Fusion drive upgrade question (7200rpm?+SSD swap)

If I choose the fusion drive upgrade while purchasing a mac mini, will the non SSD drive be upgraded to a 7200rpm drive as well?
Also, I would love to replace the SSD of the fusion drive with a 3rd party 256 SSD that I already own, if that's even possible.
Or should I just stick w/the stock TB drive and install my 256SSD with a data doubler kit from OWC or something like that to save me some $$$?

"If I choose the fusion drive upgrade while purchasing a mac mini, will the non SSD drive be upgraded to a 7200rpm drive as well?"
No. The hard drive component of the Fusion Drive spins at 5400rpm.
"Also, I would love to replace the SSD of the fusion drive with a 3rd party 256 SSD that I already own, if that's even possible."
It's possible. No point in upgrading to the Fusion Drive if you're going to do that, though. Read here:
http://blog.macsales.com/15617-creating-your-own-fusion-drive

Similar Messages

Fusion drive upgrade

I've a iMac from spring 2011 and was wondering if there is a possibility to upgrade to the new fusion drive.

JHWPGH wrote:
I do not know whether you will be able to upgrade. However, a fusion Drive is not the same as a hybrid drive. A hybrid drive uses the solid state storage as a temporary cashe.
That is not true of the Seagate Hybrids (most of the hybrids are Seagates) The SSD section is (semi) permanent. Regularly used files live on the SSD, less regularly used ones may be moved back to the HDD to make room for new files. This not a cache, it is the same method used by the Fusion Drive, (but with more SSD space there is less moving of files). The Hybrid also have a cache, it is 32MB or 64MB of Ram, located on the drive as part of the drive controller, it is a true cache (read/write) using a variant of the LRU algorithm.

27" iMac: i7 vs. Fusion drive upgrade?

Hi all -
Thanks for all the previous support on the purchase of a new iMac. I tend to keep my computers for a long time, so I tend to be very overcautious when buying a new. If my history is a guide, I will have this one for many years, too. I am going to buy a new 27" iMac (woo hoo!) and I am wondering about upgrades to the system. I have been debating between the i7 processor, but also the Fusion drive, and I wanted to solicit opinions if either would be a good upgrade for me.
The main uses of the computer would be:
Photos: Aperture
Browser: I use this for a small business, and I have multiple windows going throughout the day
Basic Numbers and Keynote usage (nothing too crazy)
Games (who am I kidding - I am going to use it for WoW!)
In terms of other improvements I considered, the upgrade between the 775M and the 780M video card seemed marginal at best, and the memory upgrade is something I would probably do at a later date. So, to me, neither of those seemed a good investment for me (I could be very wrong).
A very good article was shared with me regarding the i7, and how it probably would not be best for me, today. But as I tend to keep a computer for many years (current iMac is 5+ years old) I am wondering if the benefits would be better for the future, as the computer gets older (and slower). Also, I am considering the Fusion drive upgrade over the SATA. I am not a patient person, especially with technology (only marginally better with people). As neither of these could be upgraded later, based on how I've described using the machine, do either seem like good investments?
Thanks for the feedback!

If you are looking at future proofing the Mac, the fusion drive isn't really a consideration. It's nice, but it won't make a bit of difference five years from now. So, your options for future proofing are upgrading the processor and the graphics card.
Of the two, more important is the graphics card. It not how much of an upgrade it is now, but will it help the computer last longer. In my opinion, it will. The processor is actually less important than the video card for the future. You can last a lot longer on a slower processor than you can on a non-optimal graphics card. This is all arguable, but I've been following those basic guidelines for my systems of quite a while. A computer I bought in 2009 can still play WoW on ultimate settings because I bought the best video card I could afford, skimping some on the processor. Not that WoW is that hard on a graphics card, but since you mentioned that's what you play, I thought it was a good example.
Memory. Memory is a good upgrade, but do it yourself. If you don't feel you can afford it right now, then get the base amount of 8gb, and wait until you can add more. Personally, I would (and did) purchase Crucial memory from Amazon, 16gb for $140. That brings you up to a total of 24gb, when you feel you want or need it. But it doesn't have to be now.
The fusion drive is very nice. It is very fast, and if you can afford it, I'd certainly recommend it. But the speed gain doesn't really help that much for the future.
I recently purchased an iMac. While I was deciding what I could afford, I always knew I'd put the 780 in the machine. Everything else was negotiable. Personally, I went with the i7, the 780, and a 1tb fusion drive, plus 16gb aftermarket memory. Of those things, I'd give up the i7 first, as it has the least affect on what I do. Next would be memory. But I'd want the fusion drive (I've been using computers with SSDs), and I'd insist on the 780.
Enjoy.

Fusion Drive like a 128GB SSD if I don't go over?

Hi everyone!
I have a few questions regarding the Fusion Drive. I bought a refurbished late-2013 iMac for a good price but the Fusion drive is bothering me. I'm planning to do video editing and all my applications that I need fit on the SSD. So my questions are:
1. If I don't go over 128GB (Fusion Drive's SSD portion) am I essentially using a 128GB Flash storage? (I'm planning to edit on external drives)
2. And is there a way to check how much files my SSD portion of the Fusion drive is holding?
3. If I bootcamp my 3TB fusion with 1TB for Windows 7, does the SSD portion get affected when booting up Mac? I'm only using my Windows 7 for gaming.
4. I've heard that Disk Drives get slower as it fills up, is this true? If so, could you elaborate on it please. I may leave the other 2TB remainder alone if that's the case.
5. Lastly, I'm planning to upgrade the 8GB Ram with an extra 16GB Ram from amazon. I just wanted confirmation that these rams do indeed work on my iMac Late-2013 system. http://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/B008LTBJFW/ref=ox_sc_sfl_title_2?ie=UTF8&psc=1&s mid=A3DWYIK6Y9EEQB
Thanks!

You are over-complicating using your computer, simply use the Fusion drive as you would any internal HD. There is nothing special you need to do!
As for Boot Camp, simply follow the on-screen instructions in Boot Camp Assistant (Applications - Utilities - Boot Camp Assistant) for installing. In addition you may find the manual for Boot Camp helpful, click http://manuals.info.apple.com/MANUALS/1000/MA1583/en_US/boot_camp_install-setup_ 10.7.pdf to view the manual.
As for RAM I would STRONGLY recommend buying RAM from OWC (www.macsales.com) if you are in the USA, if you are outside the US then buy it directly from Crucial, they have an on-screen utility to help you choose the correct RAM for your iMac. The correct RAM from OWC would be found at
http://eshop.macsales.com/shop/memory/iMac/2012_27/DDR3L

Solid State Drive Upgrade Questions

Hello!!
I'm looking at removing the optical drive (recently deceased) from my MacBook Pro as I rarely use it and can use my friend's external one for the rare occasions I'd need it, and replacing it with a second hard drive. I've heard that this port can't reliably handle 6Gbps speeds so I'm going to put my 1TB mechanical drive in place of the optical drive and put a 64GB solid state in as the "main" drive.
My intention is as you might expect, to use the SSD for OS X and applications.
My first question, is what folders do I need to copy onto that SSD? I'll be using Carbon Copy Cloner to do this task. Do I have to select every folder on the source drive and just unticking any media and data that I'm going to keep on the mechanical 1TB?
When I have the two drives installed, where will my 1TB data appear? Will it still show up in Finder as it does with a single drive, or will appear as another storage device as if it were external? If it's as another device, can I make OS X make it look like everything is on the same drive?
I don't know a huge amount about this stuff, I know enough to do the copying and changing of hardware but not that much about working with OS X in Terminal or anything like that so please be patient if I ask lots of "How to" questions If there are online guides already answering my questions it'd be great to have some links, I've had a hard time finding them!
Thanks

Solid state drives have yet to become a worthwhile venture as their use in high end computing has not yet been proven. One of the biggest problems with SSD's is the fact that they cannot come to par with traditional drives in terms of random write speeds. Most people take a performance hit with these types of drives except for the exception of one company, which has gotten speeds up to traditional drive speeds.
However, sequential read and write speeds are marginally faster than traditional drives, which gives u a boost on boot, which is noticably faster. For most business users, the upgrade to an SSD will not yield any tangible results except when transferring bulk files back and forth, at which point one would notice a significant performance hit. Regarding battery life, the first time I used a SSD, it didn't help with battery life at all that was noticable. However, it was well worth the upgrade as it made the laptop literally silent and cool. It's surprising how much sound hard drives make these days ....
My two cents is that the SSD is really an expensive looks-only aesthetic mod but in terms of CG heavy users - not worth it yet unless you can run it in RAID 0 or 5 with 4+ drives, bringing performance quite up to par. At that point, a desktop machine running RAM drives from Gigabyte might even be better....
Message Edited by singularity2006 on 02-19-2008 03:48 PM
T61_Wide | Model No. 7662 - CTO
Core 2 Duo T7250 | 2GB OCZ DDR2-800
82566MM Gigabit | 4965AGN Centrino Pro

T61 and Solid State Drive Upgrade -- Questions

Solid State Drive prices are going southwards, and I am tempted to explore the possibility of upgrading the existing internal hard drive with a solid sate one (as and when 128 GB SSD become available) in my T61.
My questions are:
1. Is it possible to upgrade to these devices?
2. Would there be any gain in battery life? How much is it likely?
3. Would there be any performance gain?
4. What are the pitfalls?
Sushil
Sushil
ThinkPad T61, (7658CTO), T7500, Integrated Graphics, 320 GB HDD, 3 GB RAM, 1 GB Intel Turbo Memory, Vista (32 bit) Business

Solid state drives have yet to become a worthwhile venture as their use in high end computing has not yet been proven. One of the biggest problems with SSD's is the fact that they cannot come to par with traditional drives in terms of random write speeds. Most people take a performance hit with these types of drives except for the exception of one company, which has gotten speeds up to traditional drive speeds.
However, sequential read and write speeds are marginally faster than traditional drives, which gives u a boost on boot, which is noticably faster. For most business users, the upgrade to an SSD will not yield any tangible results except when transferring bulk files back and forth, at which point one would notice a significant performance hit. Regarding battery life, the first time I used a SSD, it didn't help with battery life at all that was noticable. However, it was well worth the upgrade as it made the laptop literally silent and cool. It's surprising how much sound hard drives make these days ....
My two cents is that the SSD is really an expensive looks-only aesthetic mod but in terms of CG heavy users - not worth it yet unless you can run it in RAID 0 or 5 with 4+ drives, bringing performance quite up to par. At that point, a desktop machine running RAM drives from Gigabyte might even be better....
Message Edited by singularity2006 on 02-19-2008 03:48 PM
T61_Wide | Model No. 7662 - CTO
Core 2 Duo T7250 | 2GB OCZ DDR2-800
82566MM Gigabit | 4965AGN Centrino Pro

Fusion drive DIY not using SSD

Hello community,
Recently I have bought a SSD drive for my Mac Mini 2012, in order to make a dual hard drive installation ready to build a DIY Fusion Drive with Disk Utility. Apparently it works well, I have installed Yosemite without any problems and been using the Mac Mini normally. The problem is that it's very slow performance when it needs to read/write from disk, I've got around 40mb/s read and 35mb/s write speeds on BlackMagic disk speed tests.
In addition, checking the installation of the drives running "diskutil list" from command line (which tells me that disk0 is the SSD and disk1 is the HDD), and the disk usage with "iostat disk0 disk1 1" I can see that the OS is not really using disk0 but disk1 for all disk operations.
I noticed that eventually disk0 has movement but 99% activity is in disk1 (HDD). I believe that the normal behavior of a Fusion Drive is using SSD mainly and HDD in second instance for "not-cached" or less used files, but I am experiencing the opposite behavior.
The model of the SSD is Kingston HyperX 3K 240GB.
Please give me any advice about this issue.
Thanks for your help.
Best regards.

Thanks for your replies.
Actually the SSD it's installed in the upper bay, because I've tried to install it at the bottom but Fusion Drive seems not to work, failing disk verification and prompting me to repair disk. In the upper bay seems to work fine, but I've this this issue.
This is my "diskutil cs list" output:
Mac-mini-de-Arturo:~ Bayo$ diskutil cs list
CoreStorage logical volume groups (1 found)
|
+-- Logical Volume Group FB3EEBCC-EBDA-4F7A-9256-0AE4A854C512
    =========================================================
    Name:         Internal Drive
    Status:       Online
    Size:         1239058448384 B (1.2 TB)
    Free Space:   0 B (0 B)
    |
    +-< Physical Volume 3D0A6EE0-51FE-425C-B716-89215472D2D9
    |   ----------------------------------------------------
    |   Index:    0
    |   Disk:     disk1s2
    |   Status:   Online
    |   Size:     239713435648 B (239.7 GB)
    |
    +-< Physical Volume 397E16F1-877B-412B-8D7D-59A5BD47661A
    |   ----------------------------------------------------
    |   Index:    1
    |   Disk:     disk0s2
    |   Status:   Online
    |   Size:     999345012736 B (999.3 GB)
    |
    +-> Logical Volume Family 8FEAC5E2-11F2-4FE7-B980-945A0B81463C
        Encryption Status:       Unlocked
        Encryption Type:         None
        Conversion Status:       NoConversion
        Conversion Direction:    -none-
        Has Encrypted Extents:   No
        Fully Secure:            No
        Passphrase Required:     No
        |
        +-> Logical Volume 1621B9C3-17F9-4ABC-B8FF-767FEF074A94
            Disk:                  disk2
            Status:                Online
            Size (Total):          1230265384960 B (1.2 TB)
            Conversion Progress:   -none-
            Revertible:            No
            LV Name:               Macintosh HD
            Volume Name:           Macintosh HD
            Content Hint:          Apple_HFS
and, for more info, a screenshot of my current speed test with BlackMagic:
Many thanks!

Mac Mini Fusion Drive or self built SSD / Fusion drive

Hi,
I am contemplating to buy a Mac Mini i7 2.6GHz but don't really know what I want to do with the Harddrive. One option would of course be to add a Fusion Drive for 200 bucks. However, apple doesn't say anything about the brand or model that they use for the SSD's which is a bit upsetting. Another option would be to go with the basic 1TB hard drive and replace it with a really good SSD (also around 200), or the third option would be to perhaps create your own Fusion Drive by going with the basic 1TB hard drive and simply add a SSD.
Any suggestions, recommendations, potential problems of eacht etc?
Thanks very much in advance

I have used a Fusion drive (120GB Intel SSD + 500GB HDD) which worked really well, handled all the file movement between the SSD and HDD and made a Mini fast. I added the SSD myself using a dual drive kit (with tools) from iFixit.com.
I would go with the idea of purchasing a 3rd party SSD (Samsung, Crucial, OWC), a dual drive kit from either iFixit.com or OWC (Macsales.com) then install it yourself. Both iFixit.com and Macsales.com have excellent guides on how to do this. With OS X Mavericks you'll be able to have the OS create a Fusion drive or you can manage the drives independently.

HP Pavilion dv6000 Hard Drive Upgrade Question

Hello all, and thank you in advance for your advice.
I own an HP Pavilion dv6000 laptop. It came with a Western Digital Scorpio WD800BEVS (80GB 5400rpm 8MB 2.5" SATA 1.5Gb/s) hard drive installed. This drive finally failed after making funny noises for about 14 months, and I'm looking to replace/upgrade as the computer itself is still in good condition. Thankfully I back everything up on an external, so nothing was lost.
I understand that a faster drive (7200rpm) will run a bit warmer, and draw power more quickly. Power is not a concern, I rarely run the laptop without AC attached. Anybody have an idea how much warmer a 7200rpm drive would run? Would this be an issue on an older computer where the fans may not be as efficient as they were when new? I do keep the vents clear and clean, so air flow should not be impeded.
What I want:
1) I'd like to upgade to more volume.
2) I'd like to upgrade for speed as I frequently use the computer for photo editing (up to 18MB images using PhotoMechanic, Photoshop, Lightroom, Bridge, Noise Ninja). I'm thinking 16MB cache and 3.0Gb/s internal would help with this. Any downsides or compatibility issues with those upgrades on the dv6000?
3) I intend to re-install the Windows XP Home OS that came with the machine, do the updates, and strip out all the HP/Windows extras. Not about to purchase a new OS.
4) Haven't checked prices yet, but I'm fairly certain it only has 1GB of RAM at the moment. Will likely max that out to 2GB.
A quick search on Newegg brought up dozens of drives that appear to work with the dv6000.
Right now I'm between this Western Digital Scorpio Black WD5000BEKT 500GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache 2.5" SATA 3.0Gb/s
$75 with 5-year warranty
And this Seagate Momentus 7200.4 ST9500420AS 500GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache 2.5" SATA 3.0Gb/s
$65 with 3-year warranty
Will the dv6000 accept a SATA-II drive without issues?
The original part is $45 on Amazon with comparable prices elsewhere.
Any advice on which drive to go with (especially if you've used them personally) would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!!
***edit***
Additional information:
Looking at the label, my laptop is an HP Pavilion dv6500, CNF74143HW, AMD Turion 64 X2 and nVidia graphics.
Also, I was mistaken, it came with Windows Vista Home Premium, not XP, so I will be reinstalling with Vista HP.
The RAM is HP 449929-001, it has 2x 1GB sticks already installed, not sure if this is the max or if it can take 3 or 4 GB and actually use it.

You don't give us the exact model of the dv6000 series you have but if it is an AMD processor and the model number is equal to or lower than dv6499 I would be concerned about any extra heat. If you have the Intel version I would be less concerned. The fact of the matter is that the newest SATA-II laptop hard drives draw less power and put out no more heat than before so a current 7200 rpm model would not be any hotter or draw any more power than the 80 gig you have now. However, that model series of laptops has been plagued with unexplained issues with all 7200 rpm drives and all 500 gig drives. I have been telling people here for quite some time that the optimum, low risk upgrade is to a 320 gig 5400 rpm drive.
You want more speed. A SATA-II drive will work fine but obviously will adjust down to a SATA-I connection. You do not lose much because the difference is only in max burst speed which is rarely attained anyway. I have personally installed 7200 rpm drives in dv6000 laptops and have not had a problem. I have not installed a 500 gig drive. My advice to you is to find a 320 gig 7200 rpm drive and look for one with a 16 or 32 meg cache rather than an 8 meg cache.I have also not tried one in a dv6000 but you might want to consider a 320 gig SATA hybrid drive. They cost a bit more but will be the fastest non-SSD drive you can buy:
hybrid drive
not hybrid
Good luck. There is a small risk of issues with a 7200 rpm drive but I think you will be OK. Keep in mind installing XP takes some special steps, all covered here on this Forum in the XP downgrade guide.

Bootcamp/Hard Drive Upgrade questions

Hi everyone, i have a couple questions about upgrading the HD in my MacBook Pro 15" Mid 1012. Potentially I want to use bootcamp, but I need some answers before I make any decisions. So basically, I want to Bootcamp Windows so i can play PC games that I've owned since before the switch (I am an art major so I had to switch to Mac). I used Bootcamp before but I couldn't register my copy of Windows 8 because it was an upgrade version, so I removed it.
My first question would be if anyone knows how to get an upgrade version of Windows 8 to work? Im pretty sure I remember seeing that it didnt work, but that was a couple months ago. Maybe things have changed since?
I have no issue buying another copy of Windows 8 if need be. I only paid $15 to upgrade anyway so it's not a major loss. The last time I used Bootcamp though, i only partitioned like 25GBs to Windows, just because I didnt know how much I would actually need. I came to realize that that was not enough. I have a 500GB HD in my MacBook Pro right now, so I would like to upgrade to a 1TB to provide more space on both sides. I've searched for a few on Amazon and such. I need to know if the physical size of the HD matters because i noticed there was two different ones. I also need to know if I can use any HD or if only certain ones are compatible? I don't want an SSD either, it is too expensive for that capacity. Basically, if anyone can recommend an exact HD, one that would be compatible with my MBP or give me an idea of what would work and what won't?
Another question would be... im not extremely comfortable popping open my Mac. This is not something that I do, even though I have read that it is extremely easy. I wanted to look first if there were any places that provide this kind of service for a reasonably cheap cost? Apple themselves, or Best Buy, Office Max etc. I don't really have a preference as long as its cheap enough. If not, or it is too expensive then I will follow instructions to perform this myself, I do know how to read after all, but I would prefer to look for a 3rd party first. Also, does anyone know if this procedure voids any warranties or anything on my Mac?
Sorry for the length. Question overload, but if anyone can answer some or all of my question, I would appreciate it so much. Thanks everyone!

MathewMelo,
for any Mac that supports Boot Camp, no, you can’t use any upgrade version of Windows; you’ll need to use a full install version. For your 15-inch Mid 2012 MacBook Pro, you can use a full install version of either 32-bit Windows 7 (with Boot Camp version 4), or 64-bit Windows 7 or Windows 8 (with Boot Camp version 5).
For the size of a hard drive that will fit inside of your MacBook Pro, you’re looking for the 2.5-inch form factor. A hard drive that supports SATA III will ensure best performance with your model MacBook Pro. A 1 TB hard drive like the Hitachi Travelstar 7K1000.B (part number 0S03563) might fit your needs, and it has a three-year warranty. I haven’t used this particular model myself, but I’d used a different Travelstar disk in my old ThinkPad for many years, and it worked well for me.
As far as replacing the hard drive, I don’t know who offers the service cheaply in your area — you should call your local computer shops and ask them. It’s not difficult to do yourself, as long as you take care to discharge static electricity before touching anything inside of your MacBook Pro. The only unusual tool that you might need is a T6 Torx screwdriver; at least in my Mid 2010 MacBook Pro, the hard drive is held in place by four T6 Torx screws, and if your model is similar, then you’ll need the T6 screwdriver to remove these screws from your stock internal drive and put them into your new internal drive so that it will stay in place. Changing the hard drive yourself does not void the warranty, but if you damage anything else while changing the hard drive, your warranty specifically does not cover that damage. The hard drive is one of the easiest things to replace in the pre-Retina unibody MacBook Pro, so it isn’t difficult to avoid damaging other components during the transplant.

Mid 2009 MacBook Pro 13 Hard Drive Upgrade Questions

I bought an upgraded hard drive for my mid-2009 MBP 13. I've done some reading and it appears that my model of MBP shouldn't have drive issues, but I still have a few questions that I'm hoping someone will answer. Perhaps this will all boil down to a little knowledge is a dangerous thing. That is, I may be worried without good reason. If so, I apologize ahead of time.
MacBook Pro 5,5
2.26 GHz
4GB RAM
10.6.3
Firmware version is: EFI64
The stock drive is a TOSHIBA MK1655GSXF (160 GB):
The new hard drive is the Western Digital Scorpio Blue 500 GB 5400 RPM drive.
I noticed that the temperature seemed to spike after installing the new drive. I didn't get the temperature of the hard drive before I took it out, but the CPU was consistently around 170 degrees Fahrenheit and the fan was in the 2,800-2,900 RPM range.
After putting the stock drive back in the MBP, the temps are consistently 142-145 degrees F for the CPU and 95-97 degrees F for the hard drive. The fan is right around 2,000 RPM.
I've read a bit about outrageous load cycles and just wanted to check the numbers.
The WD Scorpio Blue around 4,055 after 27 power on hours.
The stock drive was at last count, at 206701 after 2215 power on hours.
The machine is doing comparable things, downloading podcasts, Time Machine backups, browsing, etc.
The general questions, I have are:
Is the temperature supposed to spike like that when handling a larger drive?
If so, what is a reasonable range? I know I don't have the temperature of the new drive, but if I knew what to expect, I guess I would be more confident putting the new drive back in and not returning it.
What's a normal/healthy/reasonable (don't really know the term I'm grasping for) load cycle to see? I divided the load cycles by the number of power on hours and get around 150 for the WD and 93 for the Toshiba. Are either of those outrageously good or bad? I haven't been able to tell in my reading.
The bottom-line questions are:
Am I just overreacting based on what I've read? Or, is something not kosher and should I return the new drive and get something else? Should I try hdapm or something? If I should return the drive, any recommendations?
I've talked your collective ear off, I'm sure.
Thank you in advance for your responses.
Cheers,
Rob

For what it's worth I've put aftermarket 7200 rpm hard drives in 2006 and 2008 15" MBP's and also a WD Scorpio Black 320GB in a 2009 13" MBP 2.53GHz and have had no changes in cpu temp or fan speed. Your fan speeds and cpu temp with the new drive sound too high. Something else is going on here. The temp is not supposed to spike when handling a larger drive. Maybe it's something like
Spotlight indexing the new drive? Have a look at your Activity Monitor for an active process drawing resources with the new drive.

Video Editing/Hard Drive Upgrade Questions

I have been using iMovie for the last year to edit video and burn it to DVD. Editing on the fly at the events that I am actually recording has been an incredible asset, but I'm going to need to perform some upgrades pretty soon. Here are my questions/concerns:
1. Has anyone successfully used Final Cut Express 3.5 with their Macbook? When I initially bought my laptop, the Apple sales-guy said that he wouldn't recommend using Express (and definitely not Pro), but I have recently looked up the the system requirements and my computer seems to fall comfortably within the low-end boundaries. Is this wishful thinking on my part?
2. Can anyone recommend an external hard drive that works well with the MacBook for working with and storing large video projects? I think I'm going to need something like a 500 GB or 1 TB.
3. Last question....In the meantime, I'll be upgrading my RAM to 2 GB. Does anyone know why Apple sells their chips for alot! more money than Crucial? Are their quality/warranty/moral issues involved in this difference?
These discussion boards have helped me comfortably deal with just about any issue I've ever had with my Macs. So, thanks in advance.
MacBook w/ 2G Core2Duo-1GB of RAM
Running 10.4.10
80GB HD w/10 GB free

anothamacuser wrote:
1. Has anyone successfully used Final Cut Express 3.5 with their Macbook? When I initially bought my laptop, the Apple sales-guy said that he wouldn't recommend using Express (and definitely not Pro), but I have recently looked up the the system requirements and my computer seems to fall comfortably within the low-end boundaries. Is this wishful thinking on my part?
Yes it works good on the MacBook.
2. Can anyone recommend an external hard drive that works well with the MacBook for working with and storing large video projects? I think I'm going to need something like a 500 GB or 1 TB.
Your hard drive is the same size as mine. You might want to consider upgrading that also. Western Digital makes a very good 250 GB 5400 RPM. I will be replacing mine with that soon.
3. Last question....In the meantime, I'll be upgrading my RAM to 2 GB. Does anyone know why Apple sells their chips for alot! more money than Crucial? Are their quality/warranty/moral issues involved in this difference?
No one knows for sure except Apple. My MacBook came with Micron RAM in it and Crucial ( a subdivision of Micron) sells the same RAM cheaper. The quality is just as good. This is Apples DIY Warranty Info so there is not an issue there. I can't think of any moral issue concerning saving myself money.

Drive upgrade questions

I have a MPB that's about 18 months old. I have the AppleCare extended warranty with it.
My 160 GB drive is 3/4 full but I can stay on top of it with periodic cleanups. Eventually though I'll have to make a decision about an upgrade.
Question -- can I (either by myself or at an Apple Store or elsewhere) replace my internal drive w/o voiding my extended warranty? And is Superduper (do I have that right) the best app to ghost an image of my current HD to a potentially new HD?

You could replace the drive yourself. It's not a simple project, but it is doable. However, any consequential damage caused by your replacing the drive will void the warranty with respect to those repairs. Having the work done by an Apple Certified Technician will prevent that from happening.
Unfortunately, most Apple service centers that replace drives may insist on keeping the drive they remove. Although technically what you want to do is not really a warranty replacement of a defective drive, they may insist on it. If they do and that's not a problem for you, then you can have the shop clone your old drive to the new one for you.
If you choose to do the work yourself you will find an excellent video tutorial at MacSales.com. They are also a good choice for purchasing a new drive.
Cloning the drive doesn't require any third-party software. You can use the Restore option of Disk Utility to clone the drive:
How to Clone Using Restore Option of Disk Utility
1. Open Disk Utility from the Utilities folder.
2. Select the destination volume from the left side list.
3. Click on the Erase tab in the DU main window. Set the format type to Mac OS Extended (journaled, if available) and click on the Erase button. This step can be skipped if the destination has already been freshly erased.
4. Click on the Restore tab in the DU main window.
5. Select the destination volume from the left side list and drag it to the Destination entry field.
6. Select the source volume from the left side list and drag it to the Source entry field.
7. Double-check you got it right, then click on the Restore button.
Destination means the drive to which you will clone the old drive.
Source means the drive you are cloning from.

Hard Drive Upgrade Questions.

I have an intel core 2 duo mac with an 80 gb hard drive. I'm considering upgrading to a 250gb hard drive, though I've read that the process is very difficult. How difficult is the process exactly and is it possible for a non-professional. I recently upgraded my macbook pro from 80gb to 250gb, though I believe that I voided the warranty by opening it. Also, would upgrading my mini void the warranty? Is the hard drive in the mini the same as the hard drive in my Macbook Pro?
Thanks!

When you replace the drive with a new, generic, one, you will usually need to reformat the drive. You can do that by booting the system to the original install disk (or a retail copy of MacOS) and then selecting Disk Utility from the Utilities menu when the installer appears. From there, the new drive should be detected, and if it isn't partitioned correctly (Apple scheme for PPC systems and GUID scheme for Intel) and formatted correctly (MacOS Extended (journaled) in most cases, you can do so from there. After that, you can either install MacOS from the installer itself, or if you have a fully functioning and bootable external drive with MacOS correctly installed for that system, you can use a utility such as SuperDuper! or CarbonCopyCloner (both downloadable from www.versiontracker.com) to clone the external to the new drive.
If you simply install MacOS, then when complete you can boot to the new drive, and run the migration assistant to pull your data etc from an external if you wish. Personally I don't like to migrate software or settings, preferring instead to reinstall and configure from scratch to avoid possible issues.

GT72 Hard Drive Upgrade Question?

I am looking at upgrading the hard drive on my MSI GT72 laptop; which has the availability for me to upgrade. However, for me to do this I will need to void the warranty correct since I have to remove the label that is on the bottom of the unit that is covering one of the screws, correct?

You will not void the warranty by removing the screws for upgrades as long as you don't damage anything in the process. The sticker is there mainly to deter inept idiots from possibly doing something stupid and damaging their rig.
Like I said if you're careful and don't damage anything your good to go.

Fusion drive upgrade question (7200rpm?+SSD swap)

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