Which HD?

[maigado]

I've got a MBP 2.2GHz Core 2 Duo that I bought new in October, 2007. It came with a 120GB hard drive, which is no longer big enough. I want to put in either a 320GB or a 500GB drive. The former will probably be bigger than adequate, but if the larger one isn't that much more expensive, I'll probably go with that one.

My priorities:

1. Quiet
2. Reliability
3. Performance (I'm NOT doing a lot of video editing)
4. Bang for the Buck
5. Heat - especially if running hot means that the fan will be screaming and therefore, noisy

Even though performance is third on the list, it still matters. So I'm thinking 7200RPM, but it seems that lots of people have equivalent performance with the WD Scorpio Blue 5400 RPM drives. I see various threads here that address one drive vs. another, but nothing recently that more covers the gamut. Does the 16MB vs. 8MB cache size make a real world difference?

Anyone have enough experience to offer an opinion based on my criteria?

 

[mathcolo]

Hello there...

I'm having a similar problem as you, I got a MacBook about two years ago and my 120 GB HDD is getting pretty small.

Over the last few days, I've been researching drives. I've spent hours at various sites like Newegg and Amazon trying to find one that basically fits your criteria (similar to mine). I came to the conclusion that the Western Digital Scorpio Blue 500GB would be the best for my needs. First of all, $100 is within my budget, which was important. Secondly, it gets great reviews, which means people like it. Thirdly, people say that it is very quiet and a "great upgrade" for laptops alike.

So within 24 hours I'll probably have an order in for that drive. This isn't a persuasive post, simply letting you know that it seems to be recommend by lots of people.

Another note... you don't need 7200 RPM if you aren't going to be using Final Cut Pro most of your day or something similar.

A link to the drive on Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Western-Digital-Scorpio-Drive-WD5000BEVT/dp/B001JSSDGU/

 

[Tweak3D]

Another note... you don't need 7200 RPM if you aren't going to be using Final Cut Pro most of your day or something similar.

7200RPM drives aren't for doing final cut to begin with. It has everything to do with how peppy you want your laptop to run. There is a night and day difference in 5400 and 7200 drives and I have several that I have bought over the years. Everything from bootup, to caching, to loading up a program will run faster on a 7200RPM drive and in most cases heat, noise, and battery will not be affected at all.

-Justin

 

[ViciousShadow21]

i use the 7200rpm 320GB Scorpio Black and it is fantastic.

1. it is pretty quiet but probably not as quiet as the one that came with my computer. it is still a very acceptable.

2. Western Digital has a very reliable name. i would never use anything else but Seagate and Western Digital.

3. Performance wise it is incredible. it made a huge difference over the stock 5400rpm HDD.

4. you can find it for about $75 which is about as good as it gets.

5. as for the temp it has not effected the operating temperature of my computer. if anything i would say it runs about 1 or 2 degrees cooler than the stock HDD.

Seagate Momentus 7200.3 320GB is another one great drive. according to reviews i have read it is slightly faster but probably not so much that you would notice. i have not used this one personally but a friend of mine uses it and he is quite happy with it. he said it runs a little hotter than the stock drive.

And i have never read anything bad about the 500GB Scorpio Blue. despite it's slower 5400rpm speed it hangs pretty well with the 7200's. somethings it is slightly faster at.

good luck to you.

 

[melchior]

you are on the right track. either get the scorpio blue 500gb 5400rpm or the seagate momentus 7200 500gb.

both offer similar real world performance.

 

[ViciousShadow21]

you are on the right track. either get the scorpio blue 500gb 5400rpm or the seagate momentus 7200 500gb.

both offer similar real world performance.

yea and the 500GB seagate is actually in stock again. you can get it at Amazon right now.

 

[mathcolo]

7200RPM drives aren't for doing final cut to begin with. It has everything to do with how peppy you want your laptop to run. There is a night and day difference in 5400 and 7200 drives and I have several that I have bought over the years. Everything from bootup, to caching, to loading up a program will run faster on a 7200RPM drive and in most cases heat, noise, and battery will not be affected at all.

-Justin

Ah, that sounds like a really good point. My experience of the difference between the two wasn't noticeable but it must have just been me. I'll keep that in mind for the future. I would consider getting a 7200 RPM drive for my MacBook but I've heard it could be dangerous and could overheat (despite that you said it doesn't).

 

[pdxflint]

Here are a couple of reviews of the WD 500g Scorpio Blue and one of the Seagate 500g 7200rpm Momentus. The price difference may not be worth the performance difference - that's up to you. I have the WD 500g Scorpio Blue in a SR MBP 2.2, and it's quiet and cool with no noticeable vibration. And it's a lot faster on data throughput either direction than the stock drive. I got mine through Newegg for $89 ($99 - 10% email subscriber coupon.) I've only had it for a couple of months, but so far, so good.

WD Scorpio Blue 500g
http://www.legitreviews.com/article/937/1/

Seagate Momentus 7200.4 500GB
http://www.legitreviews.com/article/967/1/

WD Scorpio Blue 500g
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/scorpio-notebook-hdd,2109.html

 

[maigado]

Thanks, everyone. The drives you're all talking about are the ones I'm looking at. If there's no genuinely noticeable performance difference, I'll probably get the Scorpio Blue unless I become convinced I should do otherwise or find a price on one of the 7200RPM drives that's not much different. Good to hear that even the 5400RPM Scorpio Blue has considerably better performance than the stock drive.