[Nergol]

So I bought an OWC Data Doubler for my MacBook Pro, which already has an SSD as its main drive. I want to put a 1TB drive in the Data Doubler, and since it's not my main drive, a 5400 RPM drive is fine. It looks like my choices for that are the WD Caviar Blue or the Samsung SpinPoint - both of which are similarly priced, and both of which have pretty good reviews on Amazon.

So does anyone have any recommendations about which one is the better way to go?

[ibook_steve]

I don't have either, but I trust the reviews on Newegg more than those on Amazon. From those reviews, it seems to me that 1 TB 2.5" drives are not yet ready for primetime. I've started looking at the 750 GB drives. If anyone else does have a 1 TB drive, I'd be interested as well.

And what do you think of the Data Doubler? Worth it?

Steve

[Waragainstsleep]

I fitted a Samsung HM100UI to my MBP. Its 12.5mm so I had to install it in the main bay and move primary WD 640GB to the optical bay.

Its flaky though. I pulled it from an external drive where it was encrypted and had lost data but sadly it failed after only a couple of weeks.

[Nergol]

Originally Posted by ibook_steve 

I don't have either, but I trust the reviews on Newegg more than those on Amazon. From those reviews, it seems to me that 1 TB 2.5" drives are not yet ready for primetime. I've started looking at the 750 GB drives. If anyone else does have a 1 TB drive, I'd be interested as well.

Really? I mean, the Newegg reviews I saw seem to be pretty positive. Here's the one on the Samsung:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...scrollFullInfo

And the WD:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...scrollFullInfo

And what do you think of the Data Doubler? Worth it?

Steve

I haven't installed it, as I don't have a drive for it yet (the 320GB hard drive that came with my MBP got repurposed into a Foxconn nettop in my living room), but everyone I know who has it is happy with it.

[cgc]

I've been running a pair of 640GB Western Digital Blue drives with no issues for about 1.5 - 2 years.

[jmiddel]

I vote for Samsung. Contrary to cgc's experience the only 2 WDs I had crapped out pretty soon after I bought them. In fact Samsung and Toshiba are my go to brands. Stocked up on them before the Thailand disaster raised prices.

[P]

I have had problems with a 2006 Samsung Spinpoint that on occasion just decided to drop offline in the middle of an operation (this was a Windows box). Moving it to a different SATA controller fixed it for a few months, but then it got caught up in that same loop - at which point I had to open the box and move it back to the first controller again. I kept this up for years, never quite getting annoying enough to replace the drive. I've been wary of Samsung drives ever since.

I've had one WD drive die on me, but SMART warned me about it in time and their support generated an RMA almost before I asked for one.

[cgc]

I bet almost all mainstream brand name HDDs are going to be fine.

[jmiddel]

If you go to both Amazon and Newegg you'll find reviews, a lot of them, making them statistically relevant.

[euphras]

Brands i had in my `Books and external cases over the years:

-IBM Travelstar 40 GB: failed after three years in a foreseeable manner (clicking sound of death, was able to clone everything to an external case before final crash)
- Samsung Spinpoint 60 GB: failed catastrophically after four years, no chance to clone something
- Samsung Spinpoint HM060HC: still runs fine after seven years.
- Toshiba MK4021GAS: still runs fine after nine years
- Toshiba MK1017GAP: still runs fine after eleven years
- Fujitsu MHV2060AH 60 GB: still runs fine after seven years
- Western Digital 1200BEVE-00WZT0 120 GB: still runs fine after three years

My personal conclusion is: you can get a melon or an enduring, stable product from every major brand out there. It just depends on so many variables and one of them seems to be luck.

[ibook_steve]

It's sad that in 2012, hard disk technology has not advanced enough to make your purchase based on anything but "luck." Obviously, some type of non-moving storage (i.e. SSD) will eventually overtake the traditional spinning disk, but for now, I freak out with every new disk I buy that it can fail at any time.

Steve

[Nergol]

Originally Posted by jmiddel 

If you go to both Amazon and Newegg you'll find reviews, a lot of them, making them statistically relevant.

Some people I know say to throw out the five-star and one-star reviews and pay attention to what the middle has to say.