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How to know which Hard Drive to buy for my MBP?

J

jedimind

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Oct 1, 2012
7
0
Perhaps, this is more simple than I imagine. I want to purchase a new Hard Drive for my MBP as the current one is faulty (logging off randomly, slow, acting weird - it's been going on for about 2 years).

NOW, I want to get a new hard drive for my Macbook Pro 17" A1297.

I have 2 questions:

1 - Do all hard drives made for Macbooks work for all models or do I need to search specifically for my model?

2 - Do hard drives come pre-installed with the OS? Or how do I got about installing it?

I would truly appreciate any help provided.
 
jedimind said:
Perhaps, this is more simple than I imagine. I want to purchase a new Hard Drive for my MBP as the current one is faulty (logging off randomly, slow, acting weird - it's been going on for about 2 years).

NOW, I want to get a new hard drive for my Macbook Pro 17" A1297.

I have 2 questions:

1 - Do all hard drives made for Macbooks work for all models or do I need to search specifically for my model?

2 - Do hard drives come pre-installed with the OS? Or how do I got about installing it?

I would truly appreciate any help provided.
Click to expand...


#2 made me lol, literally.

#1 - Any 2.5" HDD or SSD will work
#2 - No. You will need to install OS X via USB Thumb Drive or Internet Recovery.
 
jedimind said:
Perhaps, this is more simple than I imagine. I want to purchase a new Hard Drive for my MBP as the current one is faulty (logging off randomly, slow, acting weird - it's been going on for about 2 years).

NOW, I want to get a new hard drive for my Macbook Pro 17" A1297.

I have 2 questions:

1 - Do all hard drives made for Macbooks work for all models or do I need to search specifically for my model?

2 - Do hard drives come pre-installed with the OS? Or how do I got about installing it?

I would truly appreciate any help provided.
Click to expand...

1- A Mac is no different from a PC ever since the switch to intel in 2006. Basically, any hard drive that physically fits in the hard drive bay will work. Buy an SATA II 2.5" laptop hard drive and you're good to go. Don't fall for the "made for mac" thing, it's purely marketing and is simply used to get a higher profit. There is no such thing.

2- No. With the install DVD's that came with your mac, or if it came with Lion, you'll need to make a bootable thumb drive for the OS.
 
Thanks for the help fellas. And it's okay if it made you LOL, I was embarrassed as I was posting this thread so I knew it would probably have the same effect on others lol.

Are there any preferred brands you would recommend or ones with certain specs?

I am looking at this Toshiba: http://www.ebay.com/itm/1TB-SATA-No...Internal_Hard_Disk_Drives&hash=item589499bb05

How does it look?

ALSO, I asked about the pre-installed Hard Drive because I saw this:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Mac-Book-Pr...Internal_Hard_Disk_Drives&hash=item2c675e6f34


And is the different between 8mb cache / 5400rpm and 16mb cache / 7200rpm really that noticeable?
 
jedimind said:
Thanks for the help fellas. And it's okay if it made you LOL, I was embarrassed as I was posting this thread so I knew it would probably have the same effect on others lol.

Are there any preferred brands you would recommend or ones with certain specs?

I am looking at this Toshiba: http://www.ebay.com/itm/1TB-SATA-No...Internal_Hard_Disk_Drives&hash=item589499bb05

How does it look?

ALSO, I asked about the pre-installed Hard Drive because I saw this:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Mac-Book-Pr...Internal_Hard_Disk_Drives&hash=item2c675e6f34


And is the different between 8mb cache / 5400rpm and 16mb cache / 7200rpm really that noticeable?
Click to expand...


I recommend the Samsung 830 SSD and OCZ Vertex 4 SSD. I like Western Digital HDDs myself.

Western Digital Black HDD
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136835
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136856
 
T5BRICK said:
If his MBP is 2+ years old, it doesn't have SATAIII. He would probably be ok with the slower Crucial M4. That is, of course, if the OP doesn't need more space than he can afford with a SSD.
Click to expand...

This is true, but I would still recommend a SATA III SSD in case he upgrades in the future.
 
Yes, SSD is not an option. I currently have a 500GB and I have only 6GB free.

I am constantly working on media projects (music mostly) so I definitely need at LEAST 750GB. I have an external 1TB hard drive so that's why I can settle for 500GB or 750GB as I plan on transferring most of the files to the external HD.

NOW I'm confused though with the SATAIII comment. I was about to order the 750GB suggested by Orlando ... Should I or is my MBP not compatible with it?
 
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