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Hard drive replacement

H

headviking

macrumors member
Original poster
Sep 2, 2008
77
0
I am buying a used MBP (Model No. A1278 (EMC 2326*)

I was wandering if I could replace the 160g HD with this one.

(Hitachi 0S03339 2.5" Mobile Hard Drive - 750GB, SATA, 7200, 16MB)

Or is there a better HD to replace it with. I would like something with a little more capacity.

And possibly upgrade the ram.

Thanks for any advise.
 
Last edited:
Sure, that should work.

Depending on what you're trying to do, though, you might be better served by getting a newer 13" MBP, like a 2.3 GHz i5. It'll be a LOT faster, and will also work with the drive you mention, as well as supporting up to 8 (or possibly 16) GB of RAM.
 
I am replacing a 2006 model that has had a good and hard life. ('My son and collage) water damage fixed. Display damaged fixed. Now that it's been replaced and donated to me about 2 years ago. Now the HD crashed. For my use and the low price of $350 with no damage and still working fine I thought I would pick it it from a family friend and was thinking of upgrading it alittle.

Thanks for the help and advice.
 
headviking said:
I am replacing a 2006 model that has had a good and hard life. ('My son and collage) water damage fixed. Display damaged fixed. Now that it's been replaced and donated to me about 2 years ago. Now the HD crashed. For my use and the low price of $350 with no damage and still working fine I thought I would pick it it from a family friend and was thinking of upgrading it alittle.

Thanks for the help and advice.
Click to expand...

Worth the $350, probably not worth too much in additional upgrade costs. I would take that upgrade money and apply it to a newer model.
 
Yeah, that drive will work fine. There are other options available, Seagate makes a 750GB hybrid drive that contains a small SSD to help speed up applications. You could also install a small SSD if you don't need a large HDD, and that would really speed it up.

You can also put 8GB of RAM in the computer.
 
Another question about buying a used 'a book Pro. If this Mac was registered. What are the steps that should be taken to have it transferred to me? I mean, I will be using iTunes, icloud, buying software online from Mac. Should I be concerned that I will be refused to use these services? I know that my IPad has a find me and lock out if unauthorized (stolen) useage. But what about a 2009 MacBook Pro?
Just want to cover all the basis. If anything needs to be done before I receive the laptop, I would like to take care of them now. Before I get it.
 
headviking said:
Another question about buying a used 'a book Pro. If this Mac was registered. What are the steps that should be taken to have it transferred to me? I mean, I will be using iTunes, icloud, buying software online from Mac. Should I be concerned that I will be refused to use these services? I know that my IPad has a find me and lock out if unauthorized (stolen) useage. But what about a 2009 MacBook Pro?
Just want to cover all the basis. If anything needs to be done before I receive the laptop, I would like to take care of them now. Before I get it.
Click to expand...

Basic procedure would be to wipe the drive, reinstall the OS, and then set up your own iCloud account, making sure to turn on the Find My Mac feature (even if you then want to turn it back off). Because a computer can only be on one iCloud account for the Find My Mac feature at a time, activating your account on there will remove your computer from theirs, assuming they had set it up. That means they won't be able to wipe it from their iCloud account.

jW
 
Thanks, that's exactly what I wanted to know.

Would you know if the latest OSX Mountain Lion could be installed and work well on this machine?
 
I performed a similar upgrade on my 06 machine with the original 100gig drive. It was working fine but I wanted a little more breathing room. Went with a 500gig hard drive 7500rpm. Much quicker response and loading apps.
 
headviking said:
Would you know if the latest OSX Mountain Lion could be installed and work well on this machine?
Click to expand...

I'm not 100% sure which computer you have, Apple considers all 13" MacBook Pros as well as the one aluminum MacBook to be model A1278.

For what it's worth, I'm running OSX 10.8.2 on my mid 2009 model without any issues. I have maxed out my RAM and replaced the HDD with a 256GB SSD.
 
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