My reason for upgrading my hard drive is because id like to run windows 7 via bootcamp. I want to give a decent amount of space for both operating systems. I was on the phone with apple and asked about a 1TB and they said it would slow my computer down ( Late 2010 17" i7 2.8ghz macbook pro). The guy i talked to also said that i may get an excess amount of heat from the bigger hard drive.... Is that true? Id like opinions on what i should do, and if possible id like to get a 7200rpm hard drive but thats a secondary need. Thanks!
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Upgrading Hard drive
- Thread starter hocman22
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I can't see any reason why an upgrade to a 1 TB hard disk would cause your computer to slow down, in fact it should have the opposite effect especially if you're looking at a 7200 RPM disk.
In terms of excess heat, there may be a small (but negligible) difference in temperatures.
Is there a particular hard disk that you've got in mind, either aftermarket or via Apple?
In terms of excess heat, there may be a small (but negligible) difference in temperatures.
Is there a particular hard disk that you've got in mind, either aftermarket or via Apple?
Apple won't do a 1TB I dont think for a MBP- you'll have to go aftermarket for that. Seagate or Western Digital- your choice
I just put in a 7200 rpm hard drive, not a single problem and it's nice and fast. I highly recommend them over the 5400 rpms. And as others have said, the Apple store guy is wrong.
The new Samsung 9.5mm high 1TB M8 seems to be the logical choice for those seeking more capacity at the moment.
http://www.engadget.com/2011/06/08/samsung-spinpoint-m8-puts-1tb-drives-on-a-diet-just-in-time-for/
http://www.engadget.com/2011/06/08/samsung-spinpoint-m8-puts-1tb-drives-on-a-diet-just-in-time-for/
Not really. All of the instructions that you need to guide you through the upgrade process can be found in the user manual that shipped with your MacBook Pro.
All you need in terms of tools is a small philips screwdriver (#00 or #000 depending on the toolkit) to remove the screws that hold the bottom panel and the hard disk bracket in place. If you need to remove the mounting screws from your existing hard disk, a Torx T6 driver will do the trick.
If you know how to use a screwdriver correctly, you know how to change a hard drive.
it's pretty easy, just watch out for the "parking" issue, I installed a 500gb WD to my 2008 core2duo 13" unibody and the drive kept spinning down every couple of minutes and then spinning up when I would click on something, It seemed as if the drive protection apple has and the protection WD have interfere with each other causing you cycle count to skyrocket while the laptop is running. Simply turning "sleep" off from the prefs is not the answer. You can read a little about it on this and apples forum
http://mckinlay.net.nz/hdapm/
https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/601219/
http://mymacfixes.blogspot.com/2009/06/how-do-i-stop-clicking-noise-from-hard.html
https://discussions.apple.com/thread/1374301?start=0&tstart=0
fortunately the install is VERY easy now from the first link, simply run the dog install and you are set
http://mckinlay.net.nz/hdapm/
https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/601219/
http://mymacfixes.blogspot.com/2009/06/how-do-i-stop-clicking-noise-from-hard.html
https://discussions.apple.com/thread/1374301?start=0&tstart=0
fortunately the install is VERY easy now from the first link, simply run the dog install and you are set
Thanks so much guys. So id like to stick with WD and what specs do i need to look for so it fits in my macbook pros unibody and do they also make a 7200rpm 1tb drive? Thanks so much and if its possible to post a link for the hard drive so i could have a look would be terrific!!!
Thanks so much guys!
Thanks so much guys!
The WD 1TB is 12.5 mm high, although it will still fit in unibody MBPs, but is slower and will use more power than the 2 platter Samsung. No 1TB 7200 rpm drives yet.
I'm not quite understanding what your saying, so the 1TB will run slower because its bigger? and there is no 7200rpm drive yet? I'm not too worried about speed unless its going to be very noticeable but i'm worried about heat, i do use a Speck case and that does keep a little more heat in then id like but as long as its not gonna burn anything up for sure ill be okay. Thanks so much and also is WD the best drive to stick with? and what do you guys means by platters? sorry I'm new to this ;P
He said the 1TB WD drive would run slower than the 1TB samsung, read carefully.
It will not produce any more heat than in currently does, get that out of your mind, the Apple guy was probably trying to coax you into buying an Apple branded hard drive.
What we mean by platters is that data is stored on a magnetic disk. Depending on the size of the hard drive, there may be one or more disks, or platters, inside each drive. The less platters you have for a given size hard drive, the more likely it is to be faster, because the head that reads the information off of that drive has less ways to move around before finding what it's looking for.
Since the new 1TB samsung drive has only 2 platters, versus 3 for the WD(though I do believe WD came out with a 2 platter 1TB recently), it should, theoretically, be faster.
If all you do is browse the web, email and itunes, you wouldn't notice a difference between the two at all.
If you have a 7200RPM drive right now, then yes a 1TB hard drive will slow your computer down because they're only available in 5400RPM models.
All hard drives are fairly cool. The real heat source is the CPU/GPU.
Due to the plate density, yes data reads may be slower. But that really depends on the hard drive itself.
Hard drives have a magnetic platter, you probably know that. What you probably don't know is that most hard drives have the same size magnetic platter. By cramming more bits into less space physically, the data on your hard drive becomes super dense. Therefore, the hard drive head (the part which reads and writes data) will have to look much harder and more precisely to find and write data to a specific point on the hard drive, slowing the performance of the drive itself.
All hard drives are fairly cool. The real heat source is the CPU/GPU.
Due to the plate density, yes data reads may be slower. But that really depends on the hard drive itself.
Hard drives have a magnetic platter, you probably know that. What you probably don't know is that most hard drives have the same size magnetic platter. By cramming more bits into less space physically, the data on your hard drive becomes super dense. Therefore, the hard drive head (the part which reads and writes data) will have to look much harder and more precisely to find and write data to a specific point on the hard drive, slowing the performance of the drive itself.
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All computers use SATA nowadays. SATA connectors have an L-shaped hole.
There are differences within the SATA standard, also.
There is SATA-I, or SATA-150. It transfers data at a theoretical maximum of 150MB/s.
There is SATA-II, or SATA-300. It transfers data at a theoretical maximum of 300MB/s. This is the configuration which most hard drives have.
There is SATA-III, or SATA-600. It transfers data at a theoretical maximum of 600MB/s. Not many hard drives have this. This is usually used with SSDs, which are fast enough to actually take advantage of the maximum speed.
The 2011 MacBook Pros support up to SATA-III on the hard drive slot and SATA-II on the optical slot, if you're interested in OptiBay. Therefore, it is not wise to put a solid state drive in the OptiBay slot, because the interface will bottleneck its performance.
If you want a decent hard drive, then get one with at least SATA-II.
Cache is a short-term solid state memory reserved for the hard drive. It serves as a queue for operations, like a to-do list. It ranges from 8MB to 64MB. Usually, the bigger the cache, the better the drive, because a bigger cache means the drive does not become overloaded easily. In most cases, you could consider it as RAM for the hard drive.
However, this is not strictly true. Hybrid SSDs, which have a large amount of "cache', can use this to their advantage. Since the cache is made of SSD chips, it is significantly faster than the hard drive itself, so if they store frequently used files in the cache, then they can load it faster. The Momentus XT has a cache size of 4GB and uses this technique to speed operations up.
SSDs don't have caches, since the entire drive is practically made of cache chips.
may be a dumb question
I just bought a new MBP about two weeks ago and I was looking to upgrade the HD already (my itunes library plus autocad takes up more than I thought) and just need a 500giger. Doesnt have to be 7200rpm but would appreciate it.
I've been reading online that people have been having problems with power consumption firmware??? Am I going to run into any problems??
I just bought a new MBP about two weeks ago and I was looking to upgrade the HD already (my itunes library plus autocad takes up more than I thought) and just need a 500giger. Doesnt have to be 7200rpm but would appreciate it.
I've been reading online that people have been having problems with power consumption firmware??? Am I going to run into any problems??
does changing your hard drive void your warranty? can you just change it back? how could anyone tell?
when will 1tb 7200rpm drives come out?
when will 1tb 7200rpm drives come out?
It voids the warranty ONLY FOR THE HARD DRIIVE. Meaning the rest of the laptop is covered; hard drive damage is not, even if you switched it back. And if they did swap, then the hard drive will not have an Apple logo on it.
And no one knows about the 7200RPM 1TB.
No, it is deemed user replaceable by Apple, and if you'd bothered to read the manual that came with your computer, it even contains instructions on how to do it yourself.
How the hell would the general public which has no access to privileged corporate information would know, sir?