The Battle of the 160GB PMR Drives... help me choose!

[MisterEd]

Okay so I'm about to purchase a 160GB PMR drive for my MacBook which is on it's way to me. However, I can't choose between Hitachi Travelstar 5k160 and the Seagate ST9160821A

If you compare the two, they are both very similar, except for a couple of things: The Seagate comes with a 5 year warranty, and the Hitachi seems to be slightly faster.
Does anyone have experience with these drives? I need to hurry up and order it before my MacBook arrives!

Thanks
Ed

 

[Deputy-Dawg]

Okay so I'm about to purchase a 160GB PMR drive for my MacBook which is on it's way to me. However, I can't choose between Hitachi Travelstar 5k160 and the Seagate ST9160821A

If you compare the two, they are both very similar, except for a couple of things: The Seagate comes with a 5 year warranty, and the Hitachi seems to be slightly faster.
Does anyone have experience with these drives? I need to hurry up and order it before my MacBook arrives!

Thanks
Ed

The Seagate ST9160821A is a PATA drive, I know I just bought one thinking it was a SATA drive to install in a MiniXpress enclosure - and can't return it. I think you need a SATA drive to install in the MacBook Pro. If that is the case then the Seagate drive you need is a ST9160821AS. Personally, assuming you can get the correct drive I would go with the Seagate as it does not only have a longer warranty but also has a somewhat better reputation than Hitachi. The speed differannces are small and unless you are doing something is incredibly disk intensive you will never know the differance. If you are doing something that disk intensive then are likely better drives out there.

 

[abrooks]

As far as I know both drives are available in PATA and SATA, but I may be wrong.

I have the 160GB Seagate in my PowerBook, it's a fantastic drive. Seagate all the way!

 

[10-Dee-Q]

As far as I know both drives are available in PATA and SATA, but I may be wrong.

I have the 160GB Seagate in my PowerBook, it's a fantastic drive. Seagate all the way!

i've read few reviews on theese and get the idea that the Hitachi is faster and have better performance, but the seagate is more silent and less power consumption.

so in the end i bought 2 seageate 5400.3 160GB 1 for my MBP and another one for my Fujitsu lappie

and seagate has better 5 years warranty while hitachi only give u 3 years

the Hitachi should be cheaper though.

 

[islandman]

I'd buy the Seagate for the warranty and its known reliability. The Seagate is available in PATA and SATA.

 

[RadarLove]

Are you really going to keep the pc for 5 years? I'd go for the reliability and performance of the Hitachi.

(a) If a drive has problems they tend to show up early in the lifecycle of the part.
(b) I can't find any power consumption data on Seagate's website for this product, so I don't know how anyone can say it's more efficient than the Hitachi.
(c) Save some $$ -- Hitachi is slightly less expensive than the Seagate
(d) The way HDD technology is progressing, more likely than not, we'll be replacing our drives with either hybrid or SSDs by the time either warrany expires.

I've had Hitachi/IBM drives on my last 7 Thinkpads + the 100GB 7200 drive in my MB, and never had any problems with them (although they are a little louder than the Seagate drives).