Replacing MBook Pro 2011 HD using an HD from a external HD

[Cage181]

Has anyone torn apart an external HD and used it to replace the internal HD in their MacBook Pro? Rumour has it they fit perfectly. Just wondering if anyone has had succes with this and it's a plug and play. If not what snags have you had. Thanks.

MacBook Pro w/Retina Display
2.66Khz intel Core i7
500 GB Sata

 

[halfbad]

Depends on the drive and enclosure but most of them use the typical 2.5 drives.

If your replacing your drive, I would suggest strongly to go with an SSD. Will gives you the biggest performance jump you can do with your computer. Real world gains, less heat, better stability and significant speed gains.

 

[fs454]

Just get an SSD. Hard drive performance is awful by comparison and $100 gets you a suitable SSD.

Also, I don't think you have a Retina Display mac. They started in Late 2012 and were never available with standard hard drives.

 

[halfbad]

oh yes this is important what year//model of Mac are you using. Because the retina's use a different form that most hard drives, they use the blades chips.

 

[Cage181]

Just get an SSD. Hard drive performance is awful by comparison and $100 gets you a suitable SSD.

Also, I don't think you have a Retina Display mac. They started in Late 2012 and were never available with standard hard drives.

Yeah sorry. Thought I had Retina Dispay. I ordered it just before heading to Afghanistan and I got it with the upgraded screen....whatever that was at the time. Also looking that it's a mid 2010 because I left March 2011. Regardless, I'm certain it's a 2.5 inch. The SSD is a great idea and the prices have come down. It's more storage I'm after. Like replacing it with a 1-3TB. I was told an external HD is cheaper and fits right in. I'm such a panic after losing my 6 month Roto pictures because I had no room left on my 500GB HD and apple told me to transfer them to an external shifting the iPhoto library. Somehow there were two libraries and once he told me to trash the library after it is copy/pasted to the external, it turned into it I had flushed my good one. Not impressed and a Mac rookie mistake. Only 10 months as a Mac user. Now I don't want to lose anything and want storage because my music takes 300GB and photos 160GB not leaving no me room for much more.

 

[halfbad]

Sorry about the loss of pictures, that always sucks. ok so replacing your drive is easy then, any 2.5 standard SSD will slot in. my recommendation is to get a 1TB SSD for performance and decent storage and then a 2-4 TB non-SSD external and time machine your backups there and/or cloud backups for your photos.

 

[fs454]

Yeah sorry. Thought I had Retina Dispay. I ordered it just before heading to Afghanistan and I got it with the upgraded screen....whatever that was at the time. Also looking that it's a mid 2010 because I left March 2011. Regardless, I'm certain it's a 2.5 inch. The SSD is a great idea and the prices have come down. It's more storage I'm after. Like replacing it with a 1-3TB. I was told an external HD is cheaper and fits right in. I'm such a panic after losing my 6 month Roto pictures because I had no room left on my 500GB HD and apple told me to transfer them to an external shifting the iPhoto library. Somehow there were two libraries and once he told me to trash the library after it is copy/pasted to the external, it turned into it I had flushed my good one. Not impressed and a Mac rookie mistake. Only 10 months as a Mac user. Now I don't want to lose anything and want storage because my music takes 300GB and photos 160GB not leaving no me room for much more.

Okay so your ideal plan is this:

Get a 512GB SSD (or more if you can afford it) for ~$150 and replace your hard drive with it. Here you install your OS and apps, primarily - giving you near-instant boot times, apps open right away, and the whole thing feels like a brand new Mac.
Then get one of these:
https://www.amazon.com/ZXUY-Unibody...H2US/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1483152933&sr=8-1

The above part goes in place of your optical drive, allowing you to place a hard drive there instead. This is a good option to add 2TB:
https://www.amazon.com/Seagate-Barr...e=UTF8&qid=1483153014&sr=8-1&keywords=2tb+2.5

This guide will show you how to remove the current optical drive and install a "new one", in this case a huge HDD instead!
https://www.ifixit.com/Guide/MacBook+Pro+15-Inch+Unibody+Mid+2010+Optical+Drive+Replacement/3074
(Not sure if you've got a 15-inch or 13-inch, but they have guides for both).

Hardest part of the whole process for a newcomer is getting the operating system installed on the new SSD. You can download the latest Mac OS from the App Store, and there's a guide on how to create a bootable installer out of a cheapo 8GB USB stick using this app: https://macdaddy.io/install-disk-creator/

Good luck! When the dust settles you'll have a lightning fast 512GB SSD+2TB HD setup with both speed and lots of storage.

 

[Cage181]

Okay so your ideal plan is this:

Get a 512GB SSD (or more if you can afford it) for ~$150 and replace your hard drive with it. Here you install your OS and apps, primarily - giving you near-instant boot times, apps open right away, and the whole thing feels like a brand new Mac.
Then get one of these:
https://www.amazon.com/ZXUY-Unibody...H2US/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1483152933&sr=8-1

The above part goes in place of your optical drive, allowing you to place a hard drive there instead. This is a good option to add 2TB:
https://www.amazon.com/Seagate-Barr...e=UTF8&qid=1483153014&sr=8-1&keywords=2tb+2.5

This guide will show you how to remove the current optical drive and install a "new one", in this case a huge HDD instead!
https://www.ifixit.com/Guide/MacBook+Pro+15-Inch+Unibody+Mid+2010+Optical+Drive+Replacement/3074
(Not sure if you've got a 15-inch or 13-inch, but they have guides for both).

Hardest part of the whole process for a newcomer is getting the operating system installed on the new SSD. You can download the latest Mac OS from the App Store, and there's a guide on how to create a bootable installer out of a cheapo 8GB USB stick using this app: https://macdaddy.io/install-disk-creator/

Good luck! When the dust settles you'll have a lightning fast 512GB SSD+2TB HD setup with both speed and lots of storage.

Nice! Thx a bunch for the rest no. I will look into this option. At the end of the day.....my initial question remains.....can we take apart an external hard drive and use the HD to plug into my MB Pro?