HDD recommendations for MBP

[zali0n]

The time has come and I'm going to be a brave soul and upgrade my Core Duo MBP. Don't really want to do it but I'm desperately running out of space!

I'm thinking either a 250/320GB drive but not sure which brand to go with? Does anyone have some personal recommendations?

 

[clyde2801]

One man's brave is another man's...

I guess you've considered all other alternatives, like doing a spring cleaning of your drive, or trying to offload non-mission-critical info and applications to an external.

Also wondering if your machine is still covered by Applecare. If so, have an apple authorized service provider (3rd party, like Promacs in OKC or Megamacs in Tulsa) supply and install the drive, and keep the freakin' receipt so your warranty isn't voided.

You're going to find all sorts of opinions on this and other forums about 'this drive sucks' or 'this one is great' etc. I've had no problems with the WD scorpio black 320 gig 7200 rpm hard drive. No noise, heat and can't tell a difference vibrationwise between it and the stock fujitsu on my 2.4 MBP (late 08). My advice to buy the drive from a brick and mortar store with a decent return policy (even though it's more money than online) so you can immediately swap it out if you get, God forbid, a lemon.

I'm also presuming you've looked up the specs on something like ifixit.com to review the installation procedure and made sure what kind of connector the drive uses. Good luck!

 

[zali0n]

Sure, I've tried all the spring cleaning ideas. Even limited the number of podcasts saved, gone through and removed all the duplicate photos in iPhoto, removed any games, adjusted boot camp partition and so on.

I was looking at the WD 320GB's 7200rpm. Seen them for around £70 which is a bargain! I don't think you can ever have enough space!

How did you find install the new drive? I'm a computer engineer and replaced hundreds of drives in Thinkpads but looking at this, it's like heart surgery!

 

[clyde2801]

I've got the late 08, so it was closer to a kid playing with lincoln logs rather than open heart surgery.

Pop the latch, loosen the retaining screw, transplant the torx screws, insert drive, tighten restraining screw, pop in my install disk. Less than five minutes, nothin' but net.

If the task looks daunting, or if your machine is still under applecare, honestly, spend the sixty bucks and have a 3rd party apple shop install it. Or, you can screw it up and have a perfectly good excuse to buy a new one right after you stop hating yourself....

A nice thing about the 7200 is that you'll probably notice quicker boot times, cold application launches and file transfers. Good luck.