Want to upgrade a Macbook HDD to 250GB for Leopard? Do what I did!

[yabai]

I recently upgraded my Black Macbook's Hard Disk to a Western Digital 250GB Scorpio. I simply went to Costco and bought a 250GB Passport External Drive for $140, cheaper than most online stores, and cracked open the case to find the SATA drive ready for installing. The enclosure has no screws and comes right off with a little force, and I put the Apple OEM drive (a Seagate, by the way) back into the enclosure and snapped it back together. It works like a charm. This is the easiest and cheapest way I can think of to replace the HDD, but then again I don't mind WD drives, as I understand some do. :)

I recommend this method if you have a Costco nearby!

[weckart]

Of course, you save pennies by doing this and have a case for your old drive - however, if anything goes wrong with the new drive, you save nothing because your warranty is now null and void.

It is a gamble, which should pay off for most, but not all, takers.

[luvTN]

Of course, you save pennies by doing this and have a case for your old drive - however, if anything goes wrong with the new drive, you save nothing because your warranty is now null and void.

It is a gamble, which should pay off for most, but not all, takers.

Huh? I replaced both my RAM and HDD myself. Later still can get Apple's service.

[jbstew32]

Huh? I replaced both my RAM and HDD myself. Later still can get Apple's service.


I think he meant if the new WD drive has problems, your warranty will have been voided.

[mavherzog]

Huh? I replaced both my RAM and HDD myself. Later still can get Apple's service.
He's talking about the HARD DRIVE manufacturer's warranty.

[rychencop]

Huh? I replaced both my RAM and HDD myself. Later still can get Apple's service.

And by doing so Apple will not cover your new hdd or ram. But I believe he was referring to the ext. hdd warranty.

[SpaceMagic]

I'm gunna say thank you for this thread. This forum definitely needs more cool ideas like that, rather than a lot of people moaning or complaining about something.

Thanks!

Good tip.

[TBi]

Of course, you save pennies by doing this and have a case for your old drive - however, if anything goes wrong with the new drive, you save nothing because your warranty is now null and void.

It is a gamble, which should pay off for most, but not all, takers.

If something goes wrong you put the 250GB drive back into it's enclosure and get a replacement right away at Cost Co.

They can deal with any problems with warranty :D

I don't normally advocate this but the warranty should cover hardware failure no matter how it fails (as long as it isn't broken by man-handling)

[squeeks]

I'm gunna say thank you for this thread. This forum definitely needs more cool ideas like that, rather than a lot of people moaning or complaining about something.

Thanks!

Good tip.

yeah but you do realize this is a common idea (using a passport and pulling the drive) and what maybe 60-75% of people do right?

you must not read the macbook forums much;)

[tmoney468]

Right, as others have said, once you remove the drive from the external enclosure the warranty is void from Western Digital. It may not be a big deal, but if it happens to die within 3-4 months then you're left out in the cold.

[SpaceMagic]

yeah but you do realize this is a common idea (using a passport and pulling the drive) and what maybe 60-75% of people do right?

you must not read the macbook forums much;)


I read. I read. Just. He/she told us about costco, etc. It's a good up to date tip. Good forum stuff.

[El Cid]

I recently upgraded my Black Macbook's Hard Disk to a Western Digital 250GB Scorpio. I simply went to Costco and bought a 250GB Passport External Drive for $140, cheaper than most online stores, and cracked open the case to find the SATA drive ready for installing. The enclosure has no screws and comes right off with a little force, and I put the Apple OEM drive (a Seagate, by the way) back into the enclosure and snapped it back together. It works like a charm. This is the easiest and cheapest way I can think of to replace the HDD, but then again I don't mind WD drives, as I understand some do. :)

I recommend this method if you have a Costco nearby!

Considering you can buy the WD drive for 150-160 dollars and get a full warranty from WD, this would not be such a smooth move. I purchased one from Amazon for 150ish, and this Geeks.com has then for 153.00 and it has been lower as I posted previously.

[robrose20]

The drive itself should be under warranty from WD. Regardless of where it came from.

[klaxamazoo]

It's not like Costco is going to check and see if the drive had been opened up. they will either replace it or just give you store credit. My uncle had a computer go bad that he had owned for over a year and they just exchanged it for him. They don't care, they aren't a computer store.

[macenforcer]

Of course, you save pennies by doing this and have a case for your old drive - however, if anything goes wrong with the new drive, you save nothing because your warranty is now null and void.

It is a gamble, which should pay off for most, but not all, takers.

Not true. I did this also with a passport. Got mine for $90 each from staples deal. The case opens up no problem. If it goes bad just put it back in the case. There are not stickers or anything that rip so they can't tell. Got me 4 of those drives. They are awesome. Best part about them... they use one cable and it has one usb plug. All others have one cable with 2 usb plugs. One for power and other for data. I don't know how WD did it but its nice.

[anothermacaddic]

Ok, I havent replaced a hardrive in my mac since doing it in my 12in powerbook. That didnt go so well, it involved a dremmel and ill just leave it at that.

Id like a little more indepth tutorial on this procedure. I know theres a sliding door near the battery to switch out the hard drive. Is there a cage that slides out?

My last switch out involved an external case and carbon copy cloner. Last time i had an identical drive (as i suspected hd failure was about to happen) but this time the drive will be larger. Will carbon copy cloner be ok with this? Id like to partition the new drive in half for leapord. Is there a utility that I can use to do it? Should I boot to my original drive and use disk utility to partition? Whats the method for booting to an external drive with osx?

I would like to dual boot different versions of osx. Is this even possible? Would it just be easier to leave it on an external, is it the only way? Where does boot camp fit into all this? Can you boot to it on an external?

Any and all responses are much appreciated along with a detailed tutorial.

[squeeks]

Ok, I havent replaced a hardrive in my mac since doing it in my 12in powerbook. That didnt go so well, it involved a dremmel and ill just leave it at that.

Id like a little more indepth tutorial on this procedure. I know theres a sliding door near the battery to switch out the hard drive. Is there a cage that slides out?



www.ifixit.com for detailed guides

i tried opening up my 12" ibook, i got to step 37 of 75 and gave up and put i back together, then apple released the macbook and all you have to do is remove one stupid panel...grr

anyway, unrelated....ive been wanting to get one of those 250gb passports just to use as a nice little carry around drive since it dosent need ext. power

[mrweirdo]

Just curious does anyone know if these drives are 5400rpm or 7200rpm? I'm thinking about upgrading my black macbook to a 7200rpm drive and may consider this option if it is. Otherwise I'll stick with a seagate replacement.

[macenforcer]

Just curious does anyone know if these drives are 5400rpm or 7200rpm? I'm thinking about upgrading my black macbook to a 7200rpm drive and may consider this option if it is. Otherwise I'll stick with a seagate replacement.

250gb scorpio is 5400.

[crzdmniac]

I was going to go that route, but WD's specs on the passport says it only has 2MB of cache, can you confirm either way?

[peapody]

2MB CACHE, confirmed on a couple sites...

http://www.provantage.com/western-digital-wdxms2500tn~7WNDG2FE.htm

http://www.compusa.com/products/product_info.asp?product_code=347116

Probably wouldn't want that as your primary internal drive. Better to go with the WD scorpio straight up with the 8mb.

[Bearxor]

There are two decent HD deals going on at BB now.

There is a Hitachi 200GB:
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=8355709&st=200gb+usb&lp=1&type=product&cp=1&id=1177112455216

Look for serial numbers beginning in DTG or DEG. These contain 7200rpm 8MB drives. Other serial numbers are 5400rpm.

Then a WD Passport 250GB:
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=8475857&st=usb+250&lp=10&type=product&cp=1&id=1185271084347

Contains a WD2500BEVS. 5400rpm 8MB. Ordering from newegg is 169.00, so 10 bucks cheaper + local pickup + usb enclosure.

Your choice, 7200rpm drive for $143 (if your BB has the right serial numbers) or a 250GB drive for $17 more. I went with the 250.

[macenforcer]

2MB CACHE, confirmed on a couple sites...

http://www.provantage.com/western-digital-wdxms2500tn~7WNDG2FE.htm

http://www.compusa.com/products/product_info.asp?product_code=347116

Probably wouldn't want that as your primary internal drive. Better to go with the WD scorpio straight up with the 8mb.

Them sites be soooo wrong.

Popped mine open. The drive is a WD2500BEVS. 8mb buffer. Nobody makes 2mb buffers anymore.

WD2500BEVS (http://www.wdc.com/en/products/Products.asp?DriveID=314)

[peapody]

well if that is the case


http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16822136139

black enclosure, $146.99+$7.50 in shipping from newegg. this product should be the right one yes?

[dogtanian]

It's good idea, around the same price as buying the drive separately with a drive caddy/enclosure here in the UK though;
WD Passport= £105
Scorpio 250GB =£88
Enclosure= £5-£20

Unfortunately all the UK sites i've checked read as 2MB buffer for the passport...hmm, definitely a no-goer for moi.

[peapody]

Them sites be soooo wrong.

Popped mine open. The drive is a WD2500BEVS. 8mb buffer. Nobody makes 2mb buffers anymore.

WD2500BEVS (http://www.wdc.com/en/products/Products.asp?DriveID=314)

You can see why people would be wary though...if you google the serial # everything says 2mb buffer.

[freebooter]

I tucked the 250 scorpio into my Macbook a couple of weeks ago. Working well; low noise, o.k. heat.
I upgraded in prep for travel, not Lep.