MacBook Pro :: External Drives - USB Vs FW800 5400 Vs 7200 Rpm - Benchmark Data
Apr 28, 2010
I 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.
I lean to the standard drive at 5400 rpm. Why? All my video editing is done with an external firewire drive, and I think the 7200 generates more heat than the 5400.
For web design I don't see how a 7200 speed is much of a benefit, considering the extra heat generated may negate the benefit of a faster drive. I think heat (and dust) is the bane of all electronics.
I'm fixing to order the 15" i7 and will use it for running Adobe CS5 web suite. Final Cut Pro for video- and will use a firewire drive.
This is in regards to the 2010 mini. I have been reading up on SSD, Hybrids and FW800 with a 7200. What is the easiest AND most effective/cost effective solution? If I went he FW800 route, can I use the same drive as my data storage drive? Will there be enough headroom to run the OS over FW and use the drive to stream movies playing in another room on Apple TV2 simultaneously? Will this give me a performance increase over the internal 5400 if I use the external 7200 for everything over FW800?
That is where my thoughts about the hybrid come into play. I know I can stream the iTunes content over USB2, which I have at the moment for the big drive. I would need to go buy an enclosure with FW800 to run it as a boot drive. I could use that same money and go get a 500GB Hybrid drive and install myself and leave the USB2 as data only. If the install is painless but tedious, I might just do that. If the FW800 route would be robust enough to run the OS and stream data to other devices simultaneously (ie use it as I would the regular internal drive), I might just do that and wait for SSD prices to come tumbling down and do a bigger internal SSD in the future.
I have been using a MBP for a few months now and I am making a total conversion from PC user to Mac user in January when I buy a nice new 24" iMac but to go with it, I want to buy a couple of new external hard drives. I have currently got a Seagate FreeAgent 500GB USB Drive which is Windows Formatted and I will be keeping that to use with my work laptop (a Dell), and I have been really pleased with its reliability. Anyway, I have been looking around and there are some fab drives on the market but I have a couple of questions. If I get an iMac with a 500GB Internal Hard Drive, how big an External hard drive will I need to use Time Machine without having to delete backups all the time?
Also, I have been primarily looking at the new Seagate FreeAgent drives and the do a PC version (USB) and a Mac version (USB/FW400/FW800), but the 640GB USB version costs �76 whereas the 500GB FW version costs �100. Would you go for the bigger size or the added benefits of FW800? Will I notice much speed difference between USB and FW800?
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?
As a lot of people on these forums are, I am waiting for the next updated MacBook Pro. I want to get the fastest hard drive I can, but I want to ask the people who use the 7200 RPM HDDs if they can notice a difference, and if so how beneficial is it? Its really not a problem to pay the 250 for the 200GB 7200 option (and I do want to do that thru Apple because I want my hard drive under warranty) but I do recall hearing complaints that the 7200 RPM is louder, etc. So here is the basic question. How much faster is the 7200 and is it worth the upgrade? For background, I do Visual Effects/3D Animation. I use the Mac Pro for most of that and will sometimes use the MBP for that kind of work.
Wife needs a new computer and have decided to go MBP. I was set to order a 17 inch I7 with 7200 rpm hd but found out the local store has them in stock with the 5400 rpm HD.
I'm considering upgrading the stock 5400 RPM Hitachi drive in my macbook pro to the Seagate momentus XT (7200 RPM) hybrid drive. I'm curious about the experiences of those who may have done a similar upgrade:
1. Is there a noticeable difference in performance? I seem to do a lot of waiting for the HDD in my day to day usage and I suspect the increased spindle speed will be helpful.
2. Any noticeable tradeoff on battery life (>~10% or so)?
3. Should I expect an increase in heat or vibration?
Finally, for those using the momentus XT I've been reading about issues with the dreaded beachball waiting for the drive to spin up. This lag would obviously defeat the purpose of upgrading and I'd like to hear about any personal experiences in this regard with the drive.
i'm thinking of getting a macbook pro 15" 2.66ghz for use with logic pro mainly.
my question is really about heat.
if a 7200 rpm drive is going to heat up so much (especially when using intensive programs like logic) that it is bad for the disk would a 5400 be better all round?
obviously it would be slower but would it also last longer/ be more reliable?
...or would the difference in heat be negligible compared to the improved speed?
I have a Rev. E 15" MBP with the stock 250GB 5400 rpm HD. I'm getting close on running out of HD space so I'm looking to get a bigger HD. Is it a good idea to replace it with a 7200 rpm HD? Is the speed improvement significant? My MBP is my primary computer, I do a lot of general internet surfing as well as a lot of photo editing (I'm a photographer). I did some quick search and it looks like some HD's have bad vibrations? Does a 7200 HD drain out much more battery than a 5400 one?
I did a quick search at a local computer store and found the following, which one would be best to get?
I want to replace my 3 year old drives before it's too late.
I have about 200 gigs of data, split between a pair of Seagate Baracuda 7200rpm drives I bought 3 years ago.
I am thinking on going with a single 500 gig drive for my data, and I can't decide between a Caviar Black, or a Baracuda 7200.12.
I have read that the Caviar Black have incredible performance, , but only for the 1TB since it has 3 platters.
How do the 500gig models compare between WD and Seagate? I just don't have the need for more. My OS and Apps are on the SSD at 23 gigs, and all the rest of my work/personal files take up about 200 gigs.
Which is going to be better, the Black, or the Baracuda? 500 gig models only.
I have a mid 2009 Macbook Pro Core 2 Duo with 2.26 GHz and will be upgrading both the RAM and hard drive. I've done a fair bit of research regarding which brand and have decided to go with the Hitachi Travelstar.
1) Is my Macbook Pro compatible with the Hitachi Travelstar? By this, I know the physical dimensions fit, but I'm actually wondering if there are any known problems in practice such as the dreaded EFI firmware issue or dropping the 3Gbps SATA to 1.5 speed issue, etc. I'm not sure if my specific Macbook Pro model is the same mid 2009 model that has all these problems so I just wanted to make sure.
2) Assuming the Hitachi Travelstar is compatible, which model is better and why: the 7K500 or the 7K750. I'm especially interested in those who have personal experience of either of these (or both!)
3) Should I buy the 5400 rpm or 7200 rpm version? Why? As of now, I'm trying to decide between 500 Gb, 640 Gb or 750 Gb (is there any difference to performance in regards of which size)?
Info: MacBook Pro, Mac OS X (10.6.8), Core 2 Duo 2.26 GHz
Im planning on getting a Drobo S. However, Im torn between getting 5 - 2TB 5400 drives or 5 - 1TB 7200 drives. I plan on using it strictly for data storage and as a capture scratch.
I'll be using it via ESATA but was wondering if I would notice a significant difference between the 5400 and the 7200 and if that difference is worth the loss of space?
Anyone have any idea what drives would be best for use in Drobo S?
Am planning on getting a mini and swapping out the hdd for a 7200, but I'm getting a bit worried looking at some posts on another board that claim they've found the faster drives running hotter and louder, with more vibrations.
Managing a MBP with SSD and external drives for data?
Its come to the point of upgrading my 2007 MBP 2.4 to a new i7 that I'm thinking of ordering it with a SSD drive. Its the biggest 'hit' to increase performance it seems. Problem is the size of the SSD drives for cost. I can justify the 256GB model but not $1300 for 500GB which would be ideal, and even if I wait 6 months or so to get a 500GB I don't see the price coming down all that much. So...
Let say I order an APPLE SSD in my MBP and use it for a boot drive and some files. How do I configure/set-up the external drive to read its files for Aperture, iTunes, documents.... Thinking now is that I would use a WD 2TB external drive in RAID so I have the files on one 1TB and auto back-up on the other 1TB in one inclosure, and another 1TB drive for Time Machine.
This kind of limits my portability, so I'm also thinking I'd also have a portable larger HD to take with me when I need it. How do I sync the files I'm working on and adding to on one external drive with the other (as easy as possible)?
I may be thinking this all wrong, so any suggestions besides just the 'how to?'
So I have my new MBP specced out ready for Jobbsy's announcement 26 Jan, principally including 7200 rpm drive - and now I find they're dodgy! I particularly wanted a fast drive for music production but I gather they're glitchy in a bad way. Are they all bad?
I've read all the horror stories about how the mid-09 MBP hard drive firmware update and non-Apple 7200 RPM HDDs don't get along. Most of these seem to be related to the use of a SATA 3.0 drive (which shouldn't matter, since mechanical hard drives can't even make use of the full SATA 1.5, but I digress).
I'm about to buy a new Mac, and, even though the Macbook, which doesn't seem to have these problems, would suit my needs just fine (my camcorder is USB and my digital cameras both use CF), I might spring for the MBP anyway (likely to get the additional 2" of screen space on the low-end 15", which has the closest resolution to what I am used to on my outgoing T60).
Obviously, I could pay Apple to upgrade to one of their 7200 RPM drives, assuming I get the 15". But that seems silly, since I can buy, for less than $100 (i.e., half the upgrade cost from Apple, plus I keep the old drive), a Hitachi Travelstar 500 GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0 drive. My questions are:
1) Has anybody successfully upgraded to such a drive (or its 320 GB little brother, which is otherwise speced the same) in a mid-2009 MBP?
2) If so, did you have to downgrade the firmware as suggested in these forums?
3) If so, did you have to "tweak" the drive in any fashion to make it work?
I have two USB hard drives connected to my iMac. Since installing SL, I have experienced data loss on both. Example: I open a folder in the Finder. I then CMD-UP to move to the next level up, only to find that the folder I was just viewing is no longer in the list.
