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WD 320 GB Scorpio Questions

C

chp5592

macrumors regular
Original poster
Jul 16, 2007
134
0
To those who have replaced their MBP or MB hard drive with the new 320 gb Scorpio drive, I have two questions.

1) Notice any increased heat?

2) Any decrease in battery life?

According to Toms Hardware, this Scorpio has one of the highest idle and load power consumption (4.2 watts under load versus 3.0 watt load for the Fujitsu, 40% increase), which I assume would lead to higher heat and lowered battery life. Idle consumption is 1.1 watt versus 0.8 watt.

My stock MBP has a Fujitsu drive 5400 rpm which has the lowest power consumption which I presume is why Apple chose this drive.

I am concerned that switching out for the roomier and faster Scorpio drive would result in the above problems.

Any experiences to share?

http://www.tomshardware.com/2008/02/18/wd_and_toshiba_join_the_club/page7.html
 
works well, quiet, no heat issues that I notice? not decrease in battery life. DO IT!
 
I haven't noticed any difference in heat or battery life, either. I'm completely satisfied with the Scorpio 320GB.
 
Thanks for the replies thus far. Sounds like lab test power consumption tests may not be that relevant in real life situation. I think I'll go ahead and switch out the hard drive and try this out myself!

I just picked up the WD320gb external passport drive from best buy for $150 which I'll pop open and swap out the drive with my internal 200gb fujitsu drive.
 
chp5592 said:
I just picked up the WD320gb external passport drive from best buy for $150 which I'll pop open and swap out the drive with my internal 200gb fujitsu drive.
Click to expand...

Is the only difference between the passport version and the bare drive the cache (2Mb vs. 8Mb)? The bare drive is 10 bucks more, so I've been somewhat inclined to pick up the bare drive and a 10 dollar enclosure just to have the peace of mind that the bare drive is from a batch with a higher MTBF.
 
I have noticed somewhat of a heat increase in the drive area, but the battery life seems the same. Performance is higher and of course I have a ton of free space :)
 
pna said:
Is the only difference between the passport version and the bare drive the cache (2Mb vs. 8Mb)? The bare drive is 10 bucks more, so I've been somewhat inclined to pick up the bare drive and a 10 dollar enclosure just to have the peace of mind that the bare drive is from a batch with a higher MTBF.
Click to expand...

I don't think they make 2Mb 320gb hard drive. From what I read, it's the same 8Mb scorpio drive as the bare drive.
 
Mine is hotter, My stock 120 drive never got warm. my left palm was the same temp as my right palm (which is over the optical drive). Now with the WD 320 it gets warm. Not hot, but warm. It is slightly uncomfortable to me since I am used to it being the same temp as my right palm.

I have not noticed a decrease in battery life but that is much harder to judge since it can be over a 4 -5 hour period and a difference in a few minutes would be hard to justify without a controlled test.
 
qksilver said:
Mine is hotter, My stock 120 drive never got warm. my left palm was the same temp as my right palm (which is over the optical drive). Now with the WD 320 it gets warm. Not hot, but warm. It is slightly uncomfortable to me since I am used to it being the same temp as my right palm.

I have not noticed a decrease in battery life but that is much harder to judge since it can be over a 4 -5 hour period and a difference in a few minutes would be hard to justify without a controlled test.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the perspective. I am certainly not interested in having a hotter machine. I think I may look in to the samsung 320 drive which had the lower power profile. The passport is going back to best buy.
 
I'm about to make the plunge myself (got a great deal on a Passport, which I'll pry apart). Got SuperDuper primed and ready. I just have to finish up beta testing this FDE product and remove it. I'll post my results.
 
one problem that I had when I used Super Duper was that when I installed my new HD and booted it up, I had a problem with the dock constantly showing/hiding itself, as it seemed like it was loading/unloading something. I don't know if this is normal or a temporary thing, but it didn't seem to go away so I just did an archive and install and it works perfectly now.
 
Since my upgrade I haven't noticed any heat issues. In fact, it runs cooler then the HDD that came with my MBP. No problem with Battery performance either.
 
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