I am on a hard drive buying spree. Another thing I am looking to buy is external FW 800 2.5 enclosure (probably OWC on the go) and 500 GB hard drive. There are 2 options for that- 5400 rpm and 7200 rpm. In my macbook pro there is fujitsu 5400 HD. Is it worth to buy 7200 external then? In a future I am planning to upgrade my internal HD too.
View 12 Repliesi'd like to know which MBP is better in terms of perfomance and speed..
The 2.66 Ghz one with a 7200rpm hd or the 2.8 Ghz one with a 5400rpm hd?
I've come to the conclusion that I will be opting for the 15" i7 MBP, after originally wanting to go for the 13' (due to lack of ix processor and such).
My dilemma is that I want to purchase the MBP through Bestbuy/Futureshop, mainly so I can go on a payment plan of around $100 per month, rather than dishing out $2000+ in one shot.
The issue with this is i am unable to BTO my MBP, so I will be stuck with the 5400RPM HD. Is it really that much of a difference from the 7200RPM HD? I'm used to a 7200RPM HD on my imac, so I don't want to feel any slowdowns.
Also, on my 20' early 2009 iMac, I notice that I need to turn my brightness down to about 3/16 (can't really explain it any other way. i guess this would be good with the MBP, as i'd get longer battery life, haha) or else i'll get a headache fairly easily after about 30-45 mins of use. Would the matte option help with the headaches?, as I assume the glossy screen is part of the cause for the headaches on my imac. I had originally returned the 24' imac i purchased and went for the 20' because the screen was too large.
So I am somewhat torn between going for the 15' i7 from a reseller, or just biting the bullet and ordering through the apple site.
Thinking of doing an inexpensive upgrade on my mid-2009 MBP. It's got the 5400rpm 500gb drive in it. I was thinking of upgrading to a 7200rpm drive. Strictly speaking math, the rpm's are 33% higher. Will this upgrade result in a noticeable decrease in time to boot or decrease in time to load programs (bounces)?
Also, what brand/model hard drives do Apple put in MBP's?
Does anyone have any thoughts on the pros/cons on a 7200 RPM drive over a 5400 drive? I'm looking to purchase a MBP 15" in the next couple of days.
View 4 Replies View RelatedCan anyone provide advice on whether i should get the 7200rpm drive? Is there a noticeable difference in boot time between each?
Do they normally have MBPs already built with the 7200 drives or do you have to order them?
I used CCC to clone my Hitachi 250gb 5400 rpm macbook pro drive to a Hitachi 320gb 7200 rpm drive.
I installed it myself (it's not hard to do at all took 20 minutes) and everything went fine but it seems as though before I see the Apple logo appear, my MacBook Pro now sits at a blank gray screen right when I turn it on for 10-15 seconds longer than it ever did prior to this upgrade.
Another interesting tidbit is that even though I made an exact clone of the drive with CCC, it seems that ALL of my LittleSnitch rules were dumped as LS asked me to verify everything all over again for MobileMe, Safari, FireFox, SimplifyMedia, Time.Apple.com, etc... Not sure why that happened.
I also noticed that on my original HDD it says "Apple Firmware Version" on the HDD label, is this why the new drive takes longer to boot? Does apple have a special firmware for it's drives that it's sourcing from Hitachi?
Anyone care to advise?
Would love to hear any past experiences and direct comparisons etc
Have written off the Momentus XT due to endless reviews of noise, heat and battery zapping. Is this just the way all 7200 internals are likely to perform though?
If so, should I maybe continue using my 5400 internal for apps and os, and buy a FW800 7200rpm for my media?
Oh, I'm using my MBP mainly for video editing (FCP, Motion, Shake) and some audio and graphics too.
I'm planning on buying an external firewire 2.5 disk, and i am wondering if there is any real difference between firewire 400 and 800 if the disk is 5400 rpm speed. The reason i am asking is i cant find the passport studio with firewire 800 anywhere here where i live, only the firewire 400 version.
View 3 Replies View RelatedI can't find any conclusive info on this, can anyone shed any light?
I basically thinking of using my external as my main drive instead of the bundled Mac Mini hard drive.
I seem to be having trouble with the new HD that seagate sent me when I returned my old HD under warranty.I got back a 60gb Momentus 5400.2 back from seagate that I use in an external HD case. I formated the HD as Mac OSX journaled but whenever I try to copy anything onto it it just freezes my whole finder. Is this HD not compatible with my mac? I have a 12 inch 1ghz pBook.
View 7 Replies View Related[URL: ...] I'm taking a Digital Media class on my study abroad trip this semester and one of the requirements for the class is that "Students will also need a portable external drive for storing files, a 120 gigabyte drive will be perfect." I'm not computer savvy whatsoever but would this be ideal for my class? We will be working on video projects and such. Also, I have a MacBook would it still work/be ideal with a MacBook?
View 15 Replies View RelatedI recently picked up a couple of external drives, and decided to benchmark them to determine whether the interface and/or drive type made much of a difference. For those that don't want to read the details, here's the bottom line: If you're going to splurge on a FW800 interface, it's well worth fitting this with a 7200 rpm drive to maximize performance. Uncached sequential writes over FW800 were twice as fast on the 7200 rpm drive compared to the 5400 rpm. FW800 is a marked improvement over USB 2.0 as well. Full results are below. For background, when shopping for drives, I was interested in using the FW800 interface on the MBPs, for the simple reason it's rated almost twice as fast as USB 2.0. Some of the drives I was shopping for included 7200 rpm drives. My first thought was this was silly, since the interface limited the throughput to far-below the limits a 5400 rpm drive could produce, so why bother upgrading to 7200 rpm? Well, it turns out it does make a difference. I've got both a FW800 enclosure (G Drive Mini) and a USB 2.0 interface (Nexstar TX) as well as a 320GB 7200 rpm drive (Hitachi) and a 640GB 5400 rpm drive (Western Digital). So, I benchmarked both drives using both interfaces. Some interesting results! Turns out, the 7200 rpm drive does in fact dramatically improve performance in the FW800 interface. For sequential operations, Firewire has a dramatic improvement over USB 2.0; for random read/writes, drive speed seems to be a more important factor. And for large files, the combination of Firewire and 7200 rpm gives a pretty impressive throughput of almost 75MB/s. Full results are below. Note that the drive and interface are noted in the title bar for each drive.
View 18 Replies View RelatedSo to avoid buying new hard drives one after another I decided to do something about it. I had this annoying vibrations in the palm rest area that spread to the left side also. Of course I did not want to part with the speed of 7200rpm HDD so I decided to take a step forward. I have Unibody MBP 2010. What you will need: Phillips screwdriver, elastic eraser, some paper napkin or something like that. Also a small hex screwdriver, however I could never find such a small hex screwdriver to twist those HDD mounting screws.
1. Unscrew the back panel of your MBP (Make sure you switch it Off and unplug power cord before you proceed)!
2. Remove the back cover.
3. Locate the HDD in the lower left corner ( i suppose you have you MBP flipped).
4. If you want you can take our ur HDD and make sure that your mounting screws are well screwed on the sides of the HDD.
5. Put ur HDD back in place make sure it is secured with that special black piece of wood with 2 screws.
6. Now look closely on the gaps between HDD and MBP Case from UP bottom and RIGHT (close to the battery) this is where you need to stuff something into those gaps to makes sure that HDD is well secured in it's position.
Note: Do not put anything from side of SATA Jack
7. I found that eraser is the most suitable material to absorb vibrations. So I had to cut it in pieces in fit it around the HDD.
8. Now you will most likely notice that the gap on the right is very narrow so here you would need something like paper napkin or a tissue, this place in particular was causing vibrations on my MBP 13 2010. I used a small screwdriver to stuff that place with soft material as it is too narrow to be done with hands. Obviously the eraser has to be slightly wider than gaps otherwise ur HDD will keep vibrating.
9. Make sure you screw everything back.
10. Put the back panel in place and screw it firmly in place.
Will be using my new 500GB 5400 rpm as an external and wanted feedback on the best aftermarket 7200rpm drive. Price / Speed / Battery Impact. I would appreciate some info from all you techies.
View 24 Replies View Relatedthis is my first post here but i am reading you since the beginning of the "arrandale waiting!"
Since i am going to buy a new 17" Macbook pro i want to know what kind of 7200rpm drive Apple will put in my mbp. It is a seagate, a WD or a hitachi?
Do 5400RPM HD allows maximum speed over FireWire 800, or 7200RPM HD will be faster? Basically 7200RPM makes difference in speed if you using FireWire 800 or not?
View 3 Replies View RelatedI just bought a Macbook last week. I realized after i put alot of stuff on the macbook 120GB isn't enough space. I want some suggestions for a good HD up to probally 200-300GB with 7200RPM. I Prefer less noise, heat, and less suction of battery life.
View 5 Replies View RelatedI've almost sold my MBP and I'm gonna order MB early next week, so I'll need a good 7200rpm HD (320Gb) for my new baby.
What brands/models do you consider most reliable? On this forum I've read good impression about Seagate Momentus line, what do you think?
I've got a 5400rpm HDD in my MacBook Pro -- see specs below. I really didn't think much of the slower speed compared to a desktop being a big deal back in the day, but now I'm thinking it is. It seems that many things across the board take a little longer to launch or load. I probably ruined my perception of speed by using my dad's brand new iMac, but I don't think my computer should trail his that much on just opening iPhoto or Safari.
The lateral move on storage space -- keeping 320GB but bumping to 7200rpm -- would cost me about $90. I don't think a 500GB 7200rpm drive exists. I also don't want to drop $500+ on a SSD because I really can't and I might as well buy a Mac Mini at that point.
I've seen a few of these threads but I need more information.
5400rpm HDD is a bit slower but uses less power.
Exactly how much power is lost to upgrading? I know its not much but its important. The 7200rpm upgrade is like an extra 40 GBP or if I downgrade the spec to a 320gb its cheaper than the 5200rpm 500gb.
If I get 4 hours of battery life on a 5400rpm, how long would a 7200rpm last? Is there a loss of an hour? or a mere 15 minutes?
I am looking on Newegg for a faster drive and there is this one ~~> HITACHI Travelstar 7K500 HD20500 IDK/7K 500GB 7200 RPM 2.5" SATA 3.0Gb/s Internal Notebook Hard Drive -RetailIt's $95 after mail-in rebate. Anyone have that drive and how fast/quiet is it? Also I heard they released 1gb 2.5" drives a while ago and can't seem to find any?
View 3 Replies View RelatedI am looking at buying a 15" MBP next weekend. I was nearly set on the i7 model with the high res AG screen, but now I am looking at other configurations and am wondering if that is the best choice.
I'll be doing a lot of coding but I do that fine on my 1st gen macbook, so I am not worried about performance in that regard.
The main thing I am thinking of is video editing with Premier Pro CS5. If I get the i5 I can upgrade the hard drive to the 7200 RPM version which I think will get me better performance on editing HD video than the i7 will as it will be accessing the hard drive a lot for the video. Will the performance boost of the 7200 RPM beat out the i7 in video production?
Also I am wondering about battery life, I have heard that the i7 gets around 4.5 hours in normal usage. That is fine but will the i5 + 7200 get more than that or about the same? (Not while editing video, just web browsing, email, maybe photoshop)
Anyone have any thoughts on this? or any experience editing video with the i5 or i7 mbp?
I have a year old 15' MBP, with a 2.66GHz C2D, 4GB of RAM, and a 320GB 5400RPM drive. I just purchased a 250GB Seagate 7200RPM drive which I use in an external enclosure for my Time Machine. I have no complaints for my computer being terribly slow, but I was wondering if I would get a significant boost from having the 7200RPM drive in my MBP. Before anyone recommends that I get a SSD, I do plan on buying one once prices keep dropping. Right now $1600 for a 480GB OWC SSD is a little steep for me.
View 1 Replies View RelatedFor not much extra (price wise), I can opt for the 7200 rpm hardrive.
Is it worth the upgrade? How much does the 7200 rpm drive affect battery life compared with 5200 rpm in the latest Macbook Pros?
I've heard manufacturers say the difference between the two doesn't in any way affect battery life.
I think I am gonna buy my MacBook Pro 13" in the coming weeks. It will be the 2.5Ghz model... I see that its cheaper, if I upgrade the HDD myself. As for Desktop HDD, I normally buy Seagate or Samsung. Do they also make good 2,5" HDD or should I get something else? (Looking for 500GB) I've also heard good things about "WD Scorpio Blue WD5000BEVT".
And can I use a 500GB 7200rpm drive with the 13" model(heat problems)? because apple only gives you the option to choose between 5400rpm HDD... 5400rpm is fine for me, but just wanna know. Last question, do you guys think Apple will make any kind of updates before next year? This will be my first Apple notebook.
i've upgraded my stock HD with a SSD in my mac mini
i'm thinking of removing the SD to put an optical bay and a 2nd bigger HD
i was hesitating between 500 Gb in 5400 or 7200 rpm
but considering that the ssd is really boosting the whole machine,
i guess that i should go for the 5400 rpm
because the difference in performance between 5400 and 7200 would not be noticeable thanks to the SSD and also, the 7200 rpm will be noisier
I know there is already a thread about which is better, but I figured itd be nice to see who ended up getting which. I ordered with a 7200, probably don't need it though.
Why did you choose the option you did? Do you think you'll need it? Do you notice the speed increase?
I'd like to know if the hard drive on this macbook pro I'm using is 7200 or 5400 rpm and but I don't know how to find that out.
View 3 Replies View Relatedi bought high spec black macbook refurbished which came with a 5400rpm drive inside it.
Im using logic pro, and its been running fine with small projects, but when i have a medium sized project using several vst instruments and exs24s using many audio samples, all of which are running off the internal.... i get error messages, system overload messages...and i am unable to bounce to audio file (in logic pro)
im thinking its the slow hard drive which is causing the main problems.
I have 2gb ram. It also takes sometimes over 5 mins to open this logic file.
Or is this poor performance par for the course, if using just one internal drive, for both system files and audio storage....... ?
Are there possible probs which may arise from taking out the 5400 drive and fitting a faster 7200 drive in to my macbook? I hear it will heat up more....so could this mess with other macbook componets?? the excess heat...... or are macbooks bulit to handle 7200rpm drives too? dont remember is 7200 was an optional upgrade with my model or not......
2.4ghz intelcore2duo.
Anybody fitted a 7200 drive into their macbooks? all running ok??
Would i simply put the new hard drive in..... and then boot up from boot dvds and my time machine backup....to have a full up to date system, all apps and file intact as they are now? Im worried it will get messy and problems...... my current drive is packed to rafters with apps and files and work i have done......i dont want to lose a thing.....would it be a simple easy fool proof transition to faster hard drive?
And could i still use the current hard drive? With an enclosure?
Ive heard people have ripped out the opticla dvd drive and fitted ANOTHER hard drive into their macbooks, so the laptop housing two hard drives..... that sounds good...but crazy..... maybe later ill do that....as i hardly use the cd/dvd drive...... and you can always hook it up with wire if need be
