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Best (biggest, cheapest, fastest) HDD for Macbook

S

Steven Jackson

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Dec 8, 2006
387
7
Lincoln, U.K.
Hi,

I am on the verge of buying a C2D MacBook. However, I want to upgrade the HDD to something much bigger than the standard. So, my questions are...

- What type of HDD actually works in a MacBook. What technical stuff should I be looking for on websites?

- What's the biggest capacity available in this type of HDD?

- How much difference does the RPM speed make. I don't do anything complicated on my computer, and I don't work with particularly big files, but I DO want it to be as "snappy" as possible. Will I be able to tell a difference when launching iApps, for example?

- I'm in the UK -- where's the best place to buy HDDs? Any particularly good deals for large/fast drives at the moment?

- Not sure whether anyone knows this yet, but can AppleTV access an external HDD attached to the new Airport Extreme. If so, this would reduce my laptop capacity requirements.

Thanks very much for any help you might be able to provide on this matter.

Cheers,

Steve.
 
Woodcrest64

Woodcrest64

macrumors 65816
Aug 14, 2006
1,310
526
RPM Speed

4200RPM is ideal in my opinion for individuals who just surf the net, word process or edit photos. Sizes range up to 300gb now but not available through apple or any other computer manufacturer as of yet.

5400RPM makes some difference in loading applications making it quicker than 4200 Rpm and can get up to 160gb in size.

7200rpm which is only available right now at 100gb is ideal for those video editing or dealing with large files that are continually accessed and written to the hard drive. It will also show significant improvement in boot time and loading files compared to the 4200rpm drives.

----------

I'm waiting for Apple to put flash drives into the MBP to cut boot time by 50% or more. Hopefully by then there are 200 or 250gb 5400rpm drives out. That would be the ideal combo for me where I edit DSLR raw files on a daily basis. Those SSD "solid state" drives are said to be used in notebooks this year sometime! :)
 
M

madmaxmedia

macrumors 68030
Dec 17, 2003
2,933
42
Los Angeles, CA
Newegg.com has good pricing in general.

I just bought a 120GB 5400 RPM drive for $95, plus around $6 for shipping.

They have 160GB HD's for not too much more, I just don't need that much space.
 
D

Dyaus

macrumors newbie
Feb 8, 2005
29
0
Faster hard drives tend to decrease battery life quicker than slower hard drives. If that's not a big deal I say go for a 7200 Hitachi or Seagate, I believe you can get a 120GB one from newegg.
 
Reel1

Reel1

macrumors member
Dec 31, 2006
35
0
Onatrio, Canada
Seagate sell a 100g 7200 sata HD. The drive is very fast and easy to install in the new MacBooks.

I installed the Seagate 2 weeks ago and purchased an enclosure for my removed 60g HD.

:cool:
 
B

butaro

macrumors regular
Nov 9, 2006
124
0
Canada
make sure you get the right "height" for 2.5'' drive too, some are 12.5mm(very few) and the macbook uses 9.5mm
 
I

itsme92

Guest
Get a Hitachi

Hi, I got a 160GB Hitachi drive off Newegg for my Macbook. It works great. One thing though, when you get the drive, you need to take the shell off the drive that came with your macbook using a star screw (for lack of a better way of putting it, it's not a philips) and attach it to your new drive. Then pop it in and you should be good to go.

The newegg link for the drive I got is here:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16822145113

I love that drive, it is great. It's big, fast, and quiet. I don't know what more you'd want in a laptop hard drive
 
Y

yod9999

macrumors newbie
Jan 6, 2007
21
0
i also plan to upgrade my hard drive, but i don't want to reinstall everything afterwards unless i have to. is there an easy way of copying the existing installation to the new disk?

cheers
 
Snide

Snide

macrumors 6502a
Apr 12, 2005
916
756
itsme92 said:
The newegg link for the drive I got is here:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16822145113

I love that drive, it is great. It's big, fast, and quiet. I don't know what more you'd want in a laptop hard drive
Click to expand...


I've been looking at 160 GB drives for a soon-to-arrive Macbook. The Hitachi above is
$30.00 less than the 160 GB Seagate listed at Newegg. However, the Seagate
has a 5 year warranty. Unfortunately, Newegg doesn't seem to list the warranty
info for the various drives. I seem to remember that Hitachi has a 3 year warranty.
If this is the case, I might opt for the Seagate ($30 more for 2 extra years).

If anyone has the info, I would like to know the warranties for the following 160 GB drives:

Hitachi
Samsung
Western Digital
Toshiba

-or other brands I might have overlooked.
 
M

madmaxmedia

macrumors 68030
Dec 17, 2003
2,933
42
Los Angeles, CA
Just an opinion, but I think any warranty beyond 3 years is basically moot anyways- by that point you'll be itching to upgrade to that 300GB notebook hard drive for $99.

Besides totally anecdotal reports, I've never read anything that suggested one company made significantly more reliable drives than anyone else. That would be more of a factor I think for me.

You might expect that a company that gives a longer warranty to believe more strongly in its products. But I think warranty time is more of an operational decision for a company.

Actually, I just found out that WD drives (the one I got) have only a 1-year warranty, but that warranty can be extended to 3 years for $15. It was cheaper to begin with, so I guess its giving the buyer the option-

Recently, WD sells many hard drives with a relatively short warranty of one year included in the retail price, but they offer the customer the option of purchasing a longer (two- or three-year) warranty on their web site. This policy allows the same physical product to serve two markets — the most price-sensitive buyers simply pay the list price, while buyers who are willing to pay extra for a longer warranty get what they want. (Wikipedia)
Click to expand...
 
Snide

Snide

macrumors 6502a
Apr 12, 2005
916
756
madmaxmedia said:
Just an opinion, but I think any warranty beyond 3 years is basically moot anyways- by that point you'll be itching to upgrade to that 300GB notebook hard drive for $99.
Click to expand...

LOL - I thought about that soon after posting; good point!

So I guess it really boils down to quietness. Right now I can easily hear my Pismo's
Hitachi 80 GB, 7500 RPM churning away (not so loud, but definitely noticeable),
while I have yet to hear even the faintest sound from a new Seagate Momentous
100 GB 5400 RPM (perp recording) that I'm temporarily using in a Dell laptop
(I know: the horror, the horror :eek: , but the 1 Ghz PIII (256 MB) runs circles
around the 400 Mhz Pismo (512 MB) although using Windows XP is torture after OS X).;)

So perhaps the Hitachi is "quiet" and the Seagate is "silent"?
Are the new Hitach's more quiet than previous models?

Ah, decisions, decisions. I'll use the soon-to-arrive Macbook's stock 80 GB
drive for a while as I contemplate...
 
M

madmaxmedia

macrumors 68030
Dec 17, 2003
2,933
42
Los Angeles, CA
I really can't hear the new Western Digital drive that I just put in (just tried while running copying a big file.) But maybe I have more ambient noise or whatever. The MacBook may be better sound-insulated too, so drives in general are going to be more quiet (you can hear for yourself when you get your MB anway-)

I think the 1-year warranty would be of concern to many, but it seems relatively straightforward to extend to 3 years. You'd have to factor in the extra $15 if you were, which then makes the price competitive but not significantly better than other drives (at Newegg).
 
phungy

phungy

macrumors 68020
Dec 5, 2006
2,398
10
FL/NY/TX
I currently have the Seagate 100GB 7200rpm. I don't know much of a difference because 1) I don't have much on the HD (80GB free) and 2) I use the MB mainly for word processing/internet.

I should have opted for the Hitachi 160GB for the extra storage...oh wells.
 
I

itsme92

Guest
Snide said:
LOL - I thought about that soon after posting; good point!

So I guess it really boils down to quietness. Right now I can easily hear my Pismo's
Hitachi 80 GB, 7500 RPM churning away (not so loud, but definitely noticeable),
while I have yet to hear even the faintest sound from a new Seagate Momentous
100 GB 5400 RPM (perp recording) that I'm temporarily using in a Dell laptop
(I know: the horror, the horror :eek: , but the 1 Ghz PIII (256 MB) runs circles
around the 400 Mhz Pismo (512 MB) although using Windows XP is torture after OS X).;)

So perhaps the Hitachi is "quiet" and the Seagate is "silent"?
Are the new Hitach's more quiet than previous models?

Ah, decisions, decisions. I'll use the soon-to-arrive Macbook's stock 80 GB
drive for a while as I contemplate...
Click to expand...



I dunno how quiet the Seagates are, but my Hitachi is silent. Like, I haven't ever heard a sound out of it since I put it in. Mabye the loud Hitachis are the older ones, I dunno
 
Snide

Snide

macrumors 6502a
Apr 12, 2005
916
756
madmaxmedia said:
The MacBook may be better sound-insulated too, so drives in general are going to be more quiet (you can hear for yourself when you get your MB anway-)
Click to expand...
I think you might be right. The Pismo seems to be much less dense than the Macbook,
which might have an effect on the sound.


itsme92 said:
I dunno how quiet the Seagates are, but my Hitachi is silent. Like, I haven't ever heard a sound out of it since I put it in. Mabye the loud Hitachis are the older ones, I dunno
Click to expand...

This is exactly what I was looking for - you have the 160 GB Hitachi in a
Macbook, and it is silent. I think that might settle it for me. $134.99 is
an awesome deal! I've bought many things from Newegg; they are great.
 
Snide

Snide

macrumors 6502a
Apr 12, 2005
916
756
2

2tallyAwesome

macrumors regular
Jan 16, 2007
194
53
Yeah that's a good question.

Do you need a SATA enclosure for the SATA drive to function as a backup system, or can you use the far less expensive IDE drive?

Sorry if this is a dumb question, I am ignorant when it comes to this stuff.
 
phungy

phungy

macrumors 68020
Dec 5, 2006
2,398
10
FL/NY/TX
2tallyAwesome said:
Yeah that's a good question.

Do you need a SATA enclosure for the SATA drive to function as a backup system, or can you use the far less expensive IDE drive?

Sorry if this is a dumb question, I am ignorant when it comes to this stuff.
Click to expand...

Must be SATA enclosure. I made the mistake of going for a cheap IDE enclosure and it's not compatible.
 
e12a

e12a

macrumors 68000
Oct 28, 2006
1,881
0
2tallyAwesome said:
Lame....well anyways the cheapest SATA I found was on Ebay.

http://cgi.ebay.com/USB-2-0-To-SATA...6QQihZ018QQcategoryZ41911QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

It's probably really cheap, but I would only be using it as a backup in case of a total system failure.
Click to expand...

cheap != good

cheap electronics can lead to data corruption. Read up on reviews and the like. Thats how i made my enclosure purchase. and judging from the pictures the build quality isnt great either. just look at how the case is put together! wow..just wow.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16817716015
i have the IDE version of the above. however it is 3.5"

This 2.5 enclosure got really good reviews.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16817392009
 
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