Hard Drives Organisation Question

Hi-
I have 3 HDs in my Mac Pro (2 x 500GB and the 250GB OEM drive) plus an external LaCie FW 250GB.
I need to re-organise my setup to optimise performance, and am thinking the best way forward will be to use the OEM drive as boot drive, containing just System stuff and Apps. I'll use SuperDuper to back this drive up to the external drive.
Then I'll partition the two 500GB drives (probably 350GB and <150GB volumes) so I can use the larger partition for all my "Users" stuff and the smaller as PS Scratch Disk.
My questions are:
1. Does this arrangement make sense, in terms of what I've got now?
2. Should I set the 2 x 500GB drives as a mirrored RAID, or just use something like ChronoSync to keep the "Users" files in sync? Pros and cons of each?
Any suggestions welcome (though I don't really want to buy any more drives this month) - thanks in advance
Jim

I bought it from a local shop, sorry can't really give you a link. But its similar to the ones you get on ebay. Just so you know, the casing isn't the problem - like I said, I've tried it on other computers.
I know I can always buy a new casing, but I need Apple to know that the USB has its issues. I mean - a premium notebook like this should be able to handle everything shouldn't it?
I don't see why OS X should be a problem - I've tried the same casing with different hard disks. So its most definitely a hardware compatibilty issue - particularly considering that the situation HAS improved since the EFI upgrade.

Similar Messages

Hello, can someone help me: my eMac G4 700 MHz. I can not boot it. If he starts appears on the screen, only a small "folder with a question mark." The Mac was not used 1 year. Question 1: Problem = hard drive? Question 2: Problem = PRAM battery? the What

Hello, can someone help me: my eMac G4 700 MHz. I can not boot it. If he starts appears on the screen, only a small "folder with a question mark." The Mac was not used 1 year.
Question 1: Problem = hard drive?
Question 2: Problem = PRAM battery?
the
What can I do to boot?

Restart with the Option key held down.
If the internal drive shows up, it's the PRAM battery.
If it doesn't, insert a compatible Mac OS 9 or X install disk, click the button with the circular arrow, and either repair the internal drive or install a new OS on it. If it doesn't show up in Disk First Aid(9) or the Disk Utility(X), it's either not plugged in or needs to be replaced.
(97530)

Another hard drive swap question - re: 8GB partition for OSX in iMac 266

I have a Tangerine iMac 266 that I am setting up for a neighbor's son. The original 6GB hard drive was toast, so I swapped in an old 10GB drive that had previously been removed from an iMacDV 400. The 10GB "new" drive had OSX 10.3.1 and OS 9.1 on a single partition. I am aware that these early iMacs need OSX in a first partition of less than 8GB, so I expected that I would need to partition the "new" drive. However, while I was loading an install CD after powering up, the iMac booted fine into OSX, despite it NOT being located in a first partition of less than 8GB (and has continued operating well - booting multiple times in OS X and 9, surfing the net, etc...the only weirdness is a refusal of Word X to run).
I thought this was impossible, and in researching this I found that the Apple support site says that, for this computer, "Mac OS X must be installed on a volume that is contained entirely within the first 8 GB of its ATA hard disk." see http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=106235
My Questions:
Is the 8GB limit only related to iINSTALLING OSX on these machines (and not RUNNING OSX)?
Will the machine run into problems later if a portion of the OS (i.e., during an update) gets installed outside of the first 8GB of the disk?
One of the log files says that the driver is out of date for the RageproC, and Classic applications that require more than 4MB of VRAM say that I don't have enough VRAM to run, yet the iMac has 6MB of VRAM (2 on MB and 4 in slot as listing by the system profiler) - do I need to (or should I) reinstall the system software (I already tried loading the latest ATI drivers, but it did't help)?
P.S. - to add more data points on the subject of RAM upgrades in these iMacs, my iMac 266 would not accept a 256MB PC-100 SO-DIMM that worked fine in an iBook and in the upper slot of a Rev. A iMac 233. Well, it accepted it, but only recognized the first 128MB.

I believe Duane is correct. Even with Mac OS 9, you can run fine as long as all OS components used during startup are within the first 8GB of space. However, (even with Mac OS 9) as soon as something used during startup ends up beyond that limit, you will get open firmware or a gray screen at startup. The Mac OS X does not allow the installation target to exceed the limit as a preventative measure, not because it won't work at all.
The best "non-technical" explanation I have heard as to why, is this... The IDE hardware (and its driver) can only "see" the first 8GB of space during the initial start up process before the OS is loaded. Once start up completes, control is handed to the OS, which can see the entire drive. Therefore, apps have no problem running from beyond the limit. Only components needed before the hand-off is constrained to the 8GB limit.
FYI - On my iMac and 120GB drive, 7.78 GB (as shown in a Finder window) is the precise point where the Mac OS X Installer allows the volume to be the install target. "Precise" to with a few hundred MB's.

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.

Hard drive install question

I want to install a second hard drive in my HP dv7-6c95dx. the main drive that is in it now is a,
750GB 5400RPM hard drive with HP ProtectSmart Hard Drive Protection
I want to put in a second drive (the one above) for a total of 1.5TB of hard drive storage. ok now my question,
is the "HP ProtectSmart Hard Drive Protection" a gimmick or does it really work? should i just get a drive of the same brand and forget about the "HP ProtectSmart Hard Drive Protection"? I want to get the exact matching drive but HP wants $256 for it (ouch!),
and that does not include the cable. is it worth the extra $130 or so for the matching "HP ProtectSmart Hard Drive Protection"?
Or should i just get a matching brand hard drive and forget about the "HP ProtectSmart Hard Drive Protection"?

Hi,
Sorry, I should have been clearer on this, I meant that you should physically check the drive currently installed in your notebook.
Best regards,
DP-K
****Click the White thumb to say thanks****
****Please mark Accept As Solution if it solves your problem****
****I don't work for HP****
Microsoft MVP - Windows Experience

External hard drive & iphoto question

My hard drive was getting full, so I copied my iphoto library to an external hard drive. My question is when I add new photos to my computer, if I want to copy them to my external hard drive, do I just plug it in again and copy iphoto library? It won't re copy all of my library again will it? Just want to add new pics to it. Thanks!

If you have two copies of the iPhoto library, one on the internal drive and one on the external, you're not saving any space on the internal. I think what you're trying to do is to move the iPhoto library off the internal drive. If that's correct, then follow the instructions linked below:
iPhoto: How to move the Library folder to a new location
After relocating the library, delete the original.
Back up all data before making any changes. You must back up all data on the external drive to another external drive.

Mac Pro 8 Core (2008) Hard Drive & Ram questions

Hi there,
I recently purchased a Mac Pro 8 Core 2008 Model with 2Gb ram and 320Gb Hard Drive (Got a great deal on it... paid $1,500.00 for it!!). I bought this computer exclusively for audio production work. I know I can upgrade up to 32GB of ram if I wanted to however, I have heard that the system won't recognize 32GB ram when running 32bit OS & Applications. I use Ableton Live 8.2 (32bit capable) and Logic Studio 9 (32bit & 64bit capable).. what is the highest amount of ram I should upgrade to without overkilling it? In other words... what is the highest amount of ram I can upgrade to that I will actually notice the difference and that the system will actually use @ 32bit?
Second question is regarding hard drives... I need at least 320GB for OS and core applications and at least 1 TB for storage... what is the most efficient, fastest and least expensive to upgrade the storage on this machine?
I really appreciate your comments on this one.

Someone with Mac Pro, but on OS X 10.6 Install forum, like some, has full suites of CS5, FCP and others, and had run out of space literally on 150GB boot drive.
Apps like iDVD tech note recommended the boot drive have 24GB of free space (unfragmented for best burn performance) to burn dual layer.
X-Plane can go anywhere but uses almost 60GB for full world support.
My rule of thumb is 50% free on boot drive to avoid fragmenting free space such that it causes problems and there is always good performance overall as well as for read/writes.
To say someone doesn't need xyz when maybe they rre right, and to argue with their own math?
OS X does not support TRIM or I'd see if you can go with 120GB SSD. One way to slim down boot drive of course, maybe you have, maybe not,
Move all the data and media files possible off the boot drive can save 100GB and improve I/O at the same time.
Move the entire home account folder (the above leaves a smaller 1GB home library only on boot drive) which really isn't totally necessary but nice for some.
WD Black Caviar 2TB $170 is fast and nice or $89 for 1TB (if you think you need A, then get 2 x as much storage).
2008s don't use 8GB DIMMs and 32GB is as far as they go.
ATI 5770/5870 or even Quadro 4000 graphics
did it come with a 4870? or 8800GT?

Mac Pro Hard Drive Setup Question

Mr. FedEx brought me my Mac Pro today and I'm getting ready to set it up. I'm migrating from a PowerBook G4 17 inch and got the Mac Pro 3.0 GHz, 8 GB RAM, and four 500 GB hard drives. I figure I should do a freash install of Aperture instead of using the Migration Wizard. The question for the night is, how should I handle the four hard drives? Out of the box I see four seperate hard drives labled Macintosh HD. For Aperture, should I use software raid across all four drives or only three leaving the OS drive by itselft for applications?
Mac Pro Mac OS X (10.4.7)

Sure you can... I got a Raid 0 on two 300Gb drives on my boot drive... They host the OS and my apps.
The trick is that its got to be a fresh install. You boot with your hardware giag disk and in the menu you have the disk utility. Create the RAID setup and then quit. You can now boot the disk with the OS install and it will recognize it as such.
Now - a few things to consider. Next version of OS X has Time Machine that that expects a volume (a disk, the whole disk) for it to work. So it would be cool if you find out about it and sort of prepare for it.
Having said that I would Raid0 two pairs and Raid1 the two. This is called Raid 1+0 or Raid 10. Its a good compromise but if drive 1 AND 3 fail then there is no backup. I would also get an external firewire disk (say 300Gb or 500Gb) and use it as a vault. But that is because I can't think of running the machine with a full backup of what I got, still not a perfect solution.
The way I got it is using Raid 0 on my OS and Apps (600Gb) with an external Firewire disk for backup. (no Raid 0 - so there is no statistical odds to beat)
Apeture has two drives. Two Firewire 800 (1Tb) drives, one the library and the other is the vault. The vault also stores the deleted images, so you will have to clean every now and then or it will grow faster than your library.
http://www.terraoptica.com

Time Machine, External Hard Drives, Drobos, questions....

I'm not sure if I'm posting this in the right place, but feel free to point me somewhere else if not. I'm a professional photographer transitioning into some video work and am currently working out a media drive / backup drive solution to suit the needs of a one man band. Currently I have a couple of 2TB MyBooks running, and backup from one to the other each night, which isn't the most elegant solution but has worked so far. I've just ordered a Drobo and hard disks to give me a little more peace of mind, but because the Drobo isn't known for being the fastest solution in the world (at least the basic model isn't), I'm also purchasing a G-Tech Raid drive to use as my active media drive.
I'm hoping the following is possible and hoping someone can answer a couple of questions I have about using the following setup. I plan to use Time Machine as a backup solution, which saves me continually having to copy and check files are all in the right place each night as I do at the moment when manually backing up. I believe it's possible to have the G-Raid drive, which is where all media will be placed when importing, as part of a Time Machine backup that will put the contents of my iMac (which is not much, just core software) and the G-Raid onto the Drobo, and keep things updated when files are changed, updated or deleted.
The first thing I wanted to check is that I'm right in the assumption that the above scenario is not a problem? I'm guessing not as it seems lots of people use variances on this method. But what I'm wondering is, what happens when I fill the 1 or 2 TB raid drive (G-tech), and want to change it out for another one, and the Drobo, which has more and expandable storage, is not full? If I remove the G-Tech drive and replace it with a new one, will Time Machine just carry on as normal, leaving all the original data that was on the older drive untouched on the Drobo and still accessible in the future?
Is it better to partition the Drobo and create a section that is the same size as the current media drive I'm using (500gb, 1tb, etc...) and point the Time Machine to use that section, and then switch to a new partition when putting in a new media drive, or is that unnecessary and overcomplicating things?
I'm assuming that a lot of people tend to have 1 external hard drive working as their media drive, and another running time machine and backing up whatever's on the media drive, and that these drives are the same size, and a swapped out for new ones simultaneously when full. But if you are using a much larger backup drive, like a Drobo, then what do you do in the above situations?
Basically, I want a simple solution that allows me to have a fast (firewire 800 max as I'm using an iMac atm), media drive attached and which is backed up to a drive with redundancy, like a Drobo, and where I can change out that media drive without a problem and changes made on it are mirrored on the backup drive (but where data doesn't get deleted on the backup drive if I need to change out the media drive). My data needs are met with the above mentioned drives and I don't yet need to start investing in more advanced systems to deal with what I'm doing, I just need a solution that is simple, doesn't require excessive time spent tweaking and monitoring things, and where my data is safe if a drive fails.
Finally, I'm guessing if the above scenario is possible then I'll be connecting the G-Tech to the Firewire 800 port and the Drobo to the USB, but I thought I'd ask whilst I'm here whether anybody knows if you can daisy chain the Drobo to the G-Tech via Firewire and still have it operating as a separate backup drive using Time Machine; if this method is possible would people reccomend it over using the iMac's USB port?
Many thanks in advance for any help or suggestions people can offer, and sorry that was such a huge ramble.

I'm not sure if I'm posting this in the right place, but feel free to point me somewhere else if not. I'm a professional photographer transitioning into some video work and am currently working out a media drive / backup drive solution to suit the needs of a one man band. Currently I have a couple of 2TB MyBooks running, and backup from one to the other each night, which isn't the most elegant solution but has worked so far. I've just ordered a Drobo and hard disks to give me a little more peace of mind, but because the Drobo isn't known for being the fastest solution in the world (at least the basic model isn't), I'm also purchasing a G-Tech Raid drive to use as my active media drive.
I'm hoping the following is possible and hoping someone can answer a couple of questions I have about using the following setup. I plan to use Time Machine as a backup solution, which saves me continually having to copy and check files are all in the right place each night as I do at the moment when manually backing up. I believe it's possible to have the G-Raid drive, which is where all media will be placed when importing, as part of a Time Machine backup that will put the contents of my iMac (which is not much, just core software) and the G-Raid onto the Drobo, and keep things updated when files are changed, updated or deleted.
The first thing I wanted to check is that I'm right in the assumption that the above scenario is not a problem? I'm guessing not as it seems lots of people use variances on this method. But what I'm wondering is, what happens when I fill the 1 or 2 TB raid drive (G-tech), and want to change it out for another one, and the Drobo, which has more and expandable storage, is not full? If I remove the G-Tech drive and replace it with a new one, will Time Machine just carry on as normal, leaving all the original data that was on the older drive untouched on the Drobo and still accessible in the future?
Is it better to partition the Drobo and create a section that is the same size as the current media drive I'm using (500gb, 1tb, etc...) and point the Time Machine to use that section, and then switch to a new partition when putting in a new media drive, or is that unnecessary and overcomplicating things?
I'm assuming that a lot of people tend to have 1 external hard drive working as their media drive, and another running time machine and backing up whatever's on the media drive, and that these drives are the same size, and a swapped out for new ones simultaneously when full. But if you are using a much larger backup drive, like a Drobo, then what do you do in the above situations?
Basically, I want a simple solution that allows me to have a fast (firewire 800 max as I'm using an iMac atm), media drive attached and which is backed up to a drive with redundancy, like a Drobo, and where I can change out that media drive without a problem and changes made on it are mirrored on the backup drive (but where data doesn't get deleted on the backup drive if I need to change out the media drive). My data needs are met with the above mentioned drives and I don't yet need to start investing in more advanced systems to deal with what I'm doing, I just need a solution that is simple, doesn't require excessive time spent tweaking and monitoring things, and where my data is safe if a drive fails.
Finally, I'm guessing if the above scenario is possible then I'll be connecting the G-Tech to the Firewire 800 port and the Drobo to the USB, but I thought I'd ask whilst I'm here whether anybody knows if you can daisy chain the Drobo to the G-Tech via Firewire and still have it operating as a separate backup drive using Time Machine; if this method is possible would people reccomend it over using the iMac's USB port?
Many thanks in advance for any help or suggestions people can offer, and sorry that was such a huge ramble.

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.

Hard Drive Volumes Question:

So I got the files safely off of the Case Sensitive volumes... and then I erased the volumes so I could reformat them as not-case sensitive.
I used an OS X install DVD's "Restore" feature to accomplish this.
And now 9.2.2 won't load. =[ A diskette with a Question Mark Pops up instead. =[
Could it be that 9.2.2 is unable to load 16 hard drive volumes??
(I know, I am dumb) .....
I connected my old hard drive and I am using that. I am patiently waiting for a router to be delivered in the mail, and then I can set up as many computers as I'd like..... =]

Hi, In-Correct -
That info is good, but does not help too much.
Which of those two machines are you referring to re the issue expressed in this thread?
Since you mention a PCI card it is probably the Power Mac. If so, which model is it? A 350MHz model can be a G3 (B&W) or a G4 (AGP Graphics) model (and maybe a G4 (PCI Graphics) model).
Re the missing System Folder, you refer to 'volume' rather than 'drive'. If the volume you backed the OS(s) up to was another partition of the same drive which contained the volume you were reformatting, it is possible you inadvertantly reformatted (and hence erased) the entire drive rather than just a partition of it.
Again, having both drives connected, hence active, at the same time should be no problem - particularly if the 120GB drive is using a different controller, which the PCI card provides. All PowerMac machines are designed to handle multiple drives and volumes without conflict. The presence of an additional drive can not cause the erasure of another.
On the G4 (DA) model I'm using at the moment I have two internal drives, one partitioned into 4 volumes and the other partitioned into 5 volumes; those 9 volumes plus an external firewire drive give me a net of 10 volumes (in efferct 10 drives), most of which have OS's on them, all of which mount with every boot regardless of which volume and OS I choose for booting.

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.

New hard drive blinking question mark in a folder

I have an iMac G51058 the hard drive is dead, so I changed for a new one. I turn the computer on, insert a 10.5 disk turn off, wait 30seconds and turn on pressing the option key. A folder with alternating Apple face and a question mark blinks forever. Any suggestions?

power off machine. Hold down the option key. Power on machine. continue holding down option key until you see the startup manager screen.
sometimes you need a wired keyboard for this to work.
Sometimes if volumes don't appear in Startup Manager (what you get when you hold down the Option key at startup), you need to reset the Mac's PRAM, NVRAM, and Open Firmware. Shut down the Mac, then power it up, and before the screen lights up, quickly hold down the Command, Option, P, and R keys, until the Mac has chimed twice more after the powerup chime.
Then, before the screen lights up, hold down Command-Option-O-F until the Open Firmware screen appears. Then enter these lines, pressing Return after each one:
reset-nvram
set-defaults
reset-all
"The reset-all command should restart your Mac. If so, you have successfully reset the Open Firmware settings."
http://support.apple.com/kb/TS1812?viewlocale=en_US
Should the fail...
Try taking the battery out for 10 minutes. Put battery back in. Cross fingers. Power the machine back on.
How to eject a cd from the internal cd drive:
eject cd
List of devices:
devalias
List of variables:
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Copying old iTunes library onto a new hard drive: special question:

How do i do this when the music in my old iTunes library was not all in the itunes media folder (some was in downloads, shared folder, etc). Should I put these folders in the places where they were on my old hard drive (for example the "shared" folder was on the desktop) or should i just put everything into the iTunes media folder. My main goal here is to recreate my old itunes library with the playlists intact while also having all the songs recognized (none of those exclamation points because it cant locate the file). Sorry to repeat myself but I just want to make it clear because i dont want this to mess up. Should i put all my music into the itunes media folder for it to show up in the old library, or should I keep it in the folders it always was in and just place those folders in the same locations on this hard drive? Thanks for any help

The solution you linked to looks good, but I'm a bit
confused about if it'll work for my situation - I'll
be putting Vista on a new drive (completely clean
install, not an upgrade), which means that iTunes
will be cleanly installed as well. The way I'm
reading it, it seems the solution there needs an
iTunes install that already interacts with the old
library.
Right, and the way you do this is to hold down the shift key while starting iTunes. (Note: this does not mean holding down the shift key while you click on the icon. It means holding it down immediately after that while the program is starting up.) This will bring up a dialog asking what iTunes library you want to use. Point to the old library, and you're in business.
Let me know if this will work: I drag and drop my
whole music folder to the new drive, then in iTunes I
go to File --> Import and import the itl or xml file.
I've heard this might not work because the xml file
has pathways that refer to a specific drive letter
which will be different.
That's correct. You can edit the XML to fix the pathnames, but I wouldn't recommend that unless editing XML is something you do regularly.

Storing iTunes on external hard drive -- quick question

I know how to save my iTunes library on an external hard drive, but how do I move my entire Itunes onto it? Do I just save the Itunes on the external drive instead of on the C drive? As it is now, all my music is stored on the external drive, but if I go to another PC that has iTunes on it, I have to manually import each song, rebuild playlists, etc. There has to be some simple way where you can store the iTunes library/lists from your "main" PC, and carry it around to be used on other PCs. Thanks!

Thanks. Since I've already got my iTunes set to store everything on the external drive, does that mean this will re-copy everything? In other words, I already have about 20GB of music on my external drive. When I import new discs in iTunes, it already is set to store them on the external drive. However, I want it so that iTunes itself is stored on the drive, and when I go to another PC, I'll have all the same playlists, settings, etc. In other words, I'll have the same iTunes set-up. So the directions above will do that? Will I have to delete the MP3s I've already saved on my external hard drive, due to duplication? Thanks again!

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