Looking to beef up my MBP need instructions and will all this work?

[TheSVD]

Getting paid this week, and i thought id spend some money future proofing my MBP. Im no noob to upgrading computers, but i just wanna makes sure this will all work with my MBP:
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/150515 (WD 500GB HDD)
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/152975 (Kingston 4GB RAM)
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/159438 (Enclosure for old drive)

Firstly, the RAM - im assuming that will work its just ebuyer, whilst a great site are notorius for their errors on webpages, and im just making sure that that RAM will be okay... im pretty sure it will, DDR3 204 Pin 1066MHz is what my MBP takes right? Ill have no trouble putting that in, and ill simply go to ifixit for that

Question 1:
The HDD is something ive been wondering about... firstly, i cant remember whether it was western digital or seagate, but i remember somewhere saying that one of their 500GB drives had an extremely high failiure rate, and id obviously like to avoid that! Is it the one i want to purchase?

Question 2:
Again about that HDD, what do i have to do? Like any preformatting or anything? Or just whack it in and put in the OS install disk? I am going to buy that enclosure to run my old HD as a time machine, but will i need to do anything to it at all? Or as ive said just put it in and go?

Question 3:
That enclosure will work, right?

Question 4:
Ive only had my mac for a few months, but ive already got alot of stuff on it, Lots of apps installed and stuff. Would there be a simple way to just install leopard, and then just put all the data & all my settings in the places that they belong? Thatd be really cool, cause i cba to reinstall things like the adobe master suite and all the FCP suite and stuff.

Queston 5:
How much would an RPM increase and RAM increase help with gaming, respectively?

Thanks Guys!
I have been working with PC's for years, so i have alot of experience around computers, just not so much around macs, so sorry for any noob questions ive always found these forums very useful so thanks in advance for any replies

 

[ViciousShadow21]

yes the 204 pin ddr3 is the ram you need.

as far as western digital v seagate goes i havent heard one failng more than the other. they are both great companies and i am sure that the Western Digital will be fine.

nope just take the old one out and put the new one in.

the enclosure is definitely the one you need

the RPM and the RAM will make a notable difference. load times on games will be better. textures loading more smoothly ect ect.

 

[eastercat]

DDR3 204 Pin 1066MHz is what my MBP takes right? Ill have no trouble putting that in, and ill simply go to ifixit for that

I seriously hope you're joking. But just in case you're not, this is what I used for my MBP: DDR2 667 MHz PC5300. It's possible the RAM specs for the unibody are different. Double check on this in system profiler. You should keep your memory, so you can put it back in when you take it to the geniuses. Apple might use the extra memory as excuse to not cover your computer under warranty.

 

[bossxii]

I seriously hope you're joking. But just in case you're not, this is what I used for my MBP: DDR2 667 MHz PC5300. It's possible the RAM specs for the unibody are different. Double check on this in system profiler. You should keep your memory, so you can put it back in when you take it to the geniuses. Apple might use the extra memory as excuse to not cover your computer under warranty.

He is serious, and he is correct. Unibodies (based on his UMBP sig )use DDR3 not 2, clearly stated in several spots on the Apple site, tech spec's, config screen etc..

 

[bossxii]

Getting paid this week, and i thought id spend some money future proofing my MBP. Im no noob to upgrading computers, but i just wanna makes sure this will all work with my MBP:
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/150515 (WD 500GB HDD)
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/152975 (Kingston 4GB RAM)
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/159438 (Enclosure for old drive)

Firstly, the RAM - im assuming that will work its just ebuyer, whilst a great site are notorius for their errors on webpages, and im just making sure that that RAM will be okay... im pretty sure it will, DDR3 204 Pin 1066MHz is what my MBP takes right? Ill have no trouble putting that in, and ill simply go to ifixit for that

Question 1:
The HDD is something ive been wondering about... firstly, i cant remember whether it was western digital or seagate, but i remember somewhere saying that one of their 500GB drives had an extremely high failiure rate, and id obviously like to avoid that! Is it the one i want to purchase?

Question 2:
Again about that HDD, what do i have to do? Like any preformatting or anything? Or just whack it in and put in the OS install disk? I am going to buy that enclosure to run my old HD as a time machine, but will i need to do anything to it at all? Or as ive said just put it in and go?

Question 3:
That enclosure will work, right?

Question 4:
Ive only had my mac for a few months, but ive already got alot of stuff on it, Lots of apps installed and stuff. Would there be a simple way to just install leopard, and then just put all the data & all my settings in the places that they belong? Thatd be really cool, cause i cba to reinstall things like the adobe master suite and all the FCP suite and stuff.

Queston 5:
How much would an RPM increase and RAM increase help with gaming, respectively?

Thanks Guys!
I have been working with PC's for years, so i have alot of experience around computers, just not so much around macs, so sorry for any noob questions ive always found these forums very useful so thanks in advance for any replies

HDD looks good, not sure which has a higher failure rate, but the rest looks good. Memory, External case etc.. all should work fine. The actual HDD swap is pretty straight forward once you have the proper backup for your files. Remove old, install new, boot up with the OSX CD, booting up, using disk utility to format then installing the OSX. There are several guides that walk you thru step by step. Pretty sure http://www.ifixit.com has some good video and pics of these type of upgrades.

Backup, with 3rd party apps I think I've seen people post about software such as Superduper which makes a mirror image file which avoids you having to reinstall programs. I use Time Capsule for regular backups but I have to reinstall 3rd party software in many cases if I do a complete wipe or HDD swap.

 

[SFStateStudent]

He is serious, and he is correct. Unibodies (based on his UMBP sig )use DDR3 not 2, clearly stated in several spots on the Apple site, tech spec's, config screen etc..

+3 ^^^ Unibody MBP is definitely DDR3 not DDR2

To verify -->Apple>About This Mac>Memory *states your DDRX SDRAM*

 

[neilhart]

Question 4:
Ive only had my mac for a few months, but ive already got alot of stuff on it, Lots of apps installed and stuff. Would there be a simple way to just install leopard, and then just put all the data & all my settings in the places that they belong? Thatd be really cool, cause i cba to reinstall things like the adobe master suite and all the FCP suite and stuff.

I suggest that you download SuperDuper (free version). Place the new drive into the new USB drive enclosure and connect it to you MBP. Run DiskUtility and partition the new drive with the GUID option. Then run SuperDuper to make an image of your internal drive onto the external drive (a bootable image). Reboot, holding the option key, select the external drive. Your new drive in the external case should have everything that you have on your internal drive plus more free space. If you are happy, shutdown the system and swap the new drive into the MBP. Reboot and your done.

 

[TheSVD]

He is serious, and he is correct. Unibodies (based on his UMBP sig )use DDR3 not 2, clearly stated in several spots on the Apple site, tech spec's, config screen etc..

yep

I suggest that you download SuperDuper (free version). Place the new drive into the new USB drive enclosure and connect it to you MBP. Run DiskUtility and partition the new drive with the GUID option. Then run SuperDuper to make an image of your internal drive onto the external drive (a bootable image). Reboot, holding the option key, select the external drive. Your new drive in the external case should have everything that you have on your internal drive plus more free space. If you are happy, shutdown the system and swap the new drive into the MBP. Reboot and your done.

Awesome
Yeah backing up and stuff is cool, but will that place all my files, apps etc in the same place for me, rtaher than me having to sort it, and reinstall all my apps? I could copy the apps folder directly, but that would be bound to cause errors due to apps installing components all over the place, haha

Thanks for the replies so far guys

 

[BlueJayLouchE]

Yeah backing up and stuff is cool, but will that place all my files, apps etc in the same place for me, rtaher than me having to sort it, and reinstall all my apps? I could copy the apps folder directly, but that would be bound to cause errors due to apps installing components all over the place, haha

Thanks for the replies so far guys

Like neilhart said, SuperDuper will make an 'image' of your current drive aka a clone. OSX will (very) basically see it as the same drive (different make and size of course). Same software, same files in the same places. As far as i know you won't even need to re-register anything... feel free to correct me here.

 

[TheSVD]

Like neilhart said, SuperDuper will make an 'image' of your current drive aka a clone. OSX will (very) basically see it as the same drive (different make and size of course). Same software, same files in the same places. As far as i know you won't even need to re-register anything... feel free to correct me here.

sorry if im not getting this... but yeah, so i have a clone of my current drive, and insall the new one. Can i like put that image of the drive like in to my new one, per se?
Like merge/overlay it or something?

 

[ViciousShadow21]

sorry if im not getting this... but yeah, so i have a clone of my current drive, and insall the new one. Can i like put that image of the drive like in to my new one, per se?
Like merge/overlay it or something?

yes it's kind of like a copy and paste but an exact copy of your old drive that you are just pasting into the new one.

 

[TheSVD]

AH right, cool
Is superduper free?

 

[ViciousShadow21]

AH right, cool
Is superduper free?

there is a basic one that is free and all you need for what you are doing. the one that coast money allows you to schedule back ups i think.

 

[TheSVD]

there is a basic one that is free and all you need for what you are doing. the one that coast money allows you to schedule back ups i think.

awesome thanks

 

[dlhuss]

For the hard drive - get the Western Digital. I own 4 of the Seagates and they are terrible. (two are failing Seagates software test, they are slow as heck, and one is so loud I took it out and just stuck it in an external case to use as an archive.)

 

[ViciousShadow21]

For the hard drive - get the Western Digital. I own 4 of the Seagates and they are terrible. (two are failing Seagates software test, they are slow as heck, and one is so loud I took it out and just stuck it in an external case to use as an archive.)

i've owned a 3 seagate drives that have all worked really well. i have also owned 2 Western Digital that ran well and 2 that failed on me. so its really just luck of the draw in my experience.