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160 GB 2.5" SATA Drives not ready for prime time yet?
- Thread starter manic
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I don't think the 160GB drives are worth it really. I'd rather have a 100GB or 120GB 7200rpm drive and use the cash I save for an external hard disk.
manic said:
Can you elaborate on these reports of 'crashes' etc.? Got any links?
You're telling me, they're rarer than hen's teeth round here in the UK! If they're unreliable then I won't be buying though.
Yes, you would save money.. BUT, upgrading the HD in the MBP is a lot more difficult than in the MB. You can find directions online, like at ifixit.com, but be prepared to go slow, be organized, and make sure you know what you're doing!matttrick said:
There is currently only one review on newegg.com for the Hitachi 160gb drive. The reviewer gives it a 3/5 yet complains of "crashing". Not enough valid/useful info to skew my intentions on buying the drive - so I proceeded to buy one as planned. It should be here tomorrow, and I guess could add my inital review in a couple weeks.
40 gigs is what I consider a good jump from 120gb. Thats a sizeable bootcamp partition, and 160gb is DOUBLE the capacity of my current macbook drive.
If it breaks, oh well... that's what warranties are for.
40 gigs is what I consider a good jump from 120gb. Thats a sizeable bootcamp partition, and 160gb is DOUBLE the capacity of my current macbook drive.
If it breaks, oh well... that's what warranties are for.
No, it won't void your warranty.
I put a 160GB Hitachi SATA in my daughter's MacBook. You need two screwdrivers: A #0 or 00 Philips and a #8 Torx. One is used to remove the bracket that hids the memory and hard drive; the other is used to remove the top aluminum sheet metal from the existing hard drive. I forget which is used for which step.
I put a 160GB Hitachi SATA in my daughter's MacBook. You need two screwdrivers: A #0 or 00 Philips and a #8 Torx. One is used to remove the bracket that hids the memory and hard drive; the other is used to remove the top aluminum sheet metal from the existing hard drive. I forget which is used for which step.
matttrick said:sounds easy enough. ive built a fair share of PC's. i just wanted to be sure i wont void the warranty
You're asking about the MacBook Pro though aren't you? I have not seen a definitive answer on whether replacing the hard drive yourself voids the warranty - some say yes, some no. If you ask Apple you also get differing answers!
On the MBP you have to take the top case off to gain access to the har drive. It's much more involved than the MacBook.
It's more difficult on the MBP to install a hard drive, but here is a good guide.
http://www.ifixit.com/Guide/85.6.0.html
http://www.ifixit.com/Guide/85.6.0.html
drlunanerd said:
I think most of the time it works like this:
If they can link a failure to you doing something unconventional like this, they will void your warranty
If it is totally unrelated eg a broken screen then how can a replaced hdd affect the warranty?
Seagate also makes a 160GB drive for notebooks. I don't know what product reliability is for Hitachi, but I have had good experience with Seagate in the past.
For what it's worth...
I've got a 160GB 2.5" Hitachi which is used for about 8 hours a day, on average, and has been going strong for over a month now.
It seems very fast to me, though I haven't benchmarked it, and my laptop hasn't crashed a single time with it installed.
(And I agree with the previous poster who said a 40GB jump is significant. You're talking an extra 33% over a 120, and 50% over the stock 80GB in most Apple portables.)
I've got a 160GB 2.5" Hitachi which is used for about 8 hours a day, on average, and has been going strong for over a month now.
It seems very fast to me, though I haven't benchmarked it, and my laptop hasn't crashed a single time with it installed.
(And I agree with the previous poster who said a 40GB jump is significant. You're talking an extra 33% over a 120, and 50% over the stock 80GB in most Apple portables.)
I thought about a 160gb drive, but the price turned me off. I ending up going with this Samsung 120gb drive.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16822152040
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16822152040
I messed my MBP opening it up. CD Drive won't work anymore. And the sides are bent and Apple wants $965 to fix it. Also when the screws fall on the floor, they activate their mini cloak device with contact with the carpet. I am determined to go back and try to fix it now that the warranty is void.
I might as well try that Thermal Grease treatment while I am at it.
I might as well try that Thermal Grease treatment while I am at it.
Unspeaked said:
I assume you mean a 100% jump over the 80GB
I agree though, to me space is more important than speed. I want to install three operating systems (OSX, XP, Linux) and I want to synchronize work files between the laptop and my desktop, so I need all the space I can get.
IIRC a lot of the 160GB 2.5" drives are using perependicular recording, a relatively new method for recording data, so there's likely to be more flaws and problems then traditional drives.
I think the perpendicular drives (a la 160GB 2.5" Drives) should be fine. Apple I'm sure wouldn't have chosen them for the Mac Mini if there were wide problems with them.
From any reviews I've read of Seagate's Perpendicular-recording drives, it's been nothing but praise in terms of speed and capacity, although the 750GB 3.5" SATA drive apparently experiences slow write speeds with the internal SATA interface on a Power Mac G5 and Mac Pro (according to barefeats.com). This issue is limited to Seagate only, so I reckon it's just a blip in the firmware used by Seagate.
From any reviews I've read of Seagate's Perpendicular-recording drives, it's been nothing but praise in terms of speed and capacity, although the 750GB 3.5" SATA drive apparently experiences slow write speeds with the internal SATA interface on a Power Mac G5 and Mac Pro (according to barefeats.com). This issue is limited to Seagate only, so I reckon it's just a blip in the firmware used by Seagate.
My opinion is that if you need 160GB, then you probably also need something that is faster and more reliable than a 2.5" drive.
I have owned two minis and got sick of the internal drive in each of them. So, I ran their OS's from external FW disks. It was a great improvement in terms of speed.
I have owned two minis and got sick of the internal drive in each of them. So, I ran their OS's from external FW disks. It was a great improvement in terms of speed.