Is 1 TB or 1.5 TB hard drive max for mid 2009 MacBook Pro?

[MacConvert2007]

I have a mid 2009 MacBook Pro (3.06 CPU, 4 GB RAM, 500 GB hard drive, OS 10.9 Mavericks)

1) I'm going to upgrade to 8 GB RAM. I have no idea if my RAM is on one stick or two. Do I need to buy 4 GB from crucial.com or 8 GB?

2) Once I have 8 GB of RAM, is the maximum capacity hard drive I can install a 1 TB or 1.5 TB? On OWC it shows I can buy a 1.5 TB hard drive do it yourself kit. But I have read posts from 2012 that say 1 TB is the max for my machine. Crucial.com also shows 1 TB to be the max.

If 1 TB is max then I might as well get a 1 TB SSD.

Thanks

 

[simonsi]

Download the memory selector tool from crucial.com - that will show you exactly what you need, my guess is you have 2x2GB and will need to remove them and replace with 2x4GB.

It is the physical size of the disk that is the limiting factor rather than its data size, I had the 1TB Seagate 12mm drive for a while, was fine but the bottom cover didn't quite fit flush, replaced it with the HGST 7200rpm 1TB as a media driveand haven't looked back since.

The computing experience will be totally different between a 1.5TB spinning drive and any SSD though - I have a 120GB SSD plus a 1TB HDD onboard to give the optimum of speed and space - both can be upgraded as required in the future too....

 

[MacConvert2007]

So I need a 9.5 mm laptop hard drive then (regardless of capacity)? You're saying 12 mm drives don't quite fit right?

 

[cube]

Highest capacity is the Samsung (Seagate) M9T at 2TB.

I think it can still only be found inside Seagate Backup Slim externals (but the firmware might be different from the bare version, that's why I did not buy it yet).

 

[simonsi]

So I need a 9.5 mm laptop hard drive then (regardless of capacity)? You're saying 12 mm drives don't quite fit right?

Correct - although my 1TB HGST is 7mm...so easy fit.

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Highest capacity is the Samsung (Seagate) M9T at 2TB.

I think it can still only be found inside Seagate Backup Slim externals (but the firmware might be different from the bare version, that's why I did not buy it yet).

I think I will wait for HGST to release a bigger drive, I have a comfortable 300GB free at the moment and suspect/hope they will release it in a 7mm/7200rpm version - although the increased data density should also give a useful speed increase at 5400rpm...I wasn't hugely happy with the Seagate 1TB performance-wise...

 

[MacConvert2007]

Then why does tigerdirect.com list its drives as 2.5 inch or 3.5 inch? When I check the specs I don't see sizes of 9.5 mm.

 

[simonsi]

Then why does tigerdirect.com list its drives as 2.5 inch or 3.5 inch? When I check the specs I don't see sizes of 9.5 mm.

That is what is known as the form factor, it corresponds to the diameter of the disk. Within each form factor (especially 2.5"), you will need to check the size spec for the thickness (7mm, 9mm or 12mm are the options IIRC).

Generally all 3.5" are desktop drives but both 3.5" and 2.5" can fit, all laptops take 2.5" and 3.5" won't fit. Within laptop/2.5" the individual laptop model will limit what can physically fit.

That variety is because various laptop manufacturers have different capacity drive bays depending on how slim they want the laptop vs how much capacity they wanted when designed.

e.g. this drive: WD Black² Dual Drive 2.5" 120 GB SSD + 1 TB Hard Drive Mobile Kit - SATA 6 Gb/s, 9.5mm, 5-Yr Warranty - WD1001X06XDTL

specifies 2.5" and 9.5mm