MacBook Pro Hard Drive Upgrade/Seagate Momentus

I am needing to upgrade my MacBook Pro (1st Gen, Intel Core Duo) hard drive due to failure of the stock drive. I was wanting to get the Seagate Momentus 7200.4 but have been reading many stories about the G-Shock in the Seagate drive not being compatible with Apple's SMS. I have also read about a firmware update that has potentially solved this problem. Most of the stories I have read, however, are over a year or two old.
What is the final word on this issue, are they now compatible, or am I inevitably going to have to turn off SMS or buy a non G-Shock hard drive? I'd rather not disable SMS if I dont have to.

Thanks

If you're not stuck on getting a Seagate, I would recommend a WD Scorpio Blue drive. I too considered a Seagate, but all the compatibility question marks pushed me away. I got myself a Scorpio Blue and it works famously.

thanks for the input, ill def look into the WD drive because Im def not set on getting any particular brand. Looks like the Scorpio Blue's only come in 5400RPM, is that the case?

*bump*
does anyone else have any input?

Easy on the bumping! Not even 4hrs and you've bumped LOL

Western Digital 320GB 7200RPM Scorpio Black Laptop Drive

Just go to CCC and put in your machine specs in My OWC tab and have a look at what comes up.
I'd be going for Hitachi personally, just to throw a spanner in the works.

6string said:

Easy on the bumping! Not even 4hrs and you've bumped LOL

Western Digital 320GB 7200RPM Scorpio Black Laptop Drive

Just go to CCC and put in your machine specs in My OWC tab and have a look at what comes up.
I'd be going for Hitachi personally, just to throw a spanner in the works.

Click to expand...

Curious to know why you'd go for the Hitachi ? Weren't they the makers of the infamous "Death Star Drives" ? Hitachi Deskstar - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Do you have new data on the company which would contradict their previous track records ?

WD seems to make more reliable products, but if Hitachi offers a good warranty, and their drives are fast, quiet and are good on energy saving, then perhaps it might be worth a look. I personally don't trust Seagate (aka: maxtor) anymore.

Doug

I've had a good run with Hitachi.
The "DEATH STAR" I believe was a wake up call for them!
Of late, I've heard more about dramas with WD and Seagate... in saying that, my old WD external has been a trusty old faithful.
Basically, I'm just going from personal experience with Hitachi, and better raps from others using the 7200's now days.

6string said:

I've had a good run with Hitachi.
The "DEATH STAR" I believe was a wake up call for them!
Of late, I've heard more about dramas with WD and Seagate... in saying that, my old WD external has been a trusty old faithful.
Basically, I'm just going from personal experience with Hitachi, and better raps from others using the 7200's now days.

Click to expand...

So I take it that you've replaced an Laptop HD with a Hitachi one ? If so, can you comment on its performance ? I'm talking about speed obviously, but also how loud/quiet it is and have you noticed a hit or increase in battery life since using it ? Is it a 7200 RPM drive etc ?

Doug

after some research I have found that some Momentus models have the G-Shock sensor and some dont, the problem/confusion has come from conflicting information from NewEgg.com that states the model number claimed by Seagate to not contain the shock sensor infact do contain the shock sensor.
Newegg.com - Seagate Momentus 7200.4 ST9250410ASG 250GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache 2.5" SATA 3.0Gb/s Internal Notebook Hard Drive -Bare Drive
is the HD in question, and u notice the G-Shock icon in the top of the page, but this model number does not have the feature according to Seagate

To avoid confusion and possible shipping of the wrong HD, im going to go with a WD Scorpio Black without the shock sensor...

Doug b said:

So I take it that you've replaced an Laptop HD with a Hitachi one ? If so, can you comment on its performance ? I'm talking about speed obviously, but also how loud/quiet it is and have you noticed a hit or increase in battery life since using it ? Is it a 7200 RPM drive etc ?

Doug

Click to expand...

I have this trusty ol' 120GB 5200 and have had for a couple of years just purring along without a sound.
In my old quicksilver I had a Hitachi as well, and never had a problem.
I am yet to upgrade to a 7200 but am looking at this one as it has great specs, and from what I can tell wouldn't hinder the battery life noticeably.
It also has the 3yr warranty, and I've heard only good reviews on it.

I now have a Hitachi 7K500 and I'm quite pleased with it. I was turned off to Hitachi for quite some time due to my experience with failing drives at work, but this one seems to have very positive reviews and works well. It's at the top of all the benchmarks on Tom's Hardware.

just an update...i got my WD scorpio black today and installed it
i must say it is a great HD, its much quieter and obviously much quicker than the stock drive...
thanks to everyone for their input on this matter...cheers

Seagate makes one without the shock sensor, the model number is the same minus the G at the end. I have 2 of them, one now in firewire external and the other in my MBP. so far they run great.

Could you please check the motion sensor

Hello,
I replaced the original harddisk of my macbook pro 13" (mid 2009) with a Seagate Momentus 7200.4 500GB ST9500420AS hard drive. Since that the disk doesn´t get parked when a sudden motion occurs, although the motion sensor is still enabled and works (seismac). With the old disk I heard a "klick" when lifting the mbp to fast and the disk was "parked"

I browsed several forums and have the following information right now:

1. In some cases the drive works with no problems at all.

2. Some people had problems with the ST9500420AS-G model, cause this one has an internal motion sensor that is incompatible with the one from Apple. Those people recommend the ST9500420AS, I am using.

Is there any way to fix that problem? Should I use another drive?

@Corato: Is your sms still working?

Thanks for your help.
Jürgen

mjvdl said:

Hello,
I replaced the original harddisk of my macbook pro 13" (mid 2009) with a Seagate Momentus 7200.4 500GB ST9500420AS hard drive. Since that the disk doesn´t get parked when a sudden motion occurs, although the motion sensor is still enabled and works (seismac). With the old disk I heard a "klick" when lifting the mbp to fast and the disk was "parked"

I browsed several forums and have the following information right now:

1. In some cases the drive works with no problems at all.

2. Some people had problems with the ST9500420AS-G model, cause this one has an internal motion sensor that is incompatible with the one from Apple. Those people recommend the ST9500420AS, I am using.

Is there any way to fix that problem? Should I use another drive?

@Corato: Is your sms still working?

Thanks for your help.
Jürgen

Click to expand...

Just because you don't hear an audible click doesn't mean it's not working. Most drives do not emit an audible click when the heads are parked.

Hi,
thanks for your reply. The problem is, that the macbook freezes, when I move it fast and I have to restart. So i guess it is not parking the drive.

BR
Jürgen