5400 or 7200 HD?

I'm a noob here on the discussion boards but a long time mac user. Anyways, I was wondering what you guys would prefer - 5400rpm or 7200rpm HD installed in a MBP?
I currently have the Hitachi 7k200 7200rpm installed and it's kind of driving me crazy with the noise. It's definitely fast but the slight noise is annoying.
I'm pondering the idea of swapping back the stock HD that came with the MBP (5400rpm Fujitsu 120GB) and using the Hitachi as the scratch disk in an external enclosure. I work with video, audio, and photoshop. Additionally, I am having battery problems after Leopard.
What are your opinions on this?
Thanks, Meng.

i went for the 7200rpm upgrade, but unfortunately i don't have anything to compare it with on this MBP, but i'm not disappointed.
as for noise, mine appears to have a Seagate (ST9160823AS), and i literally cannot hear it even when it's churning hard, unless i put my ear to the case, or it's in a dead-quiet room.
in fact, this quietness and particularly the lack of a HDD light (yeah, i come from the PC world) on the MBP has robbed me of a valuable learning tool for determining system activity levels

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Hard Drive Upgrade from 5400 to 7200 RPM

Well my logic board died and i have gotten that replaced and now i need to upgrade my hard drive from 5400 to 7200 rpm. I just dont know how to replace it. I have the memory upgraded so im good there just need help upgrading the drive
So how would i replace it?
Please help
thanks
and if there are any websites that could help me upgrade my HD

It is easy....
http://www.ifixit.com/Guide/MacBook-Core-2-Duo-Hard-Drive-Replacement/514/1

Where do I find my Hard Drive info ? i.e. (5400 or 7200)

I am looking in System Profiler and can't find any info about my HD.
Under ATA it says there is no ATA installed.
I have a macbook pro 17" 500gb but I need to know if it is 5400 or 7200.
Thanks

It's not on your Mac. Find the model number per my previous info then get the spec sheet from the drive manufacturer's web site. If you did not specially order the 7200 RPM drive then you have a 5400 RPM drive. You can open the drive compartment and see if the information is printed on the drive's data label.
As I said here and before if you have a stock model the drive is 5400 RPM.

Portable external raid - should I get 5400 or 7200 rpm?

Hi,
I'm in need of a portable external raid 1 for live data protection. I do illustration work in photoshop and I use bridge to access and view files and reference. I would like to write all my files and read all my files from an external raid 1 and I am wondering if I should get a 5400 or 7200 rpm setup.
My concern is read and write speeds.
My portable setup is a mbp 2.16 intel core duo. I'm thinking of getting the g raid mini 2.
Thanks in advance

Thanks for the response.
To clarify my question though -
1. I'm wondering if either will be fast enough to work off of - I'm planning on keeping the internal drive clean and all data would reside on the raid(so no incremental backups will be needed).
2. will the difference between 5400 and 7200 be worth the difference in price - ie. lag time or a noticeable speed difference.
Thanks

5400 or 7200 - check this out...

the age old question has some answers.
have a look at other world computing:
http://eshop.macsales.com/shop/apple/memory/MacbookPro_15_MemoryBenchmarks
clearly the 7200rpm drive is faster, with the stock 2 gigs of ram.
but, compare it with 4 gigs, and the 5400 and 7200 are very very close.
thought it was interesting enough to post, being that it is brought up so much.

R. Berardi wrote:
the age old question has some answers.
have a look at other world computing:
http://eshop.macsales.com/shop/apple/memory/MacbookPro_15_MemoryBenchmarks
clearly the 7200rpm drive is faster, with the stock 2 gigs of ram.
but, compare it with 4 gigs, and the 5400 and 7200 are very very close.
thought it was interesting enough to post, being that it is brought up so much.
Yeah, I refer to this link alot and esp. when I upgraded my RAM to 3GB.
I didn't go the route of the 7200 RPM drive since I've read that it would contribute to more heat and everyone knows these MacBook Pros are H-O-T as it is. I did get a larger drive but 5400 RPM.
I would also say that its debatable how much more performance one really gets out of the faster drive. Based on the results from the mentioned site, I didn't see difference worthwhile.

5400 or 7200 rpm?

Upgrading my hard drive and was wondering what everyone recommends for rpm. I've heard 7200 suck up battery but provide a lot better performance. Which do you prefer?

Find a 5400 and a 7200 drive that interest you then look at their respective specs. You will likely find that the 7200 does not use any more electrical current than the 5400 and therefore will not deplete your battery any quicker.
Far better to use actual numbers than the advice of others, who probably don't use the numbers either

5400 ROM & 7200 RPM HD's

I hope this is the right place to post this.
I have a 250GB 5400 RPM HD in my Macbook Pro. I want to replace it with the biggest HD I can find. I think I will get a 500GB or a 400GB @ 7200RPM. What I was wondering is if you guys think that the 7200RPM drive will run warmer than my 5400 drive? I need more space, please give me some suggestions?

The largest drive you can actually fit in your MBP is the Samsung 500 GB Spinpoint. You will also need to know how to disassemble the computer and you will need a few specialized tools. User replacement of the drive is not authorized or approved by Apple, so if you have any warranty remaining that warranty will be void with respect to any consequential damage caused by replacing the drive. To prevent that you would have to arrange for the work to be done by an authorized Apple technician or by your local Apple service center.
7200 RPM drives are not noticeably warmer than 5400 RPM drives in the same size class because they both use nearly the same amount of power and, thus, dissipate about the same amount of heat.

5400 versus 7200 rpm firewire disk: does it matter?

I'm in the market for an external firewire drive. The model I'm considering (LaCie Rugged Hard Disk) comes in 5400 rpm and 7200 rpm versions. I will be using my iMac G5's FireWire 400 connection. Given the transfer speed limitations of FireWire 400, will I see a difference between the 5400 rpm and the 7200 rpm models?
I will typically use Retrospect to backup my entire hard disk, and Synchronize Pro to synchronize folders between the external and internal disks.
Thanks.

Probably not with 400 transfer, however if you want to upgrade your computer later to an intel with 800 Firewire, you might be glad of the greater speed.

5400 vs 7200 option on a MacBook Pro

I'm was thinking of purchasing a 17" MBP from Amazon but realized that the MBP they sell comes with a 120 gig 5400 hard drive. On the Apple site I see that you have the option of getting a 100 gig 7200 HD instead. I plan to use an external FW800 drive with the MBP and was wondering if it would make that much of a difference if I went with the 5400 internal HD instead of the 7200. By getting it through Amazon I'd save some money, $150 rebate and no sales tax!
Thanks for your opinions.

The 5400 should be fine, especially since you will be following the recommended procedure and capturing footage to the FW drive, not the boot drive.
That being said, when in a pinch, I've captured to the 5400 boot drive on my laptop with no problems.
You may want to search here on the subject of SINGLE FIREWIRE BUS issues. If you have trouble capturing to your FW drive you might have to buy a FW card for the MPC to add a second FW bus, one for the drive and one for the capture device. Then again, it may work just fine with the one bus.
enjoy.
rh

Compaq CQ61-360sa Laptop Hard Drive spin speed? 5400 or 7200?

Compaq/HP websit states 7200 rpm
Comet website states 7200 rpm
Comet confirm 7200 rpm on this page: Comet Q&A page
but . . . . . the Compaq box the laptop comes in from Comet states 5400 rpm !
Who tells the truth?
is there some way of telling on the actual Laptop without taking the HD out?

I recommend the 7200 rpm drive. It is the standard recommendation for video and you will not regret spending that $100 in the long run. The 5400 rpm drive works but as you do more video and load up that drive you will find that its performance will not keep pace with your needs. And don't worry about heat or power issues with either drive.

5400 or 7200 HD for iMovie/Livetype Projects?

I'm planning on purchasing the new macbook. I've read numerous topics on users who are upgrading their hard drives to a 7200 instead of the stock 5400 by way of 3rd party vendors. I use iMovie consistently for projects as well as Livetype. Would I notice a huge improvement using the 7200 or would there be a minimal difference?
Thanks...Greg

My personal recommendation is to get an EXTERNAL firewire drive. (7200RPM, of course)
iMovie will probably bennefit from a higher RPM drive. Not sure exactly how MUCH of a different it will be.
The differences in drive speed are more significant if you have low ram. Max out the ram first, then upgrade the drive to 7200RPM. I saw a huge improvement in overall system responsiveness when I upgraded my iBook G4 and my MacMini G4 to 7200RPM drives.

Difference between 5400 and 7200 hard drive

Looking at buying a new MBP - can't decide on the 750 G 5400 HD or the 500G 7200 HD. I like the extra space for photos on the 5400 HD but will the 7200 be a snapper unit ? I can always use an extra drive for storage - but is the speed benefit noticeable ? I can't seem to find any recent reviews. They all seem a few years old. Plus - not sure whether the bigger drive will be just as snappy (more space) as the faster drive (possibly fulling up).
Advice anyone ?

terryfromnewcastle wrote:
I can't seem to find any recent reviews. They all seem a few years old. P
And probably to your surprise, they still spin at the same speeds. 5400rpm & 7200rpm.

Noticeable speed difference between 5400 and 7200?

My Mac dealer suggests two HD upgrades for the new Mini:
Either the 5400 rpm WD5000BEVT
or
HD intern Momentus 320 GB Sata 2.5" 7200 RPM 16MB
Anybody knows if the WD5000BEVT offers any speed speed advantages worth mentioning over the standard Mini disks?
With the HD intern Momentus 320 GB Sata 2.5" 7200 RPM 16MB, I'm not sure about the extra heat and consequent fan noise.
I do use FCP 6, but no other Studio applications.
Thanks,

The greater density of the platters on the 500GB drive will make it faster than a 320GB 5400rpm drive compared to a 320GB 7200rpm drive, though the latter will still be faster. I'd go with the 500GB drive (which I did end up doing with my MBP) due to greater capacity, lower noise, and it's still fast.

5400 vs 7200

Does a 5400 rpm internal drive work as well as a 7200?

For the kind of data rates that AppleTV needs, a 5400 rpm drive will be more than adequate provided your network streaming works well now - AppleTV officially can only play 5Mbps streams, and I'd imagine most modern 5400 drives would offer well over 10MB/s rates (being quite conservative).
Slower drives will also be slower if you needed to backup a large volume of data to a newer faster drive. Not such a chore with 100Gb of data but once you're nearing the TB levels the extra delay will add up to a few hours perhaps - but personally I feel this is the sort of thing you can do with the machine unattended when you go out/to work/overnight etc., as it will still take hours with a large volume of data regardless.
When I choose external drives my main criteria are usually a balance of:
1 - cost per GB - if it ticks the other boxes I see no need to pay more/GB
2 - is it big enough/fast enough for the job in question
3 - design/looks - some devices are butt ugly or take up too much room (is there a power switch if you don't want it on all the time?)
4 - brand - tend to go for WD, Seagate, Samsung drives (I avoid Maxtor and Hitachi/IBM - as I've previously had failures but that's anecdotal). I also like minimalist Freecom units with black Alu cases.
5 - avoid known lemons from reading user reviews - any drive might fail as they're mechanical, but occasionally some makes/models/batches are just more prone to it
If using more than 1 external drive design becomes important or everything looks a mess. The older upright Seagate (brown/amber light) devices I have look ugly but work well, but they could be a bit more stable - bought a new 1TB Segate the other day and cost cutting has really taken place and I wouldn't risk trying to have it stand upright as the stand is so flimsy. Case is thin and it's much noisier too. My current preference is the black WD MyBook devices which look smart and can be stood side by side, however my local PC World seems to be cycling away from WD over to Seagate again. (Many of these are 7200 rpm devices).
Bottom line, 5400 rpm will be fine for AppleTV, make sure you have enough capacity - you will need more eventually though.
The AppleTV hard drive is probably only a 4200 rpm speed btw.

5400 or 7200 drive for MBP 17''

Hallo,
I'm going to order a MBP 17'', but I'm still curious, if I should take the 120 GB 5400 rpm or the 100 GB 7200 rpm drive.
I guess 100 GB is plenty, so I won't miss the extra 20 GB, but are those 7200 drives louder ?
Are they really faster, so that you can 'feel' the difference ?
Which disk models are used in the 17'' MBP (Maybe some of those lucky guys with their new 17'' babys can check this..)
Thanks !!
regards
Marc

Please note how I said it will not increase performance for booting and normal operations.
I said:
If you work on audio or video where large blocks are captured or played back, the 7200rpm internal drive of the MacBook has a clear advantage over the stock 5400rpm internal drive. Doesn't make huge difference for normal booting/web/office work however.
You said:
That implies that it won't give you much advantage for booting and normal operations.
Same thing.
Also another article they did pitted the Momentus 7200K drive against others and they clearly conclude it's a good choice for an upgrade. The 7200.1 is the dxact drive I got from Apple as the upgrade, so it totally applies to this post.
http://www.barefeats.com/hard56.html
The conclusion was:
ANALYSIS
The Seagate Momentus 7200.1 takes notebook drive speed to a whole new level. It's not as fast as the fastest 2.5" [ed] 7200rpm drives but it's impressive nevertheless. And its quiet. It's a no brainer for a PowerBook internal drive replacement or as an external drive in a FireWire 800 enclosure.
WILL A 7200RPM NOTEBOOK DRIVE DRAIN MY BATTERY FASTER?
The short answer is, "Probably not."

Speed difference between 5400 and 7200

I just wanted to share that I replaced my Seagate 5400 640GB with a Seagate 7200 750GB today, and noticed a substantial speed increase. I mention this because I've seen a lot of questions it. Thanks. Normal programming will now resume.

The greater density of the platters on the 500GB drive will make it faster than a 320GB 5400rpm drive compared to a 320GB 7200rpm drive, though the latter will still be faster. I'd go with the 500GB drive (which I did end up doing with my MBP) due to greater capacity, lower noise, and it's still fast.

5400 or 7200 HD?

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