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I just installed the Hitachi Travelstar 500GB 7200 RPM hard drive without modification yesterday in my 13 inch mid-2009 Macbook Pro with EFI 1.7 and it's working fine so far with no beachballs.
 
so is this EFI firmware issue specific to the mid-2009 models? because i've been in the market for a drive capacity upgrade for some time but it holding off because of all the issues i've heard about non-stock drives. but i've got an old late-2008 5,1 ... should i still be worried?
 
so is this EFI firmware issue specific to the mid-2009 models? because i've been in the market for a drive capacity upgrade for some time but it holding off because of all the issues i've heard about non-stock drives. but i've got an old late-2008 5,1 ... should i still be worried?

Yes, this only affected the 2009 models.
 
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