Seagate Momentus 7200.4 2.5" 320 GB vs 500 GB

Posted:
in Current Mac Hardware edited January 2014
I am considering to replace the original 5400 RPM 120 GB drive by a faster 7200 rpm drive.

Can anyone tell me if the 500 GB version of Seagate Momentus 7200.4 is faster than the 320 GB version?



TIA

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 5
    dougcdougc Posts: 29member
    For what its worth here are my XBench Disk Results that I just ran on my 2.53 unibody Macbook Pro with the 500 GB Momentus. Maybe you can find some of the 320 GB results somewhere for comparison:



    Results\t56.29\t

    \tSystem Info\t\t

    \t\tXbench Version\t\t1.3

    \t\tSystem Version\t\t10.5.7 (9J61)

    \t\tPhysical RAM\t\t4096 MB

    \t\tModel\t\tMacBookPro5,1

    \t\tDrive Type\t\tST9500420AS

    \tDisk Test\t56.29\t

    \t\tSequential\t115.96\t

    \t\t\tUncached Write\t138.03\t84.75 MB/sec [4K blocks]

    \t\t\tUncached Write\t140.73\t79.62 MB/sec [256K blocks]

    \t\t\tUncached Read\t71.19\t20.83 MB/sec [4K blocks]

    \t\t\tUncached Read\t164.02\t82.44 MB/sec [256K blocks]

    \t\tRandom\t37.16\t

    \t\t\tUncached Write\t12.07\t1.28 MB/sec [4K blocks]

    \t\t\tUncached Write\t166.46\t53.29 MB/sec [256K blocks]

    \t\t\tUncached Read\t83.68\t0.59 MB/sec [4K blocks]

    \t\t\tUncached Read\t145.96\t27.08 MB/sec [256K blocks]
  • Reply 2 of 5
    dfilerdfiler Posts: 3,420member
    Drive speed is amazingly dependent on percentage of space used on the drive. Believe it or not, a fast drive at 90% full will be slower than a slow drive at 50% full.



    So if you've got enough data to fill up the smaller drive but not the bigger, the bigger drive will be faster even if otherwise identical.
  • Reply 3 of 5
    sdw2001sdw2001 Posts: 18,015member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by dfiler View Post


    Drive speed is amazingly dependent on percentage of space used on the drive. Believe it or not, a fast drive at 90% full will be slower than a slow drive at 50% full.



    So if you've got enough data to fill up the smaller drive but not the bigger, the bigger drive will be faster even if otherwise identical.



    That's my understanding as well.
  • Reply 4 of 5
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by dougc View Post


    For what its worth here are my XBench Disk Results that I just ran on my 2.53 unibody Macbook Pro with the 500 GB Momentus. Maybe you can find some of the 320 GB results somewhere for comparison:



    Results\t56.29\t

    \tSystem Info\t\t

    \t\tXbench Version\t\t1.3

    \t\tSystem Version\t\t10.5.7 (9J61)

    \t\tPhysical RAM\t\t4096 MB

    \t\tModel\t\tMacBookPro5,1

    \t\tDrive Type\t\tST9500420AS

    \tDisk Test\t56.29\t

    \t\tSequential\t115.96\t

    \t\t\tUncached Write\t138.03\t84.75 MB/sec [4K blocks]

    \t\t\tUncached Write\t140.73\t79.62 MB/sec [256K blocks]

    \t\t\tUncached Read\t71.19\t20.83 MB/sec [4K blocks]

    \t\t\tUncached Read\t164.02\t82.44 MB/sec [256K blocks]

    \t\tRandom\t37.16\t

    \t\t\tUncached Write\t12.07\t1.28 MB/sec [4K blocks]

    \t\t\tUncached Write\t166.46\t53.29 MB/sec [256K blocks]

    \t\t\tUncached Read\t83.68\t0.59 MB/sec [4K blocks]

    \t\t\tUncached Read\t145.96\t27.08 MB/sec [256K blocks]



    Thanks for this post.

    But I doubt the drive will perform as well in my white macbook (2007) since it has only serial ATA 150
  • Reply 5 of 5
    nvidia2008nvidia2008 Posts: 9,262member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Mac Hammer Fan View Post


    Thanks for this post.

    But I doubt the drive will perform as well in my white macbook (2007) since it has only serial ATA 150



    I have used 7200rpm (WD Scorpio Black) in the 1st gen white Macbook. It makes a BIG difference over 5400rpm and you can hit close to those numbers because even though it is SATA 150 you're not quite to the point of saturating the SATA bus (as we know so far). Only if you are using SSD then you may be losing some of the best possible speed you can get.



    Get the 7200rpm drive, it makes a big difference, I won't use another laptop with anything less. Don't get the WD Scorpio unless you can return it if there are vibration issues. (Maybe it's just my luck with the disk I got).



    320GB or 500GB depends on your price range and how much space you are going to use. Enjoy and good luck.
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