Help me with a Hard Drive upgrade on a macbook Pro (mid 2009)

I have a 500gb drive that i want to upgrade. I see lots of choices at OWC and wonder how to select a good reliable 750 gb or 1 TB internal hard drive. I dont do a lot of imovie video editing so i think 5400 would be ok but would like some guidance.
7200 vs 5400 and 750 vs 1TB, pros and cons. I would love to go to a 1 TB if it is reliable.
Also, OWC recommends restoring the drive prior to the swap out. Is that the best way to do it?
What manufacturer do you recommend?
any help would be appreciated
Thanks
Ross

You have received good advice from both conran and Network 23. I have 4 Seagate 750 GB 7200 RPM HDDs, one in my primary MBP and the others in enclosures for Time machine and redundant backup. I have a 500 GB 5400 RPM Hitachi in my older MBP which originally came in my primary MBP. And I have a 500 GB 7200 RPM Seagate and 3 Toshibas. All of them are STILL spinning. As mentioned by conran, that can always change.
There are HDD aficionados of certain brands of which I am not. If it works its good, if not its bad. This is an anecdotal observation on my part, but there seem to be more problems with Western Digital HDDs than others. (I may be accosted now by Western Digital fans)
There is a phenomenon that I came across the other day that I found most interesting. A HDD with higher disk density (more capacity) at 5400 RPM may outperform a HDD with less disk density (Less GB capacity) at 7200 RPM. In other words, disk speed alone is a determinant to HDD efficiency.
OWCs recommendation about restoring is a good one.
For what its worth, here is how I have swapped HDDs in the past with 100% success:
INSTALLING A NEW HDD IN A MBP
1. Make certain that you have backed up all of your important data.
2. You will need a HDD enclosure. One with a USB connection will do. A 9 pin Firewire is better.
3. Install your new drive in the enclosure and connect it to your MBP.
4. Open DISK UTILITY>ERASE. From the left hand column drag the new drive into the 'Name' field. Make sure that the format is 'Mac OS Extended (Journaled)'. Click on the 'Erase' button.
5. Click on the 'Restore' button (on top). Drag the old drive into the 'Source' field and the new drive into the 'Destination' field. Click on the 'Restore' button on the bottom right hand corner.
Depending upon the amount of data you are transferring, this may take a couple hours or more. A Firewire will speed up the transfer. This will result in both drives having identical information on them.
6. After the data transfer has completed, you may swap the drives. Start the MBP and you have finished the installation. The initial boot may take a bit longer than you are accustomed to, but that is normal.
7. When you are satisfied that the new hard drive if functioning properly, you can erase the old drive and use it for any needs that you may have.
Ciao.

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