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Upgrading MBP HD - worth it?

M

macpluslaptop

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Jun 5, 2007
315
11
I have an MBP (2.4GHz Intel core 2 duo) with a 160g Fujitsu HD. It's completely stuffed, and I need to keep my apps and iTunes etc. on it, so I'm thinking of having a bigger drive installed. Tekserve in NYC will install a 250g drive for about $300. That sounds high, but I don't want to do it myself.

Or I can get more external drives and dump some files onto them, but this is my main/travel machine and I'd have most of my files with me.

I was also thinking of a Drobo - if I'm putting $300 into a new HD, it might be a better longterm investment.

I've looked this up in the archives, but I need a more basic take on what option might be best.

Any thoughts would be much appreciated.:eek:
 
$300 is high. I had a local 3rd party authorized apple repair shop replace the hd on my 12" pb for $80, and it is a lot bigger PITA.

Have you looked on ifixit.com at their repair guide? I've been mulling it over myself, and it doesn't look half as bad as the pb did. The only tricky part appears to be the removing the adhesive off of the old drive.

Do you think you're going to put in a 500 gig 5400 drive, or a 320 gig 7200 drive? If your old disk is brimming with data, either should prove to be an enhancement.
 
I spent some time mulling over the same issue and I decided to go for it myself. I followed the guide on iFixit and in about an hour I was finished. There are a lot of screws, but the swap can be done. $75 later and I went from 80gb to 320gb. I loved it.

Then I got a MBA and went right back to 80. Getting an iMac soon though!
 
kvasir said:
I spent some time mulling over the same issue and I decided to go for it myself. I followed the guide on iFixit and in about an hour I was finished. There are a lot of screws, but the swap can be done. $75 later and I went from 80gb to 320gb. I loved it.

Then I got a MBA and went right back to 80. Getting an iMac soon though!
Click to expand...

Thanks. What kind of drive did you use?
 
Did you buy the drive separately and have someone install it? I want to keep this MBP going because I love the matte screen so I have no desire now to get a new laptop.

I'd be very happy with a 500g 5400, but I can't install it myself.

Thanks for the speedy reply!
 
I think he said he'd had a 3rd party place upgrade his Powerbook, and that's what I was asking about. Whether you can buy a HD on your own (as at ifixit.com) and take it to a 3rd party shop for installation.

(I know he's thinking of doing it himself on his current laptop)

Just went to ifixit and you can get a 500g 5400 for $130. That's a good deal...
 
clyde2801 said:
Do you think you're going to put in a 500 gig 5400 drive, or a 320 gig 7200 drive? If your old disk is brimming with data, either should prove to be an enhancement.
Click to expand...

500GB, 7200 RPM drives have been available for a while now, too...
 
macpluslaptop said:
I think he said he'd had a 3rd party place upgrade his Powerbook, and that's what I was asking about. Whether you can buy a HD on your own (as at ifixit.com) and take it to a 3rd party shop for installation.

(I know he's thinking of doing it himself on his current laptop)

Just went to ifixit and you can get a 500g 5400 for $130. That's a good deal...
Click to expand...

Sorry, misunderstood you. I said I had a 3rd party shop replace my pb. And yes, I took in my own 250 gig ide drive (helps that they didn't have any to sell me). My pb was out of applecare, so not having an official apple drive in it didn't bother them.
 
clyde2801 said:
Thanks. What kind of drive did you use?
Click to expand...

Seagate Momentus 7200RPM 16mb buffer.

One problem though was that it did make the left palmrest a little toasty during disk access! It was well worth it though. I was going back and forth between the WD Caviar Black and the Seagate. In the end, I've always had Seagate drives and trust them so that's what I went with.
 
Thanks - this has all been very helpful. I just made a couple of calls and I can get a 500g installed for about $250. Course this place isn't in NYC, so maybe I'll put this off until I'm traveling this summer.

I can remember when a state of the art Mac had a 20g HD; I guess that dates me.
 
What kind of hard drive does that include? Unless it's one of the new seagate 7200's it still sounds kind of high.

I wonder if it's because you're still in warranty, and they're putting in a drive from apple, i.e., the apple tax.?
 
Not sure what the actual HD is - we didn't get that far - but it's a trustworthy one-person shop in Northern CA and I've had him do work before. I might be paying a slight premium for his overhead...

I could buy my own HD and have him install it, which would probably give me a better deal. Is Ifixit a good place to buy a HD? And any recs on what HD you'd recommend?

My MBP and I thank you again.
 
Answering my own question, I see that a WD 500g 5400 HD costs about $100, and I imagine comparable brands are about the same, so I'd be paying $150 for labor in the scenario above, which does seem high.

I think I'll buy the HD on my own and take it to this fellow for installation.
 
Totally worth upgrading the hard drive. I went from a 120gb 5400 to a 320gb 7200 WD Black and its soo much better than before.
 
They say that if your HD is maxed out it slows down performance. I think the rule of thumb is to try and keep 30% of your HD free. So you'll definitely benefit from a larger drive. Get a Seagate Momentus 500GB (about $160). You should be able to find an Apple-certified place to install it for $75-100 max.
 
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