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aircanman

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Feb 2, 2011
398
93
UK
Got a MBP 2012 and I want a 1TB drive putting in it, I can do the job myself but reading some of the reviews on Amazon when looking for drives I worry that I could cause issues, which I don't want, so do Apple sell the official drives in the stores, or better still do they upgrade themselves?
 
You know they will charge you for labor and excess amount of money for a cheap drive right?

Samsung Spinpoint 1TB HDD is around 80USD (do the conversion for me hehe) and couple of screw drivers is all you need.

The drive, Philips screw driver and pentalobe screw driver to remove the bracket from old HDD.

Trust me, it will be way worth the amount you are going to pay at the Apple Store.
 
I asked an Apple Premium Reseller in the UK, and they said the HDDs on cMBPs were user-upgradable according to Apple. So this means, as long as you don't cause any damage, you won't invalidate warranty. And iFixit has very good guides that mean you almost certainly won't as long as you take precautions against static and stuff.

Not heard of an HDD having issues, only some SSDs and controllers so I really think you'll be fine doing it yourself.
 
I wouldn't pay Apple.....It really is an easy job. Take your time and make sure you are well prepared with all the required tools. I recently bought this set from Amazon...It will dismantle ANY MBP from 2009 onwards.

Once you have the tools, watch the ifixit video and go slowly and methodically....It really is a user upgrade, and Apple will charge you a fortune here in the UK.
 

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I was dangerously close to letting Apple do me a Hard Drive upgrade here in the UK once. Fortunately, the Genius I was talking to was genuinely nice and explained to me that I should do it myself since it's a lot cheaper and quicker to source my own parts and stuff. He gave me a list of what I'd need and showed me a good website to buy a replacement HD from. It was a really easy job in the end and I'm glad he did it rather than just taking realllllly excessive amounts of money from me.
 
I was dangerously close to letting Apple do me a Hard Drive upgrade here in the UK once. Fortunately, the Genius I was talking to was genuinely nice and explained to me that I should do it myself since it's a lot cheaper and quicker to source my own parts and stuff. He gave me a list of what I'd need and showed me a good website to buy a replacement HD from. It was a really easy job in the end and I'm glad he did it rather than just taking realllllly excessive amounts of money from me.

They will usually say the same thing about RAM....My Apple representative's take on it is "Why pay our RAM prices when you can do it yourself much cheaper"...:)
 
Dont bother with Apple, its too easy a job to allow them to rip you off.
I have videos on YouTube showing you how to upgrade your HDD - check on them for guidance.
Go for any 2.5" HDD with a SATA connection (Samsung M8, WD Scorpio Blue are both pretty affordable at the 1TB mark - last time i checked the Sammy was only £65).

Failing that, I'm based in the UK so if you are not too far from me I dont mind doing it for you (the hardware side of things) - only takes a few mins.

Alternatively, stick the new 1TB drive into an external caddy (USB3.0 caddys are pretty cheap) - use SuperDuper to clone the current drive across to it, then swap the drives over and voila - you have all your data intact and ready to go on a 1TB drive, with no need to install everything from scratch!

Also bear in mind that both RAM and HDD's are user upgradeable parts - upgrading these will not void the warranty on the rest of your laptop (as long as you do not damage it during the install obviously).
 
I am more worried about compatibility than price, I see so many people saying certain drives do not work. :s
 
Just do it yourself bro, its easy and you'll save enough money to buy another HDD!
 
Drive swap is dead easy, just buy a 1TB 2.5" drive and take your time. I put a Samsung 1TB drive in my 2010 MBP and it works fine. The Apple drive I removed was also a standard Samsung drive with an added Apple sticker with part number. The labour charge alone will be a killer, never mind with the drive price on top.

The drive I used is a SAMSUNG HN-M101MBB
 
I am more worried about compatibility than price, I see so many people saying certain drives do not work. :s

just ask on here. That's what I did when I changed my HDD in my unibody MacBook. Until then, I had never heard of torx in my entire life. Ordered everything I needed on amazon uk, 15 minute job, never looked back.
 
In my experience they never "upgrade" a drive. They replace it. Usually with the one it came with. Even years after. If by chance the one it shipped with, say a 5400RPM 8MB cache, is not made or available in stock they will replace the most current one, a 5400RPM 16MB cache. I have never heard of someone going into an Apple store with a 250GB HDD and having them install a 750GB one instead. Or an SSD instead of an HDD. Then again when you are paying 350.00 for an 80.00 hard drive I don't see very many people even trying. Avoid or use a 3rd party Authorized store.
 
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