybrid drives and problems with Intego's X6 software was another reason I exchanged... and the lack of TRIM for OS X in general is a big issue. I recall Lion will take care of that and there's an unofficial hack incorporating the usage of TRIM, but I'd still wait. Without TRIM, the lifespan of the SSD would be significantly shortened.

And I agree; a stickie on 5400 vs 7200 vs SSD would be nice. :)
 
The only problem with a hybrid drive seems to be reliability, and sleep mode. I use sleep mode a fair bit and thats where a lot of people seem to be having their problems.

What I may do, since there is a minimal performance gain between mechanical 5400 and 7200 drives, is use what I have for now, then get an SSD when they start to fall in price. By then, OS X will not only have TRIM support, but quite possibly have refined it from user feedback.

Besides, programs are loading quicker the more I use this thing (still running it in), and boot time is around 30 seconds, which I know is fast. I'll appreciate the speed increase more a few years down the line anyway...

The motto? Good things come to those who wait!
 
I user a WD 500GB/7200RPM drive - it's reliable. However, sound and vibration are more than I'd like.
 
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