Hard drives for MacBook pro 15 inch mid 2009?

Csound1 wrote:

OGELTHORPE wrote:

Csound1, greetings; You have aroused my curiosity. As I understand your comment, data capacity trumps speed. Or put another way, there is a data capacity/speed ratio which results in a performance quotient.

I have never considered this. Unless you would be violating the National Security Act, I would be most appreciative of your source(s) for this information.

Best regards.

Ciao.

The key is how much data passes under the head in a given time period, this is affected by at least 2 things, density of data, and the speed with which it passes under the head, 7200 rpm drives are roughly 33% faster so 33% more data passes in any given time period. The Areal Density of a single platter 1tb drive is 100% greater than a 500G, easily overcoming the 33%speed increase of a 7200 rpm drive over a 5400 rpm drive. A 750G drive has 150% of the Areal density of a 500G, so it also would be faster regardless of the rotational speed increase from 5400 to 7200.

This is not the first time this has confused Mac users, either. Years ago Apple switched from 5400RPM to 4200RPM drives in the laptops. This angered many Mac users who thought RPM was the measure of speed. What they did not account for was the 4200RPM drives were the first generation of Perpendicular Recording which greatly increased the amount of data density so that more bits were passing under the head per revolution at 4200RPM than on the old drives at 5400RPM. Apple had actually upgraded the drive speed even though the RPM number had gone down. Perpendicular Recording is now old hat, but there is still this myth that RPM is a measure of true speed. But it is not, any more than RPM in a car tells you how many MPH it's going since it does not.

From this page, http://www.storagereview.com/western_digital_scorpio_blue_1tb_review_wd10jpvt

" Once again the numbers are almost dead even between the Samsung M8 and the WD10JPVT; both are well behind the top-performing Seagate Momentus 750GB 7200RPM."

I have both the 1tb WD (12.5mm) and Seagate Momentus 750gb, and I can tell you unequivocally the Seagate is faster.

medway wrote:

Ok so would the Samsung HN-M101MBB 1000GB 2.5in Spinpoint M8 SATA 5400RPM 8MB Notebook HDD - OEM or the Seagate Momentus XT ST750LX003 2.5" internal hard drive - 750 GB + 8 GB SSD memory run better?

You have to quantify 'better', the Samsung is definitely bigger. The Seagate is likely to have less latency under some circumstances (assuming the files you need are on the SSD and not on the rotating part of the drive), but sustained random data transfer will rapidly empty the SSD part and you will be back to the rotating platter, which is likely to be slightly slower than the Samsung.

The bottom line is that both of these are excellent drives, and they will both be out of date before much time has passed.

medway wrote:

Well in that case the Samsung is £99 and the seagate £157 so might as well save myself £58 and get the Samsung with 1tb?

That is what I would do.

I put in a 750GB (7200 rpm) drive in y MBP 4,1 15".

The model number is ST9750420AS.

I bought it from OWC at macsales.com. They will sell/provide the tools for self-install. If you are reasonably mechanically inclied you'll be able to do it yourself.

Wondering why 9.5mm and not 7mm on the height of the HD. I too am doing research on replacing my MBP mid-2009 HD and see that Newegg offers HDs in both heights.

Replacing the Hitachi HTS545050B9SA02 500GB 5400rpm. Wish I could afford an SSD but going to go with a 500GB 7200rpm. I have read some reviews that the Seagate Momentus at 7200rpm was too loud and generated a bit of vibration, causing those users to return the Momentus and put the original drive back in. Thoughts on that?

Tricia_S wrote:

Wondering why 9.5mm and not 7mm on the height of the HD. I too am doing research on replacing my MBP mid-2009 HD and see that Newegg offers HDs in both heights.

Replacing the Hitachi HTS545050B9SA02 500GB 5400rpm. Wish I could afford an SSD but going to go with a 500GB 7200rpm. I have read some reviews that the Seagate Momentus at 7200rpm was too loud and generated a bit of vibration, causing those users to return the Momentus and put the original drive back in. Thoughts on that?

This is an ancient thread, why not start your own and ask your own question in it?

The Seagate XT (750GB) is almost silent, the 500GB is the same, but the 500GB is a very old drive, I don't suggest that you buy it, get the 750 instead.