Hitachi GST Travelstar 7K500 HD20500 IDK/7K 500GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s 2.5″ Internal Notebook Hard Drive

Pros: I can’t recommend this hard drive enough! I had a 320 GB Hitachi 5400 rpm previously, and I really just needed more space, but I saw Newegg had this $30 off for Black Friday, so I decided to go ahead and get the faster 7200 rpm drive. I had heard bad things about Seagate, and my 320 GB had never let me down, so I figured the Hitachi 7200 rpm was a better buy then the Seagate. Boy, was I right! Unbelievably quiet.. I haven’t heard a SINGLE click from it in the couple weeks I’ve been using it, even when I was installing Windows 7 on it. Very fast too; consistent fast speeds made transferring my 50 GB iTunes library a 12 minute process, compared to 1.5 hour process on the 5400. It also stayed cool and didn’t drain my battery. BEST BUY EVER.

Cons: NONE. ZERO. Will write if I find any. Installation was almost too easy.

Overall Review: The 500 GB capacity is great, but what makes this awesome is the 7200 rpm speed. Everything just feels… faster.

Pros: I gained 25% speed over my old Seagate 320g 7200rpm. Fabulous price too!

Cons: NONE

Overall Review: To the person(s) that claimed this drive had no cache…..it’s time to drop your tech knowledge rating from “high understanding” to “low understanding!!”

Pros: Large Size, Fast. Cheap.

Cons: higher MA rating than my old 320GB WD 7200rpm drive.

rated at 5V 800MA vs. the WD at 5V 550MA… expect this one to drain my battery a little more.

Pros: This is a fast drive! I upgraded my MacBook Pro 3.1 from a 250GB 5400RPM drive to this and it made a BIG difference. Shaved about 5 seconds off my OSX boot and about 10 seconds off my Windows boot 😀 Good stuff.

For those of you who want to know the read/write of this drive:
Uncached Write:
– 107.77 MB/sec [4K blocks]
– 96.05 MB/sec [256K blocks]

Uncached Read:
– 18.10 MB/sec [4K blocks]
– 97.48 MB/sec [256K blocks]

Random Uncached Write:
– 1.19 MB/sec [4K blocks]
– 34.06 MB/sec [256K blocks]

Random Uncached Read:
– 0.58 MB/sec [4K blocks]
– 24.91 MB/sec [256K blocks]

Cons: None that I can think of… Other than the hassel I had to go through putting my Windows back… but that is not the drives fault, it is mine

Overall Review: Off topic:

Rule of thumb:

CLONING WINDOWS WHEN IN BOOTCAMP DOES NOT WORK! WILL NOT BOOT!

Pros: Well I own the Fat/Big/First relase of the PS3 with 60GB and had filled it up quite fast. I did not see many reviews on this product for upgrading PS3 on here so I was nervous if it would work as I am not Tech Savy. I was amazed at how easy it was to install and now I have 410GB so I’m very happy no more erasing game saves to download a demo.

Cons: N/A works great.

Pros: So far so good. Only a small bit quicker than my WD Scorpio Black 320GB 7200rpm, but quieter and much cooler. Was recognized instantly because my notebook is 3.0GB/S CAPABLE, unlike many MacBooks. (Disk can be configured to 1.5Gb/s though, for you Mac fans)

Cons: None Yet

Overall Review: To all the MacBook users out there that claimed this disk was DOA, do a little homework and realize that this disk comes pre-configured to 3.0Gb/s, which will not work in many MacBooks and Pros because they only support 1.5Gb/s SATA. TIP: Download the Hitachi Feature Tool (boot time program) in order to configure the disk to 1.5Gb/s. You can also disable the stupid power savings which kinda slows it down (because it idles to quickly).

Pros: Lots of storage, fast, quiet, and a great deal from Newegg. Runs at 102F/39C in 70F degree ambient in an MSI 17″ notebook according to the Speedfan software I installed.

Cons: None so far.

Overall Review: I tried to save a few (20) bucks by getting a “new” WD 320GB drive on a well-known auction site. After 10 days, the seller never sent it, and I had to file a claim (which will take weeks to fulfill). What a hassle. I got this one at Newegg in three days with no hassle.

Pros: A legitimate 3-yr warranty, 16MB cache, 7200 rpm, and 500 GB… not to mention whisper quiet performance on my laptop.

Cons: None.

Overall Review: Thanks to NewEgg’s great customer service and fast delivery, I am up an running 4 days after making the purchase. OUSTANDING!