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Lorinserbenz · Oct 30, 2003, 03:21 PM

I am thinking about getting the 7k60 7200 rpm drive for my Powerbook. I have read the comparisons on www.barefeats.com and feedback from users on this forum after the install. What I would like to hear is how the drive performs in everyday use. Meaning are the speed imporvements apparant only in disk intensive applications?

iDORK · Oct 30, 2003, 04:30 PM

There is a user in the Apple forums that had his stock 4200RPM drive in his 15" AL replaced with the Hitachi 7200RPM. He said the speeds are very noticeable.

bmhome1 · Oct 30, 2003, 06:12 PM

My Xbench drive test results doubled or even tripled in some compared to the 4200 drive my 7200 replaced. Anything that uses the drive (I have DiskSpy in menu bar) noticeable increase. That includes opening or copying files, VPC, Photoshop.

h00ligan · Oct 31, 2003, 12:45 AM

amen to that..

xbench as a whole also jumped great

stock i was getting about 89, with panther 96 with the new drive and panther 110.xx

i think 110 is pretty kickin for a mac. I don't really notice that there is any downside to it.. i'd do it again

+ the stocker makes a ncie backup in a firewire case.

vancenase · Oct 31, 2003, 01:15 AM

Originally posted by h00ligan:
I don't really notice that there is any downside to it.. i'd do it again + the stocker makes a ncie backup in a firewire case.

other than voiding a warranty?

baseten · Oct 31, 2003, 01:28 AM

how much louder is the 7k60?

the numbers look nice, but if its a big ol' buzzsaw I'll have to stick with my slow 60 in my albook.

bmhome1 · Oct 31, 2003, 01:56 AM

It's the QUIETEST drive I've ever owned. It's Hitachi's flagship drive, with the latest fluid bearings and new head design.

Past drives: 5400 48GB IBM, 4200 30GB Toshiba, 4200 20GB IBM, 4200 10GB Toshiba.

jewing80 · Oct 31, 2003, 04:45 AM

I've owned two. Performance is unbeatable if you really need the extra speed. I decided to stick with my stock 60 gig after upgrading to Panther because the speed boost associated with the OS upgrade was more than sufficient for my usage. That being said, anyone who uses their Powerbook for professional purposes (photo/video) should definitely consider this drive.

In case the question comes up, I exchanged the first drive due to the vibration under the left palm rest of my Ti. This may have been caused by improper installation on my part, however the problem was not present with the second drive.

As for noise, it is definitely louder than the stock 60 gig Toshiba my Ti came with. I don't really know how to describe the noise, more of a "woosh" sound like that of the system fan, only lower pitch. On the plus side the heads seem almost silent.

Battery life seems unaffected. I was able to get around 4:05 with the 7K60 and Jag, almost exactly what I had with the stock drive. Although power consumption seems on par, I believe the drive causes the system to run a bit hotter. I base this on the fact that the fans seemed to come on much more often with the 7K60 than with the stock drive. An example would be browsing the web via Airport. With the standard drive the fans will almost never come on unless I start streaming music or video. Conversely with the 7K60 the fans usually start up after 45 minutes or so of the same activities.

All in all I think this is a wonderful drive. prior to Panther I would have recommended it to absolutely everyone. Now that Panther has so drastically improved the performance of my machine (based upon my needs) I can no longer justify the cost. However if I was into a lot of gaming/editing/rendering or any other professional functions I would strongly recommend it.

jhunt5247 · Oct 31, 2003, 09:54 AM

Originally posted by vancenase:
other than voiding a warranty?

Changing the hard drive in your powerbook, does not void the warranty - If this is what you are trying to say.

Even the handbook provided by Apple, gives instructions on removing the hard drive. Now, I am refering to the Ti Book. I have no idea if this has changed with the intruduction of the Al case.

SEkker · Oct 31, 2003, 10:46 AM

And you can always have it installed by an Apple Certified Technician.

scott brown · Oct 31, 2003, 10:47 AM

it does void it on the aluminum ones...

crouchingtiger · Oct 31, 2003, 09:14 PM

What's the warranty on the drive itself if you buy it from NewEgg.com (apparently that is the OEM version)?
I can't seem to find the info on newegg's site itself...

bmhome1 · Nov 1, 2003, 12:04 AM

Hitachi warranty on their top end drives such as 7200 60GB 2.5" is 3 years (another reason to upgrade from new standard one year warranties).

Love Calm Quiet · Nov 5, 2003, 11:45 AM

Is this drive too good to be true? I find this 60GB 7200RPM Hitachi for only $232 at ZipZoomFly. Can this be right?

I don't see how the competition can be charging similar prices for 5400RPM and staying in business unless there's some catch. I'd LOVE to get one in my TiBook for my new Panther install.

And it's QUIET on top of it all? Nobody finds any draw-backs?

bmhome1 · Nov 5, 2003, 02:42 PM

Two weeks ago it was $244. Wait another two weeks and it will be $225. And get it 2nd day UPS. Zipzoomfly is my favorite hd source.

Daniel Bayer · Nov 5, 2003, 04:29 PM

Not only is it the quietest drive I have ever used, it is by far the fastest. I just opend 31 tiff files totalling 221 MB in in just 8 seconds.

I save tiff files 30 Mb and smaller almost instantly!!

nobitacu · Nov 5, 2003, 04:29 PM

Really nice upgrade with this drive. If you have the money, I say go for it.

Ming

schwaz80 · Nov 6, 2003, 11:27 AM

will the drive fit in a 12" PB?

HiRez · Nov 6, 2003, 08:36 PM

Originally posted by Love Calm Quiet:
Is this drive too good to be true? I find this 60GB 7200RPM Hitachi for only $232 at ZipZoomFly. Can this be right?

I don't see how the competition can be charging similar prices for 5400RPM and staying in business unless there's some catch. I'd LOVE to get one in my TiBook for my new Panther install.

And it's QUIET on top of it all? Nobody finds any draw-backs?

I got mine from ZipZoomFly and I have nothing but good things to say about it. ZipZoomFly did everything right and installation was easy (you will need the correct Torx driver though). It is slightly louder than the stock drive was (IBM Travelstar 40GN in my 800 MHz DVI TiBook), but not objectionably so. You can definitely hear the accessing clicks more as the drive is accessed but it's rather a "soft" sound, only annoying if you were trying to sleep in a dead-quiet environment. I think it does generate a bit more heat because the fan seems to come on somewhat more often now, even though the case doesn't actually feel any hotter (the drive sits directly below the trackpad in my PowerBook). It's actually the fan noise that bothers me more than the noise from the drive itself -- but anyway something to be aware of.

I haven't done benchmarks on it but it is very clearly faster. Just for one example, when I would click on the Bookmarks menu in Safari after launching it, it used to take almost 5 seconds for it to read the bookmarks, now it's like one second. Startup and application launching are faster also, as are installing from disk images and of course copying files. The best part is that now I can actually do realtime DV captures and outputs without dropping any frames, something that was a problem before. I left an 11 MB clean partition on the drive strictly for media files and it works great with After Effects and Final Cut Pro. If there were an 80 GB version available I would have gone with that but I guess you can't have everything.

Don't expect this drive to change your life, but it's a definite upgrade, well worth the cost IMO, especially if you deal with many and/or large files. In short, get it! Apple should be offering these as options on their store for new PowerBooks.