Upgrading HDD

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Hello :)
officially in a week or 2 i will be the proud new owner of a mac [my first ever] have a question about upgrading the HDD.
im gonna buy the base model 13" mbp, and have apple upgrade the 2g memory to a 4g
however ill be upgrading the HDD myself and was wondering a few things

1. i want a 500g HDD, but not sure which brand/type to buy and would like some personal opinions

2. i will be using the computer for LITE graphic arts/photography so should i go with a 7200 rpm or a 5400 rpm hdd [will the higher rpm noticable decrease battery life??]

3. before i install the HDD what should i do? [i.e. back up the computer on an external harddrive]

4. and after the HDD installation what should i do? [idk if their will be anything special to do or not]


hehe im trying to make sure i get everything right and ready before hand


thank you :D

-babyt
 

CrimsonRequiem


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Your Mac's Specs
MBP 2.3 Ghz 4GB RAM 860 GB SSD, iMac 3.4 GHz Intel Core i7 32GB RAM, Fusion Drive 1TB
Why not just get an external HDD?
 
C

chas_m

Guest
Hello :)
officially in a week or 2 i will be the proud new owner of a mac [my first ever] have a question about upgrading the HDD.
im gonna buy the base model 13" mbp, and have apple upgrade the 2g memory to a 4g
however ill be upgrading the HDD myself and was wondering a few things

1. i want a 500g HDD, but not sure which brand/type to buy and would like some personal opinions

Welcome and congrats!

I have been REALLY impressed with the Samsung drive I put into my BlackBook. This computer is on around 18 hours/day average, drive never slept. Steady, reliable, fast little performer.

2. i will be using the computer for LITE graphic arts/photography so should i go with a 7200 rpm or a 5400 rpm hdd [will the higher rpm noticable decrease battery life??]

No, a 5400 should be fine, and yes faster drives do decrease battery life slightly.

3. before i install the HDD what should i do? [i.e. back up the computer on an external harddrive]

That's pretty much it. Use Time Machine or a clone program, whichever you prefer. Install the new drive. Use your bootable backup or your system DVD to format the drive to Mac OS X Extended Journaled (yes you want journaled for a bootable drive), then restore from your backup by whichever method you like.

4. and after the HDD installation what should i do? [idk if their will be anything special to do or not]

DO run Software Update.
DO run Permissions repair from Disk Utility.
DON'T overthink this, it's all a bit time-consuming but easy.
DON'T install any anti-virus (et al) type programs. You're on a Mac now. You're safe. :)
DO have fun!

Enjoy!
 
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babyt
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thanks for the reply
but could you go into detail with #3 a little better
im brand new to mac [cept having an iphone]

and i dont want to carry the external with me everywhere i go :)
 

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