New 13" Macbook Pro user! Need hard drive advice.

I just bought my first macbook ever. I got the 13.3" MBP with the 160gb 5400 rpm hard drive.

I upgraded the ram already from 2gb -> 4gb, and I was considering upgrading the hard drive. Size isn't too much of an issue for me because I keep most of my songs/movies/pictures on an external, but I was planning on upgrading it to something faster.

I was looking at the 320gb 7200rpm Scorpio Black, and was wondering if anyone has it installed in their unibody MBPs. I was worried about whether it would cause it to vibrate more/be noticeably louder/generate more heat.

I was also considering the seagate momentus equivalent. Any help and advice is appreciated! Thanks in advance guys :]

 

the 7200rpm surelu causes more vibration than the 5400rpm. Why dont you get a 500gb5400rpm from wd instead? it's quite popular and many people are buying it at the moment...

 

This is the exact model number of the 500gb HDD that came with my Mac , Hitachi HTS545050B9SA02 is the Apple part number , but it is an Hitachi 5K500.B drive, it runs cool and quiet and has given no problems.

I have heard that Western Digital HDD`s can have problems running in Macs , dont know if it was the SATA 1.5/3.0 problem we had , but is supposed to be fixed , this is just a warning.

 

Prior to my Samsung SSD, I had the 320GB Scorpio Black installed in my UMBP. No issues, although it was slightly louder and the palmrest was warmer, but it didn't have any performance issues and was a fast drive (for a HDD).

 

i would suggest you go witht he hitachi 500gb. Nbr did quite a good review on this. here it is: http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=376997

 

I second this motion. Go for the 500GB 5400RPM WD. Its fast or even faster than the 320 at 7200rpm. Also believe it or not, its also almost as fast as the 500gb 7200rpm Seagate.

 

How come the 500GB 5400rpm is faster than the 320gb 7200rpm? Does it have any known issues of increasing noise/heat? It also seems like the following 2 get equal support from replies so far:wd scorpio blue 500gb 5400rpm, hitachi travelstar 5k500.b 500gb 5400rpm; but any recommendations in one being better than the other? And would the 500gb 5400rpm be an update in speed compared to my current 160gb 5400rpm?

Also, if I were to buy a new hard drive, to I have to reinstall my Mac OS-X and all my programs again? I have some programs that are practice tests for an exam I'm studying for, and basically I had to install the trial first, get the ID number on the program I installed, send that in with payment, and it gets activated. Each time you install it it's a different ID number.

I wanted to get a new HDD, but if I have to reinstall all my programs I'd wait till after my exam. Thanks again!

P.S.

This is unrelated, but I've been an avid OneNote user for Windows, are there any programs similar to OneNote for mac? The notebook template in word is nice, but it's just not the same..

 

higher data density is the reason for the higher transfer rate on the 500gb 5400 opposed to the 320gb 7200 hdd.

 

i haven't used it.. but some people have said that the note software from http://www.circusponies.com/ is really good.

 

if you want to switch hdds without having to reinstall everything you have to put your new hdd in an enclosure hook it up to your laptop via USB and use a program called Carbon Copy Cloner.

What this does is that it mirrors your hdd exactly so you can just pop in your new drive.

 

Also note that some WD SCorpio Blue models 500gib 5400 rpm make a slight clicking/ticking noise every 10 seconds when the HD is idle, the head parking to conserve energy, which can get pretty annoying if you are used to the dead silent stock HD. This issue is actually quite common on the internet if you search wd scorpio blue mac ticking noise. I bought 2 of these and both of them had the ticking noise and returned them. It depends on which batch you get. some of them don't make the noise while others do. Although they did make the noise there was nothing faulty or damage about the drives, functioned as normal.

 

you could also just put in a new drive then do a OS install with a time machine restore....

 

I installed a WD 320Gb 7200rpm drive and the increased vibrations are noticeable. But the drive has performed really well and given a noticeable speed bump in some tasks.
But I would also agree with others that a good perpendicular hdd at 5400 rpms is going to be just as good these days, and thus that would be my recomendation too.
a


+1 for Timemachine used it to restore my mac after the drive swap, super easy and couldn't even tell once it was finished that anything was changed.