HDD for Macbook

Should I get an external HDD if I get a macbook with base, or spend the same money with a less HDD but internally on Macbook through apple? With an external, its faster RPM with WAY more space.

 

You need to consider the fact that even though an external HDD is going to have a faster RPM speed the data transfer rate is still going to be limited to what the USB 2.0 or Firewire bus can handle, so it will (in most cases) still be slower than an internal drive.
My 2 cents.

 

Or the 3rd option... Buy an internal 2.5" HDD and install it yourself. I don't think Apple frowns upon it too much, as they provide this handy DIY Guide (PDF) on their website.

 

But for the same price, you can get WAY more space on an external like the western digital my book 500GB. Well then my question is, how long would it take to transfer 5GB of movies from mac to the HDD?

Also, if its plugged in firewire or usb, couldn't I just use it has an actual HDD itself like an internal? Just like save and download stuff right on to the external HDD.

 

Yes, you could use it just like an internal drive by downloading and saving stuff directly to it, etc. If you're trying to figure how long something would take to transfer here are some numbers for you so you can do the math. Average sustained data transfer rate for a USB 2.0 7200 RPM external is around 20 MB/s. For an internal 5400 RPM internal drive it's closer to 40 MB/s, theroretically twice as fast. So I guess it all boils down to which is more important to you, cost or speed.

 

For all of you macbook, macbook pro or any other laptop users, what do you guys do? Buy the most interal HDD or just have basic one, and then buy a BIG EXTERNAL HDD? I thought it made more sense to keep the only important things in the internal drive and have movies and backup stuff on the external.

As you mentioned about the speed, how much in seconds and minutes would it make a difference of?

 

Ok, I just transferred 4.95GB of podcast to my external in a tad more than 3 minutes. FYI, I have a MBP, and the external is a Seagate 7200RPM 160GB in a Macally FireWire400/USB2.0 case. It is hooked up via FireWire. It has been a while, but as I recall, that is similar to the speeds I got transferring files between two drives inside my desktop.

 

I presume those two drives were either SATA or on separate IDE channels? Otherwise you'll get collisions on the IDE bus which will really slow the transfer down.