Putting a new HDD in an older MBP (2009)

[pim16aap2]

Hello,

I've got a MBP 5,5 / mid-2009 ; 2.26GHz ; 13", and I'm getting a bit fed up by running out of storage all the time (and having to delete my precious stuff), so i decided I want to upgrade it a bit.

I was looking at the following drive:
http://reviews.cnet.com/internal-hard-drives/wd-scorpio-black-wd7500bpkt/4507-9998_7-34536706.html

But I read that replacing an HDD in a MBP can be quite troublesome, but I could not really find what I had to look for to prevent / prepare for those issues, so I was hoping someone here could provide me with some info.

 

[KUguardgrl13]

Hello,

I've got a MBP 5,5 / mid-2009 ; 2.26GHz ; 13", and I'm getting a bit fed up by running out of storage all the time (and having to delete my precious stuff), so i decided I want to upgrade it a bit.

I was looking at the following drive:
http://reviews.cnet.com/internal-hard-drives/wd-scorpio-black-wd7500bpkt/4507-9998_7-34536706.html

But I read that replacing an HDD in a MBP can be quite troublesome, but I could not really find what I had to look for to prevent / prepare for those issues, so I was hoping someone here could provide me with some info.

IFixit makes it very easy with pictures and step-by-step instructions. The most tricky part with actually changing out the drive will be to not bend the cable too much. It's very fragile! I'd actually suggest replacing the cable with the drive anyway. It's a $20 part on Amazon.

As for getting it formatted and installing OS X, I think you just need to boot from the install disc or a USB. I haven't done it though, so I'm not entirely positive. I'm sure someone else will know better. Good luck!

 

[pim16aap2]

IFixit makes it very easy with pictures and step-by-step instructions. The most tricky part with actually changing out the drive will be to not bend the cable too much. It's very fragile! I'd actually suggest replacing the cable with the drive anyway. It's a $20 part on Amazon.

As for getting it formatted and installing OS X, I think you just need to boot from the install disc or a USB. I haven't done it though, so I'm not entirely positive. I'm sure someone else will know better. Good luck!

Thank you very much for your reply.

Just putting "Install OS X Mavericks.app" on a USB will work?
And what kind of cable am I looking for exactly? (amazon usually doesn't ship stuff to my country).

EDIT: Am I looking for this?
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Drive-Cable...5759311&sr=8-6&keywords=macbook+pro+hdd+cable

 

[niteflyr]

Here is how to make a Mavericks install thumb drive:

http://osxdaily.com/2013/10/23/create-os-x-mavericks-install-drive/

`

 

[cheesyappleuser]

Hello,

I've got a MBP 5,5 / mid-2009 ; 2.26GHz ; 13", and I'm getting a bit fed up by running out of storage all the time (and having to delete my precious stuff), so i decided I want to upgrade it a bit.

I was looking at the following drive:
http://reviews.cnet.com/internal-hard-drives/wd-scorpio-black-wd7500bpkt/4507-9998_7-34536706.html

But I read that replacing an HDD in a MBP can be quite troublesome, but I could not really find what I had to look for to prevent / prepare for those issues, so I was hoping someone here could provide me with some info.

I'd go for a SSHD from Seagate.
Since storage space is your issue, and any SSD is far too expensive, one of those hybrid drives (HDD with a small 8GB NAND cache) should be a good solution.
As far as I know Seagate provides reliable hard drives, so I think you should go for it.

You can find the 1TB for $100, and the 500GB for $77 on Amazon.
http://www.amazon.com/Seagate-Solid...385766052&sr=8-2&keywords=seagate+momentus+xt

Regarding the installation of the drive itself, I'd go for iFixit

 

[KUguardgrl13]

Thank you very much for your reply.

Just putting "Install OS X Mavericks.app" on a USB will work?
And what kind of cable am I looking for exactly? (amazon usually doesn't ship stuff to my country).

EDIT: Am I looking for this?
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Drive-Cable...5759311&sr=8-6&keywords=macbook+pro+hdd+cable

You'll actually need this one. The one you found is for a 2011. It's not absolutely necessary to change the cable, but it's recommended and Apple does it when they replace a hard drive. http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B004VSZCL4/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?qid=1385798748&sr=8-1&pi=SY200

 

[paulCC]

Get an Hitachi drive, throttle SATA to 1.5 Gbps

Hello - the posts above address the potential problem that some 2009 Macbooks have when running SATA drives at SATA II speeds. Of 2 Macbook 2009 I have now at home, one had the issue. Mine are 15 inch, but from an Google search, it seems the 13 can have the problem as well.

I did not go with the cable swap route. Instead, I purchased a Hitachi drive, which allows the SATA speed to be throttled. The is described here:
https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/1675093/

Throttling the SATA speed to 1.5 Gbps does not effect the harddrive speed - mechanical drives are much slower than the SATA I speed.

Pros of the "Hitachi solution":
- cheaper - you only have to buy the drive, not the cable
- safer - no chance of damaging the logic board when swapping the SATA cable

Cons:
- works only with Hitachi drives. Swapping the cable should make the Macbook compatible with all drives and SSDs

PaulCC