Which 200 GB 7200 RPM HD is Apple Using?

[lekun]

Hitachi or Seagate?

When you upgrade your MBP to a 200 GB 7200 RPM drive are you all getting Hitachi's or Seagate's?

And if Hitachi - how loud is it? Can you hear the hard drive head click? Or worse can you hear the arm park (kind of a thunking sound - happens when your drive spins down - you always hear right before your MBP finally goes to sleep).

 

[chrmjenkins]

Apple uses the Hitachi. I don't personally own one, but people have said they do not notice a noise difference.

 

[dante@sisna.com]

The 200 gig Hitachi 7200 that shipped in my BTO MBP 2.6 ghz is very quiet and fast.

 

[xpovos]

The Hitachi 7K200 that shipped with my 2.6 17" was also pretty quiet. When Apple decided to replace the hard drive for no reason while the machine was in for a top case repair, the Hitachi 7K200 they put in was VERY noisy---especially when the head parked (which it does in OS X, under certain circumstances, on a pretty frequent basis). It was so noisy that I tried to get them to replace it again, arguing that it never should have been replaced in the first place and that the replacement was unsatisfactory. When they refused to satisfy me on that point, I bought a WD Scorpio 320GB and had a third-party Apple-certified shop perform the upgrade.

The WD is much quieter than the second Hitachi was, although I can still hear the head park when the surroundings are nearly silent. The noise is much less offensive and obnoxious than it was on that second Hitachi drive, though.

 

[lekun]

The Hitachi 7K200 that shipped with my 2.6 17" was also pretty quiet. When Apple decided to replace the hard drive for no reason while the machine was in for a top case repair, the Hitachi 7K200 they put in was VERY noisy---especially when the head parked (which it does in OS X, under certain circumstances, on a pretty frequent basis).

So it seems it can really make a difference drive to drive, even from the same manufacturer. Bummer. First and foremost, I don't want a noisy drive. But I do also want a 7200 200 GB drive. Decisions, decisions.

 

[xpovos]

So it seems it can really make a difference drive to drive, even from the same manufacturer. Bummer. First and foremost, I don't want a noisy drive. But I do also want a 7200 200 GB drive. Decisions, decisions.

It can definitely vary from drive to drive. On the whole, I think the Hitachi drives are pretty quiet. I've used a lot of MacBook Pros (mine and other folks) with Hitachi drives and never noticed any unusual noise levels until that replacement drive ended up in my machine. I agree 100% re: noisy drives. Can't stand 'em.