DIY a new hard disc for Macbook 13.3 1.83Ghz

[Priscilla]

I need some advise. I am going to change the HDD for my macbook myself. I am wandering whether I can get any 2.5" SATA notebook HDD which is lie 9.5mm in height or do I have to buy one especially for Macbook?

 

[juanster]

hmmm, I am not sure, i just went to teh store and asked for a laptop HD, got a WD 250GB 2.5" went home an dpopped it right in, worked right away and fit properly, sorry im sure someone here will be able to help you better but as far as im concerned, whatever the regular siz efor laptops HD will fit your MB

 

[Priscilla]

Thanks Juanster. I was trying to save some money since it is more costly to order from ifixit.com or even from apple store. If it can fix then I can do it myself.

 

[EPmac]

hmmm, I am not sure, i just went to teh store and asked for a laptop HD, got a WD 250GB 2.5" went home an dpopped it right in, worked right away and fit properly, sorry im sure someone here will be able to help you better but as far as im concerned, whatever the regular siz efor laptops HD will fit your MB

Any HDD that fits should be fine. I actually bought a 160GB Maxtor OneTouch portable USB drive, reformatted it, removed the HDD from the enclosure, then installed it into my MacBook. Once that was up and running, I installed the original 80GB HDD from my MacBook into the Maxtor enclosure and use that as portable storage.

 

[bartzilla]

Thanks Juanster. I was trying to save some money since it is more costly to order from ifixit.com or even from apple store. If it can fix then I can do it myself.

Juanstar is right, but I just want to make sure you keep the 9.5mm height in mind when ordering a drive. That's the maximum height for a drive to go into a current macbook case, where some of the drives that you can buy with higher capacities are 12.5mm high.

With that sorted, it really is a smooth process to upgrade the disk in a macbook - one of the easier notebooks I've worked on for that sort of maintenance work.

 

[juanster]

oh yeah for sure, replacing the HD in a MB is very very very easy.
I am still not sure about the height thingy you asked...

this is the one i bought.

http://www.canadacomputers.com/index.php?do=ShowProduct&cmd=pd&pid=014090&cid=HD.517.47

so I'm guessing with a little bit of googleing around you can find it's height? and it will work. For teh swap of the HD, well it took me longer gogin to the store to get the torx tool, than the actual swap, 15 minutes max...I just cloned my old HD into the new one and then switched old for new and tada...


Edit: there you go... keep it at 9.5mm and you are good to go...

 

[Priscilla]

Just one more question? My old HDD is dead, so with the new HDD, I just change it and use the operation disc provided to format it to Mac OS?

 

[eman]

Just one more question? My old HDD is dead, so with the new HDD, I just change it and use the operation disc provided to format it to Mac OS?

Yes, just format the new drive and load the OS

 

[Priscilla]

Yes, just format the new drive and load the OS

Thank you, eman.

And also to all, really thank you! I am off to get a new HDD.

 

[eman]

The hard drive is attached to a caddy (EMI aluminum shield). Make sure you transfer this to your new hard drive, prior to installation.

 

[Priscilla]

The hard drive is attached to a caddy (EMI aluminum shield). Make sure you transfer this to your new hard drive, prior to installation.

Thanks alot eman. I will remove that and fix into my new hard drive. Now I am too spoilt for choices.

Western Digital Scorpio WD3200BEVT 320GB 2.5" 5400rpm SATA 8MB Cache

Western Digital Scorpio Black 320GB 2.5" 7200 RPM Hard Disk SATA 16MB Cache

Samung 500GB 2.5" 5400RPM SATA 8MB Cache

Samsung Spinpoint M6 HM320JI 320GB 2.5" 5400RPM SATA 8MB Cache

Samsung 2.5" 500GB HDSMHM500LI SATA 5400RPM 8MB Cache

Seagate Momentus 2.5" SATA 200GB 7200rpm 16MB Hard Drive with G-Force Protection™

Hitachi SATA Hard Drive (New) 320 GB 7200 RPM

Hitachi SATA Hard Drive 200 GB 7200 RPM


Hitachi Travelstar 320GB 2.5" 7K320 7200RPM SATA Notebook Drive with 16MB Cache

Hitachi Travelstar 250GB 2.5" 7K320 7200RPM SATA Notebook Drive with 16MB Cache - New, 3 Year Warranty
Toshiba 320GB 5400RPM 9.5MM SuperSlim SATA 2.5" Notebook Drive with 8MB Data buffer cache - 3 year Toshiba warranty

Toshiba 320GB 5400RPM 9.5MM SuperSlim SATA 2.5" Notebook Drive with 8MB Data buffer cache - 3 year Toshiba warranty

Now I am trying to get reviews for these disk drive before I get. Went to the store earlier.

 

[eman]

I use the "Western Digital Scorpio WD3200BEVT 320GB 2.5" 5400rpm SATA 8MB Cache " and it works great. Plenty of room, quite and no vibration .

 

[Priscilla]

I use the "Western Digital Scorpio WD3200BEVT 320GB 2.5" 5400rpm SATA 8MB Cache " and it works great. Plenty of room, quite and no vibration .

Thank you. I am planning to get that too.

 

[mrJnC]

FWIW when I removed a Macbook hard drive, I encountered some difficulty while replacing it. There is a little rubber runner inside the hard drive compartment that serves as a guide for the caddy. Some of the runner had peeled away from the Macbook and was bunching up. You should check to make sure the runner hasn't moved before sliding in the new drive. It wasn't a catastrophe, but it did create some confusion when replacing the drive as it's difficult to see that something was tangled within the compartment.

 

[juanster]

yeah im using a WD the same one except its a 250 and its great , love it,, pretty quiet too