320gb 7200rpm Hard Drive

Westyfield2 · 28 Jun 2008 at 14:11

I remember that lots of MacBook Pro users went and got the Hitachi 7K200 drive, but has anyone found reviews/know anything of a 320gb 7200rpm 2.5" drive?

From looking around on the 'net there's a fair amount of choice:

Western Digital Scorpio Black 320GB 7200RPM (WD3200BEKT)
Hitachi Travelstar 7K320
Fujitsu MHZ2 BJ 320GB
Seagate Momentus 7200.3 (ST9320421ASG)

And they all seem to be either starting to ship or shipping soon

Doug · 28 Jun 2008 at 14:14

I've never owned an Hitachi drive, and I'm not looking to start now.

The Fujitsu drive in my MBP is slow and a bit noisy, not really looking to take the chance on it.

The one Seagate drive I've had (which came with my PowerMac) has been great... not as quiet or fast as the Samsung and WD drives I've had, but I've no complaints.

The WD drives I've had (MyBook Pro & 750Gb SE16) have been great, fast and quiet.

There you have it, my completely subjective take on these manufacturers

I'd get the WD without a second thought, but the Seagate will have a look in if it's cheaper

Westyfield2 · 28 Jun 2008 at 14:16

Doug said:
I'm looking at the WD, just trying to justify it

Yea, name wise I prefer WD....... just wanting to find a review putting the 4 head-to-head.....

Doug · 28 Jun 2008 at 14:24

Westyfield2 said:
just wanting to find a review putting the 4 head-to-head.....

If you can find someone to pay for them, I'd happily put them through their paces

Westyfield2 · 28 Jun 2008 at 17:46

Found a review of the WD http://gizmodo.com/5019263/lightnin...tals-320gb-7200rpm-scorpio-black-laptop-drive, and the reviewer is using a MacBook Pro so we know the WD fits.....

dellison · 1 Jul 2008 at 17:06

These are shown as pre-order on Oc ( http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showp... 7200RPM SATA-II 16MB Cache - OEM (WD3200BEKT) ) - I wonder when they'll actually arrive?

Westyfield2 · 3 Jul 2008 at 20:58

dellison said:
These are shown as pre-order on Oc ( http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showp... 7200RPM SATA-II 16MB Cache - OEM (WD3200BEKT) ) - I wonder when they'll actually arrive?

1:26pm by Tom said:
Just arrived and available now we have the Western Digital Scorpio Black drives. Running at a blistering 7200RPM these are setting new speed records everywhere. Backed by a superb 5 year warranty there is no better drive to hold your data in your laptop. All pre-orders will be shipping today and there is stock available to cover any extra orders. Great value for money and a epic performer, be sure to get yours now from just £55.99 +VAT!

So the 320gb's in too @ £115.14.

So far of the four drives I've only found 2 reviews:

<Ignore the top half of this one, it's the users original Seagate 5400RPM 120GB>

& the Hitachi (but unfortunately it's in a USB2.0 enclosure so not a like-for-like test):

sososowhat on MacRumours said:
Results 31.41
System Info
Xbench Version 1.3
System Version 10.5.2 (9C7010)
Physical RAM 3072 MB
Model Macmini2,1

Drive Type Hitachi HTS723232L9A360

Disk Test 31.41

Sequential 33.15
Uncached Write 34.59 21.24 MB/sec [4K blocks]
Uncached Write 36.59 20.70 MB/sec [256K blocks]
Uncached Read 22.90 6.70 MB/sec [4K blocks]
Uncached Read 48.21 24.23 MB/sec [256K blocks]

Random 29.83
Uncached Write 10.46 1.11 MB/sec [4K blocks]
Uncached Write 67.20 21.51 MB/sec [256K blocks]
Uncached Read 85.03 0.60 MB/sec [4K blocks]
Uncached Read 84.17 15.62 MB/sec [256K blocks]

Slackworth · 3 Jul 2008 at 21:20

These new WD's are going to be far superior to the Seagate & Hitachi's.

Westyfield2 · 3 Jul 2008 at 22:20

Slackworth said:
These new WD's are going to be far superior to the Seagate & Hitachi's.

Sauce?

Also the WD's have 5yrs warranty vs the Hitachi's 3.....

Is the version OcUK are stocking (WD3200BEKT it says here) the one with or without the free-fall sensor? As I read somewhere online that it can interfere with the MacBook Pro's built in sensor.....

Slackworth · 3 Jul 2008 at 22:55

Yes please

These are not the free-fall sensor version. They use a different code currently not available to the UK.

MagicBoy · 5 Jul 2008 at 02:56

I'd steer clear of the WDs. They've only been making 2.5" drives for a couple of years and the reliability of the one's I've seen has been woeful.

I'd go with Hitachi, Seagate or Samsung.

Moredhel · 5 Jul 2008 at 03:21

I've always sworn by Seagates as I've not had one fail on me in nearly a decade (compared to Hitachi and Maxtor, I've had both of them fail on me). But I recently bought the 2TB Western Digital external and it's dead quiet and perfectly fast. I would probably go for the Western Digital out of that lot.

MagicBoy · 5 Jul 2008 at 11:11

Mobile drives are totally different. I'd have no hesitation recommending WD drives for desktop use, however 2.5" drives are new to them whereas Hitachi, Seagate etc have been making them for as long as my addled brain can recall.

Rambaud · 5 Jul 2008 at 12:02

My 160Gb Seagate is shorltly to go back under warranty.

Westyfield2 · 8 Jul 2008 at 17:33

Found a good review of them, in a MBP 2.6Ghz, 4G Ram, latest 10.5.4. Each test ran 3 times.

Code:

Hitachi 7k320 7200 rpm - 320gb.

Results	49.06	
	
	Drive Type		Hitachi HTS723232L9A360
	Disk Test	49.06	
		Sequential	95.61	
			Uncached Write	109.96	67.52 MB/sec [4K blocks]
			Uncached Write	105.82	59.87 MB/sec [256K blocks]
			Uncached Read	60.00	17.56 MB/sec [4K blocks]
			Uncached Read	150.94	75.86 MB/sec [256K blocks]
		Random	33.00	
			Uncached Write	10.98	1.16 MB/sec [4K blocks]
			Uncached Write	96.11	30.77 MB/sec [256K blocks]
			Uncached Read	86.69	0.61 MB/sec [4K blocks]
			Uncached Read	122.00	22.64 MB/sec [256K blocks]

Code:

Western Digital Scorpio Black 7200 rpm - 320gb.

Results	49.13	
	
	Drive Type		WDC WD3200BEKT-22F3T0
	Disk Test	49.13	
		Sequential	85.78	
			Uncached Write	123.17	75.62 MB/sec [4K blocks]
			Uncached Write	116.25	65.77 MB/sec [256K blocks]
			Uncached Read	44.49	13.02 MB/sec [4K blocks]
			Uncached Read	134.60	67.65 MB/sec [256K blocks]
		Random	34.42	
			Uncached Write	11.18	1.18 MB/sec [4K blocks]
			Uncached Write	126.24	40.41 MB/sec [256K blocks]
			Uncached Read	84.17	0.60 MB/sec [4K blocks]
			Uncached Read	144.11	26.74 MB/sec [256K blocks]

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=268772

FreeStream · 8 Jul 2008 at 18:51

Meh, X-Bench is dodgy IMO.

The 320gb 5400 won the tests...

I'll wait until storagereview.com and other places have them tested

RoleyBirkin · 5 Nov 2008 at 22:03

Westyfield2 said:
Is the version OcUK are stocking (WD3200BEKT it says here) the one with or without the free-fall sensor? As I read somewhere online that it can interfere with the MacBook Pro's built in sensor.....

Slackworth said:
These are not the free-fall sensor version. They use a different code currently not available to the UK.

Is this free fall sensor imperative? That MBP has one as std presumably?

Westyfield2 · 6 Nov 2008 at 09:19

RoleyBirkin said:
Is this free fall sensor imperative? That MBP has one as std presumably?

The MBP has its own, and apparently its better to use a HDD without one as they can interfere.

RoleyBirkin · 6 Nov 2008 at 09:33

So the laptop itself has the sensor, or its drive does? (I assume the latter)

Surely this is only necessary if you foresee you might drop your MBP!?

Westyfield2 · 6 Nov 2008 at 16:30

RoleyBirkin said:
So the laptop itself has the sensor, or its drive does? (I assume the latter)

Surely this is only necessary if you foresee you might drop your MBP!?

MacBook Pro's have a free-fall sensor that is used to 'park the heads' of the hard drive (nomatter what make/model the hard drive is) if it detects that the laptop is falling.

Some hard drives have their own sensor built into them (the one Slackworth mentioned) but it has been reported that the MBP sensor and the HDD sensor interfere with each other. So as a MBP has it's own sensor it is best to use a HDD without an integrated sensor.