7200rpm hard drive versus SSD

opinion guy

So I'm considering purchase of new macbook pro

I'm wondering how does the performance of the 7200rpm compare to the SSD option.

Of course SSD ideal option but they are stupidly expensive.

Anyone got experience of both ?

Cyrusmekon

I have both in Macbook, late 2008 (replaced cd drive with SSD).

There is no comparison TBH. Startup on SSD is silly fast (i get approx 18 secs from cold boot). There are plenty of comparison videos on youtube.

You could also check out macsales.com for reasonably priced SSd's, but this would require you to go the 7200 rpm from Apple.

Once you go SSD its hard to put up with regular HDD.

opinion guy

Cyrusmekon wrote: »

I have both in Macbook, late 2008 (replaced cd drive with SSD).

There is no comparison TBH. Startup on SSD is silly fast (i get approx 18 secs from cold boot). There are plenty of comparison videos on youtube.

You could also check out macsales.com for reasonably priced SSd's, but this would require you to go the 7200 rpm from Apple.

Once you go SSD its hard to put up with regular HDD.

Ok how do you manage that setup - ssd is in cd drive - primary drive is ssd then and hdd is for media storage etc ?

I have a ssd in my current one I could canabalise but its full so on its own not enough. (also it is partitioned to dual boot)

also i don't like wrecking the warranty as soon as i get it by ripping it apart.

hmmm what to do what to do

jester77

I replaced my hard drive with an SSD on a 2008 mbp 2 years ago. The vibration on the right wrist, although tiny, annoyed me. The SSD is super fast, fast boot up, instant on after sleep

opinion guy

jester77 wrote: »

I replaced my hard drive with an SSD on a 2008 mbp 2 years ago. The vibration on the right wrist, although tiny, annoyed me. The SSD is super fast, fast boot up, instant on after sleep

Read the thread - I have a similar setup.
What I want to know is how does the 7200rom drive compare to the SSD as I've never used a 7200rpm drive and can't afford to get a sizeable ssd in a new machine

Cyrusmekon

Hi opinion guy.

So i used the OWC data doubler. Link below.

http://eshop.macsales.com/item/Other%20World%20Computing/DDAMBS0GB/

I have my startup disk and applications on the SSD, then things like movies & music on the regular HDD. This works for me and the speed of the sad is just shamwow wow

In terms of warranty if its a new machine i wouldn't be sure. Although it is very easy to do.

opinion guy

Do you have an external case for the DVD drive or what ?

padraig_f

Desktop PC here, got a SSD and a 7200rpm drive in it, and there's not a huge difference.

When I benchmark them with HD Tune, I'm getting about 125 MB/s from the 7200rpm drive, and about 160 MB/s from the SSD (can jump to over 200, but average seems to be around the 160 mark).

Disks are:
SSD: OCZ Vertex 2 120 GB
7200rpm: Hitachi HDS72101 1TB

If there's significant savings, I'd get the 7200 rpm, and you have the option of upgrading later on. Last time I checked, Apple were charging ridiculous prices for their SSD option anyway, usually cheaper to get a 3rd-party one.

opinion guy

padraig_f wrote: »

If there's significant savings, I'd get the 7200 rpm, and you have the option of upgrading later on. Last time I checked, Apple were charging ridiculous prices for their SSD option anyway, usually cheaper to get a 3rd-party one.

Ah yeah but don't you know Apple doesn't support TRIM for third party models (at least snow leopard doesn't - not sure about lion - anyone ?)

Colonel Panic

TRIM still isn't supported in Lion for non Apple SSDs without a hack I consider a tad dodgy. I run a Crucial M4 without it enabled and wold put my drive through its paced with writes and haven't seen a performance drop when I bench it. If I ever do, I'll just nke and restore from Time Machine but it looks like Crucial's passive GC is decent.

Cyrusmekon

opinion guy wrote: »

Do you have an external case for the DVD drive or what ?

Yeah bought same place here

http://eshop.macsales.com/item/Other%20World%20Computing/VLSS9TOPTU2/

taylorconor95

opinion guy wrote: »

Do you have an external case for the DVD drive or what ?

I got a better one than that here: http://www.ebay.com/itm/Super-Slim-9-5mm-USB2-External-Optical-Drive-Enclosure-SuperDrive-alike-SATA-/190613592648?pt=UK_Collectables_HardDriveEnclosures_RL&hash=item2c61749a48#ht_1274wt_922

Its really great

opinion guy

taylorconor95 wrote: »

I got a better one than that here: http://www.ebay.com/itm/Super-Slim-9-5mm-USB2-External-Optical-Drive-Enclosure-SuperDrive-alike-SATA-/190613592648?pt=UK_Collectables_HardDriveEnclosures_RL&hash=item2c61749a48#ht_1274wt_922

Its really great

oooo.....pretty!