07-01-2008, 02:53 PM

Is this possible?

I'd like to buy an external Western Digital My Passport hard drive like this one

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16822136227

and take the drive that is inside the enclosure and swap it with the drive that is currently in my macbook. Then I was thinking of doing a clean install of Leopard on the new drive once it's in my macbook.

Will I have any issues with this?

My other thought is that if I don't buy Leopard right away, is there a way to copy my install of Tiger 10.4 from my 80gig drive to this new 320 gig drive?

07-01-2008, 03:12 PM

the transfer is easily possible

but what mac did you want to put that drive in

07-01-2008, 03:18 PM

I have a 2.0GHz core2duo macbook with the 950 graphics chipset. 1Gb of ram.

07-01-2008, 04:06 PM

it will work. you can use superduper to make a clone of your currnet hard drive.

I did a similar upgrade recently. you will need a torx bit to remove your to remove the hd from your mb.

07-01-2008, 07:24 PM

ApplePi,

It probably will work, but the Passport external hard drive is in a sealed plastic enclosure. I have a 160GB Passport I use with SuperDuper as my external. Looks to me like you would have to destroy the enclosure to get the drive out of it... Not sure that would cause any problems with the drive itself, but I wouldn't think so. Just so you know about that aspect of it...

You could buy a bare 2.5" SATA hard drive. I bought this $130 320GB WD Scorpio and exchanged it with my original Mac HDD: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16822136197

But if you did it that way, you'd have to buy an enclosure for the original Mac drive. But the same if you had to destroy the Passport case, you probably would need to buy an enclosure for that anyhow... Newegg has many Bytecc enclosures for 2.5" SATA drives - some are USB powered like the Passport.

BTW, I bought my Torx at Sears for like $3-4...

Noel

02-07-2010, 04:35 PM

I tried a similar thing yesterday. I have a macbook pro 17'' Unibody from April 2009, but in theory I think you will have the same issue. You're probably way past this problem already but for other users who consider upgrading:

1. Compatibility
The new 1TB drive from WD does fit physically, but the connectors are not the same. I have been looking for connectors on the web after this disappointment and I'm still looking.

I would definitely buy a regular internal hard-drive not an external - I was just thrilled at seeing this at BestBuy yesterday, as it has been out of stock on Amazon etc.

2. Will the passport enclosure break? No
The enclosure for the 1TB WD is possible to open without destroying anything. It's easier than it seems: use a sharp knife (be careful to side-wise bend open the front panel. There are no screws and no glue. You MAY break it, but if you're careful it's no problem at all!

Hope this helps, and maybe someone can help me with the connectors........?

02-07-2010, 07:45 PM

Cheaper way is what I did and bought the western digital green drive , 7500 rpm 320 gb for $79 at bestbuy. Works great and so much better then the stock 5400 rpm drive.

Any 2.5" sata drive should work. May just have to reformat it but that's it.