Can I upgrade a macbook pro 2011 5400 RPM harddrive to a 7200RPM HD?

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I have an early 2011 macbook pro with a 320 GB hard drive 5400 RPM. Can I replace it with a 1TB hard drive 7200 RPM? Will there be any complications such as overheating or being unable to boot?
 
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Yes and i would use OWC but unless you need !TB you will see a major improvement with their 512 SSD.
The 7200 drive will run a little warmer and use more battery the SSD will run cooler and use less battery than your current drive while being a lot faster.
 

chscag

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As long as you buy a 1 TB 7200 RPM drive with the proper fitting dimensions for your MacBook Pro you should be fine. I've personally replaced a 5400 RPM drive with a 7200 RPM drive in a MacBook that I had and it did not overheat nor was it noisy.

The drive has to be no larger than 2.5" wide and no deeper than 9.5 MM in height.
 
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thank you for the advice. the SSD's are a little pricey, I'll have to make do with the HHD. My battery isn't what it used to be it lasts for about 3 hours, I'll try and replace it as soon as possible but after i get the HD. does a 7200RPM have a significant effect on the battery?
 

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Yes, the 7200 RPM hard drive will tax the battery a bit more than your 5400 RPM drive but not enough to worry over. And to answer your second question about SATA 3... it's backward compatible with your system bus. Another thing not to worry over. ;)
 
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Putting a 500GB SSD in my MacPro is one of the best things I ever did. All applications run unbelievably fast and task switching takes a blink of an eye. Need beyond 500GB is for me all data storage. I know what I need for quick access and the rest is archived on an external USB drive.
 
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Putting a 500GB SSD in my MacPro is one of the best things I ever did. All applications run unbelievably fast and task switching takes a blink of an eye. Need beyond 500GB is for me all data storage. I know what I need for quick access and the rest is archived on an external USB drive.

How much free space do you need for the mac to work effectively?
 
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From my experience things get ugly with less than 10%.
 

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