MBP 500GB Internal Hard Drive Upgrade

Hello All,

I currently have a 15" 2.33Ghz MacBook Pro with 2GB of RAM and a 120GB hard drive. However, thats not enough and I'm really in the mood to upgrade the computer.

I see everywhere (including Apple) that the biggest hard drive you can have inside the MBP is 320GB. However, I don't want to just get 320 when I know 500 is somewhere around the corner, or maybe already here (this is where I'm hoping to get help from you).

Does anyone know of a 2.5", MBP compatible 500GB hard drive for a 15" computer, that I can get for my MacBook Pro? Any help is greatly appreciated. If 500 is not available, does anyone have any ideas of when it will be available?

Thank you

Ian

Samsung just released a 500GB 2.5" model that will fit in the 15" Macbook Pro and regular Macbook. There is a thread with links to where you can buy it somewhere here on Mac-Forums. I'll look around and post it if I can find it.

Edit: Found it, but it looks like it's out of stock everywhere I look. The model number you want to look for is HM500LI

Wow, 500GB of internal HD is crazy! I have the latest MBP, the one they revamped back in Feb/Mar and it has a 200GB (which I'm actually filling up at a surprising speed). This might not be a bad way to go for myself in the future.

i saw some for sell on ebay last month i think ...so i know it is out there...

Kash said:

Samsung just released a 500GB 2.5" model that will fit in the 15" Macbook Pro and regular Macbook. There is a thread with links to where you can buy it somewhere here on Mac-Forums. I'll look around and post it if I can find it.

Edit: Found it, but it looks like it's out of stock everywhere I look. The model number you want to look for is HM500LI

Click to expand...

I saw one too, but are you sure it can fit the 15" and its not just the 17"?


Whats the prices been like? any links to the online store?

Yes, the Samsung drive is 9.5mm in height, and can fit both the 15" Macbook Pro and the regular Macbook. It's the Hitachi drive that's 12mm in height and will only fit in the 17" Macbook Pro.

when you say hitachi, that only applies to the 500gb right... i am looking at the hitachi 320 for my 15inch macbook pro as seen here:
http://dealmac.com/Hitachi-320-GB-S...er-rebate-free-shipping/251859.html?ref=alert

Yes, I meant the 500GB model since that was the topic at hand ;P

Kash said:

Samsung just released a 500GB 2.5" model that will fit in the 15" Macbook Pro and regular Macbook. There is a thread with links to where you can buy it somewhere here on Mac-Forums. I'll look around and post it if I can find it.

Edit: Found it, but it looks like it's out of stock everywhere I look. The model number you want to look for is HM500LI

Click to expand...

Has anybody on this forum done this?

If so, how hard is it?

I want to drop that 500GB drive in my 17" MBP and wonder if there are any drawbacks (ie: overheating...swapping out the drives initially, etc.).

Any advice anyone can give me would be great.

Thanks,

Justin

jman995x said:

Has anybody on this forum done this?

If so, how hard is it?

I want to drop that 500GB drive in my 17" MBP and wonder if there are any drawbacks (ie: overheating...swapping out the drives initially, etc.).

Any advice anyone can give me would be great.

Thanks,

Justin

Click to expand...

I've done it before its not hard. there are plenty of decent youtube videos with instructions. just make sure you get the right torx screw driver before you start.

I do have a question though. My newever MBP needs the harddrive upgrade, but i have a year and a half of apple care left. Does swapping drives void my warrenty?

If you have one of the new unibody Macbook Pros that have access to the hard drive, then no, you will not void your warranty. If you have an older model where the hard drive is not easily accessible, then yes, it will void your warranty.

paintballswimgu said:

I've done it before its not hard. there are plenty of decent youtube videos with instructions. just make sure you get the right torx screw driver before you start.

I do have a question though. My newever MBP needs the harddrive upgrade, but i have a year and a half of apple care left. Does swapping drives void my warrenty?

Click to expand...

Okay, that's good to know. I called the Apple store near me and after asking the person who answered the phone what the largest drive I could fit in my MBP was, and waiting for her to come back on the line after a couple minutes, she told me that the guys said they wouldn't put anything larger than a 250GB drive in there, and that they thought that that was pushing it.
So, when I saw this thread, I wanted to make sure that swapping to a drive 3 times the original isn't going to cause me problems.

Having said that, what is the best way to go about swapping the drive?
I have a video on how to take the MBP apart and remove the drive.
My question is more about getting the new drive to boot.
Here is what I'm thinking about doing...tell me if I'm missing anything, or if you have any recommendations:

1. Move all my non-OS files (.doc., .xls, .jpeg, etc., etc.) onto an External HDD
2. Swap out the drives.
3. Reinstall the OS from the Leopard CD I bought when it came out
4. Transfer all the files back onto the now massive internal HDD

Does anybody see anything wrong with this process?

Thanks for the help.

I'm getting excited!

Justin

Alright here's the scoop.... as mentioned previously in this form, it is possible to upgrade the hard drive in your macbook pro to a 500GB. Just last week I upgraded mine from 200GB (stock) drive to a new Seagate 500GB - I know see that the new 500GB 7200rpm drives have since been released...grrr...anyways, here's what I did..

1. installed the new drive by watching a youtube video on it - it felt like I was doing surgery (lots of screws).

- please note that I did not back up any of my docs from the 200GB drive, I just left them on.

2. booted with the OS X cd in the drive.

3. formatted the drive

4. installed the OS

5. put the 200GB drive in to an external enclosure, plugged it into my macbook pro and simply dragged and dropped all the items I wanted from the external to the newly installed drive.

hope this helps!

jman995x said:

Okay, that's good to know. I called the Apple store near me and after asking the person who answered the phone what the largest drive I could fit in my MBP was, and waiting for her to come back on the line after a couple minutes, she told me that the guys said they wouldn't put anything larger than a 250GB drive in there, and that they thought that that was pushing it.
So, when I saw this thread, I wanted to make sure that swapping to a drive 3 times the original isn't going to cause me problems.

Having said that, what is the best way to go about swapping the drive?
I have a video on how to take the MBP apart and remove the drive.
My question is more about getting the new drive to boot.
Here is what I'm thinking about doing...tell me if I'm missing anything, or if you have any recommendations:

1. Move all my non-OS files (.doc., .xls, .jpeg, etc., etc.) onto an External HDD
2. Swap out the drives.
3. Reinstall the OS from the Leopard CD I bought when it came out
4. Transfer all the files back onto the now massive internal HDD

Does anybody see anything wrong with this process?

Thanks for the help.

I'm getting excited!

Justin

Click to expand...

djlanky said:

Alright here's the scoop.... as mentioned previously in this form, it is possible to upgrade the hard drive in your macbook pro to a 500GB. Just last week I upgraded mine from 200GB (stock) drive to a new Seagate 500GB - I know see that the new 500GB 7200rpm drives have since been released...grrr...anyways, here's what I did..

1. installed the new drive by watching a youtube video on it - it felt like I was doing surgery (lots of screws).

- please note that I did not back up any of my docs from the 200GB drive, I just left them on.

2. booted with the OS X cd in the drive.

3. formatted the drive

4. installed the OS

5. put the 200GB drive in to an external enclosure, plugged it into my macbook pro and simply dragged and dropped all the items I wanted from the external to the newly installed drive.

hope this helps!

Click to expand...

Cool.

Now I have another question.
I'm also seeing alot of different drives available for this swap....Samsung, Seagate, Hitachi, etc.
What do the people on this BB think of those companies?
I'm pretty sure the stock MBPro drive is a Hitachi drive, and I haven't had any problems with it, so I can vouch for it. What about the other companies?
Any feedback from you guys would be greatly appreciated.

Also, can you send me a link to the the YouTube video you watched on how to do the drive swap? The only ones that I'm seeing are sped up like 800x and would be great to put a Charlie Chaplin soundtrack to, but are so quick you don't get a detailed view as to what to unscrew, etc.

Thanks,

Justin

P.S. Where did you buy your 500GB drive and why did you choose Seagate?

Justin,

I have an alum 15" 2.4ghz Macbook pro and my stock hard drive was a Fujitsu. I can't really comment on Hitachi as I've never owned any of their drives, but I have had several Western Digital drives in my desktop that run strong without any problems. I chose Seagate as all the Western Digital drives were sold out...as far as I know, there's no big difference. Although, as I mentioned before in a previous thread, I should have waited the extra week purchased the 7200 rpm drive.

Here is the you tube video I used. I know its fast, but watch it through a few times and pause it as necessary. If this isn't something you want to attempt, I would seriously suggest taking it to an apple certified tech and have them install it for you.

YouTube - How-to Change a Macbook Pro 15" 2.4GHz hard drive

And as for your last question, I bought my new drive at a place called Canada Computers (canadacomputers.com) - I live in Toronto.

Hope this helps - let us know how the install goes!

jman995x said:

Cool.

Now I have another question.
I'm also seeing alot of different drives available for this swap....Samsung, Seagate, Hitachi, etc.
What do the people on this BB think of those companies?
I'm pretty sure the stock MBPro drive is a Hitachi drive, and I haven't had any problems with it, so I can vouch for it. What about the other companies?
Any feedback from you guys would be greatly appreciated.

Also, can you send me a link to the the YouTube video you watched on how to do the drive swap? The only ones that I'm seeing are sped up like 800x and would be great to put a Charlie Chaplin soundtrack to, but are so quick you don't get a detailed view as to what to unscrew, etc.

Thanks,

Justin

P.S. Where did you buy your 500GB drive and why did you choose Seagate?

Click to expand...

Kash said:

If you have an older model where the hard drive is not easily accessible, then yes, it will void your warranty.

Click to expand...

Actually, there is quite a bit of debate on this issue. The prevailing sentiment based on what I've read on ifixit.com, Apple's own warranty verbiage, and the claims of an Apple-certified tech who I know is that as long as nothing is damaged in the process, the warranty is not voided. Now, they won't warranty the replaced part, but the rest of the computer is still in warranty.

djlanky said:

Justin,

I have an alum 15" 2.4ghz Macbook pro and my stock hard drive was a Fujitsu. I can't really comment on Hitachi as I've never owned any of their drives, but I have had several Western Digital drives in my desktop that run strong without any problems. I chose Seagate as all the Western Digital drives were sold out...as far as I know, there's no big difference. Although, as I mentioned before in a previous thread, I should have waited the extra week purchased the 7200 rpm drive.

Here is the you tube video I used. I know its fast, but watch it through a few times and pause it as necessary. If this isn't something you want to attempt, I would seriously suggest taking it to an apple certified tech and have them install it for you.

YouTube - How-to Change a Macbook Pro 15" 2.4GHz hard drive

And as for your last question, I bought my new drive at a place called Canada Computers (canadacomputers.com) - I live in Toronto.

Hope this helps - let us know how the install goes!

Click to expand...

Thanks for all the info.

I just ordered the Seagate ST9500420ASG 500GB 7200RPM 16MB Buffer,Serial ATA II/300,2.5INCH,Seagate Momentus 7200.4 G
from PROVANTAGE

Everybody else was sold out, including Provantage, but Provantage actually shows you a chart that shows how long "special orders" like these have taken in the past and gives you option to proceed or remove the item from your cart....and since it appeared that it would only take them about 1-4 days to get, I felt comfortable ordering it knowing that it wasn't going to be a "we'll get it when we get it....it could be a couple weeks or even a month...we'll let you know" type scenario.

Hopefully I don't experience any heat/noise issues once installed.

Justin

I have another question for the group.
I haven't used Time Machine before (even though I understand it's purpose/function).
Here's how I envision my MBP HDD upgrade going. Please let me know if I've missed anything:

1. Back up all files on external HDD using Time Machine
2. Swap internal HDD
3. Reboot computer from CD and reinstall OS
4. Choose last Time Machine back up date to dump all my files back on my new internal HDD

Did I miss any steps?

Justin

You actually added a step. When you boot from the disc, it will give you the option of restoring from a Time Machine backup. So no need to install the OS separately.

Kash said:

You actually added a step. When you boot from the disc, it will give you the option of restoring from a Time Machine backup. So no need to install the OS separately.

Click to expand...

Very cool.
Thanks for the clarification.

Justin