What new HDD for my MacBook?

I'm using my MacBook for music production, and need at least a 250 GB drive (I boot in both OSX and Windows XP Pro). Beyond that, speed is my primary concern, with energy consumption being a close second. Noise and heat are of course important too, but to a lesser degree.

I've been considering one of the new Hitachi Travelstar 7200 rpm/320 GB drives. But from reading a few threads here, it seems some 5400 rpm are still very competitive.

What's your advice - any particular offers right now that you could recommend? I should add that I'm in Europe.

Thanks a lot in advance.

 

Look at the 250Gb Hitachi 7K320 or the 320gb 7K320, the seagate 320gb 7200.3 series are the fastest 7200rpm laptop drives at the moment, so they will probably be the best option.

The 5400rpm drives were near identical in speed to the second generation 7200rpm drives, but the third generation 7200rpm drives (the ones offered in up to 320gb) are much faster.
If you still want a 5400rpm, I would suggest the wd 320gb 5400rpm drive or the Hitachi 5k320 as both are really good 5400rpm drives.

K-TRON

 

Go for the Western Digital Scorpio 320GB/7200RPM. In most situation it's faster than the Seagate 7200.3. According to these benchmarks

If you want to save some money pickup the WD 320GB/5400rpm.

 

Thanks for your help. You're saying the Hitachi is in fact the slower of the three mentioned?

Just how much faster is this third generation of 7200 rpm drives, and how are they irt. the other criteria - battery, heat and noise?

 

Based on the limited benchmark information that is available on the 7K320 it seems to be slower than WD 3200BEKT. I've seen HDTune results and Xbench. However these are synthetic benchmarks and are not a guarantee that the 7K320 is in fact slower than the WD.

Between the Seagate 7200.3 and WD 3200BEKT there are detailed benchmarks available: http://techreport.com/articles.x/15079/1

Based on some user reports the Hitachi seems to be more noisy and make more vibrations that the Western Digital.

 

Okay, thanks a lot. I've checked the price on these three manufacturers' drives here in Europe, and they are about the same. How is their reputation for reliability? If cost is the least concern, and you wanted something fast but also to last as long as possible, which would you get?

 

I'd go for Western Digital. I've once had a WD desktop drive fail on me, but WD replaced it quickly without asking a receipt.

But I've heard many people argue that Hitachi has the best reputation for reliablity.

Are you aware of the OCZ Core SSD prices? They outperform any HDD and are becoming very affordable.

 

I need the size (sample libraries, dual OS).

 

I don't understand what you mean.

 

I use it for music production, so I need a lot of space for sample libraries and running both Windows and OSX.

 

If you need the size and speed and need the drive now, why not the WD drive mentioned above - 7200rpm 320GB? If you need even more space and are willing to pay quite a bit there are also 500GB drives.

 

Oh right I get it, you were explaining why SSD is no option.

In that case WD3200BEKT seems your best option.

 

Thanks a lot for your help. It does seem like the WD3200BEKT would be the rational choice. However, I've found this: http://www.notebookreview.com/default.asp?newsid=4472. I can't help wanting it.

 

Lol were you looking for an external harddrive?

Based on your first post I assumed you needed an internal drive. If you need an external it's a completely different story. You don't need a 7200rpm in that case.

 

No, I had decided on upgrading the internal, I just had to get that eGo thing as well.