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Which HDD would you recommend?

C

c-hass

macrumors member
Original poster
Dec 26, 2010
32
0
Montpellier, France
Hello again folks,

I'm creating this new thread to see which HDD would you guys recommend.
As I stated in a previous thread, I'm going to buy a MBP 15" and I was planning to get an SSD when the prices drop (maybe in a year)

Thing is, I didn't know that internal drives were cheap, so now my plan is to upgrade the 320gb 5200 rpm stock drive to a 7200 rpm.


I know most of you guys will say "Get an SSD even if it was too pricey, it's worth every buck" but I rather not pay 300 dollars for a 128GB for now, I know prices will go down to half in 6 months, and I can wait!

I would also like to know about how to reformat the new HDD, will I be able to run both HDD's at the same time, so I can format the new one with OSX?

Sorry if it looks like I'm spamming the forums (this is my second thread in 24 hours) but I'm buying the MBP in less than a week, and I'm the kind of person who doesn't like to buy thing blindly :)

Ready to hear all your thoughts about this!

Thanks a lot in advance,
Hass.
 
Last edited:
You were probably looking at 3.5" HDs which are too big for MBPs. 750GB from Seagate is the biggest 7200rpm 2.5" drive that is currently available. It really depends how much space do you need.
 
Hellhammer said:
You were probably looking at 3.5" HDs which are too big for MBPs. 750GB from Seagate is the biggest 7200rpm 2.5" drive that is currently available. It really depends how much space do you need.
Click to expand...

Ouch, my mistake then!
I was tempted by the 1TB and 1.5TB cause I thought they were to cheap!
But a 500GB 7200rpm should be more than enough!
 
c-hass said:
Ouch, my mistake then!
I was tempted by the 1TB and 1.5TB cause I thought they were to cheap!
But a 500GB 7200rpm should be more than enough!
Click to expand...

Don't forget that larger drives are faster as well... don't get hung up on just the RPM reading. A 1TB 5400RPM drive will most likely be faster than say a 500GB 7200RPM drive... or at the very least they will be the same.

I currently have a 640GB WD 5400RPM drive in my optibay and I LOVE it. The faster the drives the more power it uses as well. I noticed about 45min-1hour battery loss adding the 5400RPM drive (previously just had SSD). I have seen reports of folks noticing as much as 2-3hour battery loss with a 7200RPM drive.
 
So you're using both SSD and HDD?
If so, I might consider buying a small SSD for OS and direct applications, and keep the the HDD for storage. Is that doable?
 
I lost about 2 hours battery on a 3ghz c2d 17" mbp with a 7200 then I went to the 5400 wd scorpio blue and got back the battery, ran cooler and speed difference ,to me, was hardly noticeable. I still have the same drive in my I5 mbp.
 
c-hass said:
So you're using both SSD and HDD?
If so, I might consider buying a small SSD for OS and direct applications, and keep the the HDD for storage. Is that doable?
Click to expand...

Yes.

I run the SSD in my main drive slot. It is my boot drive & application drive. I then have my 640GB HDD in my optibay slot (optical drive is in a USB external enclosure if I ever need it). I have my home folder directed to my optibay HDD. That's where all my media is at. So it basically uses the HDD for storage (this is why I didn't see a need for 7200RPM, and I was correct thus far) and my SSD for the boot and application speed.

I also have a virtual machine (via parallels 6) of windows 7. The parallels application is on my SSD but the virtual machine space is scalable and on my HDD, so it doesn't use up space on my SSD.

The ONLY downfall I can see in the future is possible warranty work. I have talked to a few apple geniuses and folks in the store that work on them, and I have been told mixed reviews. Apples policy is that user accessible stuff doesn't void warranty, but the optical drive is never actually expressed as user accessible. Some of the techs tell me it'll void warranty, some tell me it won't, others say just put the optical drive back in before I come in for warranty work.

To cover my tracks, before I did all the swapping, I made a second account on my machine with admin privileges. If I ever need warranty work I'll throw the optical drive back in the machine and boot up in the other account (as it's home folder is all on the SSD not split). The reason for this is without the optibay HDD my main account won't work as the home folder is on that HDD (which wouldn't be in the machine).

I don't plan on taking my machine in for warranty work, as I expect it to work like it's suppose to. In the unfortunate event I do have to take it in, I feel I have all my basics covered.

My old 2007 MBP never once saw any warranty work after 4 years of HARD gaming use... so I'm rather pleased with the MBP's longevity.
 
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millerb7 said:
Yes.

I run the SSD in my main drive slot. It is my boot drive & application drive. I then have my 640GB HDD in my optibay slot (optical drive is in a USB external enclosure if I ever need it). I have my home folder directed to my optibay HDD. That's where all my media is at. So it basically uses the HDD for storage (this is why I didn't see a need for 7200RPM, and I was correct thus far) and my SSD for the boot and application speed.

I also have a virtual machine (via parallels 6) of windows 7. The parallels application is on my SSD but the virtual machine space is scalable and on my HDD, so it doesn't use up space on my SSD.
Click to expand...

Wow! That changes everything!
Excuse my ignorance about this.
What's the capacity of your SSD? Would an 80gb be enough as a boot drive (for OS and the apps) ?
 
c-hass said:
Wow! That changes everything!
Excuse my ignorance about this.
What's the capacity of your SSD? Would an 80gb be enough as a boot drive (for OS and the apps) ?
Click to expand...

I have the OWC 120GB Mercury Extreme Pro SSD. I LOVE IT! to say the least.

That being said, I have a total of 58 apps on it right now, plus OSX obviously, and I have 107GB free.

OSX takes up roughly 8GB of space, then your apps. Just note some of the bigger apps. Big games like WoW take up roughly 12GB and grow as you update. Adobe CS 5 takes up roughly 16GB. I don't have things like that installed as I don't use them. If you do, plan on that for space.

Personally 80GB for me would be fine for a boot/app drive. Others it wouldn't.
 
millerb7 said:
I have the OWC 120GB Mercury Extreme Pro SSD. I LOVE IT! to say the least.

That being said, I have a total of 58 apps on it right now, plus OSX obviously, and I have 107GB free.

OSX takes up roughly 8GB of space, then your apps. Just note some of the bigger apps. Big games like WoW take up roughly 12GB and grow as you update. Adobe CS 5 takes up roughly 16GB. I don't have things like that installed as I don't use them. If you do, plan on that for space.

Personally 80GB for me would be fine for a boot/app drive. Others it wouldn't.
Click to expand...

Well, my Vaio has 80Gb of internal drive, and I've been using that for 5 years.
Moreover, the primary partition which has the OS (Windows 7 Ultimate) and all apps (Adobe Premiere, PS CS5, Lightroom 3...etc) is about 35gb and it was always enough (talking about the apps here, not storage!).

After some thought, I guess I'll buy a 64 or 128 SSD along with my stock 320gb 5400rpm which will be replaced in a few months or less.
You think that might make a good solution?
 
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Don't waste your money in going from a 5400 to 7200, they are both stupidly slow like all HDDs. I'd save the money and put it towards a good SSD when you have enough. I got a 120GB SSD as I have used 50-70GB or less for my entire life and the difference is night and day in SSD v. HDD.
 
c-hass said:
Well, my Vaio has 80Gb of internal drive, and I've been using that for 5 years.
Moreover, the primary partition which has the OS (Windows 7 Ultimate) and all apps (Adobe Premiere, PS CS5, Lightroom 3...etc) is about 35gb and it was always enough (talking about the apps here, not storage!).

After some thought, I guess I'll buy a 64 or 128 SSD along with my stock 320gb 5400rpm which will be replaced in a few months or less.
You think that might make a good solution?
Click to expand...

Yeah. I'd personally buy a 120 vs a 60 but that's just me. If you can survive on 60 with the 320 in the opibay then go for it. I'm not sure the price difference between the 64 and 128.

Just note that after you format and load OSX you'll have about 55GB to play with on that smaller one.
 
NickZac said:
Don't waste your money in going from a 5400 to 7200, they are both stupidly slow like all HDDs. I'd save the money and put it towards a good SSD when you have enough. I got a 120GB SSD as I have used 50-70GB or less for my entire life and the difference is night and day in SSD v. HDD.
Click to expand...

Thanks a lot, that was helpful!
Here is 100+ dollars that I can save :)
 
millerb7 said:
Yeah. I'd personally buy a 120 vs a 60 but that's just me. If you can survive on 60 with the 320 in the opibay then go for it. I'm not sure the price difference between the 64 and 128.

Just note that after you format and load OSX you'll have about 55GB to play with on that smaller one.
Click to expand...


55GB seems enough to me, but then again I decided not to change the 320GB one, so I'll be saving for a larger SSD.
And in a year or so, I can replace the stock 320gigs with a large SSD if the prices drop, hopefully.

Which brand would you suggest? I saw the Kingstone V series are cheap, but people didn't recommend it to me.
 
occams razor said:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820183274


If you need more space get a external drive
Click to expand...

Don't be rediculous I need to carry every thing on my laptop /sarcasm. But seriously I really like the idea of carrying everything on my one laptop. I'm sorry but i can't deal with having TWO computers, its just such a pain in the ass to pass the data back and forth especially when a laptop has some pretty damn powerful specs for pretty much any use, I'd honestly rather get an external display. 64GB's is nothing, The fact that an iPad has that much memory should tell you laptop should have at least triple that...just saying.
 
nateo200 said:
64GB's is nothing, The fact that an iPad has that much memory should tell you laptop should have at least triple that...just saying.
Click to expand...

64GB will be only for OS and apps, I'll still be having the 320GB for storage.
Not to mention my 1.5TB AND 500GB WD externals.

I can't live without externals; for backups, music, movies, photos (got 100GB of photos) and etc.
 
c-hass said:
64GB will be only for OS and apps, I'll still be having the 320GB for storage.
Not to mention my 1.5TB AND 500GB WD externals.

I can't live without externals; for backups, music, movies, photos (got 100GB of photos) and etc.
Click to expand...

Oh ok I was getting ready to say thats nothing especially if your even semi-serious with your computer. I like externals too but I won't be lugging them around everywhere...I barely like the idea of carrying so much as a charger with my portable devices but that would be nonsense.
 
To my understanding Intel will be releasing a 300, 400 and 600GB SSD within the next few weeks at both a faster speed and markedly decreased price.
 
NickZac said:
To my understanding Intel will be releasing a 300, 400 and 600GB SSD within the next few weeks at both a faster speed and markedly decreased price.
Click to expand...

Sort of true.

No direct word I have seen that mentions anything about speed, just seems to be everyone's guess. Intel's are about the slowest SSD on the market right now. They are still leaps and bounds ahead of HDDs IMO. Real world prob dont see any diff.

As far as price, right now a 500GB is about $1000 so of intel releases these I still see the price being a few hundred $$$. Not exactly "cheap". CheapER yes.
 
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