Upgrading MBP hard drive

[BigMoo]

Hello everyone, this is my first post as i am new to these forums, but intend to be around for a while . So here is my question. I bought the base model 13" MBP a few weeks ago with the 250gb HDD, and i was thinking about upgrading it. Not necessarily now, but sometime in the future. I was just wondering if you guys had any preference or which HDD you think would be the best choice to upgrade to. Whether it be a brand or specific model. Thanks in advance, Cheers!

 

[Neolithium]

Hello everyone, this is my first post as i am new to these forums, but intend to be around for a while . So here is my question. I bought the base model 13" MBP a few weeks ago with the 250gb HDD, and i was thinking about upgrading it. Not necessarily now, but sometime in the future. I was just wondering if you guys had any preference or which HDD you think would be the best choice to upgrade to. Whether it be a brand or specific model. Thanks in advance, Cheers!

I put a 500GB WD Scorpio Black into my hard drive, fast for not being an SSD or Hybrid drive. It boils down to how much space you need, how important speed is to you and what your budget is

 

[smallnshort247]

First off, welcome I joined in October. Anywho, I just upgraded my i5 MacBook Pro a few days ago. I'd recommend going with a "7200" rpm hard drive. I'm not sure if you know the difference between your current 5400rpm hard drive and a 7200 but put plain and simple, you'll notice applications loading faster. I took a leap of faith with a 640GB 7200rpm samsung drive. So far, I'm totally happy with it. A lot of people go with Western Digital because they're one of the most well know dependable brands but samsung is also a pretty reliable company.

Here is the link to the hard drive I bought:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...ckTab=true&Keywords=(keywords)#scrollFullInfo

PS: While you're at it, you should upgrade your RAM too, prices are pretty good. Also, when installing your hard drive, one of the two screwdrivers you'll need is called a "torx 6" screwdriver. Just watch a few how-to videos on YouTube and you'll be good to go.

 

[Repo]

Western Digital 1 TB Scorpio Blue SATA 5200 RPM 8 MB Cache
Seagate Momentus XT 500 GB 7200RPM SATA 3Gb/s 32 MB Cache 2.5 Inch Solid State Hybrid Drive

 

[Capt Underpants]

Western Digital 1 TB Scorpio Blue SATA 5200 RPM 8 MB Cache
Seagate Momentus XT 500 GB 7200RPM SATA 3Gb/s 32 MB Cache 2.5 Inch Solid State Hybrid Drive

Unless you really need the extra space, skip that first drive. Even with the increased data density, it will be negligibly faster.

I would recommend either a Seagate Momentus XT, any 7200 RPM drive, or an SSD. The SSD will be prohibitively expensive depending on the size you need.

 

[NickZac]

I would either get a full SSD or a hybrid drive as the gains with a SSD are tremendous. The SSD I use is the Mercury Extreme Pro and a lot of people are using it here with great results. The only downside with a SSD is the cost/space factor. My 128GB SSD costs $250 (it did come with some free tools and a kit to make your current drive a USB external HDD tho) and so if you got the 128, you cut your storage in half. I had the 250 on my 13 inch MBP and I only use about 70GB of data total so it works great for me. Once you go above the 256GB SSD's, they get stupid expensive and before you know it, your SSD costs more than the entire computer (oh my). If you need more data storage and don't want an external for it, the hybrid drives which combine both factors (SSD and HDD) are one possibility and using a small SSD for boot and mission critical files, while having a second HDD which can be located where the CD drive is. Obviously, you lose your CD drive.

 

[BigMoo]

Thanks for the input so far guys...As of right now i have a Seagate 500GB External HDD that i use mostly for my music. So space isn't really that big of a deal, i've just heard about the gains when people upgrade the HDD. So i'll definitely look into all of the above. I'm pretty interested in the hybrid drives, so i'll read up some more on them. I just want to get as much out of my mac as possible. It's really funny because as i sit here typing i have my HP dv6 hooked up to my tv via VGA cable and i'm thinking to myself. God, how did i ever live without a mac . Cheers