Install new hard drive into MacBook Pro?

I have a MacBook Pro from early 2008 and I've just run out of space on the 200GB hard drive which came with the computer.
I've read in a few forums that a 1TB hard drive WILL fit in this computer, and in some other forums I've heard that it won't, because it's too big. A terabyte would be ideal as I'm a media student and use this computer for literally everything.
However, if the Terabyte won't work, I'd be happy to live with the 750GB version of it. I'm looking at the Western Digital Scorpio Blue ones at the moment.
Now, my question is this; Will my computer be able to handle the new hard drive? Or should I just buy a 1TB external, run everything off that, and just upgrade the RAM?
I'd also look at getting a cooler mat for my computer if that would help.
Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Refer your guy to this:
http://eshop.macsales.com/item/Western%20Digital/WD10TPVT/
"Description: 1.0TB WD Scorpio Blue 5200RPM SATA 12.5mm HD with Advanced Format Technology - Fits all Apple MacBook/MacBook Pro 'Unibody' Models (13/15/17"), *MacBook Pro 'pre-unibody' 17",* and PC Laptops which support 12.5mm SATA Drives. New with 3yr WD Warranty. (WDGWD10TPVT)"
OWC is one of the most reliable online vendors of Mac-related stuff. You can believe that description.
The confusion arises from the fact that Apple says the height limit for drives in all MBPs is 9.5mm. Obviously Apple doesn't support the use of thicker drives in them, but in fact they do fit and work in some models, as the quote above describes.

Similar Messages

Install new hard drive in MacBook Pro

Hello,
I recently installed a Seagate Momentus XT 500 GB internal hard drive into my MacBook Pro and I can't get past the startup screen. It shows a picture that seems to be wanting me to slide a tab on the upper right hand corner into the "up" position. I would post a picture of it but I'm not sure how. I thought it might be a read/write tab on the drive itself but when I took it out to look, no such tab. Anyone run into this problem? Thanks!

Mathias Kohring wrote:
Yup, seems like it's hit or miss with that drive. I'm looking into returning it. Is there any way to post a picture of the screen I'm getting? I'd love to know what it means...thanks
Yes.
Place the photo on your desktop. In the replay window (your post) click on the "camera" icon and follow the directions.

How to install new hard drive on Macbook Pro

My hard drive failed and I am no longer able to boot up the Macbook. If I go and buy a new hard drive and replace it with the broken one, what will happen when I turn it on. It will be a brand new drive with nothing on it. Will it automatically start installing OS X on it or do I need anything else?
Thanks!

It'll display a blinking question mark and/or automatically start from Apple's servers. What needs to be done depends on the computer's model.
If it originally shipped with 10.6.8 or earlier, insert a compatible install DVD and press the C key.
If it originally shipped with 10.7 or newer or was upgraded to use Apple's Internet Recovery system, press the Option, Command, and R keys if needed.
Install the OS.
(125849)

Installing new hard drive on MacBook Pro...

I had a friend install a new hard drive on my Mac since mine was clicking and going to break. But now I insert the start up disc and hold c upon start up, and then the screen stays gray. I know the hard drive was installed correctly but the disc won't work?
Thanks for any help,
Linda

Is it a retail purchased disc or was it a drop-in with the MBP? If the former it should work if it has a version later than the one installed on the computer originally. If the latter, then you cannot use it. You can use the original disc that came with your MBP or you can use a bootable backup of the MBP. The latter would be great because you could simply erase the MBP's drive and restore the clone.

New Hard Drive in MacBook Pro Early 2011, can't reinstall Mountain Lion.

My computer started having issues for some reason, it would just restart randomly about every 5-30 minutes. Disk Utility said that the drive needed to be reformatted, so I went into Recovery mode and erased the Hard Drive and then tried to reinstall it and it crashes EVERY SINGLE TIME I try to install it.
I will say this though, my computer has two hard drives instead of 1. I took out the optical drive and replaced it with a hard drive. For some reason the bootable drive was the optical, so I tried installing it on the main system drive. Well, I can't get Mountain Lion to install on either drive so I went and got a new one, but that one is having problems as well.
I took the computer into Simply Mac and left it with them to get an estimate on a trade in value and to see if they could Mountain Lion to install. Well they did something, because they got it installed, but my computer is still restarting quite often. I want to install it on the system drive (new hard drive) and then have the other drive for memory storage.
IF YOU HAVE ANY ANSWERS OR HELPS PLEASE FEEL FREE TO ABSWER. I'll try my best to give you guys all the information you.
15.4 inch Early 2011 MacBook Pro
2.2 GHz Quad Core i7
16 gig Ram
SSHD 1 TB Hard Drive as main drive
5400 RPM 1 TH Hard Drive as optical drive
1 gig dedicated AMD RADEON (7850?)Graphics

What I am primarily interested in right now is how do I install Mountain Lion on the new Hard Drive. I don't have an Optical Drive in the computer because I put in another Hard Drive for more space in the computer.
I can't boot from an External Disc Drive, I can from a bootable USB drive, but it crashes everytime.
Even downloading from the Internet Recovery doesn't work. When it gets nearer to the end of the download, it says that there is 8000 more hours of download time, and then shortly after that it crashes back to the Main Recovery Screen. It won't install it on the new Hard Drive, this is what it does on the USB stick of Mountain Lion.
Can anyone help me?

Using time Capsule to replace new hard drive on MacBook Pro?

I am replacing the internal hard drive on my MacBook pro (early 2008). I have a time capsule that I would like to use to restore the entire back-up on the time capsule to the new hard drive. What is the procedure to do this? Thanks.

First, prep the new drive:
Drive Preparation
1. Boot from your OS X Installer Disc. After the installer loads select your language and click on the Continue button. When the menu bar appears select Disk Utility from the Utilities menu.
2. After DU loads select your hard drive (this is the entry with the mfgr.'s ID and size) from the left side list. Note the SMART status of the drive in DU's status area. If it does not say "Verified" then the drive is failing or has failed and will need replacing. SMART info will not be reported on external drives. Otherwise, click on the Partition tab in the DU main window.
3. Under the Volume Scheme heading set the number of partitions from the drop down menu to one. Set the format type to Mac OS Extended (Journaled.) Click on the Options button, set the partition scheme to GUID then click on the OK button. Click on the Partition button and wait until the process has completed.
4. Select the volume you just created (this is the sub-entry under the drive entry) from the left side list. Click on the Erase tab in the DU main window.
5. Set the format type to Mac OS Extended (Journaled.) Click on the Security button, check the button for Zero Data and click on OK to return to the Erase window.
6. Click on the Erase button. The format process can take up to several hours depending upon the drive size.
Steps 4-6 are optional but should be used on a drive that has never been formatted before, if the format type is not Mac OS Extended, if the partition scheme has been changed, or if a different operating system (not OS X) has been installed on the drive.
Second, install Snow Leopard on the new drive.
Third, after Snow Leopard starts for the first time you will be in the Setup Assistant. When you complete the registration you will be presented with the options for continuing or restoring from a TM backup or another Mac. Select the TM option and restore your data.

Trying to install new hard drive in MacBook

Hello,
I am at a dead end and would appreciate your help.
Due to a no-boot situation that I chased for several days. My hard drive was damaged (many corrupt/damaged/orphaned files) I confirmed that by using Apple Hardware test and then running a fsca check that said the disc was unfixable, I had to replace a failed system internal hard drive that HAD tiger 10.4.6 OS on it
I just physically installed a new 160 GB WD (Sata) hard drive in a Macbook. No problem!
However, when I try Power + C key to boot from the install disk #1 so I can get to disk utility to partition format etc. the new drive
--------------------------------- I can't get there from here???
After the start up chime, and after a short delay I see a ---black folder icon--- on the screen with a question mark symbol on it that is blinking.
It seems that the Mac is telling me that it can not find the "System" Boot or some other needed folder.
That actually makes since since I know that the new Hard drive internal/system drive is blank and NOT partitioned, initalized or formatted.
The ONLY way I know to (prepare) the new disc for reinstallation of the OS is to boot from the install CD (power + C key)and navigate to the Utility area and prepare the new drive.
Right?
But I can not get any further than the point where I see the blinking black folder icon and question mark so NO UTILITY options are available to me.
NOTE:
I do have several windows based PCs that I could use to format/partition IF I can find a utility or program that will allow me to set a Mac partition from a PC based utility (and no, I do not want to end up with a Fat32 partition on the Mac)!
If there is a utility available I can install the new disk as a external USB connected unpartitioned hard drive and go from there.
Does anyone have any ideas about what I can do to get on with this matter?
Help of any kind will be appreciated.
(short of trashing the Macbook---Yes I considered doing that too)
Thanks,
Joe

Hi Joe,
Try just the C key alone, or the Option key, which should show boot choices, then...
"Disk Utility
1. Insert the Mac OS X Install disc that came with your computer, then restart the computer while holding the C key.
2. When your computer finishes starting up from the disc, choose Disk Utility from the Installer menu. (In Mac OS X 10.4 or later, you must select your language first.)
Important: Do not click Continue in the first screen of the Installer. If you do, you must restart from the disc again to access Disk Utility.
3. Click the Erase tab.
4. Click the disclosure triangle to the left of the hard drive icon to display the names of your hard disk volumes and partitions.
5. Select your Mac OS X volume, then choose MacOS Extended Journalled.
6. Click Erase & look for Security Options. choose Zero 1 pass."
Formatting & Partitioning a Hard Drive in OS X - Tiger and Leopard...
http://www.kenstone.net/fcphomepage/partitioningtiger.html
Be sure to see the GUID Partition info at the bottom.

Installing new hard drive in Mac Pro - question about compatibility.

I'm looking to install an extra internal hard drive in my 2009 Mac Pro, but I need to know if there are any compatibility issues with newer hard drives. I am looking at the Western Digital WD1002FAEX Caviar Black:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B0036Q7MV0/ref=s9_simh_gw_p147_d0_g147_i1?pf_ rd_m=A3P5ROKL5A1OLE&pf_rd_s=center-2&pf_rd_r=1HY9SF4S3JFEA79TK610&pf_rd_t=101&pf _rd_p=467128533&pf_rd_i=468294
Would anyone be able to tell me if this is likely to be compatible with my 2009 8 core Mac Pro? Or if there is anything I should be looking out for in particular? I know pre-installed hard drives are 3GB/s and the above hard drive is 6GB/s, does this matter?

Any SATA drive
About urls:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B0036Q7MV0/
is all that is needed.
For a bit more, WD1502FAEX WD Black 1.5TB
http://www.wdc.com/en/products/internal/enterprise/

New Hard Drive for Macbook Pro.

Hi,
My old harddrive completely failed on my Macbook Pro. My new harddrive arrived today, i've fitted it with no issues but thats about it.
I need to install OSX Lion from the original disk that came with the Macbook. I've tried starting it up from then pressing C after the chime but all I get is a grey screen with the Apple logo.
Any help would be greatly appreciated and please accept my aologies for my ignorance!
KR
Mike

Be sure your computer is connected to an active Internet connection. Restart the computer without any disc. Immediately upon hearing the chime press and hold down the COMMAND-OPTION-R keys until a Globe appears near the top of the screen. Since you are using Internet Recovery this will take quite some time so be patient. After 12-15 minutes you should see a Recovery screen.
Install or Reinstall Lion/Mountain Lion from Scratch
Partition and Erase the hard drive:
1. Select Disk Utility from the main menu and click on the Continue button.
2. After DU loads select your new internal drive (mfgr.'s ID and size) from the
      left side list. Click on the Partition tab in the DU main window. Set the
      dropdown menu under Partition Scheme to one (1.)
3. Set the format type to Mac OS Extended (Journaled.) Click on the Partition
      button and wait until the process has completed.
4. Quit DU and return to the main menu.
Reinstall Lion/Mountain Lion: Select Reinstall Lion/Mountain Lion and click on the Install button.
Note: You will need an active Internet connection. I suggest using Ethernet if possible
            because it is three times faster than wireless.

Recommended new hard drive for MacBook Pro

Hi, my mate has a MacBook Pro 2.16 GHz. He wants to upgrade the hard drive to something bigger than the current 5400rpm 120GB.
Can anyone recommend some of the best drives (or the best) to go with at this point in time?
I think probably it's worth going for 7200rpm, don't you think? Probably looking for something in the 250-320GB mark.

Presently the largest drive you can install is the Samsung 500 GB Spinpoint drive. It's the only 500 GB drive that fits in a 15" MBP. It's a 5400 RPM drive with 8 GB cache. Other drives are available up to 320 GBs (they all fit) varying from 5400 RPM to 7200 RPM - some with 8 GB and some with 16 GB caches. Models are available from the main manufacturers such as Seagate, Toshiba, Hitachi, Samsung, Western Digital. You will need to choose between performance and price.
Good sources for drives are:
MacSales.com
Buy.com
NewEgg.com
Note that when you buy an OEM drive that vendors do not provide any warranty service. If the drive doesn't work you can get it replaced (right away.) But if the drive fails more than 30 days after purchase then you get your warranty service from the drive's manufacturer. New drives may come with 3 or 5 year warranties from the manufacturer. You will pay extra for the better option.

I have new hard drive in macbook pro(08) and have SATA cable with external power source to old hard drive (10.5.8)via. USB port and newer drive(10.6.8) will not recognize older drive..Do I need to partition newer drive with older disk to recover data?

I have new HD 750GB Hybrid in 2008 Macbook Pro 17" w/ Snow Leopard 10.6.8 connected to old Hard drive(250GB that had 10.5.8 on it at time of failure) via SATA cable to USB port with external power source.. Computer not acknowledging old HD at all in Disk Utility or otherwise (that I'm aware of)..Do I need to partition New HD and load old(10.5.8) onto partition to recognize older drive for data recovery? Thanks Wayno08

You do not need to load 10.5.8 onto your new drive in order for a 10.6.8 system to see the contents of a 10.5.8 system.
You might want to check out the hard drive troubleshooting bootk in the downloads section of this web site:
http://scsc-online.com
They also sell a product named Phoenix that can do OS extraction and volume copying/cloning, but to be honest I don't know if it's appropriate in this case.
I would suggest the following:
Open up Terminal.app (under utilities) and type "diskutil list" without the quotes. This is the command line version of Disk Utility. If the external drive doesn't show up at all, then it's likely not connected properly, not getting power, or just plain dead. If it shows up with only a devce name like disk0s16 but no volume it means the drive is seen, the OS just can't make sense of it.
Assuming the drive shows up, I would try to boot off the original installl disks for the system and run Disk Utility from that. I'm assuming the drive will show up. You'll want to select the option to repair the drive and then perform the option to repair the permissions.
If the unit isn't showing up, as per step 1, try a different USB port. More importantly with your unit, try it on another side of the unit if possible. If you read the book I referenced above, some of those units have I/O boards that are separated from the logic board. If the cable from the logic board to the I/O card goes bad or has problems, which isn't all that uncommon, some or all of the ports on the I/O card may appear to be bad as well. If you use a USB port on another side, it would be routing out of a completely different I/O path, so that's a potential problem.
If the drive is only seen with a device name such as disk0s16, it's likely either the index files are corrupt beyond Disk Utility's ability to see them. The only thing that I think would help would be a product named DIsk Warrior, but I can't guarantee that.
Disk Warrior can be found at:
http://www.alsoft.com/diskwarrior/
The company that I linked in the first link above also makes a product named Scannerz that does HD and system testing. The Scannerz/Disk Warrior combination make a good pair because the complement each other....Scannerz does what Disk Warriror can't and Disk Warrior does what Scannerz can't. However, at this point I'm not too sure getting a tool like Scannerz would be of much use because it sounds like the damage has already been done.
Let us know what happens.

New hard drive for macbook pro (late 2009) anti shock or not?

I thought I read somewhere that if you replace a HD in your macbook pro, the new one should not have shock protection as it interferes with the mac's own internal shock sensor.
So I went out and bought a Seagate 7200.4 500GB drive - without the 'G' Suffix - ie the non-shock version of the drive.
I carefully opened my Macbook Pro and was surprised to see the drive in it was a Seagate with a 'G' Suffix!
Does the macbook actually have it's own separate shock sensor?
Is there any published data from apple as to what drives to use for replacement?
Thanks!

Shifty08:
I can speak form experience!
I got messed up 3 times with my Mid 2009 15 inch MB Pro (Some 13 inch units also) with a Seagate 500 GB Sata // 3 gps HD right after the EFI 1.7 update. There may be issue with some other larger 3rd party HDs including WD.
This is my MB Pro present configuration:
+MacBook Pro+
+Model Identifier: MacBookPro5,4+
+Processor Name: Intel Core 2 Duo+
+Processor Speed: 2.53 GHz+
+Number Of Processors: 1+
+Total Number Of Cores: 2+
+L2 Cache: 3 MB+
+Memory: 4 GB+
+Bus Speed: 1.07 GHz+
+Boot ROM Version: MBP53.00AC.B02+
+SMC Version (system): 1.49f2+
This is my present internal HD configuration:
ST9500420ASG:
+Capacity: 465.76 GB+
+Model: ST9500420ASG+
+Revision: 0002SDM1+
The resolution to these issues is now well established and discussed on a different discussion thread.
One has to have Firmware EFI 1.6 installed to avoid the problem. If Firmware EFI 1.7 is installed--back roll it to EFI 1.6. Run the Performance update 1.0.
In order to do this you have to remove the 500 GB 3rd party HD and "back roll" to EFI 1.6 from an external HD. There is a special download for this.
If you have Apple Care or have 3 month coverage for free tech support have the Apple store do it for you. It is about a 20 min routine. Schedule this appointment with the "Genius" through the Apple care. Apple is aware of the issue though some of the Genius staff are not. There is an Apple Engineering bulletin on this. There is a *EFI 1.6 rollback.dmg* file which is on the apple site.
Once this rolled back is in effect, then re-install the 3rd party HD. Then install the Performance Upgrade 1.0--and the MB Pro will work at 1.5 GPS--but this is better than nothing and it does not seem to be an issue for this MB Pro.
Now one likely can install the larger drive in an enclosure and it may work without this modification. I have not done this so I can not confirm this.
I did install the factory supplied 250 GB Hitachi HD in an enclosure and have it working as Universal boot drive.
See below for details.
+1394/USB20 Drive SBP-LUN:+
+Capacity: 232.89 GB+
+Removable Media: Yes+
+BSD Name: disk2+
+Mac OS 9 Drivers: No+
+Partition Map Type: APM (Apple Partition Map)+
+S.M.A.R.T. status: Not Supported+
Volumes:
+Leopard Universal Boot:+
+Capacity: 220.76 GB+
+Available: 171.42 GB+
+Writable: Yes+
+File System: Journaled HFS++
+BSD Name: disk2s3+
+Mount Point: /Volumes/Leopard Universal Boot 2+
This universal boot drive is explained in the Apple KB posting here.
*http://support.apple.com/kb/HT2595*
Best of luck!
bobg

New Hard drive for MacBook Pro 2008

Hi,
My 2008 MacBook Pro is really slow and I was told I could update my hard drive on it and upgrade the memory and speed. Does anyone by any chance know which one will work for my laptop??
It its the fall 2008 model
Processor: 2.4 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo
Memory: 2GB 1067 MHz DDR3
Any information would be really helpful!!
Thanks
Leanne

One more thing, and thanks for your patience:
Applications > Utilities > System Profiler (I believe that is where it is located)
On the left side of the window that opens up will be a section near the top under Hardware that says Memory.
There will be a section inside memory that says Memory Slots: Can you copy that?
Mine (example):
Memory Slots:
ECC:          Disabled
BANK 0/DIMM0:
Size:          8 GB
Type:          DDR3
Speed:          1600 MHz
Status:          OK
Manufacturer:          0x80AD
Part Number:          0x484D5434314753364D465238432D50422020
Serial Number:          0x00000000
BANK 1/DIMM0:
Size:          8 GB
Type:          DDR3
Speed:          1600 MHz
Status:          OK
Manufacturer:          0x80AD
Part Number:          0x484D5434314753364D465238432D50422020
Serial Number:          0x00000000

Install New Hard Drive into an HP Envy 17-t-k000 CTO Notebook PC

Envy 17-t-K000 CTO Notebook PC running Windows 8.1
The bottom of my Notebook doesn't have the access port that the J100 Quad Core has.
I wish to install a SSD in drive bay 1 (port 0) and the HD in drive bay 2 (port 1).
I have pulled every screw on bottom of the case, and I can't figure out how to open the case without damage.
What do I do?
Problem Solved!! Found video already on HP Site.
This question was solved.
View Solution.

Mike.
I just showed the steps needed to go all the way to upgrade the memory.
First step is to remove the top cover.
http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/document?docname=c04339451&lc=en&cc=us&dlc=en
I have the 15t but found the same step by step instructions and video to replace the hard drive for the 17t.
http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/document?docname=c04337198&cc=us&dlc=en&lc=en
Let me know if you need any advice.
REO
HP Expert Tester "Now testing HP Pavilion 15t i3-4030U Win8.1, 6GB RAM and 750GB HDD"
Loaner Program”HP Split 13 x2 13r010dx i3-4012Y Win8.1, 4GB RAM and 500GB Hybrid HDD”
Microsoft Registered Refurbisher
Registered Microsoft Partner
Apple Certified Macintosh Technician Certification in progress.

Can i run icloud back up on my ipod safely?got a new hard drive on macbook pro

Hello
had to get my hard drive changed. Alld ata lost. so of course itunes is also empty.
If i run back up Icloud on my Ipod, I would not lose anything?
Also I will have to connect it to my mac so any advice before i connect it?
Thanks

You said "so for sure I can run back up on my ipod and it will all appear on my photo stream on my mac?".
I do not think so since the PhotoStream on send photos take for the last 30 days.
iCloud: Photo Stream FAQ
Bacing up to iClould hs nothing to do with PhotoStream.
If you restore from iCloud backup yoour iPod will be like it was when the backup was made except:;
- No media that was synced to the iPod that is not available from the iTunes and App stres will not be restored.

Install new hard drive into MacBook Pro?

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