New Hard Drive

chjata87 · Dec 1, 2008

Hello, I have a question regarding switching out an old Macbook hard drive for a new one.

When I bought my Macbook (13-inch, white, 60GB) in 2006 I went the cheap route and bought the least expensive model. I definitely regret this now, since I have been running out of space on my computer. I am looking into getting a new hard drive put in. I have a few people I know who are professionals and can do this for me (I'd screw it up if I tried on my own).

I have been looking around online and I know I need a SATA Drive. I have found a Western Digital Caviar Black 1TB drive- but I just wanted to ask someone with more experience whether or not this will be compatible with my Macbook?

Here is a link to the drive's page:
WD Caviar Black 1 TB SATA Hard Drives ( WD1001FALS )

If anyone can please let me know whether or not this will work- or what drive I should use I would be very grateful!

Thanks!

Arekisu · Dec 1, 2008

That won't fit, it's for desktop machines.

You need a 2.5" drive, aka a laptop drive.

WD Scorpio Black 320 GB SATA Hard Drives ( WD3200BJKT )

I have the 320Gb version in my MacBook.

chjata87 · Dec 1, 2008

Thanks so much!

Is 320 the biggest you can go with a Macbook? Also, how were you able to tell it was for a desktop?

Would this one work?
Newegg.com - Western Digital Scorpio Blue WD5000BEVT 500GB 5400 RPM 8MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s Notebook Hard Drive - Laptop Hard Drives

Arekisu · Dec 1, 2008

chjata87 said:
Thanks so much!

Is 320 the biggest you can go with a Macbook? Also, how were you able to tell it was for a desktop?

WD have different names for their ranges of hard drives.

Highlight the Internal Hard Drives menu, the drop down has Desktop and Laptop options. Open both and you'll see what i mean.

Also the height of the drive is far to big to fit in the MacBook, i think the max height is 13mm.

I think i saw a 400Gb laptop drive somewhere.

Western Digital WD SCORPIO 2.5 400GB SATA 8MB 5400RPM

Arekisu · Dec 1, 2008

chjata87 said:
Thanks so much!

Is 320 the biggest you can go with a Macbook? Also, how were you able to tell it was for a desktop?

Would this one work?
Newegg.com - Western Digital Scorpio Blue WD5000BEVT 500GB 5400 RPM 8MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s Notebook Hard Drive - Laptop Hard Drives

If it'll physically fit, then it'll work. You'll need to find the dimensions of this drive.

StingMe · Dec 1, 2008

chjata87 said:
I have a few people I know who are professionals and can do this for me (I'd screw it up if I tried on my own).

FYI - replacing a MacBook hard drive is about as easy as it can get...one #00 screwdriver and 5 steps (really more like 3 b/c steps 1 & 2 involve unlocking and removing the battery!)

Just make sure you get a 2.5" SATA drive and you should be good to go:

Search Results for "2.5 hard drive" at OtherWorldComputing.com

CrimsonRequiem · Dec 1, 2008

chjata87 said:
Thanks so much!

Is 320 the biggest you can go with a Macbook? Also, how were you able to tell it was for a desktop?

Would this one work?
Newegg.com - Western Digital Scorpio Blue WD5000BEVT 500GB 5400 RPM 8MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s Notebook Hard Drive - Laptop Hard Drives

I would reconsider your choice on the 500GB HDD. Go with the Seagate HDD because it's quiet, doesn't make the clicking sound this WD makes. The Seagate HDD also uses less energy.

chjata87 · Dec 1, 2008

^^ Have you used/ are you using the Seagate 500GB? I have heard some people say to go with Western Digital over Seagate for durability. I'm looking for the biggest capacity hard drive, but more importantly the most durable/longest lasting.

Also, how does it work turning on the computer for the first time with the new drive? I have the CD which I sued to upgrade to Leopard- will that get all I need to get my Macbook running again?

CrimsonRequiem · Dec 1, 2008

chjata87 said:
^^ Have you used/ are you using the Seagate 500GB? I have heard some people say to go with Western Digital over Seagate for durability. I'm looking for the biggest capacity hard drive, but more importantly the most durable/longest lasting.

Also, how does it work turning on the computer for the first time with the new drive? I have the CD which I sued to upgrade to Leopard- will that get all I need to get my Macbook running again?

Yes I do use Seagate HDDs and they have a longer warranty than the WB ones.

Waterpolo820 · Dec 1, 2008

chjata87 said:
^^ Have you used/ are you using the Seagate 500GB? I have heard some people say to go with Western Digital over Seagate for durability. I'm looking for the biggest capacity hard drive, but more importantly the most durable/longest lasting.

Also, how does it work turning on the computer for the first time with the new drive? I have the CD which I sued to upgrade to Leopard- will that get all I need to get my Macbook running again?

I actually ordered the Seagate 500GB drive, and am waiting for it to show up on my door step. The reasons that I chose the Seagate over WD was pretty much what CrimsonRequiem said:
1. Seagate has a 5 year warranty versus WD's 3 year
2. Seagate runs quieter, and uses less power, and for a notebook that is a big plus!
3. From the reviews the WD seemed as if they all make a noticeable clicking noise.
4. I have a Seagate 320GB in my MBP right now, and no complaints. And if I'm not mistaken Maxtor is the same thing as Seagate, and if so all of the HDDs in my house are Maxtors and the have been around for years, the only one to fail was the one I accidentally knocked over.

The easiest thing would be to clone your existing HDD, using a third party app. That way all you do is pop in the new HDD. But you are going to need a docking station or external closure for it to transfer the data too.

JGruber · Dec 1, 2008

Waterpolo820 said:
I actually ordered the Seagate 500GB drive, and am waiting for it to show up on my door step. The reasons that I chose the Seagate over WD was pretty much what CrimsonRequiem said:
1. Seagate has a 5 year warranty versus WD's 3 year
2. Seagate runs quieter, and uses less power, and for a notebook that is a big plus!
3. From the reviews the WD seemed as if they all make a noticeable clicking noise.
4. I have a Seagate 320GB in my MBP right now, and no complaints. And if I'm not mistaken Maxtor is the same thing as Seagate, and if so all of the HDDs in my house are Maxtors and the have been around for years, the only one to fail was the one I accidentally knocked over.

The easiest thing would be to clone your existing HDD, using a third party app. That way all you do is pop in the new HDD. But you are going to need a docking station or external closure for it to transfer the data too.

Can you recommend a third party app for cloning a HDD?

StingMe · Dec 2, 2008

JGruber said:
Can you recommend a third party app for cloning a HDD?

SuperDuper!

Arekisu · Dec 2, 2008

I've never heard any clicking coming from my WD drive.

Also Carbon Copy Cloner is a good program.

chjata87 · Dec 2, 2008

Thanks for all the help everyone!

Waterpolo820, where did you order your Seagate from? And what was the model?

Also, in using the cloning program- just to verify- I would clone my Macbook to my external hard drive, right? How would I go about getting that back onto my new hard drive?

Also, what is the best thing to do with an old internal? Can I recycle it somewhere?

Thanks again!

walkerj · Dec 2, 2008

chjata87 said:
Also, what is the best thing to do with an old internal? Can I recycle it somewhere?

Thanks again!

When I upgraded my internal to a 160GB Toshiba drive I put the old drive in a SATA USB external enclosure and use it as extra storage. Assuming it still works you could do that. They are not very expensive.

jimd144 · Dec 2, 2008

Looks like 2 threads talking about same thing.

rsync is already on the Mac.

Type "man rsync" in terminal to see how to use.

Most utilities you pay for are simply rsync packaged up and idiot proofed.

rsync is simple and does everything these paid programs do.

Waterpolo820 · Dec 2, 2008

chjata87 said:
Thanks for all the help everyone!

Waterpolo820, where did you order your Seagate from? And what was the model?

Also, in using the cloning program- just to verify- I would clone my Macbook to my external hard drive, right? How would I go about getting that back onto my new hard drive?

Also, what is the best thing to do with an old internal? Can I recycle it somewhere?

Thanks again!

I ordered from newegg.com, link: Newegg.com - Seagate Momentus 5400.6 ST9500325AS 500GB 5400 RPM 8MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s Notebook Hard Drive - Laptop Hard Drives

Not sure if this was answered already, but - you would actually clone it to your new hard drive, that is why you are going to need a dock, or external enclosure of some sort to connect it to your computer.

The best thing is to use the external enclosure and put your old HDD in and use it for time machine or something of that nature. So it doesn't go to waste...

chjata87 · Dec 3, 2008

Thanks for the info! Any suggestions so to which enclosure works best for my old Macbook hard drive? I have a 60GB Intel Macbook.

Waterpolo820 · Dec 4, 2008

really any 2.5" enclosure with firewire would be fine. but Newegg has a lot of good ones.

chjata87 · Dec 25, 2008

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!!!!

So, I have my new hard drive (yaaay!). And I still need some help with understanding how to get the new drive to work.

So, I physically remove the old hard drive and install the new one. I found somewhere online that in order to install OSX on the new blank hard drive you simply have to insert the OSX install CD and hold the "C" button to boot it- is that correct? Also, I upgraded to Leopard over the summer and I wanted to know if I could use THAT disk to install OSX onto the new drive?

I backed up my drive by dragging and dropping the contents of my computer to my external hard drive. If I am able to install OSX via my Leopard DVD, will I be able to simply drag and drop my old files onto my new hard drive?

Thanks for the help and have a great holiday!