Running Out of Space On my 80 gig hard drive

I am running out of space on my Hard Drive that came with my macbook. I don't really want to buy an external Hard Drive so what can I do? I am looking to get a Hard Drive that is 120 gigs. Is it possible for me to buy something like this and put it in my macbook? If so how would I go about getting everything off my current Hard Drive and on to the new one? Any help is appreciated! Thanks in advanced!

Well I have swapped the HDD on my MacBook 3 times already its very easy.
This link will show u how to do it:
http://manuals.info.apple.com/en/MacBook_13inch_HardDrive_DIY.pdf
As for the files I have on my previuous HDD, I burned a data DVD with all the important files I wanted to keep. The HDD you posted is perfect. Im currently on a 100GB Toshiba HDD and it works just perfect. All the instructions are listed in the PDF I have listed above. I would suggest printing it first before you open you're MB.

*Note: Replacing the HDD does NOT void the warranty and always remember to keep the original HDD.

Hope this helps and if you have any more questions feel free to post.

i went with a 160gb from macsales.com. plenty of space now!

I believe swapping the HDD it's the best choice ever, i don't like external drives myself; it's annoying and it's only to store data, what if you have lots of programs installed using most of the space? I don't think running programs from external drive is that easy.... So swap your HDD, there are a few choices, some of them cheap, some of them not that cheap, depends on where you buy it.

Replacing the HDD does NOT avoid warranty nor changing RAM. Look it up in Apple Support.

Good Luck!

shadee45313 said:

Well I have swapped the HDD on my MacBook 3 times already its very easy.
This link will show u how to do it:
http://manuals.info.apple.com/en/MacBook_13inch_HardDrive_DIY.pdf
As for the files I have on my previuous HDD, I burned a data DVD with all the important files I wanted to keep. The HDD you posted is perfect. Im currently on a 100GB Toshiba HDD and it works just perfect. All the instructions are listed in the PDF I have listed above. I would suggest printing it first before you open you're MB.

*Note: Replacing the HDD does NOT void the warranty and always remember to keep the original HDD.

Hope this helps and if you have any more questions feel free to post.

Click to expand...

Thank You very much for your help! One question though, can you put everyting that is on your computer on the data dvd, apps, video, music, documents etc.? Also where can I get them and how much can they hold?

You mean "back up" data? Check this site http://maczealots.com/articles/backup/

The software descriped above cost $28 to download. I would just just to get some DVDs and just back up you're most important files. ie. Documents, Photos, Music.

Here is a list of options:

i) Put some files on your iPods HDD (thats what I did)
ii) Enable disk use and put all ur songs on it. Then after you swap the HDD of MB, drag and drop the songs from you're iPod to the 'Library'
*Note: you can't do the same with videos.
iii)Put the files that are extra on DVDs.

In my particular case I used my 500GB external HDD and backed up files on it. I would highly recommend you get at lest a 200GB HDD to back up you're computer files just in the off chance that you're computer crashes. Also, they arn't very expensive. My 500GB cost only $250 CAD.

Need any more clarification just ask

I'm still deciding between a portable external drive and a NAS. On top of that I might upgrade my 80GB internal to 160GB or 200GB once the price comes down more.

I had an idea about how to get my files on to my new HDD; I would swap the new HDD with my old one and then put my old HDD in a case connect to my computer and add the files that way. Would this work?

That would most certainly would! You've learned well grasshoppa!!! lol

I was just going to suggest that. Just buy a cheap external enclosure and stick your new drive in there. Clone your current 80GB drive onto that drive, and then swap the two.

Or you can just swap in the new drive and then drag stuff over from the old drive onto your new one. I would actually suggest going with this method as you'll get a fresh install of OS X.

Kash said:

I was just going to suggest that. Just buy a cheap external enclosure and stick your new drive in there. Clone your current 80GB drive onto that drive, and then swap the two.

Or you can just swap in the new drive and then drag stuff over from the old drive onto your new one. I would actually suggest going with this method as you'll get a fresh install of OS X.

Click to expand...

I think that is the way I am going to go. Anyone know what the demensions are on the drive in macbooks? Thanks for the advice everyone!

They're standard 2.5" laptop hard drives running at 5400RPM.

I think I am going with this case.

Replacing HDD needs OS reinstall & all the configs to be redone

so are there any solutions to clone the original disk so that the efforts of reconfiguring everything is saved??

Who said it needs a reinstall, especially if you're just cloning the drive?

Which of these two HDDs are better?
MK1234GSX
MK1234GAX

gnrfsu said:

Which of these two HDDs are better?
MK1234GSX
MK1234GAX

Click to expand...

Well only the MK1234GSX will work with your laptop. You need a SATA interface on the laptop for it to work in the macbook. The ML1234GAX doesn't have that.

Will the macbook HDD fit in this case.

Well I ended up getting this HDD and this case for my old macbook one.