Replacing the internal hard drive on a Macbook

I recently bought a white Macbook (my first Mac, hence this being in the switchers forum), and hard already nearly filled the 120GB internal HDD, I have an USB WD 500GB drive as well but have stuff that I need on the internal. I am looking to get a 320GB or 500GB hard drive (7200rpm), preferably 500GB drive to replace the internal drive. But I have a couple of questions:

1) Is this something I can do myself? This is my first mac, and the most modifying I've ever done to a computer is changing screens on a desktop!

I want everything that I have on the current drive on the new one, so that I can just use the new straight away - no re-installing etc. Should I take this to the apple re-seller I bought it from?

2) I would like to get a case so i can use the current internal drive as a back up drive with time machine, would this work? If so, USB or firewire?

3) Are there any recommended hard drives I should be looking at? My WD 500gb external drive was £70, and I wasn't looking at spending more than that again really.

Thanks for any help/guidance, I did have a quick search but if I missed anything please feel free to redirect me.

Stef Andrews

Stef Andrews said:

1) Is this something I can do myself? This is my first mac, and the most modifying I've ever done to a computer is changing screens on a desktop!

I want everything that I have on the current drive on the new one, so that I can just use the new straight away - no re-installing etc. Should I take this to the apple re-seller I bought it from?

2) I would like to get a case so i can use the current internal drive as a back up drive with time machine, would this work? If so, USB or firewire?

3) Are there any recommended hard drives I should be looking at? My WD 500gb external drive was £70, and I wasn't looking at spending more than that again really.

Thanks for any help/guidance, I did have a quick search but if I missed anything please feel free to redirect me.

Stef Andrews

Click to expand...

1)Yeah, you can do this yourself. Ive recently just done mine. You just need to use a program like super duper to clone your current drive to the new drive, its really straight forward to use and just takes a few clicks (its also free). Look here for more info How to Upgrade Your MacBook's Hard Drive | Macinstruct

2)You can get a case from ebay, just do a search for HDD caddy, i just use USB for mine and that does what i need.

3)Ive just bought a Western Digital Scorpio Black 320GB 7200RPM SATA-II with 16MB Cache. The drive in your macbook will be a 2.5" drive and these cost more than the 3.5" drives.

Mick

Just be carfull

HI, realise this is an old post, but thought id share my experiences. I followed the instructions here which look the same os on the link above.

Originally I bought and destroyed a freecom classic 500GB portable hard drive to recover its 2.5 inch sata.

The mac book takes a 9mm drive. The freecom has a 12.5mm thick drive and simply wont fit. You must make sure your fitting the thinner 9mm drive. From what I read the 12.5 mm will fit in a MBPro but not a white MB (like mine). hope this helps you or future searches.

cheers all

Nick