Upgrading my Macbook HDD...

[matfield]

Hi guys,

i'm looking to upgrade my stock macbook HDD (120gb) with a shiny new Western Digital 500GB and doing a fresh install. I'm jus curious is it as easy as removing the old hdd and placing the new one in and re-installing OS X..? or is there more too it and i'm gonna be plagued with problems? This is the Drive i'm looking at
http://www.macupgrades.co.uk/store/product_info.php?products_id=498
i'm just not sure what i'd have to do or is it really that easy?

Thanks a million

[dukebound85]

what type of mb? unibody otr plastic

for plastic, you need a torx 8 and small phillips sd

[petemwah]

it's easy! the only thing that some people get held up on is that the installer doesn't detect the HDD, this is because it is (usually) unformatted when you buy it.

to solve this, simply go into DISK UTILITY from the Mac OS X Installer disc and format it through there.

[matfield]

My god you guys are quick!!

Dukebound85; Its a plastic white macbook... i've actually had the HDD out before but thanks for the hardware advice!! Much Appreciated!

Petemwah; thats all i have to do... there's no drivers or anything to install... all i have to do is format the drive in disk utility and then reinstall leopard and my files and i've got 5 times more space!!! If i knew it was that easy i'd have done it years ago!!

Thanks for the replies!!

[dukebound85]

My god you guys are quick!!

Dukebound85; Its a plastic white macbook... i've actually had the HDD out before but thanks for the hardware advice!! Much Appreciated!

Petemwah; thats all i have to do... there's no drivers or anything to install... all i have to do is format the drive in disk utility and then reinstall leopard and my files and i've got 5 times more space!!! If i knew it was that easy i'd have done it years ago!!

Thanks for the replies!!

thats it lol

[matfield]

and can i use any 2.5" SATA 5400 HDD? once its SATA? I know i sound like i'm answering my own questions but i'm 100% sure how it works...

[dukebound85]

and can i use any 2.5" SATA 5400 HDD? once its SATA? I know i sound like i'm answering my own questions but i'm 100% sure how it works...

yea needs to be 9.5 mm thick which most if not all are these days

the one you selected is ok

[matfield]

hey dukebound85... that was just one i found on the web but the one i'd actually be buying is this one

http://www.pixmania.ie/ie/uk/1443933/art/samsung/spinpoint-hm500li-m6-2-5.html

Just want to make sure before i part with my hard earned cash...

[gnasher729]

Hi guys,

i'm looking to upgrade my stock macbook HDD (120gb) with a shiny new Western Digital 500GB and doing a fresh install. I'm jus curious is it as easy as removing the old hdd and placing the new one in and re-installing OS X..? or is there more too it and i'm gonna be plagued with problems? This is the Drive i'm looking at
http://www.macupgrades.co.uk/store/product_info.php?products_id=498
i'm just not sure what i'd have to do or is it really that easy?

All MacBooks (not MacBook Pro) are easy. The new MacBook Pros are easy. The old MacBook Pros are challenging.

Just make sure that the spec for the 500GB drive says "9mm high" and not "12mm high". 12 mm high won't fit.

Edit: The one you linked to says "9.5mm high", so that would fit. You might consider buying one in a case. Plug it in, use Disk Utility to format it and copy your internal drive over, then swap the drives and you have your computer running as before plus a spare external drive.