Well Seagate killed Amstrad and then there's the recent Mac Pro thing... I certainly wouldn't trust one.
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What HDD would you get for your MacBook?
- Thread starter teddyvarious
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Well Seagate killed Amstrad and then there's the recent Mac Pro thing... I certainly wouldn't trust one.
I have my own thread on something similar to this, im looking between a WD scorpio blue 320GB 5400rpm and the hitachi drive mentioned above, did you previously use a 5400rpm before that hitachi and is it a lot faster in general use as well as large file loading as i do have some very large movie files and usually doing a lot of encoding.
Could we possibly post some links for these results as this is exactly the dilemma i'm with choosing an upgrade and there is only £13 difference in the two HDDs
Yes I am quoting myself ... I have to add on to this.
I did a real time test between a 7200.3 and an X25-M. I didn't use tools or anything, I just used each for 30 days. I started with the 7200.3. Over the stock HD (in my U MB) it is night and day. The perceivable jump in speed is obvious to a normal user. The vibration was no worse than a gentle hum. Vibration is not an issue. Noise is not an issue.
I then followed up with the X25-M 80GB MLC (running the 8610 firmware at the time). Boot time was about the same. I attributed this to being an early adopter and the EFI issues. However, when I launched PS CS3 it was OBVIOUS in performance difference. I maintain a layman's level of knowledge so it will be obvious to the novice. Web Browsing was the same though. The lack of vibration, noise and heat adds a whole new level of usability to the laptop experience.
So, in a long winded post I am still advocating the 7200.3 for regular users. If this is your laptop for browsing, email, occasional software use then go with the HDD. If this is your professional laptop, then use the X25 and just save your work on a network drive when you're done.
If anyone wants me to test something on my machine, let me know. I support the community in any way I can.
Does anyone know if the WD Scorpio Blue line has the conflicting fall sensor problem? I've got my eye on the 500GB 5400 RPM model thats selling for under a $100 now.
I see lots of people talking about the 7200rpm, but (someone correct me if I'm wrong here), but doesn't that drain a laptop battery a lot quicker than a 5400rpm drive would? I personally went with a 5400rpm 500gb Western Digital drive and love it. I love that I can carry around the same contents as my 500gb desktop drive with me on my laptop 
And I have no complaints re: speed...
And I have no complaints re: speed...I upgraded my old 60GB 5400rpm to the WD 320GB 7200RPM. Boot time is a few seconds shorter, i noticed the application install and read time was fractionally quicker. But as long as you get a 7200RPM, anything is better then the slower Hard drives.
I see lots of people talking about the 7200rpm, but (someone correct me if I'm wrong here), but doesn't that drain a laptop battery a lot quicker than a 5400rpm drive would? I personally went with a 5400rpm 500gb Western Digital drive and love it. I love that I can carry around the same contents as my 500gb desktop drive with me on my laptop
This is not completely true. Remember, the drive does not spin at 7200 all the time. Only when it is active will it spin at full speed. So, the power drain difference is negligible unless you are doing overly intensive HDD stuff. Of course, the performance difference will grow exponentially at this point.
Power is not the issue. Most people worry about vibration and heat.
Good to hear it's running ok. I'm in the same boat as jamin100, except I already received mine. It was the 2nd replacement for a broken one. The first was a BEKT (no FFS), but had some vibration. They replaced it with the BJKT (FFS), and it seems smooth and has a very quiet load/unload. I have another BEKT in my UB 17" - smooth, but has the "loud" load/unload click.
So, now I have a drive that's quiet and virtually vibration free, but wasn't 100% sure if the conflict was addressed (I can't remember exactly which model - maybe even a year or so old). Given the report the BJKT is fine, in at least that model (which one, btw?), I'll probably go ahead and swap it for the "click" one - I might go ahead and just kept that one in an external case, since I know it's reliable (at least as much as 400hrs can indicate).
edit: I installed the BJKT in my 17" UB. It's running fine - no vibration (it's probably measurable, but I don't feel it through the palm rest) and no annoying load/unload clicks. They're still there, but MUCH quieter. I made an attempt at measuring the difference between this and the one that was in here before, and this one's probably minimum of 5-6db quieter, erring on the low side (the SPL app I have doesn't have a max hold. It's just an iPhone app, but it's OK for relative measurements).
I did a crude check for any conflicts between the Mac's SMS and the BJKT's FFS by causing either/or to trigger an emergency head retract. Don't worry - I didn't drop the Mac. I just briskly, but gently, moved it vertically with it near my ear. I only did enough to hear the head unload. Anyway, no kernel panics ensured. I think the instance of conflict was one model, with a particular version of firmware.
The 500 GB version does not have the fall sensor. I bought one last week and it's great.
To people concerned about heat up problems with 7200rpm drives:
http://techreport.com/articles.x/9378/14
You can see the energy consuption is pretty much the same as 5400rpm drives, just like the noise level.
http://techreport.com/articles.x/9378/14
You can see the energy consuption is pretty much the same as 5400rpm drives, just like the noise level.
this was the article that made my decision to a 320gb 7200rpm wd black.
I notice a louder hd but not enough to make it annoying to me. I noticed the HD makes its faster to boot up and much faster to transfer large files sequentially. I do noticed my HD is running a little hotter than the 5400rpm counterpart at 103F instead of 99F. No biggie since I'm usually in a room below 75F
Seagate because in my experience they have the best reliability.
Hard drive technology has matured to the point where transfer rates, access times, temperatures and noise are very similar among models of the same type. It's not like there's a 13 celsius operating temperature difference between a Seagate and a WD or a Hitachi like there was in 2003, nor is one drive 20 dB louder than another like in 1997.
The only thing I notice different between drives is reliability, and less Seagates fail with me than any other drive.
Hard drive technology has matured to the point where transfer rates, access times, temperatures and noise are very similar among models of the same type. It's not like there's a 13 celsius operating temperature difference between a Seagate and a WD or a Hitachi like there was in 2003, nor is one drive 20 dB louder than another like in 1997.
The only thing I notice different between drives is reliability, and less Seagates fail with me than any other drive.
Apologize ahead of time for "resurrecting" an old thread, but I gotta say the Seagate 7200.3 drive (320GB, 7200rpm ST9320421AS) I am now using in my 13" MacBook Pro (2.26GHz, 4GB RAM) is a big FAIL.
While the read/write speeds are nice, this drive that's barely over a year old REFUSES to let my MBP go to sleep according to the Energy Saver settings. I've done all kinds of Terminal-fu to try to fix this; changed the SMS to 0, changed the "ttyskeepawake" to 0, reformatted the HDD *twice* using the Snow Leopard discs that came with my computer, uninstalled all apps that might be conflicting with sleep from the Applications folder (including all thrid party Preference Panes), ran a RAM test, ran Seagate's hardware test (all passed), repaired permissions, replaced the .plist file for Power Management, zapped the PRAM (I dunno HOW MANY TIMES now), tried an SMC reset (never could tell if that really happened or not on this unibody MBP), checked/unchecked the "put the HDD to sleep when possible," restarted umpteenth times, logged in as root/ran fsck, yeah...EVERYTHING. Even zeroed-out the HDD once when reformatting, still won't sleep. Passes the S.M.A.R.T. tests also. Cleaned all caches, etc. Nope. No sleep on its own.
The MBP still will NOT go to sleep on its own. I can close the lid, select Sleep from the Apple menu, and use the keyboard shortcut and sleep works fine. But leaving this MBP idle whether plugged in to power or on battery, it simply will NOT sleep.
Took it to the Apple Store, and the Genius said that the computer passed their hardware tests too; and that unless I put the stock HDD and stock RAM back in (both are gone; HDD is being used as a Time Machine backup for another Mac, RAM was sold), they won't replace my computer if there's a problem...which obviously there can't be, it passed both my and Apple's tests.
So it's gotta be the hard drive.
I ordered a Western Digital 500GB 5400rpm drive (WD Blue), and am going to clone things over and see if that solves the problem. I'm tired of all this reformatting. I can't possibly think of the problem being anything else. Gotta be the Seagate drive. I got it for Christmas, used it in a white MacBook 'til I upgraded this past Sept. '09.
So I'd advise AGAINST the 7200.3 drive. I'd hope Seagate has improved their 7200.4 or whatever 2.5" drive is their latest. This 7200.3 drive also drained the battery more as well, though I expected that.
Always been a WD fan, guess I should've stuck with them. I've never purchased another brand of HDD other than WD in the past...but I went on a recommendation from both a friend whom I respect and a podcaster who really liked his Seagate drives & thought I'd be ok. That was NOT the case. In my years as both a PeeCee and Mac "guy," I've never ran into a single issue with a Western Digital drive until now. Oh well, lesson learned. Never again, Seagate.
Unless anyone else out there has had this issue and can help me solve it...
While the read/write speeds are nice, this drive that's barely over a year old REFUSES to let my MBP go to sleep according to the Energy Saver settings. I've done all kinds of Terminal-fu to try to fix this; changed the SMS to 0, changed the "ttyskeepawake" to 0, reformatted the HDD *twice* using the Snow Leopard discs that came with my computer, uninstalled all apps that might be conflicting with sleep from the Applications folder (including all thrid party Preference Panes), ran a RAM test, ran Seagate's hardware test (all passed), repaired permissions, replaced the .plist file for Power Management, zapped the PRAM (I dunno HOW MANY TIMES now), tried an SMC reset (never could tell if that really happened or not on this unibody MBP), checked/unchecked the "put the HDD to sleep when possible," restarted umpteenth times, logged in as root/ran fsck, yeah...EVERYTHING. Even zeroed-out the HDD once when reformatting, still won't sleep. Passes the S.M.A.R.T. tests also. Cleaned all caches, etc. Nope. No sleep on its own.
The MBP still will NOT go to sleep on its own. I can close the lid, select Sleep from the Apple menu, and use the keyboard shortcut and sleep works fine. But leaving this MBP idle whether plugged in to power or on battery, it simply will NOT sleep.
Took it to the Apple Store, and the Genius said that the computer passed their hardware tests too; and that unless I put the stock HDD and stock RAM back in (both are gone; HDD is being used as a Time Machine backup for another Mac, RAM was sold), they won't replace my computer if there's a problem...which obviously there can't be, it passed both my and Apple's tests.
So it's gotta be the hard drive.
I ordered a Western Digital 500GB 5400rpm drive (WD Blue), and am going to clone things over and see if that solves the problem. I'm tired of all this reformatting. I can't possibly think of the problem being anything else. Gotta be the Seagate drive. I got it for Christmas, used it in a white MacBook 'til I upgraded this past Sept. '09.
So I'd advise AGAINST the 7200.3 drive. I'd hope Seagate has improved their 7200.4 or whatever 2.5" drive is their latest. This 7200.3 drive also drained the battery more as well, though I expected that.
Always been a WD fan, guess I should've stuck with them. I've never purchased another brand of HDD other than WD in the past...but I went on a recommendation from both a friend whom I respect and a podcaster who really liked his Seagate drives & thought I'd be ok. That was NOT the case. In my years as both a PeeCee and Mac "guy," I've never ran into a single issue with a Western Digital drive until now. Oh well, lesson learned. Never again, Seagate.
Unless anyone else out there has had this issue and can help me solve it...