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New HDD(320gb 7200rpm) in MBP, success!

desantii

desantii

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Sep 9, 2006
308
26
Aurora, IL
Just want to share my story on an HDD update. I have an early 08 2.5ghz 17" ans was running out of space. I purchased a Hitachi 320gb 7200rpm from Newegg and just finished the upgrade.
I am replacing a 200gb 7200rpm, not much difference in speed at least that I can feel, works fine and now have more space, no extra vibration or anything of the sort.
The process took about 20min with instructions from Ifixit, restore system with time machine and winclone for bootcamp

thanks
MBP 17
2,5ghz 6gb 320gb 7200rpm
 
Im about to do this aswell. im debating between the western digital drive and the hitachi. i heard from some people its loud and vibrates. but you say it is quiet yes? if so ill prolly choose the same company apple chose.
 
I just got the 7200rpm Hitachi 320gb for my MBP too, was on sale $30 off on Monday. Picked up 4gb Kingston hyperx ram too and a macally firewire enclosure for the old (150?)gb hdd. I look forward to getting my MBP back from the genius bar soon so I can put in my new Hitachi. (shakes fist) Damn thing has been there a week. :(
 
greenbreadmmm said:
Im about to do this aswell. im debating between the western digital drive and the hitachi. i heard from some people its loud and vibrates. but you say it is quiet yes? if so ill prolly choose the same company apple chose.
Click to expand...

In addition to my MBP, I also got a 320 Hitachi for my PS3, and its whisper quiet compared to the dull roar of a PS3. :)p) It was almost inaudible in the macally enclosure when preping it for the PS3, and no noticeable vibration.
 
If you do pick up a hdd and want an enclosure for your existing one, whether you want to use it as a time machine or just for whatever, I recommend a firewire enclosure. Cheap usb enclosures have a tendency to want two usb ports, one for power and one for data. Firewire enclosures cost about $15 more, but only need one wire for the 2.5in models.
 
Will it void your apple Care?

I wanted to do a upgrade to, But i am afraid that it will void my 20 month of warranty that i still have.

does any one have any idea of will it void your warranty

Thanks
 
ricobilly20 said:
I wanted to do a upgrade to, But i am afraid that it will void my 20 month of warranty that i still have.

does any one have any idea of will it void your warranty

Thanks
Click to expand...

I am most certain it will void your warranty. Kinda doesn't makes sense since replacing ram doesn't void your warranty. And all it takes is removing some extra screws.
 
desantii said:
Another update, Vista does feel faster and my HD score went up 0.5 to 5.9
Click to expand...
Thanks for letting me know, I was on pins and needles to know how Windows runs on Macs: not! I bought a Mac to escape from Windows, which was driving me nuts!
 
It does not void your warranty to replace your hard drive. I had a nice discussion with Applecare about it before I purchased. Applecare will not cover your new hard drive, obviously, but they are perfectly fine with you working on your Mac and happy to help you wit your purchase decision. You should keep any existing drives and ram in the event you should have to send your Mac out to Apple for service, and reinstall them at that time if necessary. That is what Al from Canada Applecare advised me to do last Sunday.
 
I am looking at upgrading my HDD in my BlackBook to a 7200 RPM one, I only need the 250GB (use an external for video), but would the 320GB be faster?
 
drichards said:
It does not void your warranty to replace your hard drive. I had a nice discussion with Applecare about it before I purchased. Applecare will not cover your new hard drive, obviously, but they are perfectly fine with you working on your Mac and happy to help you wit your purchase decision. You should keep any existing drives and ram in the event you should have to send your Mac out to Apple for service, and reinstall them at that time if necessary. That is what Al from Canada Applecare advised me to do last Sunday.
Click to expand...

Strange enough when I asked AppleCare late last year they said it would void my AppleCare to change HDD on a MacBook Pro, not a MacBook though. I think this might change after the introduction of the new unibody MacBook/Pros.
 
dubhe said:
Of course, but I heard that a: having more space free made it faster and b: the design by definition was more efficient, hence more space on the same size disc.
Click to expand...

true on a windows machine...its in the way it stores the files on the platter. OSX inherently stores on the platters in a way that no matter size...its optimized for speed. another reason why defragging in OSX is almost NEVER needed.
 
pinback pro said:
true on a windows machine...its in the way it stores the files on the platter. OSX inherently stores on the platters in a way that no matter size...its optimized for speed. another reason why defragging in OSX is almost NEVER needed.
Click to expand...

I'm fairly sure that it doesn't matter what OS you have, it is the disk controllers or the actual disk itself that decided what's happening.

I'm looking at upgrading my MacBook (first generation) hard drive, not sure what I should be looking out for though. Any tips on max speed? I've heard that having too higher speeds can cause a risk of the hdd over heating in the MacBooks due to poor cooling...
 
quick question,

I've done this upgrade before also with a hitachi drive. I remember moving around the bluetooth module was a B%$@h because of the little hole on the drive that needs to not be blocked. Did your drive also have this? If so how did you move it around. The bluetooth module's cable apparently sits on top of the oem drive in the mbp exactly where that hole is on the hitachi(oem didn't have a breathing hole). I remember I bootlegged the job a bit and bent the cable around it(probably isn't a good idea, but it worked). I was wondering if you did something different.
 
I plan on performing this exact same operation on my 2006 2.2Ghz SR MacBook Pro, going from a 160GB 5400rpm drive on Tiger and starting anew on a 320GB 7200rpm drive on Leopard. By all accounts I'm expecting a pretty big speed bump (already at 4GB of Random Access Memory :) ). Did you find the instructions from ifixit easy to use OP? Did you use all of the tools they suggest?
 
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