I've heard that OS X has some problems with SATA hard drives. I've currently got one 160gb Seagate IDE hard drive (came with the Sony Vaio) and a 20gb Seagate IDE hard drive (from a dead Compaq Presario.) The 20gb hdd just isn't cutting it for OS X anymore. I can use OS X for some pretty intense graphics, sound, and video editing, but I don't have the space to save huge projects.

So I think I might have found a good upgrade, but I need some advice:


That's a WD3200JB, from Western Digital. 8mb cache and 320gb of space for about $106 on NewEgg. I'm not extremely smart when it comes to computer hardware, but the connections at the bottom appear to be IDE, exactly like my two current hdds have.

My questions: Is there a better deal out there? Should I wait until 500gb hdds reach the $100-$120 mark? Any suggestions?

Thanks.

I think that is only with AMD systems. SATA works fine here. My only question is whether your motherboard supports SATA, otherwise you might want to see if anyone has an SATA PCI working in OSx86.

If you can support SATA, I would recommend that you go with a 250 GB SATA II drive. You might not use the extra SATA II speed now but you will in the future.

Something like the Hitachi T7K250 is a good deal for about $85:

http://www.pricegrabber.com/p__Hitachi_Des...hi+t7k250/skd=1

I think it's motherboards with the nForce chipset that don't work with SATA HDD's. But bofors is right, soon a SATA kext will be made (currently in development)...

Here's a good 250 GB SATA II (3.0 Gb/s) HDD for $79.99 after a $10 rebate: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?...N82E16822144701
It's also got a 16MB Cache

I decided to settle for an ATA hard drive. My dad bought a 200gb hd for our old family computer 4 months ago, but we wound up getting a new Gateway. The drive itself has a S.M.A.R.T. status failure now, but I'm getting an RMA.

It's not quite the capacity I wanted, but getting a new 200gb HDD for $7 (the cost of postage for the RMA) is definately a good deal in the end.

Thanks for all your suggestions though.