MacBook Hardrive Replacement

July 12, 2006 11:57 AM

Have you replaced the the hardrive in a MacBook?

Do you notice any increase in heat or noise? Any other probems? If it was a 7200-rpm drive, did you notice a performance bump? Any other experience to pass on?

(I have read the other questions on this, thanks.)

posted by timeistight to Computers & Internet (5 answers total)

I have, yes - upgraded my 60gb Fujitsu to a 7200 rpm 120gb Seagate, without problems. Well, except I initally installed it upside down. Watch out for that. Otherwise, no noise and no visible performance hit, although I'm not doing anything seek-intensive.
posted by symbebekos at 12:08 PM on July 12, 2006

500mhz powerbook G4 - upgraded from 18gb 5400rpm to 60gb 7200 rpm. Runs hotter with a small performance increase.
posted by omnidrew at 12:24 PM on July 12, 2006

You might be interested in the disk test results in this benchmark, if you haven't seen it before. The person doing the testing was forced to the conclusion, after a lot of work, that there was simply no boost from 7200rpm.
posted by advil at 1:24 PM on July 12, 2006

Response by poster: Yeah, I have seen that. That's why I specifically asked about the bump to 7200.

It's counterintuitive, but it certainly seems like 7200rpm drives in the MacBook are not worth the extra cost.
posted by timeistight at 1:49 PM on July 12, 2006

It turns out that the critical specification on computer performance overall in terms of making it feel snappy and responsive is a hard drive spec, but it's the seek speed, not the rotor rotation rate.

Rotor rotation rate is the limiting factor on transfer of data onto and off of the drive, but that's usually much shorter than the time it takes for the head to find the proper track. If your 7200 RPM drive has about the same seek speed as your prior 5400 RPM drive, you won't actually perceive any drastic change in performance.
posted by Steven C. Den Beste at 2:11 PM on July 12, 2006