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How to upgrade to WD Scorpio 320gb HDD?
- Thread starter chiefroastbeef
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Is there a 500gb HD that fits the MBP? I still have around 90GB free, with a 40gb partition for windows that is barely used, but it'd still be nice if I had more space!
There are a couple i think at present, but more manufactures are announcing or releasing them, the only two i know one only fits in 17'' MBP & the other is the samsung spinpoint m6 which fits in all MBP & MB
Right, the one with the sensor is not yet available. I'll be buying that one when it comes out. I once lost a week to recovering data from a fallen laptop drive where the heads smacked into the data area - giving this up isn't appropriate for mobile use, for me at least. If you're going to buy this drive to put in a PS3 or something - freefall sensor ought to be a waste of money!
Success
The WD 320GB Scorpio Black 7200RPM works great in my MBP 15", and Apple's sudden motion sensor is enabled and functioning perfectly! I've tested it's fuctionality (jumpin on my bed while playing video off the hardrive, it studders as the drive locks during light freefall). SeisMac.app registers all movements correctly, and System Info says it's there and enabled. As long as your laptop has its own sudden motion sensor, you shouldn't get a drive with one of its own, else I fear you will find conflict.
Let's not forget that the 500GB laptop drives that are said to fit in 17" models only, DO in fact fit in 15" MBPs with a little modification. Please check out this website: http://www.digitalreaction.co.uk/installing-125mm-sata-hd-into-macbook-pro-599-c.asp
After taking apart my own MBP 15" and replacing the dive, I know that fitting the slightly bigger 500GB drive would not have been trouble at all. All I would have to do is get some foam to hold it in around the edges. Really not as big of a deal as it seemed by just looking at that guy's pictures.
The WD 320GB Scorpio Black 7200RPM works great in my MBP 15", and Apple's sudden motion sensor is enabled and functioning perfectly! I've tested it's fuctionality (jumpin on my bed while playing video off the hardrive, it studders as the drive locks during light freefall). SeisMac.app registers all movements correctly, and System Info says it's there and enabled. As long as your laptop has its own sudden motion sensor, you shouldn't get a drive with one of its own, else I fear you will find conflict.
Let's not forget that the 500GB laptop drives that are said to fit in 17" models only, DO in fact fit in 15" MBPs with a little modification. Please check out this website: http://www.digitalreaction.co.uk/installing-125mm-sata-hd-into-macbook-pro-599-c.asp
After taking apart my own MBP 15" and replacing the dive, I know that fitting the slightly bigger 500GB drive would not have been trouble at all. All I would have to do is get some foam to hold it in around the edges. Really not as big of a deal as it seemed by just looking at that guy's pictures.
After calling WD yesterday and confirming what I had already thought, they confirmed that the Scorpio drive is the same if you get one with or without an enclosure. Cache is 8mb.
I received mine today, and after cloning my HD to it, opened it and found this drive. WD Scorpio WD32OOBEVT.
From their website:
http://www.wdc.com/en/products/products.asp?driveid=377
Pics of the drive I received:
I received mine today, and after cloning my HD to it, opened it and found this drive. WD Scorpio WD32OOBEVT.
From their website:
http://www.wdc.com/en/products/products.asp?driveid=377
Pics of the drive I received:
Attachments
What sort of conflict? If the computer says "park" and the drive is already parked, what's the drive gonna do, unpark itself? SMS in the drive firmware is extra insurance against Apple firmware issues. I suspect Apple hasn't done extensive testing against race conditions in high-G situations. I say this as someone who's lost weeks of productivity to gravity.
If you know of bugs I'm very interested, but I'm not seeing the failure mode based on your post.
Newbie question here - how did you clone your HD?
I'm buying this drive (WD3200BJKT) to put in my son's used MB.
BTW - this drive with the free-fall sensor is available at several dealers via Google shopping.
Here's an easier way!
Wified,
There is a quick and easy way to clone your internal HD for a HD upgrade. I learned about it from a friend who is an Apple "Genius". This method requires no special software or the install disk and is much quicker than most of the methods described earlier in this thread.
Connect your new HD to your computer with a firewire adapter (not sure if USB will work) of some kind. Go to Disk Utilities, select your new HD, then select RESTORE. You will be "restoring" from your current HD to the new one. It seems a little backwards but if you think about it it will make sense. Anyway, you will quickly have a perfect clone of your system drive on your new drive which you will install and you are done. Nothing more to do other than turn on the computer and go. No special programs or install disk required.
Also, I didn't mention it specifically above but make sure you have formatted the new HD with Disk Utilities properly before doing the restore.
Hope this helps.
Marlin Davis
Wified,
There is a quick and easy way to clone your internal HD for a HD upgrade. I learned about it from a friend who is an Apple "Genius". This method requires no special software or the install disk and is much quicker than most of the methods described earlier in this thread.
Connect your new HD to your computer with a firewire adapter (not sure if USB will work) of some kind. Go to Disk Utilities, select your new HD, then select RESTORE. You will be "restoring" from your current HD to the new one. It seems a little backwards but if you think about it it will make sense. Anyway, you will quickly have a perfect clone of your system drive on your new drive which you will install and you are done. Nothing more to do other than turn on the computer and go. No special programs or install disk required.
Also, I didn't mention it specifically above but make sure you have formatted the new HD with Disk Utilities properly before doing the restore.
Hope this helps.
Marlin Davis
What I did was plug in the Passport drive. Formatted it with Disk Utility. Used Super Duper to clone the Hard drive to the Passport. Once that was done I removed the hard drive from the Passport, and following the iFixit guide, replaced it with the stock Apple drive. Cloning took a couple hours, opening the MBP, and replacing the drive 30 minutes. It could have been quicker, but since this was my first time, I took my time and made sure I was following everything correctly.
I used CCC, then after that I used Time Machine, just to see the difference in time and ease. I thought that CCC was faster. Both copies were bootable and the same. I'll try it again when I get a 500gb HD when WD comes out with one.
I hooked up two Macs through a firewire cable and the booted through the Leopard Install disk and used Disk Utility's restore feature. It took about two hours to move 90GB and the block-level clone was perfect. CCC gave me so many problems, and I can't boot into anything to clone the drive or image using it, I'm always going to use the free (and no advertisements) built-in Disk Utility.
I didn't want to use Time Machine because I really do think of using it only in emergencies, especially because I knew it would be slower, especially over wireless.
Haha, I wish computers had as much common sense as most people, but a google search shows me some people earlier this year having problems, though probably on an individual drive basis.
As I imagine it, if the computer is running, the sudden motion sensor in high centrifugal force situations, it should lock up your drive and not let it go--I wouldn't let go of the steering wheel in conditions like that either though
From what I've read on the drive I do have (without SMS), it has features that protect the drive head while off, if your computer's gonna be riding while off in the back seat:
"Reliable and rugged
* WD's ShockGuard technology protects the drive mechanics and platter surfaces from shocks during shipping and handling and in daily operation.
* WD's SecurePark parks the recording heads off the disk surface during spin up, spin down and when the drive is off. This ensures the recording head never touches the disk surface resulting in improved long term reliability due to less head wear and improved shock tolerance. "
http://www.wdc.com/en/products/Products.asp?DriveID=482
I didn't want to use Time Machine because I really do think of using it only in emergencies, especially because I knew it would be slower, especially over wireless.
Haha, I wish computers had as much common sense as most people, but a google search shows me some people earlier this year having problems, though probably on an individual drive basis.
As I imagine it, if the computer is running, the sudden motion sensor in high centrifugal force situations, it should lock up your drive and not let it go--I wouldn't let go of the steering wheel in conditions like that either though
From what I've read on the drive I do have (without SMS), it has features that protect the drive head while off, if your computer's gonna be riding while off in the back seat:
"Reliable and rugged
* WD's ShockGuard technology protects the drive mechanics and platter surfaces from shocks during shipping and handling and in daily operation.
* WD's SecurePark parks the recording heads off the disk surface during spin up, spin down and when the drive is off. This ensures the recording head never touches the disk surface resulting in improved long term reliability due to less head wear and improved shock tolerance. "
http://www.wdc.com/en/products/Products.asp?DriveID=482
The WD3200BEKT is definitely much noisier than my old Fujitsu 100GB I had in the original MacBook Pro (Core Duo 2.16Ghz).
A shame though but at least the performance is top notch
i believe its the same one i recently picked up. i dont really hear any noise on mine. maybe its because my fan have started working again and its muffing out that noise?
The WD3200BEKT is definitely much noisier than my old Fujitsu 100GB I had in the original MacBook Pro (Core Duo 2.16Ghz).
A shame though but at least the performance is top notch
So you can hear as well as a bat or something? I can only hear the hard drive in a quiet room with my ear against the computer. Noise is something a jet aircraft makes. Hard drives don't make a sound anyone practically cares about.
I had a PC once that made a very loud annoying and obnoxious sound from the HD all the time, but then again it's a PC.
I could counter that with "are you deaf?" but really, the subjective noise difference between the old harddrive and the new forces me to say there is one.
Of course I am comparing a 5.400 RPM drive with a faster 7.200 RPM drive.
Just bought a WS3200KTRTL (Best Buy's WD 320GB 7200rpm SATA "scorpio black". This model number is for a retail packaged drive. The drive within the packaging is marked "WD3200BEKT." In other words, its identical to the drive on newegg (and others.) I have to admit that the drive is much quieter than I expected from the descriptions I've seen here.
As far as motion/drop sensors... That drive would have a model number with "WD3200BJKT" and doesn't seem to be available in retail packaging (or at least not that I've been able to find.)
It IS possible for drive internal motion/drop sensors to cause problems with motion/drop sensors built into notebook hardware. I've been witness to this problem in sony and thinkpad/lenovo notebooks, and it has something to do with the notebook driver telling the HDD to park/sleep when the drive is already parked/sleeping (so the notebook driver thinks the HDD has crashed.)
Finally, for the enclosure sub-discussion, here's a nice one if your constantly switching drives: http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage...ltake&lp=1&type=product&cp=1&id=1203815074644
As far as motion/drop sensors... That drive would have a model number with "WD3200BJKT" and doesn't seem to be available in retail packaging (or at least not that I've been able to find.)
It IS possible for drive internal motion/drop sensors to cause problems with motion/drop sensors built into notebook hardware. I've been witness to this problem in sony and thinkpad/lenovo notebooks, and it has something to do with the notebook driver telling the HDD to park/sleep when the drive is already parked/sleeping (so the notebook driver thinks the HDD has crashed.)
Finally, for the enclosure sub-discussion, here's a nice one if your constantly switching drives: http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage...ltake&lp=1&type=product&cp=1&id=1203815074644