What 2.5" drive is fastest and most spacious?

[anthrovisual]

What 2.5" hard drive gives the most space and speed without compromising quality and is no more than $150.

I was about to purchase a Seagate Momentus 7200.4 drive because I thought it has the most space (500GB) and speed (7200 RPM) because I do video work, BUT I have been reading comments and reviews from users that the drive isn't that fast (Scorpio Blue is comparable?) and it has excessive heating and vibration issues, which can't be good for the long term.

What is the best drive and are these comments about the Momentus true?

Second, would the Momentus with motion-sensors built in conflict with the sensors in the Macbook Pro?

Thank you for your help again.

 

[iGary]

Tom's Hardware's tests.

I have the Seagate Momentus 7200rpm 500GB drive. My only complaint is some noticeable vibration, but flawless otherwise.

I haven't paid attention to heat, personally.

 

[geoffreak]

The 500GB WD Scorpio Blue is reportedly the fastest hard drive on the market for it's size. Mine almost matches my 320GB WD Scorpio Black (7200RPM) in speeds (off by about 5%).

When WD comes out with a 500GB Scorpio Black, I can guarantee that it will completely trounce the speeds of existing offerings.

All hard drives will make noise and produce heat due to moving parts. Keep in mind that people will only report problems they have with hard drives, rather than good experiences, because only anger and frustration can get someone to talk about the drive. All hard drive lines can produce duds and all hard drives will fail at some point.

 

[donuttakedonuts]

None of the above. The fastest 2.5" drive, imo, is the WD velociraptor.

 

[geoffreak]

---

 

[anthrovisual]

well, under $150

I changed the post because I didn't think of the velociraptor which is definitely out of my budget. So the fastest, biggest 2.5 drive for under $150.

So far the Seagate is in the lead, but I am concerned about the vibrations. I use my laptop actually on my lap a lot and while I do enjoy a good massage, I wouldn't want it coming from my macbook pro. that would just be distracting.

 

[anthrovisual]

that's what I thought

but then I looked at their web site and it looks like they have a 2.5" version. Considering the price of the 3.5, I wouldn't even bother looking up the 2.5. Couldn't possibly be within range of 150.

 

[geoffreak]

Is my above post invisible?

 

[fireshot91]

Is my above post invisible?

http://www.amazon.com/Western-Digit...QW1A/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1249938680&sr=8-2

 

[geoffreak]

Well I'll be darned. You can't pay me to put one of those drives in my MBP though.

 

[donuttakedonuts]

hehe yep a velociraptor would shake the mbp to itty bitty pieces.
But the point is that a velociraptor is a 2.5" drive inside a 3.5" heatsink.

 

[benlangdon]

why would you put in anything slower than 7k?

 

[geoffreak]

why would you put in anything slower than 7k?

Because spindle speed doesn't always correlate to data transfer speed.

 

[SnowLeopard2008]

Because spindle speed doesn't always correlate to data transfer speed.

Do your research, yes it does. For hard drives at least, faster speed = faster data transfer. Obviously, this does NOT apply to SSD, because of no mechanical parts.

I vote for the Seagate Momentus (7200RPM, 500GB). My dad is an IT admin for his company, and he's bought many hard drives. In one year, he had over 50 brand new WD drives fail. And a few Seagate drives that were like over 3 years old fail. You do the math.

Contrary to that report, the Seagate Momentus is the fastest drive in it's respective class on the market. WD comes a close second when it's not going down the drain, which sadly, happens way too often.

 

[donuttakedonuts]

Do your research, yes it does. For hard drives at least, faster speed = faster data transfer.

NAY!
Compare, say, a 7200 rpm ATA drive with a fast 5400 SATA drive. There'll be a big difference. All spin speed affects is latency/seek time as it decreases the average time it takes to get to a specific spot on the disk.

 

[geoffreak]

Do your research, yes it does. For hard drives at least, faster speed = faster data transfer.

WRONG.
Although this is the case MOST of the time, it isn't the case ALL the time. I can easily point out several examples where this is not the case if you want me to. donuttakedonuts's example is a good one

If all drives were created equal short of spindle speed, yes, faster speed means faster data transfer rates. The fact is simply that this not the case.

 

[anthrovisual]

WRONG.
If all drives were created equal short of spindle speed, yes, faster speed means faster data transfer rates. The fact is simply that this not the case.

So are there studies that compare the Seagate Momentus 7200.4 with the WD 500GB Blue? I guess I could do a google search but wanted to check with you guys since you all seem pretty experienced on this. I'm not even sure what sites have the best reputation for "real world" comparisons.

Otherwise, beyond speed, it sounds like Seagates are more reliable. But that too seems to differ with who you ask (definitely seems like if you like WD, you hate Seagates, and visa versa).

I understand that all drives fail eventually, but clearly some models are winners and give satisfying performance and others suck. I'm looking for a winner with lots of space and secondly, lots of speed.

 

[cameronfield]

I'm also looking to upgrade the 13" MBP that I will soon have with more HDD space.

I've decided that a 320gb drive will be fine, but seeing the reviews on newegg saying that the Western Digital Scorpio Blue 320GB either vibrated, decreased battery life, increased internal temps, etc. is making me look more carefully!

Is the WD Scorpio Blue the best bang for the buck when it comes to 320gb HDDs?

Thanks for the tips so far, and thanks to the OP for making the thread !

 

[anthrovisual]

Thank you everyone for your posts...

I'm still having trouble deciding. It sounds like some have had problems with heat, battery, and vibration with the Seagate 7200.4 if you look at reviews, and others haven't had issues. These individuals gave up and switch to the WD Scorpio Blue, which they claim is pretty fast and doesn't have the heat, noise, vibration issue.

I think asking those who have upgraded the MBP model that I have (Core 2 Duo 2.16 15") with the Seagate will determine what experience I am likely to have. I'm worried that those with a positive experience have the newer MBPs and those with the negative experiences have the older MBPs.

I would like to hear from that crowd here or at a new post I started with the more direct question: Experiences after upgrading MBP 15" Core 2 Duo 2.16 w/ Seagate Momentus 7200.4 500GB

I'll probably take another gander at the reviews and see if they noted their model, though I have seen that most do not, at least not in detail.

 

[The Dawg]

Is a 600GB Velociaptor compatible with a 2009 MacBook Pro 17"?

I have a 17" MBP, 2009 model, with the 500GB 7200 RPM HDD. I was wondering how much overall performance would improve if I put a Velociraptor into it. I really don't mind excessive vibration, so long as there isn't any headache-inducing high-pitched whine involved. Also, how hot do they get? Is that heat sink on there for a reason, or just for show...sorta? I have SMC fan control, so I can always jack it up to a default of 4000 RPM or so, instead of 2000. One more thing...how durable are the drives in terms of mobility? Are they more susceptible to damage by small drops, whether while the computer is asleep or actually on?
Money isn't a concern; I'll save up.
Thanks!

 

[weckart]

I have a 17" MBP, 2009 model, with the 500GB 7200 RPM HDD. I was wondering how much overall performance would improve if I put a Velociraptor into it. I really don't mind excessive vibration, so long as there isn't any headache-inducing high-pitched whine involved. Also, how hot do they get? Is that heat sink on there for a reason, or just for show...sorta? I have SMC fan control, so I can always jack it up to a default of 4000 RPM or so, instead of 2000. One more thing...how durable are the drives in terms of mobility? Are they more susceptible to damage by small drops, whether while the computer is asleep or actually on?
Money isn't a concern; I'll save up.
Thanks!

If money is not a concern, then you really should be looking at SSDs. The Velociraptor is old technology now and capacities are commensurate with SSDs. It no longer strikes a reasonable balance between speed, cost and capacity.

The heatsink is required because spinning at 10-15k RPM generates a fair amount of heat and noise. Needless to say, these drives are not designed or recommended for notebooks.

 

[The Dawg]

What 1 TB 2.5" HDD is most reliable and fastest overall?

If money is not a concern, then you really should be looking at SSDs. The Velociraptor is old technology now and capacities are commensurate with SSDs. It no longer strikes a reasonable balance between speed, cost and capacity.

The heatsink is required because spinning at 10-15k RPM generates a fair amount of heat and noise. Needless to say, these drives are not designed or recommended for notebooks.

I should have specified better; I need a lot of storage. I mean, a LOT. A 160GB Intel SSD is $300. I make minimum wage. A 600GB Velociraptor is also $300, so in my eyes, SSDs aren't really an option. Even the $800 512GB SSD option on the newest MBP 17" wouldn't really be enough of a storage bump for me to care about.

I suppose I'll change my inquiry to this post's title.

 

[gnasher729]

I should have specified better; I need a lot of storage. I mean, a LOT. A 160GB Intel SSD is $300. I make minimum wage. A 600GB Velociraptor is also $300, so in my eyes, SSDs aren't really an option. Even the $800 512GB SSD option on the newest MBP 17" wouldn't really be enough of a storage bump for me to care about.

Right now all 1TB drives are 5400 or 5200 RPM. 750GB are available at 7200 RPM. They should be a bit faster than your 500 GB drive, first because the data density is higher, second because the drive would be less full, so you wouldn't be using the inner area of the drive which is slower.

That's a thing to keep in mind with the Velociraptor: If you actually _use_ all 600 GB, then a 1TB 7200RPM drive will probably beat it because of the data density and because you don't use the slower tracks on the bigger drive.

 

[The Dawg]

Right now all 1TB drives are 5400 or 5200 RPM. 750GB are available at 7200 RPM. They should be a bit faster than your 500 GB drive, first because the data density is higher, second because the drive would be less full, so you wouldn't be using the inner area of the drive which is slower.

That's a thing to keep in mind with the Velociraptor: If you actually _use_ all 600 GB, then a 1TB 7200RPM drive will probably beat it because of the data density and because you don't use the slower tracks on the bigger drive.

So...a 1TB 5400 RPM drive won't be a performance decrease? If it is, will it be really noticeable?
And yes, I'd definitely be using _all_ of 600GB. I have 5.5 GB free right now out of that 500...it's freaking me out...
One more thing, is there any such thing as a 1.5 TB 2.5" drive? If so, how do I get it?

 

[gnasher729]

So...a 1TB 5400 RPM drive won't be a performance decrease? If it is, will it be really noticeable?
And yes, I'd definitely be using _all_ of 600GB. I have 5.5 GB free right now out of that 500...it's freaking me out...
One more thing, is there any such thing as a 1.5 TB 2.5" drive? If so, how do I get it?

I think at 5400rpm it wouldn't be _quite_ as fast as the 600GB. But it would be faster than a completely full 500GB. And if you are using 494.5GB now, then 600 GB won't last long anyway. I wouldn't buy a hard drive that is 80 percent full the day I buy it.

There are no 1.5TB drives yet, and the 1TB drives are 12 mm, so they fit into the MBP, but not in the MacBook. There are companies offering to swap the DVD drive for a second hard drive.