Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

1TB 2.5" HDD in MacBook Pro - Disadvantages?

K

kolax

macrumors G3
Original poster
Mar 20, 2007
9,181
115
I'm looking to stick in a 1TB HDD in my MacBook Pro, ideal so I can have all my TV shows and movies on my internal hard drive. Obviously it'll be a 5400rpm drive.

I have a 5400rpm drive in it right now. Is there any disadvantages (performance) to having such a big hard drive? Amount of platters v rotation speed?

I might look at Optibay too, but don't want to void my warranty.

Any thoughts/inputs/suggestions?
 
The 1TB drive should actually perform better, given that it likely has a higher data density than your current drive. Also, since all current 1TB 2.5" drives are 12.5mm in height, they will not fit in an optibay.
 
alust2013 said:
The 1TB drive should actually perform better, given that it likely has a higher data density than your current drive. Also, since all current 1TB 2.5" drives are 12.5mm in height, they will not fit in an optibay.
Click to expand...

Ah. I remember hearing that 12.5mm hard drives fitted in the unibody enclosure, just assumed they'd fit in the optibay too.

2x500GB might be an option, using optibay, in a RAID setup. That'd speed things up too. I'd need to check the power consumption, and see how much less battery life I would get.

Any warranty worries with optibay or is it fairly easy to swap the ODD back in and tidy up without Apple ever being the wiser?
 
Depends on which Optibay model you get... Cheap Chinese one, or homemade remedy, maybe, but the regular, not at all.
Also, the only disadvantage I would have to a 1TB drive in my MBP, would be I wouldn't know what to do with the space!
 
MultiMediaWill said:
There should be no issues with the larger HDD. However, if money is not an issue, I would get an optibay and install this 1TB SDD instead.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820227515
Click to expand...

I highly doubt the OP wants to spend $3000 on a new SSD...lol.

Personally, I think you should go with the optibay method and if you ever need to send to AppleCare or bring it to a genius bar, simply put the disk drive back in and remove the one without your OS on it. You won't have your files when you bring it to Apple, but when they fix it and send you home or send you a new one, reinstall everything.
 
Kilamite said:
Ah. I remember hearing that 12.5mm hard drives fitted in the unibody enclosure, just assumed they'd fit in the optibay too.

2x500GB might be an option, using optibay, in a RAID setup. That'd speed things up too. I'd need to check the power consumption, and see how much less battery life I would get.

Any warranty worries with optibay or is it fairly easy to swap the ODD back in and tidy up without Apple ever being the wiser?
Click to expand...

I did 2x500GB 7200RPM myself (see link in sig). Worked great. Very easy to revert back to stock too. Just make sure to use the right tools and take your time.

If I had it to do over again today, I'd go with 2x750GB 7200RPM or, if funds allow, a 256GB SSD in the optibay and put a 750GB (or even slower 1TB) drive in the stock location. Lot's of options out there. :)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back