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WD Scorpio 320gb HD - Pulling the Trigger?

S

Sdao

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Jul 12, 2007
336
0
Hey guys, I'm about to buy a WD Scorpio 320gb internal HD for my MBP. I'm switching out the 160gb internal drive that came with my MBP, I'm running out of room, and plus, my current drive is a tad noisy.

For those of you who currently have this drive in your MBP's, how do you find the WD 320gb? I've read reviews about how quiet and quick it is, but I'd like to hear some first hand reviews.

Anyone?
 
I've been running the WD Scorpio 320GB drive for about a week now. It seems quieter, runs a few degrees cooler and it's noticeably "snappier" when loading things or searching. I think it's the best upgrade I've done for this laptop.... well worth it.

FYI, I paid about $179 at Best buy, I had them price match another place but I believe that's the going rate at newegg (as of last week).

Good luck, you'll have about 297.7GB to work with.
 
DropKick said:
I've been running the WD Scorpio 320GB drive for about a week now. It seems quieter, runs a few degrees cooler and it's noticeably "snappier" when loading things or searching. I think it's the best upgrade I've done for this laptop.... well worth it.

FYI, I paid about $179 at Best buy, I had them price match another place but I believe that's the going rate at newegg (as of last week).

Good luck, you'll have about 297.7GB to work with.
Click to expand...

Sounds amazing. 179 is a decent price. I'd be purchasing it via OWC for 188. Unfortunately, none of the Best Buys (or Futureshop stores) around here actually carry the Scorpio.

Do you hear any "clicking" noises coming from your new drive? My current 160gb hd is driving me insane with its noises, its frustrating.
 
I just installed mine a few days ago, and it replaced a 100G 7200 RPM Hitachi.

Like the previous poster, I noticed that the machine is noticeably snappier, too. And I LOVE having all the storage space now, too....

MacDann
 
MacDann said:
I just installed mine a few days ago, and it replaced a 100G 7200 RPM Hitachi.

Like the previous poster, I noticed that the machine is noticeably snappier, too. And I LOVE having all the storage space now, too....

MacDann
Click to expand...

Wow really? Snappier than your old 100GB 7200rpm? how is that possible? I know that it has data density lala but should it be faster than 5400 rpm?

-JoE
 
I did it this week myself as well, and all I can say is that I now have my 30 GB Photo collection, my 30 GB iTunes library onboard, my 20 GB or so Parallels Windows partition, and I still have about 175 GB free...

I'm in disk space heaven!!
 
I have been running this 320HD for about a month, and I must admit its tops. I bought the Passport and swapped my 160hd out, and slapped it in the enclosure. I works wonderfully though.
 
I placed my order. Im excited to get it in and working.

I have posted some questions about formatting it once its installed. Some of the answers I received were unclear.

Can I just install swap HD's and boot from a Leopard disc? After that, do I format it?

Does anyone have concise details on how to format a drive after its been installed?
 
Boot from your Leopard DVD, from the "Options" menu choose "Utilities > Disk Utility" and from there, select the new drive and partition it for an HFS+ drive.

After this go back to the Leopard installer and let Leopard install on the new drive. If you take the old drive and put it in an enclosure, you can use the Migration Assistant during the startup process (once Leopard is installed) and migrate all your old data and settings from the old drive.

MacDann
 
MacDann said:
Boot from your Leopard DVD, from the "Options" menu choose "Utilities > Disk Utility" and from there, select the new drive and partition it for an HFS+ drive.

After this go back to the Leopard installer and let Leopard install on the new drive. If you take the old drive and put it in an enclosure, you can use the Migration Assistant during the startup process (once Leopard is installed) and migrate all your old data and settings from the old drive.

MacDann
Click to expand...

How do I boot from the Leopard DVD, do I hold down the 'c' key while my computer boots? Also, what do you mean by "go back to the Leopard installer and let Leopard install on the new drive"??

Do you mean that after I run the disk utility, I should re-boot and boot from the Leopard DVD and run the installer?

I'm such a noob, I need help, haha.
 
Sdao said:
How do I boot from the Leopard DVD, do I hold down the 'c' key while my computer boots? Also, what do you mean by "go back to the Leopard installer and let Leopard install on the new drive"??

Do you mean that after I run the disk utility, I should re-boot and boot from the Leopard DVD and run the installer?

I'm such a noob, I need help, haha.
Click to expand...

Yes, startup with the "C" key depressed. You'll open up on a desktop with the Leopard installation menu. You can click on the menu bar at the top of the screen to get to Disk Utility without continuing or disturbing the Leopard install. It will just go into the background while you do the Disk Utility job. If you've got Windows experience, just think of it as minimizing the Leopard installer window and opening a new one with the Disk Utility in it.

When you're done partitioning the disk, just bring the Leopard window forward to make it active, and continue on following the prompts to install.

MacDann
 
MacDann said:
Yes, startup with the "C" key depressed. You'll open up on a desktop with the Leopard installation menu. You can click on the menu bar at the top of the screen to get to Disk Utility without continuing or disturbing the Leopard install. It will just go into the background while you do the Disk Utility job. If you've got Windows experience, just think of it as minimizing the Leopard installer window and opening a new one with the Disk Utility in it.

When you're done partitioning the disk, just bring the Leopard window forward to make it active, and continue on following the prompts to install.

MacDann
Click to expand...

Alright, so once I launch Disk Utility I just click on the new drive and partition it for a HFS+ drive. Then it partitions while I run the installer? Are there any other details from this process that are missing?

Did you open up your MBP and swap the drives yourself? I'm thinking about doing all this myself, I have all the tools and I'm prepared, but I'm a little nervous about it.
 
Sdao said:
Alright, so once I launch Disk Utility I just click on the new drive and partition it for a HFS+ drive. Then it partitions while I run the installer? Are there any other details from this process that are missing?

Did you open up your MBP and swap the drives yourself? I'm thinking about doing all this myself, I have all the tools and I'm prepared, but I'm a little nervous about it.
Click to expand...

Partition it in Disk Utility, and when it's finished (this only takes a minute or two, if even that since it's a blank drive) and then close Disk Utility. Bring the Leopard installer window forward and just move on and follow the prompts.

MacDann
 
MacDann said:
Partition it in Disk Utility, and when it's finished (this only takes a minute or two, if even that since it's a blank drive) and then close Disk Utility. Bring the Leopard installer window forward and just move on and follow the prompts.

MacDann
Click to expand...

Alright, sounds pretty easy to do. Thanks for clearing that up.

Did you take the computer apart yourself? I'm hoping its manageable. I've got all the tools and everything, I'm just a little shaky about opening it up and breaking something.
 
Sdao said:
Alright, sounds pretty easy to do. Thanks for clearing that up.

Did you take the computer apart yourself? I'm hoping its manageable. I've got all the tools and everything, I'm just a little shaky about opening it up and breaking something.
Click to expand...

You need some jeweler's (phillips head) screwdrivers and a #7 Torx driver. Follow the directions on www.ifixit.com or others and work slowly and carefully. The scariest part is prying up the cover around the front edge of the case. You have to be careful and not yank the top cover up. The same goes for when you replace it.

Other than that just be careful, take your time, and work in a clean, well lighted area where your stuff won't get disturbed. Lay everything out in order as you remove it, and it will go back together all that much easier, too.

MacDann
 
MacDann said:
You need some jeweler's (phillips head) screwdrivers and a #7 Torx driver. Follow the directions on www.ifixit.com or others and work slowly and carefully. The scariest part is prying up the cover around the front edge of the case. You have to be careful and not yank the top cover up. The same goes for when you replace it.

Other than that just be careful, take your time, and work in a clean, well lighted area where your stuff won't get disturbed. Lay everything out in order as you remove it, and it will go back together all that much easier, too.

MacDann
Click to expand...

I've checked out some of the instructions on ifixit.com as well as video instructions on youtube.

I've got a question for you though. Is it tough to actually connect the drive to the ribbons and whatever transfers data from the drive to the rest of the computer? Is it easy to disconnect the hard drive ribbons and wires? I dont want to be yanking something out without being sure that I have to.
 
MacDann said:
You need some jeweler's (phillips head) screwdrivers and a #7 Torx driver.

MacDann
Click to expand...

Probably just a typo, but it's a Torx T6 you need for the MacBook pro, not a T7.

Edit: I'm also considering this drive, hows the battery life after installing? Hows the noise level? Can you hear it parking the heads?
 
Sdao said:
I've checked out some of the instructions on ifixit.com as well as video instructions on youtube.

I've got a question for you though. Is it tough to actually connect the drive to the ribbons and whatever transfers data from the drive to the rest of the computer? Is it easy to disconnect the hard drive ribbons and wires? I dont want to be yanking something out without being sure that I have to.
Click to expand...

Yes. What's not terribly clear in any of the descriptions is how the connectors for the keyboard and hard drive ribbons are connected to the logic boards. It's hard to describe - the best way I can describe it is like a miniature Lego block without the circles in it. The "socket" on the logic board is a tiny square, and the plug on the ribbon is larger in size than the socket - it snaps right in to the socket on the logic board.

They show using a spudger to pop them off, but if you're careful and you have them, fingernails are a nice non-conductive alternative.

A couple other things:

The phillips head screw on the inside of the battery compartment closest to the latch will be magnetized due to the proximity of the latch magnets.

Use a large tweezers or hemostats to carefully remove things from the case around the hard drive. The bluetooth module is wrapped in what appears to be nothing more than some Scotch tape, which allows it to stick to the sides of the case. It will give you fits the first time you remove it, as you'll be scared as heck to pull too hard for fear of damaging something.

Again, take your time and don't be in a hurry. If you get frustrated, get up and take a walk.

MacDann

AuroraProject said:
Probably just a typo, but it's a Torx T6 you need for the MacBook pro, not a T7.

Edit: I'm also considering this drive, hows the battery life after installing? Hows the noise level? Can you hear it parking the heads?
Click to expand...

Yup, you're right. I have a fistfull of Torx drivers, and I just know them by sight - I guessed.

I can't comment on battery life yet, but it's no noisier than the stock drive, nor do you hear the drive mechanism running. I also noticed that it appears to run a little cooler than my previous drive, but it was a 7200 RPM Hitachi, not the stock drive.

MacDann
 
I also have the WD 320GB drive that I removed from a passport. It is quite nice. I cloned my drive with SuperDuper directly to the passport before attempting the install. I used the IFixIt guide and every thing went pretty smooth. Make sure you use a good set of screwdrivers as the screws can be pretty tight. Also be careful taking off the top case. The front snaps are very hard to pop loose and all need to be snapped back in place otherwise the case will have a noticeable bulge. One mistake I made was to not repartition the drive as a GUID partition table. It was as Fat32 formatted MBR partition to start. I formatted as HFS+ not realizing it was MBR. I still works fine but I could not setup boot camp. I had to repartition as HFS+ in a GUID partition table and then restore my image to get boot camp assistant working. Best of luck.
 
freitas said:
I also have the WD 320GB drive that I removed from a passport. It is quite nice. I cloned my drive with SuperDuper directly to the passport before attempting the install. I used the IFixIt guide and every thing went pretty smooth. Make sure you use a good set of screwdrivers as the screws can be pretty tight. Also be careful taking off the top case. The front snaps are very hard to pop loose and all need to be snapped back in place otherwise the case will have a noticeable bulge. One mistake I made was to not repartition the drive as a GUID partition table. It was as Fat32 formatted MBR partition to start. I formatted as HFS+ not realizing it was MBR. I still works fine but I could not setup boot camp. I had to repartition as HFS+ in a GUID partition table and then restore my image to get boot camp assistant working. Best of luck.
Click to expand...

I partitioned mine while it was still in the Passport case as well. That way I knew it would be ready to go as soon as I popped it into the MBP.

And yes, if there is a difficult part to this job, it's that front edge of the top case. I have done this a few times, but you always worry that you're going to break something during removal of the top case.

Not to gush, but I am so pleased at the tremendous increase in space over the 100G drive I had in it. I was a little reluctant to drop the $$ for it, but I can now say without exception that it was money well spent.

MacDann
 
Gush all you want :)
It's a great hard drive and I'm pumped to put mine in myself.

Thanks for all your help. I have but one last question...

Does it matter if the screwdriver I use is magnetic? I bought one last week and it is magnetic, is it strong enough to do damage to my hard drive as I am removing screws with it?
 
I just ordered me one of these from newegg today for 160 bucks shipped. Can't wait to put it in my new MBP.

Where can I get one of those spudgers they show used in the ifixit guide?
 
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