5400rpm vs. 7200rpm

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Hey everyone,

I'll keep this brief. Is there a big difference between 5400rpm HD and a 7200rpm HD in terms of noise. I no 7200 is faster but if it's a lot louder im considering buying the 5400.
 

bobtomay

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No there is not.

My WD 320 GB 7200 is virtually silent. It is quieter than the original 120 GB 5400 drive that was in the machine. In a quiet room at 4:30 in the morning, the fans spinning at 2,000 rpm are louder than anything I have heard from this drive.

I have seen similar reported in reference to the Seagate drives.

These are the only two brands I would recommend. The WD's are still 5 yr warranties while Seagate has now dropped theirs back to 3 yr.
 

chscag

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I recently swapped out my original 5400 RPM Hitachi drive with a WD Scorpio 7200 RPM model. No difference in noise or heat. The new drive is of course faster and has a larger cache.

Regards.
 
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I agree with the above. I upgraded a while ago and I've totally forgotten that I'm running a 7200RPM drive. The only time I notice it is when I'm using my friend's Macbook that still has a 5400RPM drive and programs load slower than they do on my Macbook, even though he has a newer unibody and I have a Blackbook.
 

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To reassure you further, I replaced my stock 120GB with a 320GB WD Scorpio Black and it was one of the best investments I have made for my MB. It is a tad louder but by no means anywhere close to loud enough that it bothers you. It also runs a tad warmer too but nowhere near any temperatures that would be cause for concern.
 
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I've been a lurker on this forum for a long time but thought I'd jump in on this topic. Just bought a new MBP 15" with dedicated graphics and stock 320gb hard drive. Went to Fry's and bought a Seagate 500gb 7,200rpm drive for $129.00 and a $20.00 external sata unit to clone the stock drive. Cloning process was simple and new 500/7200 drive works fawlessly. It loads in 20 seconds and accesses data noticeably faster. There is no noise or vibration. There is no loss in battery power. Hope this helps.:)
 
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Is there a sticky or usefull discussion thread about how to change your Macbook Harddrive?

I think that many would benefit with a description of how to clone a drive, and the steps involved.
 
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I don't know about a sticky. I found easy procedures by doing a search which pointed me to a two minute video on YouTube. Its a very easy procedure if you're cloning a drive to be used in the same unit as the original drive. You really can't clone a drive that is being used in a different unit as the drivers are different.
 

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Is there a sticky or usefull discussion thread about how to change your Macbook Harddrive?

I think that many would benefit with a description of how to clone a drive, and the steps involved.
There is probably a guide for changing your hard drive on the Apple website. There was for my MB.
 
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I recently installed a Seagate Momentus 320GB 7200 rpm drive in my late '08 MBP. Believe it or not, the thing seems to run slower and take longer to boot up than before with the OEM 320GB 5400rpm drive. Very odd. Go figure.
 
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That's the same Seagate I installed in a new June 09 MBP 15" and I'm getting great results. Can anyone explain this paradox?
 
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Got me harrya. I checked the jumper settings, just to make sure it wasn't set to 1.5GB. All good - no jumpers at all.
 
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Does replacing the harddrive void the warranty? I'd like to replace my 250gb 5400 with something larger and faster.
 
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Hey everyone,

I'll keep this brief. Is there a big difference between 5400rpm HD and a 7200rpm HD in terms of noise. I no 7200 is faster but if it's a lot louder im considering buying the 5400.


The 7200 will not be louder (of course that depends on the brand), but it will be hotter and consume more power. So in other words your battery will drain faster and possible your laptop will get a little hotter in that corner.

Otherwise if you can afford it, get the 7200.

Also for the folks that got 7200s and think they are slower. That is very possible. 7200 rpms doesn't mean the HD will be fast. There are 5400 rpm drives out there that perform better than some 7200 rpm drives because of the access speed. That is what counts. The faster the drive can access and move that head across, the faster it will be.
 
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i have the old mac book... and i dont think that it is worth giving up 50gb for the 7200 rpm
where u can get 250gb with 5400 rpm
 
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Also for the folks that got 7200s and think they are slower. That is very possible. 7200 rpms doesn't mean the HD will be fast. There are 5400 rpm drives out there that perform better than some 7200 rpm drives because of the access speed. That is what counts. The faster the drive can access and move that head across, the faster it will be.

It's gotta be something like that. After the initial chime sound, I can count to 45 slowly before I get to the Apple logo when booting. I then count about 20 spins of the dial before it loads the desktop. However, when the laptop is up and running everything seems fine. It shuts down quickly as well. One, two bounces tops to launch iTunes, etc... Perhaps my Seagate just takes longer to spin up to an acceptable "readable" speed.
 
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My MBP takes 25 seconds from the moment I press the power button until I can start using the computer. Thats a lot faster than with the stock 320/5400 drive that came with it. All other programs load faster as well. I think its well worth the difference as the drive only retails for $129.00.
 
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I got the 250gb HD at 7200 rpm because I didn't need all that extra space. You can only hear a low hum when you put your ear directly on the palm rest. I wouldn't worry about noise at all.
 
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Held down the Control + Command + P + R = Clear PRAM... Guess what. My boot times are MUCH better. About 25 seconds from power on to my desktop. Just saved myself buying a new HDD (again). What a relief. Very zippy now and the dock and menu bar practically explode onto the desktop when booting up. All is good again.

I'll mention that I tried Main Menu, Applejack and Disk Utility and though my times did reduce by about 5 seconds with safe mode Applejack - the PRAM reset cut it in half.

Sweet.
 

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