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    Help selecting Macbook Pro Hard Drive

    Discussion in 'Apple and Mac OS X' started by codeoverride, Jun 2, 2009.

  1. codeoverride

    codeoverride Notebook Evangelist

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    I have a 2.2GHz 15" Intel Core 2 Duo Macbook Pro with the factory 120GB hard drive. I want to upgrade the hard drive in the near future and have a couple questions:

    1. Is there a size limit? (memory)

    2. I hear that 7200RPM can be loud and/or cause vibration. Have any of you guys experienced this?

    3. Is it SATA or ATA? What's the difference?

    4. I noticed some are 16MB and some are 8MB. Does it really make a difference?

    6. What's the best place to buy online?

    5. These are some of the hard drives that I was looking at:
    http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/category/category_slc.asp?Recs=10&Nav=|c:1277|&Sort=1

    Thanks! :)
     
    codeoverride, Jun 2, 2009
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  2. MKang25

    MKang25 NBR Prisoner

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    Newegg usually offers very good prices on anything related to computer parts. Some of the hard drives that many people get is the WD Scorpio BLue 500GB
    http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136314
    That hard drive will fit in your MBP.
    Their is no size limit as long as the hard drive is a 2.5 Form factor SATA.
     
    MKang25, Jun 2, 2009
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  3. masterchef341

    masterchef341 The guy from The Notebook

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    ata is not an option

    you must get a 2.5" sata hdd.

    you can get an SSD or not, 1 rpm or 15k, 32GB or 1000 GB, whatever.

    just has to be 2.5", and sata.
     
    masterchef341, Jun 2, 2009
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  4. codeoverride

    codeoverride Notebook Evangelist

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    SSD would be awesome (that's the really fast solid state ones, right?) but I think that I'd have to wait a while to get one because of the current capacity limit and high price. I hear that they make everything a lot faster but I've read conflicting reports about them actually speeding up Macbook Pro's. Is there some kind of bottleneck?
     
    codeoverride, Jun 2, 2009
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  5. crbauhs

    crbauhs Notebook Geek

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    crbauhs, Jun 2, 2009
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  6. Luke1708

    Luke1708 Notebook Virtuoso NBR Reviewer

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    i heard that 7200rpm causes vibration. i've never used one, so i cannot comment.
     
    Luke1708, Jun 2, 2009
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  7. pingme

    pingme Notebook Consultant

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    pingme, Jun 2, 2009
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  8. Luke1708

    Luke1708 Notebook Virtuoso NBR Reviewer

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    i've seen a hitachi 5k500 for $75+shipping on ebay. that's quite nice.
     
    Luke1708, Jun 2, 2009
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  9. blazezaku

    blazezaku Notebook Guru

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    i'd recommend 500GB scorpio blue
     
    blazezaku, Jun 3, 2009
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  10. D3X

    D3X the robo know it all

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    Hitachi 5K500.B It's a reliable brand, much cooler and quieter drive, and performance is really close to 7200RPM drives.

    I also heard that the new 500GB Toshiba drive uses the least amount of power. However, reliability and performance is a question...
     
    D3X, Jun 3, 2009
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  11. D3X

    D3X the robo know it all

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    Not that I know of. Infact, my OS X boots up in about 7-8 secs, log in and have all my startup applications loaded.
     
    D3X, Jun 3, 2009
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  12. Luke1708

    Luke1708 Notebook Virtuoso NBR Reviewer

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    now i say that WOW!!!!!!! you are so luckY!!!! my stock drive boots in 30-40 seconds. SSD's ROCK!!
     
    Luke1708, Jun 3, 2009
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  13. D3X

    D3X the robo know it all

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    lol it's not luck, I researched and paid(a lot of money) for my SSD drive
     
    D3X, Jun 3, 2009
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  14. codeoverride

    codeoverride Notebook Evangelist

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    How much of a difference does the 7200RPM really make? I keep hearing that it causes vibration, heat, and depletes more battery life.

    The SSD drive is so tempting.. I still have 50GB free. Maybe I'll see if I can wait until the price drops a little more and snatch one of these drives.
     
    codeoverride, Jun 3, 2009
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  15. D3X

    D3X the robo know it all

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    It really depends on the drive. Some 7200RPMs don't have the same issues.
    Prior to getting the SSD I had a WD 320GB Scorpio Black, it was a relatively quiet drive, but the right palm rest area on my Unibody was noticeably warmer.
     
    D3X, Jun 3, 2009
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  16. moko

    moko Notebook Consultant

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    That's insane!! 7-8 seconds? my apple logo only comes out after 4-5 seconds..lol
     
    moko, Jun 3, 2009
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  17. Luke1708

    Luke1708 Notebook Virtuoso NBR Reviewer

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    same here :(
     
    Luke1708, Jun 3, 2009
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  18. ClearSkies

    ClearSkies Well no, I'm still here..

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    You've got to love those 0.1ms access times, compared to the 100-150x longer for spindle drives :) :)

    A number of the (less expensive) current MLC ssd drives can have serious issues with random write times, however, which make their overall performance less appealing.
     
    ClearSkies, Jun 3, 2009
    #18