MacBook Pro :: : Which Is The Data Bottleneck: FW800 Or 5400RPM
Sep 17, 2009
Got a MPB 13". I need a good external drive, but I'm wondering which is the data bottleneck: FW800 or 5400RPM?
The reason I ask is I have an old iMac with FW400 and an external Hitachi 7200RPM 200GB 16MB cache in an OWC case that's (suppesedly) capable of FW800. It seems to have taken the same amount of speed to restore a very large file to my iMac (FW400) vs. my new MBP (FW800).
I would like to replace this drive with something bigger, but if FW800 is the bottleneck, then I'm thinking I should just get a 5400RPM drive to both save money and get a larger drive.
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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.
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Dec 21, 2009
I bought the late 2009 Mac Pro as i really needed it to do my work at uni and be generally more productive as working on my old white polycarb macbook was just not cutting it. Anyrate, so i bought the low end quad core, 2.66Ghz.
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Mar 9, 2009
I just set up an old G4 Mac Mini with a 1.5 GHz PPC chip and 64 MB VRAM as an HTPC with the intent to use it to watch Hulu and ABC.com and other sites where you can stream TV shows online. However, Hulu is very very choppy. The audio's fine but the video is pretty disappointing. In full screen it's really just a series of still pictures. I know Flash on the mini is supposed to not be that great, but is there anything I can do?
Is there any way to change the video settings of the g4 or of the TV to improve the streaming video playback? I'm playing it on a 40" Samsung LCD connected via DVI--> HDMI.
I'm booting off an external firewire drive through Firewire 400 and my concern is that perhaps this is the problem - the slowdown is not coming from the processor or the VRAM but rather from the Firewire. Can anyone with a similar setup let me know if this works for them. Is there anyway to speed up the I/O between the G4 and the Firewire drive? it's a LaCie 250GB D2 Hard Drive Extreme with Triple Interface.
According to the Activity Monitor, Safari's using 72% of the CPU to play from Hulu. According to Hulu's support page, the Mac Mini meets the system requirements. I'm just trying to watch the SD videos, not the HD. I have Flash 10 and Safari 3.1.2.
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Nov 21, 2008
I recently bought a used MBA, I always want one when it first came out, finally wait until now because of the big price drop My first mod to my MBA is to upgrade the hard drive. I wasn't pay much attention when I purchase this replacement hard disk, didn't notice the MBA only takes 5mm height, as most 1.8" in the market are 8mm. But since it's in my hand right now, I decided to put it on see if the MBA recognizes it. Not too much surprise, leopard installation went very smoothly. After the installation, the available space is about 95gb. And because of the 5400rpm, it feels faster.
Too bad the bottom won't close because of the height of this drive. But at least this gives me an idea, and I know there's a Toshiba 1.8" 120gb 4200rpm 5mm out there, and it should fits perfectly in MBA. Anyway, I'm still debating myself rather getting this Toshiba drive or a Samsung 32gb SSD(Same drive as used in the Rev.A SSD version, but different capacity) As the price of these two drives are pretty much the same (around $150 range) I have another computer for my main work, so I'm toward getting a 32gb SSD
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Jan 17, 2010
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?
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Jul 20, 2010
any experience with one of these drives in a MBP?
Newegg has a 640GB one on sale for $65.98 through 7/25.
For $65, I would like to double the size of my current HDD (even though it's 7200RPM).
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Jul 29, 2010
I 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?
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Aug 4, 2010
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.
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Dec 15, 2010
It's been a looong time since I've posted on these forums, it's good to be back though! I have just dug out my old white MacBook- specs are as follows:1.83GHz Core Duo 1.25GB RAM 60GB 5400RPM HDD Put simply, this thing is really starting to chug! Modern websites such as eBuyer, engadget etc cause the HD to go crazy and it's generally pretty slow, even when doing 'simple' things like making powerpoint presentations.
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Jan 5, 2010
I'm using an early 2008 MBP (4,1) running the original 5400rpm 200gb HDD but upgrading to 500gb this week.
I'm looking at WD Scorpio 5400rpm but wondering if 7200rpm reduces the battery life relevantly.
Also, I'm running 2gb of memory but I'm debating if 4gb would be dramatically faster.
Or do you think I would be better off buying a new mbp?
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Jan 16, 2010
I had an issue with the 9600m GT Graphics card a few weeks ago where the graphics card wouldn't display anything when plugged into an external monitor. The apple store checked it out and said the logic board was faulty and that it would need to be replaced under warranty. (Late 2008 15" macbook pro).
When I received the laptop back, they not only replaced the logic board, but they also replaced the SSD with a 250gb 5400rpm hard drive. I called in and, after being upgraded to the top level supervisor, he said that all of the hard drives being replaced were sent to be refurbished or recycled and that my hard drive had a fault in it so they replaced it. He says that they restore it to the apple original condition and originally they sold it with a 250gb hard drive in it so that's what they replaced it with. Their policy is that only if they replace aftermarket ram with apple ram will they return the aftermarket parts back to you. This repair was conducted yesterday, the 15th of January by apple Tech ID #612525.
I don't expect to get my data back, but if anyone has any idea on how I can get my hard drive back, I'd be willing to reward $100. A new Intel SSD X25-M G2 would be around 250 so I wouldn't want to do that.
I've been on the phone all day with the apple support so I am very frustrated right now.
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Jun 21, 2010
I bought an i5 15" MBP last week and instantly through my 80GB SSD into it. I've been doing my best to keep a lot of unnecessary data off the SSD but I'm still running out of space. I'm thinking about throwing the stock 5400rpm 320GB drive into an Optibay tray and using that to hold the data. I use Photoshop and Illustrator quite a bit and I would like to use the 5400rpm drive as the scratch disk as well.
However, I'm not to familiar with read/write processes and I'm wondering if I will see a speed decrease if I use the 5400rpm drive to house the data while leaving the SSD open for the OS and all applications. Should I expect a noticeable decrease in battery life with both hard drives installed as well?
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Sep 22, 2010
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?
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Sep 2, 2010
I got an Intel x25 160GB SSD and I use a Firewire case to carry my old 500GB 2.5 HD. Now the question is, where should I put my Bootcamp for better use. You know, I am afraid, if I put bootcamp in the SSD as well, the SSD will got heavy load.
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Oct 7, 2010
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.
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Jun 18, 2009
The thing is I dont really need 500gb of space. But from reviews Ive read that the 500gb is faster in some cases because of its higher platter density.
Vibration /noise issues on the scorpio black 7200rpm sway me towards the scorpio blue 500gb as well.
Anyone had experience of either hard drive or both? (this will be for a 2.2Ghz MBP)
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Feb 11, 2010
I recently got the mid range 15in MBP. The firewire 800 port is a particular interest of mine which I am expecting to be able to depend on and take advantage of. But much to my dismay it is very irregular, and many times drops down average USB2 speeds or even slightly less.
Now dont get me wrong, the FW 800 port has done almost double the the fastest I have seen USB do, but what I cant figure out is why this is only happening sometimes and sometimes this same FW is performing worse I have three different FW 800 drives now and have tried all sorts of things like switch cables, verify, repair, or check disks/permissions, and basically anything else i thought might help. Still, sometimes its really fast and other times, not.
I would say for the most part FW800 is transferring a little above USB speeds, which is better than nothing, but actually still disappointing. Anyway, if some one has any experience or advice about this, let me know.
I dont see why a drive will act one way once and another the next time. What might be effecting or causing this? Is this normal?
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Dec 26, 2008
Now, I am in the market to replace my stock 160GB HDD in my MB, as I want a bigger hard drive in my PS3 and was thinking I could put the MB one in there, and buy a larger one for the MB.
I am debating between a 320GB 7200rpm and a 500gbrpm drive. I currently have this external drive:
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I HATE it. It takes a super long time to start up(close to 3-4 minutes) and then opening up videos takes a good 2-3 seconds. But, I have a 5400rpm drive inside the MacBook and was wondering if 7200rpm with 16mb cache would really make a significant difference in day-to-day use.
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Nov 9, 2010
I purchased a FW800 enclosure for my Seagate 500GB 5400rpm HD. I just got a 2010 13" MBP. I was previously using a 2006 MBP with an ExpressCard slot, and had this hard drive connected over eSATA. According to TomsHardware the max sustained write speed of this drive is around 65MB/s, which is what I was getting over eSATA. So I got the FW800 enclosure now that I can't use eSATA with the thought that I'd be getting the same 65MB/s that this drive is capable of. FW800 should be able to handle up to 100MB/s. But I'm only getting around 40MB/s, closer to what I should be getting if I was using FW400.
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Apr 16, 2010
I for one am really happy to see FireWire 800 still included on these machines. I have five external HDs, all with FireWire, of which two are portables (freeagent Go). I also use two video cameras, both FW. I'd hate to lose FW connectivity too soon. Transferring data (audio, video or other) via USB has always been slow and problematic for me. Sometimes pieces are dropped or end up corrupt. FW has always been smoother and problem free in this regard. Hopefully FireWire will still be around a little longer than some expected. Rumours of its untimely demise have been greatly exaggerated of late
eSATA or lack thereof does not bother me as only one of my drives supports it and little else on the market does either. USB3 would have been a nice addition but maybe its early days yet and with LightPeak around the corner we may not need it at all. HDMI would have been a no brainer. Sorry but display port is just another Apple specific port which only serves to differentiate and annoy when common high quality alternatives already exist.
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May 27, 2010
i just got a new macbook pro 13" laptop and am trying to transfer my itunes music as well as some data i have compiled into a single folder from my (2005) Powerbook G4 12" laptop. Please help me out with this i have no idea how to do this and the Apple Store said they will do it for $100 and i just poured every penny i own into this computer and cannot sell me old computer to pay bills until i transfer this data.
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Dec 10, 2014
I have lost all my data from my harts drive. The laptop is under warranty. I have been told that they have replaced my hard drive but could not get any data off the old one. I have now lost all my data, photos, files, music etc. NO backups, only simply because i did not know how to do them. Is there any way of getting the files back? All my work spreadsheets and accounts were also lost.
Info:
MacBook Pro (13-inch Mid 2012)
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Sep 11, 2008
I've take home an unused, unloved Power Mac G4 FW800 from work and would love to hear any anyone may have to get it running @ its optimum without forking out for a new Processor. I wont be doing any gaming on it, plan using it for Media and Design like Final Cut Express4, Photoshop and Illustator and for music and movies.
Its has a Dual 1.25Ghz Processor, 167Mhz Bus, ive installed a new ATI 9600PRO Graphic Card and bumped the RAM up to its 2GB max and have an external 500GB 7200RPM Iomega FireWire HDD. I also got a Philips 19in Wide LCD 1440x900 for cheap.
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May 21, 2009
Has anyone had any luck with not using an Internal Hard Drive and using either a Drobo or external drive to run OSX? I was thinking of getting a new HD that runs FW800 or using my Drobo to creat a partition to load Mac OSX on and run the OS from an external HD.
The Reason I am even trying this, is because the Mini uses Laptop drives with less specs then my External Seagate 500GB 7200RPM with 16 MB of Cache, also 3.5" drives seem to run quicker then even the fastest 2.5" drives.
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Jun 24, 2009
I don't want to waste hard drive space on my MBP's hard drive on games. I have a 16GB SSD ExpressCard as well as a FW800 external hard drive.
Which would be optimum for playing games off of (considering that a game will need a fairly high read/write speed to keep up)?
If the FW800 drive is better, how much better? Would I notice a difference if I used the ExpressCard instead?
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Mar 17, 2010
I'm looking for a mass storage option and I've got about $150 USD to spend on it... I really want to get FW800 for the speed. Anyone have a good drive to recommend? The highest I can find is a 500gb for 139.... that's just not good enough.
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Oct 26, 2010
I want to build Mac Mini media server connected to drobo s. I am wondering if I use the spyderhub (esata to fw800) will fw800 be fast enough to play 3d blu ray with an external blu ray player? The hub lets you connect esata to it and then use fw800 to connect to mac mini. This follows limitation of fw800 speeds though so will this bottleneck? Need to mention I am going to use bootcamp to boot windows 7 and play the 3d blu ray dvd's in windows.
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Mar 8, 2008
Are they running at full speed or do they default down to FW400 when in Windows?
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Feb 20, 2009
I have Western Digital Studio II (2x1TB, configured as 2TB). As I don't feel secure and wanted to make a backup of this HDD, I bought an identical HDD for backup.
Questions:
1) If I were to get a chance to start over, can I configure these two drives as a RAID cluster, so that whatever written on 1st disk, automatically mirrored to 2nd disk? Bear in mind, I'm using FW800 for both HDD in daisy-chained setup.
2) How reliable is RAID mirroring (software in leopard) using FW800 external drives, as it may subject to different 'connection/attachment' time to my iMac. Internal drives always on at the same time.
3) I tried to use CCC to clone the disk, the sustained speed is disappointingly at 30MB/sec read and write. If I did a copy from my internal HDD to external disk, I get easily 50-60 MB/sec.
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