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My MacBook died (harddrive fail)

Any 2.5" S-ATA HDD and SSD with a maximum height of 9.5 mm will work. It is up to you, how much money you want to spend on an SSD, 16 GB should be enough for running the OS without any further applications besides browsers. 32 GB would be better though.
MacBook, MacBook Pro: Replacing the Hard Disk Drive, transferring data to the new HDD

the guide includes:
  • 0. Identify your MacBook or MacBook Pro
  • 1. Getting a new HDD
  • 2. Guides to replace the internal HDD with a newer one
  • 3. Transferring data from the old HDD to the new HDD
  • 4. Using the optical disk drive (ODD) slot for placing an SSD or HDD inside the MB/P (OPTIBAY)
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What is your budget? An SSD is a great addition to a laptop - there will be a nice increase in performance (until you become used to it) :) .
 
piatti said:
Could I have enough space on the SDD with 32GB to run Parallels on it or Bootcamp?

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http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820226247 This one is just slightly more expensive than the other one above and is 60GB which is almost double the 32GB of the above one. Why is it so much cheaper?
Click to expand...

32 GB is not really ideal for Windows AND Mac OS X. But it can be done, if you install only the bare elements, Mac OS X should take about 8 GB, maybe even less. Windows 7 could be around 8 GB too. A Windows VM will be around the same size.
Better would be 64 GB though.
 
piatti said:
Could I have enough space on the SDD with 32GB to run Parallels on it or Bootcamp?

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http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820226247 This one is just slightly more expensive than the other one above and is 60GB which is almost double the 32GB of the above one. Why is it so much cheaper?
Click to expand...

hard so say why they are so differently priced. They are both on sale though and were originally the same price. Only difference I can see is that the first one has a 128mb cache (not sure what the second one has, can't find it)

Keep in mind too when looking for SSD's for the old macbooks that they only can use SATA II speed. If you put a SATA III SSD in it will still run but you won't get the usual performance boost. Most times you can save yourself some money because of this by buying a purely SATA II drive.

Also, as mentioned, 32GB is rather small for running multiple OS'. I personally wouldn't try that on anything smaller then 64GB and even that's pushing it depending how many applications and external storage you have.
 
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piatti said:
http://www.amazon.com/Sony-VGN-FE770G-Laptop-Intel-Processor/dp/B000HM2RM0

I also have this dead VAIO laptop from about 2006 or 2007. I guess if I bought the very minimal 16GB for both this VAIO laptop and the MacBook I could spend a total of $80 on both combined and save $80 that I would have spent two of the 60GB one for $160 total.
Click to expand...

Keep in mind with though, if you did that you would need to pay for external storage because OS X alone would take up most of that 16GB and applications would take up the rest. If you don't want to have all your files stored on external storage you'll really need at least 32GB. If you want to have any bootcamp or VM's you'll likely need a 64.
 
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I think I'm fine with storing all my music and movies on the external. I'll just reserve a few PDF files on the SSD.

BTW the VAIO and MacBook has a peculiar toxic stench to it especially the VAIO, does that stench emanate when the HDD is failing or has failed? The VAIO in particular is so stinky that I worry I might not be able to use it even if I got a SSD for it.
 
BTW, do you know which CPU is better, the MacBook or the VAIO?

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AcesHigh87 said:
Keep in mind with though, if you did that you would need to pay for external storage because OS X alone would take up most of that 16GB and applications would take up the rest. If you don't want to have all your files stored on external storage you'll really need at least 32GB. If you want to have any bootcamp or VM's you'll likely need a 64.
Click to expand...

Ok thanks for this tip. I don't think I'll have any problem with storing all the music files and videos in an external, and the price diff between 32 and 64 is only about $15 for some reason (who would buy the 32GB when they can buy 64GB for only $15 more?)
 
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