Just upgraded MBP Hard Disk to 320GB WD Scorpio - well happy!

[chriscl]

After (nearly) filling up the 'stock' 120GB Hard Disk on my late '07 Mac Book Pro, I bit the bullet and ordered a 320GB WD Scorpio (£85 GB Pounds).

Fitted it this morning, using the guide from IFixit - http://www.ifixit.com/Guide/Mac/MacBook-Pro-15-Inch-Core-2-Duo/Hard-Drive-Replacement/115/10/

The only tools needed were a T6 Torx Driver and a 00 Phillips, I also used a plastic spreader to help pop the case open. I got both 'drivers from my local "Maplin" (UK equivalent of Radio Shack I guess!)

I was surprised at how easy the whole task was, considering you have to open up the MBP case, there were a total of 20 screws to remove, and two bits of adhesive tape.

Fitting the actual disk took 40 minutes (I was taking my time); once the new disk was in, it's a simple matter of booting from the Leopard DVD, and using Disk Utility to partition the 'new' disk - then, I simply restored from my last Time Machine backup (on an external USB disk). That step took two hours.

When rebooting, Spotlight has to reindex itself (which slows things down a little) and launching Mail for the first time causes Mail to reimport all existing emails (took about two minutes for some 3,500 mails!)

The reason for posting this is just if there's anyone else considering the upgrade of their Mac Book Pro hard disk, but concerned about the complexity of the task, then *don't be* it is quite simple, and provided you take your time (especially when popping-off the top case, and be careful not to lose any screws!) you will be good to go in a couple of hours.

 

[amoda]

Hey! Congrats on the new HDD Quick question though, other than the increase in HD size do you see any performance boost? Did you happen to xbench or geekbench your laptop before and after? Just asking since the stock HD seems to be really slow compared to the HD's people buy and install themselves.

 

[killerwhack]

What about applecare ?

Glad to learn of your success.

You may want to mention that this procedure voids applecare and the default 1 year warranty from Apple. If one is not concerned, then no problem but I can easily imagine somebody doing this and then being sorry once they are told by apple that their coverage is null and void.

Then we get to read all about how Apple is the greedy, evil empire ... yadda yadda yadda.

 

[mdwsta4]

nice! i plan on doing the same in the very near future.

 

[David G.]

You may want to mention that this procedure voids applecare and the default 1 year warranty from Apple.

I've seen some conflicting info on this. Does anyone know for sure? Not that it really bothers me with my MacBook, but all in the name of helping people, you know.

 

[merl1n]

I've seen some conflicting info on this. Does anyone know for sure? Not that it really bothers me with my MacBook, but all in the name of helping people, you know.

Yes there have been many threads on this. As long as you don't break anything (cable, connector, etc.) Apple doesn't care. If you have a drive problem later, they won't cover it (because it is not their hardware) but that's it.

I have done this upgrade twice on my MBP (160 -> 250 -> 320).

 

[UltraNEO*]

After (nearly) filling up the 'stock' 120GB Hard Disk on my late '07 Mac Book Pro, I bit the bullet and ordered a 320GB WD Scorpio (£85 GB Pounds).

Fitted it this morning, using the guide from IFixit - http://www.ifixit.com/Guide/Mac/MacBook-Pro-15-Inch-Core-2-Duo/Hard-Drive-Replacement/115/10/

The only tools needed were a T6 Torx Driver and a 00 Phillips, I also used a plastic spreader to help pop the case open. I got both 'drivers from my local "Maplin" (UK equivalent of Radio Shack I guess!)

I was surprised at how easy the whole task was, considering you have to open up the MBP case, there were a total of 20 screws to remove, and two bits of adhesive tape.

Fitting the actual disk took 40 minutes (I was taking my time); once the new disk was in, it's a simple matter of booting from the Leopard DVD, and using Disk Utility to partition the 'new' disk - then, I simply restored from my last Time Machine backup (on an external USB disk). That step took two hours.

When rebooting, Spotlight has to reindex itself (which slows things down a little) and launching Mail for the first time causes Mail to reimport all existing emails (took about two minutes for some 3,500 mails!)

The reason for posting this is just if there's anyone else considering the upgrade of their Mac Book Pro hard disk, but concerned about the complexity of the task, then *don't be* it is quite simple, and provided you take your time (especially when popping-off the top case, and be careful not to lose any screws!) you will be good to go in a couple of hours.

Kewl!
Welcome to the club!

Yep, having the right tools for the job, always, always helps...
Just think.. one could wreck a or have a brokenscrew...


Personally I need something bigger still!
Seems the more we have, the quicker it goes!!

Glad to learn of your success.

You may want to mention that this procedure voids applecare and the default 1 year warranty from Apple. If one is not concerned, then no problem but I can easily imagine somebody doing this and then being sorry once they are told by apple that their coverage is null and void.

Then we get to read all about how Apple is the greedy, evil empire ... yadda yadda yadda.

Sorry, I don't believe this to be true. I spoke to the AppleStore folks here in Japan and they seem to be quite happy for users to upgrade the internal HD in the MacBook Pro series. The catch is, the user installed part isn't covered by Apple's warranty - but why the hell would you want to? WD drives come with 3yrs warranty (well they do in the UK)

 

[vultureboy70]

Congrats! I just installed a WD Scorpio 320GB in my MB a few days ago. It's beautiful! Time Machine worked as advertised in transferring files from old drive to new drive.

 

[glassmen07]

I plan on it

I plan on upgrading my 120 stock MBP HD as well. My only question is after you've replaced it, can you tell, by looking at the case, that it had been cracked open or does it seal back up pretty well?

 

[UltraNEO*]

I'm actually thinking off...

Personally I wouldn't mind of one or more of those in the system, I'm assuming it's possible to buy 128Gb or 256Gb CF x133 cards and have them run in an array. Currently they support Raid 0 and Raid 5, however finding large CF cards seems to be a huge problem... larget seen 64Gb.. Though this caddy actually has 3 CF slots, there's one on the back and speed is determined by the slowest CF card in the array.

Now imagine 256Gb x3 (Ultra highspeed 133x CF cards), approx size 700GB?? But you remove the optical drive, replace it with an opti-bay and install another set... You'll have two of them and have OSX raid them both... Oh... joy!




Video: http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x5f078_do-it-yourself-cf-based-ssd_tech

 

[killerwhack]

Apple Care/ Apple Warranty

Hey, I was told by the service guy at the Glendale, California Apple Store that opening up my Apple Laptop would void the warranty.

And the qualifier: "As long as you don't break anything"... I would pay attention to that one if you are considering.

 

[Vanarak19]

Glad to learn of your success.

You may want to mention that this procedure voids applecare and the default 1 year warranty from Apple. If one is not concerned, then no problem but I can easily imagine somebody doing this and then being sorry once they are told by apple that their coverage is null and void.

Then we get to read all about how Apple is the greedy, evil empire ... yadda yadda yadda.

here we go again.... another HD thread with warranty assumptions...

youll get mixed feelings from apple on this. Be careful with the install, leave no trace of you being there, and replace the stock drive if you ever need to ship it to apple. Youll be fine.

Personally I wouldn't mind of one or more of those in the system, I'm assuming it's possible to buy 128Gb or 256Gb CF x133 cards and have them run in an array. Currently they support Raid 0 and Raid 5, however finding large CF cards seems to be a huge problem... larget seen 64Gb.. Though this caddy actually has 3 CF slots, there's one on the back and speed is determined by the slowest CF card in the array.

Now imagine 256Gb x3 (Ultra highspeed 133x CF cards), approx size 700GB?? But you remove the optical drive, replace it with an opti-bay and install another set... You'll have two of them and have OSX raid them both... Oh... joy!




Video: http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x5f078_do-it-yourself-cf-based-ssd_tech

yum, where do you get such setups?

 

[UltraNEO*]

Hey, I was told by the service guy at the Glendale, California Apple Store that opening up my Apple Laptop would void the warranty.

And the qualifier: "As long as you don't break anything"... I would pay attention to that one if you are considering.

Technically speaking there are no "void warranty" stickers inside the MacBook Pro. So, if you was really careful you could exchange the drive out when your using it and exchange to the stock drive in when the system is need of some TLC. Provided nothing is damaged, Apple won't know! Will they.

My MBP has been in and out for repairs with the Scorpio drive still inside. Apple still serviced the system under warranty - go figure...

 

[UltraNEO*]

yum, where do you get such setups?

For a start, Nihonbashi here in Osaka has them and I'd imagine they're everywhere if you goto Akihabara, Tokyo.

 

[bigfatdummy]

Cool!

I did the same thing yesterday. I used the guide from ExtremeTech to help me with the upgrade. Once I saw all the screws that needed to be removed it was very simple. I took the opportunity to throw in 3GB memory as well.

I did have an issue with the screen being too dark to read when trying to install leopard. Initially, the screen was bright, but when the screen swapped from gray to the first of the install screens the brightness dimmed to where I could barely see anything, (I could make out some shapes and some words, but not easily). Luckily, I found some help on a thread in here, which was, "Try holding down Command+Option+P+R as your computer starts up to reset the PRAM." (thanks, chrisbeebops) Problem solved and I was able to use the disk utility on the leopard dvd to partition the HD. The rest of the install was flawless.


@glassmen07 - No visual evidence that the notebook has been opened. If you use the correct size screw driver and torque tool, so you don't strip the heads, I don't think anyone would know. Well, unless they checked the HD of course.

 

[orpheus1120]

My MBP has been in and out for repairs with the Scorpio drive still inside. Apple still serviced the system under warranty - go figure...

True for you, may not be so for other people. It's not uncommon to have Apple techs at different places/countries giving different advice/treatments even though all of them undergo the same technical knowledge base. It's really up to the individual apple tech's discretion on the matter. You get a nice chap, good for you. If you get a f'd up one, then

But I'd rather put in the stock drive during service then to argue over warranty issues with Apple.

I wish I'm in Japan though. Seem like you have some nice apple geniuses there!

 

[chriscl]

Just to clarify a couple of questions posed earlier in the thread:-

Warranty - I have the 'extended' Apple Care for my MBP, and I called them up to ask *specifically* about this; I wanted to make sure that me taking the laptop apart would not "void the warranty".

I was told that Apple would no longer cover the Hard Drive (figures, it isn't their part) and that if I damaged anything doing the work, then there would be no coverage for that.

However... replacing the Hard Disk myself *would not* completely void my Apple Care, as long as (of course..) I caused no damage during the installation.

This makes sense, if you think about it. As I mentioned in my original post, there are (on my late 2007 MBP) 20 screws o remove, and two small pieces of adhesive tape (which can then be re-applied) if Apple (or anyone else) opened up my MBP *now*, they wouldn't know who did the work - this is a quite straight-forward "job" to complete. This (I think, anyway) is the basis upon which they say that opening up the MBP will not void your warranty - they couldn't tell *who* had opened the MBP up, nor indeed if it had been opened - you don't 'destroy' anything doing the work, the only 'caveat' (as per the iFixit guide) is to take care when removing the top case.

As noted above by bigfatdummy, as long as you use the 'proper' tools and take your time, there is no visible evidence of the casing being opened - indeed, mine looks much he same as before. Of course, looking at the HDD would tell someone in the know that the casing had been opened, but again, as long as you do not damage anything, this will not affect your warranty.

As to performance, I've now been running the 'new' drive for most of today, and funnily enough i does feel a little 'snappier'; I am not sure how genuine this is (I do know my 'new' drive has a larger cache than my original Fujitsu) or maybe this is a 'placebo' effect?

the main thing out of this (outside of the 'hardware' replacement) was, with Time Machine, how *easy* it was to restore my operating system and files - literally, you could not tell that anything had been done to the laptop from yesterday. And that can only be good. Glad to see that this (invaluable!) functionality is built in to the operating system, unlike *some* OS's we could mention! (*cough* Microsoft *cough*).

Also - and this is an important 'legal' point - *nowhere* on my MBP (or in any of its paperwork, for that matter) is there any notification that opening the case would void the warranty; I am not a Lawyer, but I know in the UK (at least) they would be hard-pressed to refuse warranty service without this!

 

[Kaupa]

Hello,
i have the same HDD inside and it does speed up things a little. For example i had 110 Xbenches with the stock 160 fujitsu drive and later i got 134! Now with 10.5.3 i even hit 140-142

 

[shoppy]

Done the same, and I am loving it, though teh space seems to go. I am waiting for my 500gb HDD to arrive to stick in my 17" in.

 

[redknives]

If you aren't already, make sure you are aware of the possible hardware conflict (and resulting kernel panics) between the Apple Sudden Motion Sensor and WD's built-in SMD. I did the same swap two months ago and disabled the Apple SMS via the attached instructions:

http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=300724

http://www.engadget.com/2007/10/31/western-digital-rolls-out-320gb-2-5-inch-scorpio-hard-drive/

Prior to the install, I used SuperDuper to clone my drive to the Scorpio via NewerTech's Universal Drive Adapter - the install part only took me 20m min. Between the increased capacity (I started with 100gb) and the partial defrag SuperDuper provides, my book runs better than new. Now I am busy filling it up with crap, including an 80gb XP partition which has brought back some horrible memories of my days before Mac...

 

[rhyx]

I'm looking at getting one of these too. Tempting between 200GB 7200 and 320GB 5400rpm.

 

[adjuster]

I bought the 320gb drive from Newegg for $140 and had it installed at Microcenter (an Apple service provider) for $45. I have the first MacBook Pro. The $45 was just peace of mind in case of a problem.

Now I am awaiting the arrival of the 500g drives. Then I can keep all of my photos on it. I will then buy the latest version of the MacBook Pro. I want to have 4g available for VMware Fusion.