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Replacing harddrive in MBP, but what can I do with the 120 I am pulling out?

coocooforcocoap

coocooforcocoap

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Sep 22, 2007
259
4
kathmandu, nepal
Hi all, I am going to replace my 120 gb hardrive with one of these:
200GB 2.5" Seagate Momentus 7200.2 7200RPM... (ST9200420AS)
or the largest fastest that will fit, and wondering:
1) can I stick the old 120 in an external case, and which case should I get?
2) is it unreasonable to ask the dealer where I get the drive (Apple-authorized) to replace the drive for me, and take the same partitions I already have and put them in the new drive? I have 80gig for mac and 40 gig for Bootcamp.
Well, thanks for any tips, as I am sure there are lots of folks who have done this...
ccfccp
 
stick it in an external enclosure, use it to transfer files to the new one after the install. afterwards, it would make a great Time Machine drive.

and its unreasonable to ask if you expect it to be done for free. if you are willing to pay for them to put it in, then not at all in fact they probably will offer too.

and asking somebody else to setup your system the way you like it is never a good idea. just do it yourself, its a relatively simple procedure and in the end you will have it exactly the way you like it.
 
1) Yes, in fact the best way is to stick it in an external FW enclosure, install the new internal, boot from the external (your old drive), and use SuperDuper! to clone your original to your new internal. You might want to look into using Winclone to handle your bootcamp partition.

I got a FW400/800 enclosure from Other World Computing.

2) I would not expect a dealer to do that for free, but it's easy to do it yourself anyway.

I originally changed to a Hitachi 7K200 200GB and have since changed again to a WD Scorpio 320GB drive.
 
Ditto what's been said already.

Personally, I'd hold onto the original drive and leave it untouched (if you still have AppleCare). Although a successful HD replacement doesn't violate the warranty, it's best to avoid the blame if you need to send the unit off for service.
 
Thanks u 2! So u are saying to just buy a 2.5 enclosure, stick the new drive in, then CCC the old drive to the new, then take the new out of the new case and swap with the one in the MBP? Sounds good except for all the screws to get the mbp apart...I will be in Bangkok on the road, so maybe I can just ask the dealer to do all this, or at least the taking apart of the MBP. They are real nice there about this kinda thing and will do to make a sale. Well, thanks again and please see my other post today about what hardrives to buy for our studio...totally confused over eSata vs. fw800 vs. NAS drives...arg!
 
tip said:
Ditto what's been said already.

Personally, I'd hold onto the original drive and leave it untouched (if you still have AppleCare). Although a successful HD replacement doesn't violate the warranty, it's best to avoid the blame if you need to send the unit off for service.
Click to expand...

thanks, we don't have applecare in this part of world! if it breaks, you beg the dealer to honer the warranty. cheers!
 
Just to close out this thread and report on what i did: swapped drives, put in a new 250 gig samsung 5400, put the old drive in a firewire/estata2/usb enclosure (www.snatech.com), did a clone from old to new using CCC, then cloned the bootcamp partition using winclone v2, and all is well after struggling just a bit getting a good clone from CCC (see bombich forum under user Forum Hound if interested in that). But all in all, this seems to be a valid procedure and makes for a nice upgrade...
cheers,
ccfccp
 
does the new HD run faster, cooler, or quieter?
i'm looking to upgrade my 120gb MBP HD as well. figured if i was going to do it, i'd go higher than 200gb.
thanks!

RaceTripper said:
I originally changed to a Hitachi 7K200 200GB and have since changed again to a WD Scorpio 320GB drive.
Click to expand...
 
mdwsta4 said:
does the new HD run faster, cooler, or quieter?
i'm looking to upgrade my 120gb MBP HD as well. figured if i was going to do it, i'd go higher than 200gb.
thanks!
Click to expand...
I've noticed no difference in operating temp or noise. But I mostly run in clamshell mode with an external monitor, keyboard, and mouse, so my MBP usually sits about two feet away from me.
 
UltraNEO* said:
i stuck mine in a PS3 to replace the tiny, tiny 40gb
drive that was in there...

what can i do with a 40gb drive though?
Click to expand...
I've kept my original drive with a bootable OS on it. If I ever have to get my MBP repaired under warranty, I'm putting the OEM drive back before sending handing it off to Apple.
 
RaceTripper said:
I've kept my original drive with a bootable OS on it. If I ever have to get my MBP repaired under warranty, I'm putting the OEM drive back before sending handing it off to Apple.
Click to expand...

My MBP has been going back and forth to Apple for the past couple of months... usually i just return it without a HD. Apple Japan seems to understand why it's been done, since they don't warranty user's data, anyway.
 
mdwsta4 said:
does the new HD run faster, cooler, or quieter?
i'm looking to upgrade my 120gb MBP HD as well. figured if i was going to do it, i'd go higher than 200gb.
thanks!
Click to expand...

the new SAMSUNG HM250JI 250 that is in mine now is cooler then the original 120 provided by apple. the 120 that is now in a very expensive aluminum case (seems very well constructed) runs like a toaster. but maybe having 2gig more ram (I also went from 2 gig to 4 gig when I did the upgrade) helps on cooling the internal drive, or maybe the new external case is just conducting the heat out as it should, dunno, but my left wrist is not longer 5x hotter then the right one. its just a little bit warmer now. much better!!! ps. never heard either drive at all. both seem to be silent.
ccfccp
 
UltraNEO* said:
what can i do with a 40gb drive though?
Click to expand...

I had an old 30gig at home that I cloned the leopard install disks to, just to preserve the media. it's bootable so instead of digging out a CD, i just use that. but as mentioned, you can put an entire OS on there with Apps and everything, just in case your internal ever goes out. for the OS, i think you only need about 15 gig or so, maybe less if you don't install any of the default apps. cheers.
 
kockgunner said:
time machine requires a drive that is 2 times larger in storage capacity than the one you are trying to back up doesnt it?
Click to expand...

thats probally so, if you want to keep months+ backup on one drive, better get a 500gb or something like that. I have two 250s at home that i rotate that keep about 1.5 months on them each before they fill up. not sure if timemachine is really compressing the data much. good luck.
 
kockgunner said:
time machine requires a drive that is 2 times larger in storage capacity than the one you are trying to back up doesnt it?
Click to expand...

doesn't require it, but it wouldn't be a bad idea so you have a little room

it needs to be at least as big as the amount of used space on your hd
 
coocooforcocoap said:
Just to close out this thread and report on what i did: swapped drives, put in a new 250 gig samsung 5400, put the old drive in a firewire/estata2/usb enclosure (www.snatech.com), did a clone from old to new using CCC, then cloned the bootcamp partition using winclone v2, and all is well after struggling just a bit getting a good clone from CCC (see bombich forum under user Forum Hound if interested in that). But all in all, this seems to be a valid procedure and makes for a nice upgrade...
cheers,
ccfccp
Click to expand...

Which enclosure was this and where did you buy it? I know there's a store at Fortune Town that sells snatech.com enclosures but they aren't all that common these days.

Does your enclosure have two fw800 ports on it? What chipset is it?
 
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