My original plan was to get an external HDD for storing music, probably a ruggedized LaCie. I decided against that as an external drive is one more thing to lug around and have to plug in.
I've done some research, and it looks like the early 2008 MacBook can only support a 9.5mm high drive, not a 12.5mm one. That eliminates 1TB drives for this endeavor, and brings me to the 750GB class. I spent an hour reading over the reviews on the different models the 'Egg has for sale.
1. Toshiba HDD2K12. Cheap; has a 3 year warranty. 12.5mm tall. Not an option.
2. Hitachi 0J11563. 8MB cache; year warranty; cheap-ish; unknown quality. Hitachi used to be famous for sucking, I am unsure on their current products.
3. Seagate Momentus ST9750420AS. 7200RPM, 16MB cache, "OH SHIT, I'M FALLING!" technology. Sounds good, but apparently it runs hot and sucks powers, and according to at least one reviewer it does not have the free fall protection. Said reviewer might be a moron, as he also says it lacks encryption (which is not an advertised feature.)
4. WD Scorpio Blue WD7500BPVT. Same price as above, but 5400RPM, 8MB cache. Apparently this model does not play nice with newer Macs. It has a troubling tendency to spin down almost immediately, which wreaks havoc with system performance. Pass.
5. WD Scorpio Black WD7500BPKT. Apparently the replacement model for the above. $20 more expensive. 7200RPM, 16MB cache. Sucks power and produces heat, like most 7200 drives. Has overly enthusiastic power management features like the above drive, which can hinder performance. Also, it uses 4K sector size. I have no idea if that presents a problem with Macs or not.
6. WD Scorpio Blue WD7500KPV. 5200RPM(WTF?); 8MB cache. At $160, twice as expensive as the cheaper drives. No reviews. Expensive and lacking in info.
#1 and #6 are out. #4 does not sound good. #2 is unlikely. I need to do a bit more research on running 7200 drives in a MacBook before I choose #3 or #5. I have not had much luck gathering info on the subject. Anyone on here done that?
My original plan was to get an external HDD for storing music, probably a ruggedized LaCie. I decided against that as an external drive is one more thing to lug around and have to plug in. I've done some research, and it looks like the early 2008 MacBook can only support a 9.5mm high drive, not a 12.5mm one. That eliminates 1TB drives for this endeavor, and brings me to the 750GB class. I spent an hour reading over the reviews on the different models the 'Egg has for sale. 1. Toshiba HDD2K12. Cheap; has a 3 year warranty. 12.5mm tall. Not an option. 2. Hitachi 0J11563. 8MB cache; year warranty; cheap-ish; unknown quality. Hitachi used to be famous for sucking, I am unsure on their current products. 3. Seagate Momentus ST9750420AS. 7200RPM, 16MB cache, "OH SHIT, I'M FALLING!" technology. Sounds good, but apparently it runs hot and sucks powers, and according to at least one reviewer it does not have the free fall protection. Said reviewer might be a moron, as he also says it lacks encryption (which is not an advertised feature.) 4. WD Scorpio Blue WD7500BPVT. Same price as above, but 5400RPM, 8MB cache. Apparently this model does not play nice with newer Macs. It has a troubling tendency to spin down almost immediately, which wreaks havoc with system performance. Pass. 5. WD Scorpio Black WD7500BPKT. Apparently the replacement model for the above. $20 more expensive. 7200RPM, 16MB cache. Sucks power and produces heat, like most 7200 drives. Has overly enthusiastic power management features like the above drive, which can hinder performance. Also, it uses 4K sector size. I have no idea if that presents a problem with Macs or not. 6. WD Scorpio Blue WD7500KPV. 5200RPM(WTF?); 8MB cache. At $160, twice as expensive as the cheaper drives. No reviews. Expensive and lacking in info. #1 and #6 are out. #4 does not sound good. #2 is unlikely. I need to do a bit more research on running 7200 drives in a MacBook before I choose #3 or #5. I have not had much luck gathering info on the subject. Anyone on here done that?