11-29-2011, 10:19 AM

Hi everyone,

So I have a mid 2010 macbook pro 13 and just after a year the hard drive failed. I took it to the apple store and the genius guy said it's x amount to put a 320 gig back in or you can buy a 500 gig for half the cost if you install it yourself.
That part I feel comfy with... but my knowledge with hard drives is another thing.
He said anything would do as there isn't a 'mac' thing about most of them out there.

What can you recommend for someone who uses photoshop a tonne and is just about to enter the rhelm of editing? I'm after speed, space & reliability!!!

Solid state is the way to go yeah?
I don't really want anything to reduce my battery life or cause overheating (just a couple of things I've read quickly but don't really understand the tech talk behind it, yeah I'm a newbie)

What brand/s do you guys recommend?

11-29-2011, 10:54 AM

Originally Posted by Bryceworld

Hi everyone,

So I have a mid 2010 macbook pro 13 and just after a year the hard drive failed. I took it to the apple store and the genius guy said it's x amount to put a 320 gig back in or you can buy a 500 gig for half the cost if you install it yourself.
That part I feel comfy with... but my knowledge with hard drives is another thing.
He said anything would do as there isn't a 'mac' thing about most of them out there.

What can you recommend for someone who uses photoshop a tonne and is just about to enter the rhelm of editing? I'm after speed, space & reliability!!!

Solid state is the way to go yeah?
I don't really want anything to reduce my battery life or cause overheating (just a couple of things I've read quickly but don't really understand the tech talk behind it, yeah I'm a newbie)

What brand/s do you guys recommend?

have a look at this website, it will probably advise you accordingly..
What kind of External hard drive is best for me? Please read…?

J

11-30-2011, 05:52 AM

Thanks mate, that link is good but aren't I after an internal one???

11-30-2011, 06:26 AM

Hi. I would recommend OWC for an internal hard drive, for three reasons: first, they make quality drives; second, they offer very clear videos instructing newbies on how to install hard drives on their machines. Third, they also offer good tech support, should you encounter any issues.

Your Genius guy was right when he said you would save considerable money by buying and installing the HD yourself. As far as formatting a drive for Mac OS (as opposed to Windows), some hard drives come pre-formatted (it's easy to find out), but if you need to do that yourself, it takes about five clicks of the mouse.

If you decide not to go with OWC, there are many other good options for drives. Seagate, WD, Iomega, and Crucial are just some.

You mention using Photoshop. That means your computer will be doing some intensive work, and speed is an issue here. Your hard drive makes only a small difference. Some are 5400 RPM (the speed the actual disk spins) vs. 7200; the faster spin means a slightly (but often noticeable) performance. But much more important is the amount of RAM your MacBook Pro has. A good amount of RAM allows your Mac to run apps quickly, and allows you to run several apps simultaneously with less slow-down. If your computer has only 4G of RAM, you might consider upgrading to 8G. Again, you can install it yourself -- it's not that hard.

You also mention solid state drives. Yes, you are right that they are faster and more reliable, all things equal, than conventional hard drives. They are also more expensive and have less capacity (you can buy a SSD with decent capacity but it will be very expensive). Photoshop files usually take a lot of space. My recommendation would be to buy a regular 1TB or 2TB external hard drive and store your photo files there. Perhaps consider getting two external drives, or a RAID drive system, if you decide not to keep all your photo files on your actual Mac.

Hope this helps. Good luck!

11-30-2011, 07:09 AM

Originally Posted by Bryceworld

Thanks mate, that link is good but aren't I after an internal one???

sorry bud but you weren't really that specific. never mind i will stand down.

J

11-30-2011, 08:00 AM

Originally Posted by j0nb0y32

sorry bud but you weren't really that specific. ...

J

Originally Posted by Bryceworld

Hi everyone,

So I have a mid 2010 macbook pro 13 and just after a year the hard drive failed. ...

That's pretty clear... he needs to replace the internal drive in his MBP.

12-06-2011, 12:48 PM

Easy up

So after 2 brand new hard drives failed to work in there it ended up being a cord from the board to the drive, very rare I'm told. It ended up failing and screwing the HD.
I got a HD posted from amazon - with no insulation/packaging whatsoever!!! (meaning just the hd in the static free bag, in a cardboard envelope - it would have looked just like a dvd)
But it ended up working so I kept it, as it was faster than the 2nd one I bought and had a bigger cache also.
Cheers for the help guys