# best hard drive for MacBook



## csonni (Feb 8, 2001)

I've been wanting to upgrade to a larger hard drive for my MacBook. Can anyone advise on the better drives for the MacBook and what is the largest capacity drive that the MacBook can take?


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## benmossm (Mar 10, 2008)

This thread is a little old (information on the prices) but the drives should be relevant.


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## makuribu (Oct 26, 2005)

If you don't mind waiting for a rebate, NCIX.com has Hitachi Travelstars on sale. The best deal is for the 320Gig, but it seems to be back ordered.


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## Mac Fellow (Jul 5, 2001)

Canada Computers has the 320GB Travelstar priced at $89.99 (...after rebates) right now. I picked one up last week and replaced the 250GB WD Scorpio that I had upgraded my MacBook 'roadie' with last year. Taking loads of 25MB+ pictures these days fills my drives pretty quickly...

Canada Computers - Your Neighbourhood Computer Store and Service Centre - PC Systems and Hardware Components, Notebooks, Electronics, and more.


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## csonni (Feb 8, 2001)

Thanks, Mac Fellow. That might be the one. I'll check some reviews. Is it a bad idea to upgrade to a 7200 rpm drive? Only problem is that the 7200's don't seem to have the capacity that the 5400's have.


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## Mac Fellow (Jul 5, 2001)

csonni said:


> Thanks, Mac Fellow. That might be the one. I'll check some reviews. Is it a bad idea to upgrade to a 7200 rpm drive? Only problem is that the 7200's don't seem to have the capacity that the 5400's have.


The low $/GB ratio made my decision easy and I'm pleased with the Hitachi 320GB's 'real world' performance in the MacBook. Seagate has a 320GB @ 7200RPM (ST9320421AS), with better specs, at about twice the price. 

Seagate Technology - Momentus® 7200.3 Laptop Hard Drives


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## kb244 (Apr 23, 2002)

There's always that new Samsung 500GB drive that fits into a standard laptop bay


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## 8127972 (Sep 8, 2005)

The TravelStar is what I upgraded my MacBook Pro to (System Profiler reports that it is a Hitachi HTS542525K9SA00 which makes it this drive: Travelstar 5K250). 

Word on the street is that they consume less power than other drives and it performs well for me. It also works with the SMS feature of the MB/MBPs which was an important consideration. 

I considered going to a 7200 rpm drive, but I couldn't find a pressing reason to trade some battery life to get better performance.


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## csonni (Feb 8, 2001)

kb244- do you know where one might purchase one of those Samsungs? Looks like they'll fit the MacBook fine.


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## csonni (Feb 8, 2001)

I've been reading up on the Samsung 500 gig. Sounds like there are some noise issues. As nice as 500 gigs may be, the price is a bit steep.


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## kb244 (Apr 23, 2002)

csonni said:


> I've been reading up on the Samsung 500 gig. Sounds like there are some noise issues. As nice as 500 gigs may be, the price is a bit steep.


True, however the fact that Samsung made the first half a terabyte drive for notebooks* basically would have a higher price tag, but least that means we've already hit that milestone just gota wait for others to start producing it too.


*Well Hitachi had one, but they added an extra platter, sacrificing the physical size of the drive in order to get to 500GB, as a result the hitachi drives won't fit into most standard 9.5mm drive bays, thus why I consider samsung the first. 

Noise to me wouldn't be as big a deal, not sure how much noise exactly they're talking bout. But course I'm hearing impaired. The two main things I would be concerned about are speed and energy consumption, if you travel a bit or might use your macbook without the AC for a few hours at a time, then aiming towards something lower on the power consumption would obviously be more favorable than aiming for higher speed. 

Tell ya one thing though, I can certainly hear/feel the optical drive on a macbook. Far as where to get the samsung, not sure I seen they announced it and I seen the approximate price (more worthwhile getting a 320), but some days I actually kinda wish the macbook had an optional secondary drive bay.


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