Slow macbook. Do I need a bigger hard drive?

I've got a 2 gHz macbook and 2Gigs of RAM, an 80gig internal hard drive of which 71 gigs is already used. Since installing Leopard, I've noticed things are really much slower, but I also noticed that I've only got 10 gigs of space left on my hard drive. Could that be causing the slowdown?

mistermish wrote:
Also, does anyone know what replacing the hard drive does to the Apple Warranty? I have an extended applecare plan.
They consider anyone replacing a user serviceable item to be under full-warranty coverage. That being said, they are not responsible for damage from incorrect installation procedures (I could imagine this happens a lot) or if the installed part somehow damages your machine (should be very rare). A new drive should have a manufacturer's warranty of 3-5 years.
There's a message from Apple that says all this, and someone posted the link in this forum.
I pulled out the hard drive in my new MacBook. It's extremely easy - especially compared to the numerous screws, adhesive parts, and pulling apart that is needed on my two iBooks. It basically slides out from the battery compartment, the bracket gets transferred to a new drive, and the new assembly slides back in. I could do it in five minutes.
If I do do this, would I need to deauthorize my computer from iTunes Music Service first, then reauthorize on my new hard drive? I heard Apple does check on machine settings for iTunes authorization, and I don't recall if this includes the hard drive.
Message was edited by: ypw
Message was edited by: ypw

Similar Messages

I'm being told my start up disc is full on my 2010 macbook. Memory is 2GB 1067 MHz; and Finder tells me I have 1.05 GB still available. Do I need a bigger hard drive?

I'm getting error message that my start up disc is full on my 2010 macbook. Started with 2GB 1067 MHz; and, according to Finder, still have 1.05 GB available. Any idea what's up? I had MacKeeper dump all junk files. Do I need a new hard drive?

First of all I would suggest you get rid of MacKeeper, which is well known in the Mac community to be useless or in some cases to be as bad as malware. Read this user tip by Klaus1.
The startup disk (your hard drive) is not the same as the system memory (the 2GB of RAM you describe.) You may very well need a larger hard drive, but the first thing I would try would be looking through your downloads folder for old installer disk images, deleting any that you do not need any more (usually all of them) and emptying your trash. Many users put files in their trash and forget to empty it.
If that doesn't gain you sufficient space, you may want to replace your hard drive with a larger model. You don't mention what size drive you have, but it is possible to do it yourself. See page 37 of this user manual.
Another option would be to put files that are taking up a large amount of space (often iTunes and iPhoto Libraries fall into this category) on an external hard drive. This works best if you do not need portability.
Best of luck.

Can I get a new and bigger hard drive on my macbook?

Right now I have an 80GB Hard Drive, It keeps getting filled up too easily and I need a bigger hard drive. When I chatted with a person (online) at the apple store they said it couldn't be replaced after it has been formatted or something, unless something was wrong with it. I'm not worried about losing information because everything is backed up to an external hard drive. Why isn't this possible? In January I got this new 80GB Hard drive along with a new battery. I'm wanting to upgrade it to around 120/150GB or something like that, whatever is in the hundreds. Any help would be appreciated. My macbook's specs are posted below. Again, thanks for the help in advance!
Hardware Overview:
Model Name: MacBook
Model Identifier: MacBook1,1
Processor Name: Intel Core Duo
Processor Speed: 2 GHz
Number Of Processors: 1
Total Number Of Cores: 2
L2 Cache: 2 MB
Memory: 512 MB
Bus Speed: 667 MHz
Boot ROM Version: MB11.0061.B03
SMC Version (system): 1.4f12
Serial Number (system):
Sudden Motion Sensor:
State: Enabled
Hard Drive Specs:
FUJITSU MHY2080BH:
Capacity: 74.53 GB
Model: FUJITSU MHY2080BH
Revision: 0081000D
Serial Number:
Native Command Queuing: Yes
Queue Depth: 32
Removable Media: No
Detachable Drive: No
BSD Name: disk0
Mac OS 9 Drivers: No
Partition Map Type: GPT (GUID Partition Table)
S.M.A.R.T. status: Verified
Volumes:
Macintosh HD:
Capacity: 74.21 GB
Available: 33.9 GB
Writable: Yes
File System: Journaled HFS+
BSD Name: disk0s2
Mount Point: /

basstone97:
Your MacBook will support a 2.5" SATA drive. The largest drive currently available is 500 GB. Other sizes are 320 GB, 250 GB etc. The Apple tech was likely referring that Apple will not do a free replacement of your drive unless is was defective or failed. However, you can purchase the drive and install it yourself. It is relatively easy on the MacBook, or you can purchase the drive and have Apple or an Authorized Apple Dealer install it for you. The risk of DIY installation is that if you screw up Apple will not be responsible for any damages. If you are interested, please post back for a list of available HDDs and step by step directions and tips for installation.
cornelius

I need a new hard drive for a 1.83 GHz (Core Duo) MacBook 13"

So the hard drive is toasted, and therefore I need a new one. The hard drive is a 661-5554 HDD,160GB,OSX 10.5 (REP) - 13inch Macbook. Is 160GB the biggest I can get? Or is there a better hard drive I can get that will suit my MacBook? Also, I don't have he osx cd because the lap top was a handy me down. They told me at apple that I can go to the genius bar and have them install the software. But I am wondering, is osx 10.5 the best this MacBook can do? Or can they put something better on it? Thanks guys!

You can put in a bigger hard drive. The only limit is the physical size. It must not be taller than 9.5mm. You can upgrade it to 10.6. You can order a Snow Leopard 10.6 install disk for $29 from the Apple Store as long as you have at least 1gb of RAM and 5gb of free space on your hard drive. http://store.apple.com/us/product/MC573Z/A?mco=MTY3ODQ5OTY
For a new hard drive try Newegg.com http://www.newegg.com/Store/SubCategory.aspx?SubCategory=380&name=Laptop-Hard-Dr ives&Order=PRICE
Or OWC http://eshop.macsales.com/shop/hard-drives/2.5-Notebook/
Here are instructions on replacing the hard drive in a MacBook with a removable battery. http://creativemac.digitalmedianet.com/articles/viewarticle.jsp?id=45088
To transfer your current hard drive I like the free application Carbon Copy Cloner. It makes a bootable copy of everything on your hard drive http://www.bombich.com/index.html You'll need a cheap SATA external hard drive case. Put the new drive in the case then format and partition the new drive and clone your old drive to the new one. Check that it's set up right by booting up from the external drive. Then replace your old hard drive with the new one and put your old one in the external case.
Here's a cheap SATA external hard drive case on Amazon. http://www.amazon.com/SATA-Hard-Drive-Case-Enclosure/dp/B001AAVA08/ref=pd_cp_e_0
If you don’t have the tools to open up the MacBook OWC has a set for $5
http://eshop.macsales.com/item/OWC/TOOLKITMHD/

I believe my macbook pro hard drive is bad. I erased the drive and reinstalled the OS and the macbook still runs really slow. I dont know if the hard drive is the issue.

I believe my macbook pro hard drive is bad. I erased the drive and reinstalled the OS and the macbook still runs really slow. I dont know if the hard drive is the issue.

Did you try an SMC reset too? It's easily done and none of those resets to the best of my knowledge hurt anything. When I was fooling with my system, which at one point was a home made Fusion setup, I needed to reset the SMC sometimes to get the drives recognized. Reading the documentation the sudden motion sensor is drive related but that seems to be about it.
Some more specifics may be needed about the drive itself, the model number of your unit, and the OS version you're running.
At present, the problem seems sort of odd to me. FWIW cable problems can be quite intermittent. I used Scannerz to find some of the problems on my original system that I later converted to a new HD and SSD combo. It can find lots of problems if you learn how to use it right (HD problems, logic board system faults, and cable problems) but you need to get a system at least partially up and running to use it, and it doesn't sound to me like your there right now (in other words, don't go out and buy it because at this point I don't know how it could help you)
Another word of advice would be to not go out and start throwing parts at a problem unless you have a good idea what the source of the problem is. If you have a logic board problem, new drives and new cables won't make it go away, you'll just be wasting your money. Logic board problems, cable problems, and drive problems can all have very similar end user symptoms. The article that I linked above named "Hard Drive Problems" has a section on general symptoms of problems and if you read the article it becomes clear there's a lot of overlap associated with different types of problems.
I assume that your unit isn't under warranty. If, by chance it is I wouldn't even fool with it and I'd take it to Apple and let them deal with the problem. You also might want to check with whatever Apple sources you have available to test your system, like an Apple store, and see how much they'll charge (if anything) to evaluate the system.
I certainly hope this helps.

I have a macbook pro, a little over 2 years old, have been advised I need a new hard drive....after 2 years!!!!

My macbook pro is just over 2 years old....for the last couple of months it has been running very slowly,the beachball is in permanent residence!
I have been advised I need a new hard drive....after only 2 years I'm not at all impressed. Is this normal?

Over a very large sample of drives, these drives are very reliable, despite being moved around inside laptops.
You do not have a very large sample, you have ONE drive. Anything that happens, from having it run for twenty years to having it die on the first day, is within the normal range.
The rapid resolution to your problem IS to replace the drive. At your leisure, you may find that after re-writing every block with Zeroes (a process that can take half a day and has no guarantee of success) enough spare blocks can be found to return the drive to service. Or maybe not. If you are willing to invest the time and energy to do this, you may get a nice backup drive, or you may get a doorstop. No one can predict ahead of time.

I have a 500 gig time capsule. I have used with a Macbook. The Macbook has a 500 gig hard drive which is about 3/4 full. Now we just purchased a new MacBook pro with a 1 TB hard drive. Do I need to buy a larger Time Capsule?

I have a 500 gig time capsule. I have used with a Macbook. The Macbook has a 500 gig hard drive which is about 3/4 full. Now we just purchased a new MacBook pro with a 1 TB hard drive. Do I need to buy a larger Time Capsule?

Do I need to buy a larger Time Capsule?
Probably yes. You might be able to get the full backup of the new MacBook Pro on the Time Capsule, but it will not be long before the Time Capsule is out of space.
Better to add a new Time Capsule and backup the new MacBook Pro to the new Time Capsule, and keep the old MacBook backing up to the old Time Capsule.
If you do not want to add a new Time Capsule, another option would be to erase the Time Capsule disk and start over again with new backups of both Macs and move forward.

Need bigger hard drive.

I have a 80 gb in my minni. Can you get a bigger one or will it be easyer to use hard drive out of my old PC to usb. Can any one give me some ideas?
Mac Mini Mac OS X (10.4.7) intel

The Mac Mini uses a standard 2.5" hard drive used in most notebooks. Being an Intel Mac Mini, it uses a SATA drive and not ATA/IDE. Installing the hard drive is not something I'd do yourself especially since it is still under a hardware warranty, and if you damage it, you could be culpible for any damages you might cause.
An old PC hard drive will work on the Mac Mini in Mac OS X only if it is formatted FAT32 for read/write, NTFS for read only, but neither format will support installing a bootable Mac OS X operating system. I strongly recommend finding some method of backing up your data before changing hard drives in anycase, as my FAQ explains:
http://www.macmaps.com/backup.html
As FAT32, it still will probably only make documents as backup usable. For applications you will need a Mac formatted hard drive. Not all USB hard drives are Intel Mac bootable, but more Firewire hard drives are. You can swap out that PC hard drive and put it in a Firewire hard drive case like those from http://www.macsales.com/ or http://www.granitedigital.com/
By formatting, I mean erasing the PC data on it and putting a Mac formatting.
If you have an authorized service center near you, they may be able to safely put in a bigger hard drive. The biggest hard drive the Mac Mini will take internally is 160 GB.

Bigger hard drive for PB 12"?

hey all,
I've got a lovely PB12" 1.33 w/superdrive, which I use as my real portable machine, keeping my MBP 17" C2D for serious work.
I'm using the PB more and more for downloading podcasts and videos. also it holds my ever-expanding itunes library (which I share over my wireless network with other machines) and my photos. I don't want to use the MBP to hold my itunes library (which is currently about 25GB) because I need to keep its system drive as empty as possible for the high performance I need for my pro work.
so, the PB only has a 60GB hard drive, and it's starting to get harder and harder to keep it from getting too full and running into performance issues. currently I manage to keep about 8GBs free, but sometimes it gets down to as low as 2GBs before I do a clean up.
since I love this machine so much and want to hang on to it.. does anyone know what the options are for putting in a bigger hard drive for this model? I'd love to put in the very biggest capacity it can take! what am I looking at? 100GB tops, or more?
if anyone has had experience upgrading the system drive in a PB12", I'd love to hear about it..
cheers..

thanks cornelius.. I'm still going to double check with the apple tech tomorrow on the phone, just to be absolutely super sure.. I wouldn't want to buy a 160GB drive only to find out that oops, the PB12" 1.33 was the only mac since 2002 that had a bootROM drive limitation at 128GB, uh, sorry we kind of forgot to mention that in our tech document.
that said, I seriously doubt that will be the case. am still trying to get used to the idea of having 100 extra GBs of space internally on this great little machine..! it's going to be awesome.
as for the RAM upgrade.. I'm still really not sure. the thing is, performance for me on this machine is not really a major issue. it's only a 1.33Ghz G4 with a 167Mhz system bus after all.. my MBP 17" C2D is my performance machine, and I've streamlined it to give me every drop of power it can for working with logic pro (I'm a music composer/producer). the only time my PB gets a little sluggish is when I have say safari, itunes and iphoto open all at once. one of them has to be shut down otherwise I get spinning beach balls of irritation. but it's really not a big deal.. I just have to remember to quit apps when I'm not using them. and as I said earlier, I bought the ifreemem app, which really works fantastically to reset the RAM after I've switched around too many apps, and I get back to normal performance right away. btw, I'd highly recommend that app to anyone. so even though I know that boosting it to the max 1.25GB RAM that this machine can have would be a little nicer, it's not absolutely necessary for me right now. however, I'm really looking forward to not having to constantly archive videos and music and podcasts and photos off this machine just to keep enough free drive space so that it doesn't turn into a complete slug. also, I didn't realise the drive it currently has is only 4200rpm, so moving up to a 5400rpm perpendicular drive is going to be another bonus in terms of performance. I'm totally keeping this machine for a few more years now.. I'd considered replacing it with a macbook, but for not even a couple of hundred bucks this machine is going to be an even better little personal laptop for a while to come..
thanks again to everyone for all the advice.
all the best
antonio

Can I install a bigger hard drive on my HP Laptop dv9230us

Can I install a bigger hard drive on my HP Laptop dv9230us

Yes and in fact it can accept 2 hard drives. Any 2.5 inch wide SATA laptop hard drive 9.5 mm thick will work and those are available up to 1.5 TB I believe. To add a second hard drive you need a caddy and connector piece sold here:
http://www.newmodeus.com/shop/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=2_5&products_id=131
There is a link on the page above which will lead you to installation instructions.
If you can give us some idea of what you are looking to do, we can link you to specific places to buy drives at good prices.
If this is "the Answer" please click "Accept as Solution" to help others find it.

How to install an SSD in a MacBook Pro and keep the original hard drive

Step by step instructions on how to install a Crucial SSD as the primary drive in a MacBook Pro and use the original hard drive as a second drive in place of the optical drive.
Apart from the time needed to back up your data and clone the original drive to the new SSD, you should be able complete this in less than an hour.

Verifying
Install the SSD in the HDD slot
Install the HDD in the optical slot
Boot to the HDD and format the SSD
Boot using Command R and restore the operating system from Time machine to the SSD
Reformat the HDD and restore the data files to it.

Do I need a separate hard drive to run FCP7 with a new Imac?

Do I need an external hard drive as a scratch disc to run FCP7 on a Mountain Lion new Imac?

Editing and finishing on USB 3 works great. Just wrapped up a Smithsonian Channel show where the editor edited on a 2012 Macbook Pro using a USB3 drive, and I onlined with my 2012 Macbook Pro. First show we did that was done solely on laptops. USB 3 drive worked great.
I started to online on my tower, but the connection was USB2, so playback was sporatic. Switched to laptop.

Moving all my Itunes stuff to a bigger hard drive?

Hello, I hope someone can help me out. The hard drive I have all my music stuff on is about to be filled up and was wondering what would be the easiest way to get it all to a bigger hard drive. I was think of unistalling Itunes and then moving all my file to the new HD and the reinstalling Itunes to the new HD too. would that be the only way to got about this or is there an easier way to do it? Thnaks

Hi meanmuttley29,
You don't need to uninstall iTunes and then move all your files. The most import part is to follow [this instructions|http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=305451].
Hope this helps!
!http://signatures.mylivesignature.com/54486/122/A57996D55BE7ABB4A67DE686D381A27 4.png!

Is there a way to access my iTunes Library, which is stored on a (PC) External Hard Drive, on a MacBook Air (through an Apricorn Universal Hard Drive Adapter), without transferring the music files off of the external hard drive?

Is there a way to access my iTunes Library, which is stored on a (PC) External Hard Drive, on a MacBook Air (through an Apricorn Universal Hard Drive Adapter), without transferring the music files off of the external hard drive?
In other words, because the MacBook Air only has 120 gbs of hard drive space & my old hard drive, from a Lenovo, has 500 gbs of hard drive space (and I have over 120 gbs of music), I’m looking to manage my iTunes music from the external hard drive permanently. Upon attempting to access the iTunes library held on the external hard drive the following message comes up: “The iTunes Library.itl file is locked, on a locked disk, or you do not have write permission for this file”. Is there a way to get around this?
Any advice would be greatly appreciated, thanks so much!

You will have to engage a split library which means you will have to start answering questions on this forum because you will need to learn a lot about how iTunes works in order not that have a big mess at the end of it all. It also won't be easy when the time comes to relocate it all to different drives.
You can go to advanced preferences and turn off organize media and copy to items to media folder when adding items to library. Next read about how to selectively consolidate items to the external drive.
Sept. 2010, Consolidate selected content - https://discussions.apple.com/thread/2589812 and April 2014, https://discussions.apple.com/message/25414357
"...selected the new tracks directly in iTunes, Control-clicked on the selection, and saw that now you can consolidate selected items." - http://hints.macworld.com/article.php?story=20090919000326840
Remember that when you start iTunes without the external drive turned on iTunes will present you with a bunch of broken links. If you have automatic downloads enabled with iCloud you may have to turn that off to prevent iTunes from repopulating your drive trying to deal with those "missing" tracks.
If you add tracks in bunches to iTunes and want them to go to different media folders you will need to either add them by holding down the option key while dragging if the desired media folder is not the one set in preferences, or by changing the media folder in preferences. Changing media folder preferences only applies to new files added, not old ones.
Okay, I am going to stop typing because you might just reply to me, "Oh, okay, forget it," and I don't need the exercise.
What are the iTunes library files? - http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1660
More on iTunes library files and what they do - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ITunes#Media_management
What are all those iTunes files? - http://www.macworld.com/article/139974/2009/04/itunes_files.html
Where are my iTunes files located? - http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1391

Can i get a bigger hard drive?

i have the 11 inch macbook air, it keeps saying i dont have enough memory to run programs. Can I get bigger hard drive for it? we keep deleting from hard drive but can't even back up iphones! I have the time machine so we backed up a lot but its frustrating. Am I stuck or can I add more memory to this computer?

See this OWC MacBook air storage upgrade (scroll down the page to the MBA section).

Slow macbook. Do I need a bigger hard drive?

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