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A Very Cunning Plan for Upgrading Hard Drive

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djdl

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Feb 3, 2010
19
0
Gold Coast
Hi guys,

I have a 2007 MacBook (3,1) which I have been considering upgrading to a MacBook Pro but have decided to hold off for a year or so on account of cost, and I'd also like to wait until LightPeak is available.

Anyways, I have begun to hatch a cunning plan of upgrading the spec on my MacBook by increasing RAM to 4GB and replacing the Hard Drive with a Seagate Momentus XT Hybrid Drive.

I've not done anything like this before so before I go ahead I just wanted to make sure that drive is compatible with my MacBook. One of the guys at the local Apple Store said I'd need a 3.5 inch Hard Drive, which doesn't seem to be what the Seagate is.

You can check out the spec here:-

http://www.seagate.com/www/en-us/pr...ge/momentus-xt-kit/#tTabContentSpecifications

I've watched a few videos on YouTube and they all seem to talk about 2.5 inch drives - again the spec above does not show that (the nearest it comes is width at 2.75). I don't know whether they are referring to width or length.
I'm confused......

Lastly, how do I get all my files from the old Hard Drive to the new one?

I have a Time Capsule. Am I able to lift it all off that? Or create a backup manually and then take it from there?

Thanks for the help
Don
 
M

movieboy23

macrumors regular
Jun 3, 2007
180
0
1) The replacement drive needs to be a 2.5". Whoever told you you need a 3.5" drive is dead wrong. The number refers to the form factor of the drive.

2) If you're waiting for Light Peak, you might be waiting a while. Doesn't look like Apple is gonna put Light Peak in their machines anytime soon, given that they just upgraded the Mac Pro and made ZERO additions to it in terms of ports. Many people were hoping that Apple would add in at least USB 3.0, if not a FW 1600 or 3200. This of course doesn't even begin to address the overwhelming majority of Mac Pro users who are frustrated that they still have to buy eSATA PCI Express cards to access external RAIDs. Heck, it took Apple almost 4 years to include an Airport card among the standard config.

I would venture to say that Apple will put Light Peak in the Mac Pros at the end of 2011. If that goes smoothly, then MAYBE (and that's a huge maybe) we'll see Light Peak on Apple's notebook line starting mid 2012, given the past product cycles.

3) For cloning a drive, I would use either Carbon Copy Cloner or SuperDuper to clone your existing drive onto the new one. In order to do so, you'll need to connect the new HD to your computer using either an external enclosure or a simple SATA-USB cable (which can be had for about $20 online). From there, the process is super simple.

Good luck with your upgrades.
 
pastrychef

pastrychef

macrumors 601
Sep 15, 2006
4,753
1,450
New York City, NY
Yeah, whoever told you that you need a 3.5" drive is wrong. The Seagate Momentus XT will work fine. RAM and hard drives are extremely easy to access in your MacBook. Remove the battery, unscrew three screws and remove a plate, and the RAM and hard drive are right there. You shouldn't have any problem.

No one knows when or even IF LightPeak will be added to any Mac other than Apple themselves.

Carbon Copy Cloner and SuperDuper! are the most popular apps used to clone system from one drive to another. If you search around, USB enclosures for 2.5" drives can easily be found for less than $10 to help with the cloning process.
 
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djdl

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Feb 3, 2010
19
0
Gold Coast
Thanks again for the help/advice.
For LightPeak I'm more waiting to see once it hits the market and if Apple will include it in the MacBook Pros.

Thanks for the tip on the SATA-USD cable. I was thinking I'd have to clone to a separate external hard drive, then move it all onto the new hard drive once I had it installed. It sure sounds a lot easier the way you say.

I've ordered the Momentus XT so can't wait to see how it all goes.

Thanks again
Don
 
Meldar

Meldar

macrumors regular
May 3, 2008
184
0
pocket of liberalism in farm country
Making an exact clone of a drive isn't that hard if you use those programs mentioned - though I've never done so, preferring to copy things manually. It takes awhile but it's a good way of starting from a clean slate as far as application data is concerned.

A SATA-USB adapter or enclosure is just a good thing to have, I've found. Any problems with your drive, and you can take it out and plug it into another computer to fix...or in this case, clone. ;)

There's still a couple months, I'd say, before any reliable-looking rumors regarding the presence of LightPeak and/or USB 3.0 in the next MBP come out. As of now, no one's quite sure. There are a few notebooks on the market (Acer, I believe) which have USB 3.0 compliance...but the way I see it, there are so few devices on that standard (LightPeak, as well) that the best option is to play the waiting game.

Good luck!
 
D

djdl

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Feb 3, 2010
19
0
Gold Coast
Got another question on this:-

I have an iMac as well, which operates as my main computer. My overall plan is to migrate everything from both onto the new hard drive and run it from my MacBook.

Will it cause any problems if I clone my iMac drive onto the Momentus XT and then use that in my MacBook?

I just think it will be a lot easier that way than cloning the MacBook and then having to manually transfer everything from the iMac.

Thanks again
Don
 
pastrychef

pastrychef

macrumors 601
Sep 15, 2006
4,753
1,450
New York City, NY
djdl said:
Got another question on this:-

I have an iMac as well, which operates as my main computer. My overall plan is to migrate everything from both onto the new hard drive and run it from my MacBook.

Will it cause any problems if I clone my iMac drive onto the Momentus XT and then use that in my MacBook?

I just think it will be a lot easier that way than cloning the MacBook and then having to manually transfer everything from the iMac.

Thanks again
Don
Click to expand...

If your iMac is fully updated with the latest software updates before you do the cloning to the Momentus XT, it should work fine.
 
raysfan81

raysfan81

macrumors 6502a
Oct 6, 2009
598
2
Why wait for lightpeak? No one knows if that will actually be included on any Macs at all. Also it may be like HD DVD and never catch or be beaten out by some other connector. IMO its not even worth wating. Like someone said previously, Apple hasn't even added any eSATA or USB 3.0 ports to the Mac Pro which is one of the highest end computers on the market, and they've both been out for a decent amount of time. There is almost no way that they would add Lightpeak quickly after its release whenever that it may be.
 
D

djdl

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Feb 3, 2010
19
0
Gold Coast
Well it's all done. Received the Momentus XT Thursday morning and cloned the iMac drive and have installed it into my MacBook - no dramas :)

Received the 4 GB yesterday afternoon and installed that and it is now running like a dream.

I've always had my machines setup to launch iCal, Mail, Safari and iTunes at start up. In the past I've found that trying to use something like iMovie or iPhoto while the others are all open maxed out my RAM and I had major performance issues. I can happily report that I can now keep all of them open and run iMovie, iPhoto, iWeb, iDVD and Parallels with no performance issues at all.

Speed-wise the new drive doesn't seem any faster at start up, but once I have gotten beyond the log in stage all applications are launched quicker and opening/closing apps once logged in is noticeably faster.

In answer to some of your questions:-

marshallbedsaul, the 4GB works just fine. There is a post in the forum where another user has installed on 6GB. I just read from the MacRamDirect website what was suitable and went for the highest configuration they said.

raysfan81, I'm just waiting to see what happens with LightPeak. I may or may not make a purchase prior to it being released but I just wanted to wait a little longer to find out more about it and whether it looked like being adopted as industry standard any time in the not too distant future.

At any rate, I've got myself a very workable machine for the next 12 months or so which will give me time to make a decision.

Anyways, thanks again everyone for your help and input

Don
 
V

Val-kyrie

macrumors 68020
Feb 13, 2005
2,107
1,419
djdl said:
Well it's all done. Received the Momentus XT Thursday morning and cloned the iMac drive and have installed it into my MacBook - no dramas :)

Received the 4 GB yesterday afternoon and installed that and it is now running like a dream.

I've always had my machines setup to launch iCal, Mail, Safari and iTunes at start up. In the past I've found that trying to use something like iMovie or iPhoto while the others are all open maxed out my RAM and I had major performance issues. I can happily report that I can now keep all of them open and run iMovie, iPhoto, iWeb, iDVD and Parallels with no performance issues at all.

Speed-wise the new drive doesn't seem any faster at start up, but once I have gotten beyond the log in stage all applications are launched quicker and opening/closing apps once logged in is noticeably faster.

In answer to some of your questions:-

marshallbedsaul, the 4GB works just fine. There is a post in the forum where another user has installed on 6GB. I just read from the MacRamDirect website what was suitable and went for the highest configuration they said.

raysfan81, I'm just waiting to see what happens with LightPeak. I may or may not make a purchase prior to it being released but I just wanted to wait a little longer to find out more about it and whether it looked like being adopted as industry standard any time in the not too distant future.

At any rate, I've got myself a very workable machine for the next 12 months or so which will give me time to make a decision.

Anyways, thanks again everyone for your help and input

Don
Click to expand...

How is your battery life? I have a BlackBook and also am considering the Momentus XT as a hard drive upgrade.
 
D

djdl

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Feb 3, 2010
19
0
Gold Coast
It's hard to say as I've never really used my MacBook enough in the past to make any sort of comparison.

I will say though that it does seem to chew through it. Heavy use of video etc sees me get about 3-3.5 hours on estimate. From memory that rates fairly competitively with what I had in the past
 
I

iThinkergoiMac

macrumors 68030
Jan 20, 2010
2,664
4
Terra
pastrychef said:
The Core2Duo MacBooks with GMA950 graphics can have up to 3GB.
Click to expand...

For clarity's sake, you do get a slight speed boost by putting 4 GB (2x2 GB) in because of the dual-channel effect, even though the system can only address 3 GB of it.

The MacBooks with X3100 graphics can have up to 4GB.
Click to expand...

Up to 6 GB, actually. Apple says the maximum is 4 GB, but I've got 6 GB and I'm able to address all of it.

If you ever have questions about what you can handle, MacTracker is a great app.
 
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