Upgrading my Macbook's HD - how big can I go?
Hey guys,
So my old Macbook is looking a little jammed up and long in the tooth, so I'm considering picking up a 2.5" SATA laptop HD to expand it a bit. I have a few questions:
1. How big can I go? I'm looking at a 500 GB HD from newegg.
2. 5400 RPM or 7200 RPM? I've heard that 7200 RPM can eat up more battery power faster, and I'd like to avoid that. Is the performance boost worth it?
Thanks!
So my old Macbook is looking a little jammed up and long in the tooth, so I'm considering picking up a 2.5" SATA laptop HD to expand it a bit. I have a few questions:
1. How big can I go? I'm looking at a 500 GB HD from newegg.
2. 5400 RPM or 7200 RPM? I've heard that 7200 RPM can eat up more battery power faster, and I'd like to avoid that. Is the performance boost worth it?
Thanks!
Comments
Hey guys,
So my old Macbook is looking a little jammed up and long in the tooth, so I'm considering picking up a 2.5" SATA laptop HD to expand it a bit. I have a few questions:
1. How big can I go? I'm looking at a 500 GB HD from newegg.
2. 5400 RPM or 7200 RPM? I've heard that 7200 RPM can eat up more battery power faster, and I'd like to avoid that. Is the performance boost worth it?
Thanks!
Check out Accelerate Your Mac drive/Mac compatibility database
http://www.xlr8yourmac.com/SCSI.html
If you use your MB on battery most of the time, then 5,400 RPM, else 7,200 will give you faster performance. Also maxing out the RAM is a good idea too for best performance, else it caches memory to the slower hard drive. If you can handle the decreased battery life, do go with the performance, it will make your machine last years longer. Also pickup another battery/charger if yours is removable and take steps to take care of it.
Keeping any drive below 50% filled will give best drive performance, once you go over 50% and the closer you get to 100% the slower the Mac (or any computer really) gets.
I would do a few other things, I would support OtherWorld Computing (no comp or connection) because they cater to Mac folks with hardware better, have instructional videos and such so your sure to get hardware that works with your machine.
Cheaper drives are not always better, I buy the best Hitachi drives because my data is worth a heck of a lot more and accessing my MBPś drive is surgery. I´ve been quoted $600 to replace my drive and then that´s with a crappy Seagate drive that Apple uses.
You can buy a external device/case that will allow you to power and ¨hold option boot¨ your old internal drive for access. I would Disk Utility Erase with Zero any new blank drive, as this maps off bad sectors ahead of time and greatly improves reliability.
Using the free Carbon Copy Cloner while ¨hold option booted¨ from the external drive will allow you to clone your old OS X drive (no Filevault enabled) directly onto the new drive. Repair permissions on both afterwards and always boot from a clone to check it out good before erasing the original.
If you have bootcamp and Windows installed follow these instructions
http://theappleblog.com/2010/01/12/h...-to-a-new-mac/
Always back up your data regardless to a third neutral write protected medium like DVDs, CD´s etc and label for safe keeping. Viruses and malware can´t delete write protected data.
Dan
Check, but chances are a 1TB would fit.. if there is 12.5mm of vertical clearance inside the HDD bay, it should definitely fit
Dan
Old MacBook... NO.
The 12.5mm drives only work in the latest and next latest (Late 2009 and current model) MacBook Pros as well as the last gen unibody 17" MacBook Pros.
None of the MacBooks ever supported 12.5mm.
So it looks like 640MB is his limit right now.
Old MacBook... NO.
The 12.5mm drives only work in the latest and next latest (Late 2009 and current model) MacBook Pros as well as the last gen unibody 17" MacBook Pros.
None of the MacBooks ever supported 12.5mm.
So it looks like 640MB is his limit right now.
Good catch... i was a bit too sleepy...
I had somehow assumed it was an MBP...
But 640MB?
It feels like we are back in '95!
Dan