What 500GB hard drive should I get? (I have links)

[silenahilena]

Hitachi Travelstar 5K500.B -
http://www.amazon.com/Hitachi-Trave...2?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1267754400&sr=1-2

Seagate Momentus - http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/t...t_shr?_encoding=UTF8&m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&v=glance

Western Digital Scorpio Blue - http://www.amazon.com/Western-Digit...1?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1267754430&sr=1-1

What is the difference with this Scorpio Blue as well?
http://www.amazon.com/Western-Digit...3?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1267754430&sr=1-3

This is for a 13'' 2.26 Macbook. I want something that is cool, fast, and quiet....and something that won't break in 8 months (although it seems there's at least 2 reviews for each product with someone saying that the hard drive broke within a year). I have read hundreds of reviews of each product -- they all seem like great products, but I am having trouble deciding. Feel free to suggest alternatives. I prefer not to go to the 7200rpm route since I want something cool and quiet.

 

[MacDawg]

I have the Scorpio Blue and it has performed flawlessly for me

 

[silenahilena]

I have the Scorpio Blue and it has performed flawlessly for me

Cool. I've heard people saying that it gets a little hot...is this true for you?

 

[ayeying]

I use a Scorpio Blue also. No problems with heat or battery life or vibrations.

However, I might switch back to a 7200RPM drive again. I don't think i can handle the slowness anymore.

 

[silenahilena]

I use a Scorpio Blue also. No problems with heat or battery life or vibrations.

However, I might switch back to a 7200RPM drive again. I don't think i can handle the slowness anymore.

I guess I'm still open to using a 7200RPM....I just don't want it to affect my new Macbook that much or have it roughed up for something that a 7200rpm drive wasn't made for..

 

[emiljan]

I have my eye on the 500GB Hitachi Travelstar 7K500 from newegg.com for my 13" MBP. Everyone who has one of these drives raves about how quiet these drives and and they are noticeably faster than the oem drives that come standard in most laptops.

Link:http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822145275

 

[ayeying]

I guess I'm still open to using a 7200RPM....I just don't want it to affect my new Macbook that much or have it roughed up for something that a 7200rpm drive wasn't made for..

The MacBook (Pro) can handle 7200RPM drives without any vibration issues. The rubber mounts displaces all the vibration.

 

[MacDawg]

All of the drives that have been mentioned are excellent choices and have their fans
I don't think you will be disappointed with any of them

 

[Thiol]

All of the drives that have been mentioned are excellent choices and have their fans
I don't think you will be disappointed with any of them

+1 It's hard to go wrong with those choices.

 

[silenahilena]

Well, now I'm leaning toward the 7200rpm. Speed is great - but how much battery does it drain?

 

[MacDawg]

Well, now I'm leaning toward the 7200rpm. Speed is great - but how much battery does it drain?

I don't have the 7200, but from what I understand, under normal conditions, the battery drain differential is negligible
But don't be swayed just by the 7200 number

Scorpio Blue and Black Review

 

[ayeying]

Well, now I'm leaning toward the 7200rpm. Speed is great - but how much battery does it drain?

I found none. But that's just me.

 

[djarsalan2006]

I have the blue scorpio, works like a charm, however it gets really hot that you could even toast a bread with it or something ..

 

[paintballswimgu]

i put the 500gb 7200rpm seagate into my mbp. It failed after 6 months. I'd probably go with the hitachi if i put one in now.

 

[vaderhater245]

What would the battery drain be like if there were 2 500GB 7.2k Seagates in a Macbook?

 

[silenahilena]

Oh man, all these mixed reviews...it's killing me. =/

 

[MacDawg]

Oh man, all these mixed reviews...it's killing me. =/

They are all great choices
You won't be disappointed with any of the these drives

 

[zbg8000]

This review helped me choose.

http://techreport.com/articles.x/17010

 

[silenahilena]

Also, I read something on a Newegg review where someone stated that Macbooks run at only 1.5MBs transfer rate, so you have to adjust the HDD if you get a 7200 RPM. What's this about?

 

[zbg8000]

It will automatically adjust the interface speed.

 

[MacDawg]

This review helped me choose.

http://techreport.com/articles.x/17010

So which one did you choose?

 

[zbg8000]

Western Digital Scorpio Blue. It's good so far.

 

[Thiol]

Oh man, all these mixed reviews...it's killing me. =/

Here's the deal. All hard drives fail some times, so no particular brand is immune. For every drive, there will be someone out there with a failure story. But, with good drives, there will also be people with positive stories. In the end, like some of us said, the ones you listed are all good drives. No one is obviously better than the other. Pick based on color, favorite letter, word association, whatever All our choices are half chance...

 

[silenahilena]

Thank you fo the link. I'm leaning toward the Scorpio Blue, however, I would like to see benchmarks for the 7200 Hitachi. I'll have to search for it later.

 

[akadmon]

Hitachi drives are junk. I recommend this 5400 RPM Fujitsu drive from Newegg.


I have bought two of them in the past 3 months and and they're the quietest laptop drives I've ever had. One of them replaced a 250 GB 7200 RPM drive that failed (Hitachi), and it's actually faster despite having less RPM.