I found a Hitachi 2.5" 7200rpm 500Gig HD. The box says ideal for windows. Will this also work for my MBP? or do I need one that specifies Mac? Thanks. Jabberjibber
You can use every HDD, even the ones labeled to be ready for Windows.
They are pre-formatted with NTFS, the file system Windows uses.
You need to format the HDD first via Disk Utility with the Mac OS Extended file system (HFS+), either while the HDD is connected via USB or inside your MBP.
As long as it is 2.5" and 9.5 mm high (1/8th height) and not 12.0 mm high (1/6th high), that's about the only thing you have to watch out for. But 12 mm high won't fit into most Windows laptops either.