Mac book: hard disk drive: replacement upgrade options

Ive done my reading. Now i would like to know if anyone has had very negative or postive experiences replacing MACBOOK HDs. im interested in the difference in RPMs:54oo vs 72oo. and also the difference in brands. it seems seagate has made a good name for its products, but im also looking at hitachi and western digital. and maybe there is a different company that i dont know about. any experiential knowledge on this topic would be much appreciated.
many thanks
d

hi all,
i have upgraded my factory hd to a seagate momentus 7200 rpm 160GB HD. I would like to use my factory Toshiba 80GB HD as an external HD. from what i can tell i need to get a 2.5" SATA firewire HD enclosure. any suggestions on what kind to get? or where to get it from?
i have only found a couple enclosure that seem to meet these requirements. one at owc and another somewhere else.
but i have read in the forums that people have bought "cheap" enclosures to make their internal hd's external hd's.
i havent found these yet.

Similar Messages

Hard disk drive replacements for MacBookPro

Good morning.
I own a MBP, 2.16 Intel Duo Core.
110G (original) hard disk at about 80%; running OS 10.4.11; need to upgrade to 10.5.6 to run iLife 9 for a class at school.
1) Have received disk error -- "Volume Header Needs Minor Repair" Error: underlying task reported failure on exit.
2) Repair from install disk does not correct the problem.
3) Machine is still operational although it has not been shut down either.
4) Since I need additional disk space, why not just upgrade the disk and the OS?
5) Will either of these disk work? and well? why or why not?
-Model ST904304N3; SATA NCQ interface 16MB cache, 320 G
-Model ST3500641AS-RK; 500 G bare bones (?)
6) Any one on the deep south side of chicago (Cal City/Hammond area) work such things?
Thanks

Welcome to the Apple discussions.
Any 2.5" serial ATA (SATA) drive will work. Buying a new hard drive is an option, since the other repair you could try would be to buy Disk Warrior or TechTool Pro, both which cost a little more than a new hard drive.
I usually get my hard drives from Newegg.com, with good prices and good user comments. Here are SATA drives they carry: http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=2010150380%201035915 133&name=SATA%203.0Gb%2fs . OWC is another source, and here are their drives: http://eshop.macsales.com/shop/hard-drives/2.5-Notebook/SATA .
If you want to buy your own drive and have someone else install it, you might consider an Apple Authorized Service Provider. The closest one can be located at http://www.apple.com/buy/locator/service/ . Note Apple stores won't install a drive you bring in, however, generally the authorized service providers will.

Hard Disk drive replacement

How difficult is it to replace the internal disk drive in imacs? Is there a handy guide somewhere that someone can point me to? ... Mine's 250GB and it's about full. ... Or is it more prudent to add on an external drive (USB or firewire). If the external drive route, how do I decide what files/applicatios are saved where? (internal vs. external)
Thank you in advance

As Matt mentioned it certainly is possible however unless you are familiar or comfortable doing surgery on complex machines it isn't really recommended. For most people it is much more advisable to get external drives, they are much easier to add. These days if you get a FW 800 drive you can move critical information off the internal drive onto the external drive and really suffer little loss of performance, in most case the performance loss isn't even noticeable. I keep my entire photo, music and video collection on external drives and keep my internal drive pretty much for OS X and minor data files and am perfectly happy with my computers performance.
Regards,
Roger

Hard Disk Drive Replacement Options

Hi:
I have a 2009 MacBook Pro. Recently it started acting funny and a friend suggested it might be the hard drive. I got a copy of Scannerz to check the drive and about 10 minutes into the scan it started finding problems. I ran Scannerz in diag mode to confirm it wasn't the SATA cable, and it passed that with flying colors. I need a new hard drive.
Here's my dilemma: I'm on a budget. The most I can afford is between $125 to $150 to replace the hard drive. The question is, can I get a decent SSD for this much money?
Before I continue, I should state that I use a dual boot system. I still have a 100GB partition with Snow Leopard on it because I have some old applications that are older PPC applications. They're rarely used, but they do get used a few times a year. The rest of the drive is Mavericks.
I see the following as possible options:
1. Get an SSD that I can split so that I have 2 partitions again. It would need to be at least 256GB, and that's probably pushing it, probably more like 350GB is what I'd like.
2. Just get a hard drive. I've read on here that some of the Hitachi drives are fast for old mechanical drives and they're cheap too. I'd have money left over.
3. Create a Fusion drive with a smallish SSD and a hard drive. Setting it up using an article I read about in CNET doesn't look that hard, but the idea of taking out the optical drive and putting some type of adapter in there to hold either an SSD or HDD just seems a little risky. Also, isn't the speed of the optical drive slower than those of drives? Do I need a new cable if I consider doing this?
4. The Scannerz tech support people said I might want to get a new SATA cable anyway. Any idea why they would say that? They don't sell parts so that obviously wasn't the motivation.
When answering, please keep costs in mind. The total I'm will to spend, absolute max, is $150.
Thank you.

I found the following immediately available locally:
HDD: Hitachi 500GB 7,200 RPM SATA III 6Gb/s 2.5" Hard Drive 0S03788 for $53
SSD: Silicon Power S60 120GB Sata III 6Gb/s 2.5" Internal SSD SP120GBSS3S60S25 for $55
SSD: Kingston V300 120GB SATA III 6Gb/s 2.5" SSD for $60
SSD: SanDisk 128GB SATA III 6Gb/s 2.5"SSD SDSSDP-128G-G25 for $65
SSD: Samsung 850 EVO 120GB SATA III 6Gb/s 2.5" SSD MZ-75E120B/AM for $70
SSD: OCZ 100 Series 120GB SATA III 6Gb/s 2.5" SSD ARC100-25SAT3-120G for $65
There are others available, lots actually, but that's what I'm narrowing it down to. I see what one said when saying to check the specs. The Hitachi HDD above clearly states it uses AF format with 512e sectors, but the store also has a 5400RPM unit with a much smaller cache, which I'm assuming is the old one, for just a few dollars less. As you can guess there are a lot more HDDs available at the store but Hitachi seems to have a good reputation and that price is hard to beat.
Now, for SSDs, I get the impression Samsung is well thought of. It seems Apple is putting SanDisk SSDs in some of the MacBook Air's so my assumption is it's a good brand too. OCZ I've read some bad things about. Kingston I'm familiar with from memory sticks but I have no idea how good there SSDs are. There seem to be few people commenting on them. I've never heard of Silicon Power.
Do the prices above look good, or are they too high? Any comments on quality?
RIght now I'm pretty convinced I'm going to go with a dual setup with an SSD to hold the OS then use the HDD as a data drive and to also hold the Snow Leopard partition. This would give me all the space I need.
Another idea is to make a Fusion Drive and leave a part ion on the HDD alone for Snow Leopard. Any comments on this idea?
Thank you all again.

G570 hard disk drive replacement

Hello to all fellow Lenovo owners. Recently, my G570 Hard drive crashed. I removed it and will purchase a
new one but desperately need detailed, specific instructions about formatting, partitioning and installing Windows 7
and whatever else is necessary to get up and running. I'm not a techie, but am handy and wiling/able to learn.
Thanks in advance for any help. dcnyr
Solved!
Go to Solution.

hi dcnyr,
I'm very sorry for the confusion,
What I noticed with the scorpio blue is the DCM#
DCM(Drive Configuration Matrix) ex. DCM: HHMTJBK
This holds info about the parts used (components) inside the Harddrive, I don't know how to decode the Details but I believe that's how they differ,
Lenovo FRU (Field replaceable unit) it is like a Tag on the Parts
Lenovo Motherboard have a whitelist of supported FRU numbers.
Let's say you have to replace a defective Wireless card on a Lenovo Motherboard, and youre buying the part from third party resellers, You got the exact same part model, part number and same Brand or manufacturer but the part does not have an FRU tag that matches in your Motherboard's whitelist. It will not work or It will be detected as unsupported.
Sample photo
Hard Drives I believe are not Restricted by a Lenovo Motherboard for FRU, so any would work. as long as it fits the bay and the connectors. also depends on the Maximum capacity/size the motherboard supports.
Thanks
Solid Cruver
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What hard disk drive should I have to buy and maximum what gb I can upgrade to mid 2011 21.5 inc mac?

what hard disk drive should I have to buy and maximum what gb I can upgrade to mid 2011 21.5 inc mac? Also do you think I can replace myself at home or I need to take specialist?

Hi, I take it you mean the Optical drive?
If so, here's a few...
http://eshop.macsales.com/shop/optical-drives/superdrives/

Boot camp win7 32bit does not show hard disk drive of OSX 10.7 with the result I am not able to open Mac book os.

I have MacBook 10.9, where in I have loaded win7 32bit in Boot camp.In win explorer the hard disk drive of MacBook of 132gb is missing. I am not able to use OSX10.9.When I insert MacBook CD it asks for fresh installation.How to recover partition of hard disk drive of MacBook in win7?

have you tried to reboot and hold in the option key so you can the boot menu where you can choose to boot into osx?

Can I upgrade MacBook Pro hard disk drive next year?

Hi there! I'm new to the Apple Support Communities!
I am going to buy a new 13" MacBook Pro, 2.5GHz. I am going to buy the base model, with a 500GB 5400 RPM hard disk drive. Right now, I can't afford a 256GB solid-state drive, but I'll have enough for one by later next year. So, I will have done some stuff on my Mac by the time I can upgrade it. I know how to install the drive itself, but how do I transfer my information?
Here are the issues:
1) I don't know how I would make it so I could boot from an external USB.
2) And I don't know how to get all my personal information from one drive to the other.
For "2", I think I could back up my Mac to a hard drive with Time Machine, and then restore from a backup. But Time Machine couldn't back up the whole OS, right? And what would the procedure be anyway? Just turn it on when I'm done the upgrade?
If someone who has done this before could provide step-by-step instructions, I would really appreciate it!
Thanks,
Solid-State Me 

Yes you can replace the hard drive at any time. Purchase a replacement drive from any store you like - newegg or mcetech are good stores (among many others) - and when you purchase the new drive, also purchase a drive enclosure. Then download a program called "super duper" and follow the instructions to use that software. When your drive arrives, put the new drive in the enclosure, plug it in to your computer and run "super duper" with the option to "make the drive bootable" and let it finish. What it's doing is copying your drive onto the new drive. Once the copy is finished, you can shut down your computer, remove the drive, install the new one, and put the original drive into the enclosure. Now you have an external hard drive that is repurposed instead of throwing it away. Keep that drive intact for a few weeks without erasing or adding data to be sure you are happy with the new drive and how it performs. After that, use the drive to store files, backup the internal, transfer stuff, whatever.

9.2.1 upgrade - hard disk driver prob.

Hi all,
System
PowerPC G4 dig audio dual533
768mb ram
40gb HD - 9.1OS
120gb HD - OSX tiger
I have installed a 2nd hand 120Gb HD which I totally erased writing 0's over it then partitioned (1) MacOS extended.
Loaded OSX tiger onto it and all is sweet no problems at all and loving the new interface!
Now the problem is I want to use my Illust9 & Phsop6 on the old 40gb HD which is running OS9.1.
Tried to access one of the progs via Tiger, classic started up and basically hung on the startup screen so I had to cancel it. That is when the problems started.
I booted up the OS9.1 drive and lost use of my enternet300 adsl internet connection. Reloaded adsl software, didn't fix. Also missing Quicktime VR plus tried using Illust9 and got systems error of controls trip extension. A few other things seemed to go wrong as well.
Read somewhere that it was highly rec to upgrade to 9.2.2 to utilise the classic environment effectively.
As I had lost my internet connection on the old HD I downloaded the Mac OS 9.2.1 Update.smi, Mac OS 9.2.2 Update.smi and HardDriveUpdate1.smi files from my Tiger HD.
Back to the OS9.1 HD to install the updates and it comes up with.....
The hard disk driver on the disk "PowerMac G4 Install" cannot be updated with this program because the disk is not an Apple hard disk. Contact the manufacturer of your computer or hard disk to see if you need to update the driver.
After alot of stuffing around I have done the following in this order.
after each one it didn't fix the problem
1. OS9.1 software restore in place
2. OS9.1 software restore clean install
3. Erased HD and initilised 1 part partition using OS9.1 software install CD
then installed new OS9.1 by booting up from install CD
4. Erased HD and initilised 1 part partition using OSX tiger software install DVD from 120gb HD, then installed new OS9.1 by booting up from install CD
thinking this would sort the driver problem but no go.
same problem when trying to upgrade to 9.2.1!!!!!!!!!!!
any ideas?
40gb HD is a IBM-IC35L040AVER07-0
appreciated
PowerPC G4 digital audio dp533 Mac OS X (10.4.5)
PowerPC G4 digital audio dp533 Mac OS X (10.4.5)
PowerPC G4 digital audio dp533 Mac OS X (10.4.5)

OK,
I have Erased the 40gbHD and erased, initilised it with a 1 part partition using disk utility from the OSX tiger on the 120gb HD, then installed a new OS9.1 by booting up from the OS9.1 install CD.
Used the 9.2.1 upgrade which was downloaded from Apple.
Followed thier instructions in the read me file by
turning extensions to 9.1 base
make sure file sharing is off (wasn't on in the first place)
then restarted
no other apps running and straight into starting the upgrade
started the install process
unchecked the option to update driver
starts to install goes for about 6% and then the box comes up with......
This version of Mac OS can not be installed over the localized version of Mac OS on the disk named "XXXXXXX XXXXX".
Please choose a different destination disk, or perform a clean installation.
SURELY IT CAN"T BE THIS HARD TO UPGRADE FROM 9.1 to 9.2.1 to 9.2
COME ON APPLE help me out here!!!!! FFS!
can't do a clean install, haven't got the disks!!!!!

Hard disk drive upgrade

hi there
newbie mac user - got my macbook in late dec 07 and so far so good; have not yet experienced any problems i have read in the macbook discussion forum. when i bought the macbook, i opted for the 160GB HDD, which is fine for my current use. anyhow, i have some PC software that is only available on PC and won't run with Codeweaver's Crossover (that software require's microsoft's .net framework, which is not compatible with Crossover). So I'm now thinking of upgrading to a 250GB hard disk drive and have Windows XP installed.
so my questions are:
1. Any notebook SATA HDD will do? the one currently installed is a Fujitsu, which works fine but i can't find any place that sells it. so i'm thinking of Western Digital.
2. Setting up the new HDD: my thoughts are to firstly do a time machine backup of the entire current HDD onto a removable HDD. then remove the old HDD and replace with the new HDD. install OS X then run time machine to restore on to the new HDD, which i hope will then put the new HDD into the same state as the old HDD. will that work? my thinking is that it will save me time having to reinstall various apps.
On an unrelated matter, my biggest gripe with Win XP (and all preceding versions of Windows) is that the OS gets progressively slower and slower during start up and shut down over time (no speed problems once up and running). the normal solution is to do a clean install. does OS X suffer the same problem? my macbook is still quite new so everything is running super fast.
cheers.
boon

Have you tried Parallels or VMware Fusion. They work very good running windows.
You need a 2.5 inch SATA drive that meets these dimensions.
Physical Dimensions
English
Height: 0.374 ±0.008 inch
Length: 3.94 ±0.010 inch
Width: 2.75 ±0.010 inch
Weight: 0.26 Pounds (±0.10 lb)
Metric
Height: 9.5 ±0.20 mm
Length: 100.2 ±0.25 mm
Width: 69.85 ±0.25 mm
Weight: 0.117 kg (± 0.082 kg)
I replaced my 80 GB drive with a Western Digital Scorpio WD3200BEVT 320GB 5400 RPM 8MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s Notebook Hard Drive - OEM. It is great.
I took my old drive out and use one of these, OWC Hard Drive Enclosures, to install it in. Then I used that to help recover my system to my new drive.
These are good sources for drives.
OWC MacBook Ram and Hard drives
NewEgg.com LapTop Hard Drives

Mac OSX wont reognise my internal hard disk drive

I have a problem where for some reason when I start up my Macbook Pro (intel core duo) it does not detect the internal hard disk drive at all. I have run a hardware test and it shows no problems whatsoever. I have tried resetting the PRAM etc and to no avail. Yesterday the system hung and I tried to force quit and it wouldn't do anything so eventually I held down the power key and when it tried to reboot this is the problem I was faced with (it would boot up with the "no entry" sign). I accepted complete defeat and went to completely re-install OSX however it doesn't even show the internal hard drive when I wait for it to give me install destinations. I had tried seeing the hard drive through disk utility however it only shows the install DVD and that's it in the sidebar. I resigned myself further to thinking either the logic board or the HDD had packed in all and I took it round to my brother in law to see if there is anything he could do without opening the machine (he is Oxford educated and writes programmes etc so is very knowledgable), now this is the part that has miffed us both, he started it up using a Linux disc and once running, Linux see's the hard drive with no problems. He has been able to access the HDD with absolutely no problems under Linux both reading and writing to it. I even took my Mac Mini round and he booted them both up in Linux and completely copied Mac OSX from the mini to the macbook pro but still when I try booting up its as if the HDD isn't even there. Why can Linux see the drive and not Mac OSX? Please don't be affraid to get very technical in your answers as they may mean nothing to me but will probably all make sense to my brother in Law. Any sugestions at all would be greatly accepted.

Dear mcdkev,
You guys may have made a big error cloning the Mini HD into the MBP. They both have very different drivers and hardware settings and their OS X versions are customized to fit the hardware. That is why each mac comes with it's own version of OS X and their backup disks. That's a reason why it did not work.
Ok, so now that you do not have any of the original info on the MBP try the following:
Use linux to scan the disk surface & repair any problems.
Reformat the drive as DOS or FAT 32. (I wouldn't go into any linux specific format unless you can "Apple" format it, which I don't think linux has that option.)
Now, the MBP should be able to see it's drive...
boot from the OS X DVD , from the Utilities menu choose Disk Utilities, partition the drive as GUI file system (in case the linux format made the drive a "system boot record", you do not want that... )
Then format the drive as "OS X Extended Journaled"
Now go back to install and install your original basic set of OS X (the factory default).
*If nothing works, please do take your MBP to the Apple store or to a certified tech before you do more damage to the drive and it becomes unusable ...*

Upgrading Hard Disk Drive of Lenovo THINKPAD T500 2055 ?

Hi there,
My personal laptop is Lenovo THINKPAD T500 2055, and its main specifications as follows:
- Intel Core 2 Duo processor T9400 (2.53GHz 1066MHz 6MBL2).
- 8 GB DDR3 SDRAM Memory Module 4 GB (2 x 4 GB) 1066MHz DDR31066/PC38500 DDR3 SDRAM SoDIMM Kingston
- ATI Mobility Radeon 3650 with 256MB.
- 160 GB Hard Disk Drive, 7200rpm.
I really need to upgrade the Hard Disk Drive to a bigger size (500 GB, 7200 rpm). and, my major questions are as follows:
* Could you please advise me on which Hard Disk Drive (500 GB, 7200 rpm) should I buy for my T500 laptop?
For example, I found (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003NSBF32) But I have no idea what T500 supports and what it doesn't... Therefore, I need your help to guide me about this matter. In other words, How do you know if ABC-Hard Disk Drive fits with T500 and XYZ-Hard Disk Drive doesnt fit? What is the clue in knowing what T500 accepts?
My another question is:
* How easy is it to remove/replace Hard Disk Drive in Lenovo ThinkPad T500 ???
I already watched CRU Removals/Replacements on (http://www.lenovoservicetraining.com/ion/R61_T61/index.html), But the clip is for ThinkPad R61 and T61. So, Could you please help me how to handle it with T500 ?
I would greatly appreciate your inputs.
Thanks for your consideration of my request, and I very much look forward to hearing from you soon !
Solved!
Go to Solution.

Hi and welcome to the forum!
Any SATA drive that is 2.5'' wide and 9.5mm high will work in your T500. The drive you linked to meets the requirement and thus will work.
For removal and installation instructions, have a look here:- http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site.wss/migr-71568.html
Hope this helps.
Maliha (I don't work for lenovo)
ThinkPads:- T400[Win 7], T60[Win 7], IBM 240[Win XP]
IdeaPad: U350
Apple:- Macbook Air [Snow Leopard]
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My Mac Book hard drive is nearly full. How do I move iTunes music, etc folders to a different location on an external hard drive and still access as if on my Mac?

My Mac Book hard drive is nearly full. How do I move iTunes music, etc folders to a different location on an external hard drive and still access as if on my Mac?

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1449

Is it possible to upgrade the internal Hard disk drive on the iMac

Is it possible to upgrade the internal Hard disk drive on the iMac?

Yes but it's definitely not advised. If you have a machine newer than 2009 Apple uses drives that have integrated heat sensors. This makes upgrading much more difficult but not impossible. If you have a machine still under warranty then definitely DO NOT do this yourself as you may void the warranty not to mention it isn't for the faint of heart. Take the machine to an AASP to have the work done, you will need to find one in your area willing to do so.
If you are considering a new machine then simply buy the configuation you need.

Replacing SSD with hard disk drive on Qosmio X505-Q880

Is it possible to replace the SSD drive in a Qosmio X505-Q880 with a hard disk drive? If so what type will work?
Thanks,
Ed

Yes. I just replaced my 60 gig with a Kingston 240gig from Amazon. Re installed Windows 7 Ultimate. I DID NOT use the recovery disk from Toshiba because there were many programs that did not suit my needs, excellent though they were. It runs very fast about 4 times as fast as my old drive.

Mac book: hard disk drive: replacement upgrade options

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