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MacBook Pro Unibody Hard Drive Upgrade?

Benguitar

Benguitar

Guest
Original poster
Jan 30, 2009
1,253
1
Hello, I was wondering what is the correct SATA hard drive for me to use to upgrade my MacBook Pro's internal hard drive with? I read on Apple's website that they say the replacement drive must be 2.5 inches.

My MacBook Pro has an express card slot so it does have a removable battery.

I'd like to get a 1TB drive in my machine, and I already have a 1.5 TB backup external drive.

My guess, Please correct me if I am incorrect, Is all I would need to do is

turn off my machine,

remove the internal,

put in the new drive,

turn the machine on,

boot up from external backup,

use SuperDuper to copy the files over from the external drive to the new internal and then...

Done?

So if you don't mind, Please recommend which drive will work best and then correct me if I am wrong about the data transfer.

My local Mac Repair Depot wants to charge $140 for a 500GB drive plus $112.50 for install.

I figured I could do all that with a 1TB drive for around $100 just for the drive and then transfer the data myself?

-Ben
 
Maybe I am behind the times, but are there any 1 TB drives currently available at 2.5 inches that will work?

I thought the 640 GB WD was currently the largest, but I could easily be wrong on that

Do you have any you are considering?
 
MacDawg said:
Maybe I am behind the times, but are there any 1 TB drives currently available at 2.5 inches that will work?

I thought the 640 GB WD was currently the largest, but I could easily be wrong on that

Do you have any you are considering?
Click to expand...

I'm a bit new to upgrading my machine, So the only one I've really seen that I *think* would work would be-

http://www.wdc.com/en/products/products.asp?driveid=685

I am basing my information from some YouTube guy who was putting a 750GB in his MacBook Pro but said that the 1TB would also fit.
 
The 12.5mm height drives are the 750GB and 1TB drives from Western Digital. They are reported to fit in the unibody MBPs, but only the 17" in the previous models. The other issue with the 12.5mm drives is that they can be hard to find.

The 640GB drive is the largest 9.5mm drive available, I have one in my 13" MBP and it's terrific.
 
It *may* work - not that the drive height is 12.5mm, the standard is 9.5mm. My MB only has capacity for a 9.5mm drive height, so you will definitely want to check that (Google the current drive for the specs).
 
MacDawg said:
Maybe I am behind the times, but are there any 1 TB drives currently available at 2.5 inches that will work?

I thought the 640 GB WD was currently the largest, but I could easily be wrong on that

Do you have any you are considering?
Click to expand...

Same, that's what I thought... And even if there are 12.5mm drives at 1TB, it'll be practically impossible to find them.
 
Wehrwolf said:
The 12.5mm height drives are the 750GB and 1TB drives from Western Digital. They are reported to fit in the unibody MBPs, but only the 17" in the previous models. The other issue with the 12.5mm drives is that they can be hard to find.

The 640GB drive is the largest 9.5mm drive available, I have one in my 13" MBP and it's terrific.
Click to expand...

True, I have noticed they are a bit hard to find.

I may have to order it.

thomar2k1 said:
It *may* work - not that the drive height is 12.5mm, the standard is 9.5mm. My MB only has capacity for a 9.5mm drive height, so you will definitely want to check that (Google the current drive for the specs).
Click to expand...

This is what I read from Apple's website,

Scroll down to page 37

http://manuals.info.apple.com/en_US/MacBook_Pro_15inch_Mid2009.pdf

*shrugs*

That to me seems like it would work fine as long as the drive "fits" the size won't really matter.

That's the instructions for a 15in with non-removable battery, Mine has a removable but I believe the hard drive is mounted the same way in both machines.
 
Benguitar said:
That to me seems like it would work fine as long as the drive "fits" the size won't really matter.

That's the instructions for a 15in with non-removable battery, Mine has a removable but I believe the hard drive is mounted the same way in both machines.
Click to expand...

It's a tight squeeze in the non-unibody models. I doubt you're going to be able to fit a 12.5mm height drive in it -- I personally haven't tried, but from reading these boards for a long while, those that have tried were only successful in the 17" models.
 
whateverandever said:
It's a tight squeeze in the non-unibody models. I doubt you're going to be able to fit a 12.5mm height drive in it -- I personally haven't tried, but from reading these boards for a long while, those that have tried were only successful in the 17" models.
Click to expand...

Okay, Well, All I'd really like to know is what drive, I just contacted AppleCare and they said I could go up to a 320GB drive, But I was kinda hoping for something a LOT larger than that.

So could someone just tell me what the absolute largest drive I could fit in my machine GB/TB size wise, and what drive it is.

A Western Digital, LaCiE, Etc

I'd really appreciate it if someone could provide me a link to a website like Best Buy or somewhere where I could see the actual model drive that you are recommending would fit in my machine.

Thank you~ :)
 
Jaro65 said:
If you're really after HD capacity (and given that you don't use your SuperDrive too much) you could also purchase an optical bay caddy and use it to add a second HD to your MBP. You can find SSD threads on MacRumors that discuss this. The most popular caddies seem to come from this place: http://www.newmodeus.com/pics/OBHD/OBHD-Matrix-6.html
Click to expand...

I've thought about that, But I think I'll keep that as my backup plan. ;)

killerwhack said:
Brand SAMSUNG
Series Spinpoint M7E
Model HM641JI
Click to expand...

Wehrwolf said:
http://wdc.com/en/products/products.asp?driveid=683

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136459&Tpk=wd6400bevt

That's the 640GB. Good luck trying to find the 750 or 1TB; I haven't been able to.
Click to expand...


What about this one? Maybe I'm doing my math wrong but this one is 26.1 mm high which converts to 1.027559 inches (1.0 basically)

Wouldn't that fit?

http://www.samsung.com/global/busin...=72&type=94&subtype=98&model_cd=511&ppmi=1184

Or when Apple says 2.5 inches they mean width or length?
 
Benguitar said:
I've thought about that, But I think I'll keep that as my backup plan. ;)






What about this one? Maybe I'm doing my math wrong but this one is 26.1 mm high which converts to 1.027559 inches (1.0 basically)

Wouldn't that fit?

http://www.samsung.com/global/busin...=72&type=94&subtype=98&model_cd=511&ppmi=1184

Or when Apple says 2.5 inches they mean width or length?
Click to expand...

That drive is a Desktop HDD.

Standard Laptop drives are 9.5MM (thickness) and the largest you can fit in SOME laptops are 12.5MM.

The 2.5" Apple refers to is the width.
 
Any experience with Samsung 640GB Drive?

killerwhack said:
Brand SAMSUNG
Series Spinpoint M7E
Model HM641JI
Click to expand...

Anyone have any experience using this drive in unibody MacBook Pro? Just ordered from newegg for $99 to replace my WD500GB. From what I read, it is two platter with 320GB per platter (Amazing). Should be faster than what I have.
 
Does anyone know if 750 GB 2.5 inch 9mm drives are available yet and if not when they might come out? I wonder if anything has been announced by any of the manufacturers...

I have looked around but can't see anything...
 
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