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Upgrading the Macbook Harddrive

Lots of threads on this... But yes WD is probably going to be in the top 3 of peoples recommendations here along with Seagate
 
WD is great. Seagate normally is, but their quality seems to be in a bit of a downspin as of late. (the fact that they recently cut their warranty to 3 years is a little unnerving, even though they say it was just to be in line with the industry and not about quality. Apparently they forgot the 5 year warranty was a major reason people got their drives instead of competitors. It was always that one thing to push them over the top)

That drive, btw, is also a two-platter drive instead of 3, meaning it's faster (data is packed in tighter) and more reliable (less weight on the motor, fewer points of failure)

In short: go for it, it's one of the best notebook drives out there right now.
 
It's a good choice, I got the 320GB version of it for my mid-2007 blackbook and it's been great so far ... the only thing that's annoyed me about it though is when i'm doing nothing on the laptop the head of the hard drive parks with a noticable 'click' ... i think i've become acclimatised to the sound though 'cos i don't really notice it anymore!! ... Hope you get it, it looks great!
 
i had the WD 250gig laptop drive and it died on me within a year

However, I ordered the same drive you are looking at and works great. Figured I just had a bad one and thats not the norm
 
I bought an Aluminum 2.0 model last week and ordered a 320GB WD 7200rpm from newegg on Monday to swap into it. I got it for $79.99 shipped but I just looked and its back up to $89.99 now. It should be here today and I figured 320GB was plenty of storage for me plus I wanted the extra speed boost the 7200rpm may give me in certain applications. I eyed the 500GB WD drive but decided to go with this one when the price dropped.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136280

I don't think you can go wrong with Western Digital.
 
WD G-Shock Warning

I've upgraded my HDD to 500 Scorpio Blue for 2 months now...had one problem, but it seemed to fix itself. When I had the problem, it was quite a nerve racking.

I was flying overseas, carrying my macbook, then decided to turn it on whilst in transit between flights. A big question mark appeared momentarily after i turned on the macbook. I tried a couple times, but that failed to work.

Then after a posting on this forum, I realized it might be the G-shock locking mechanism that was activated which is featured on WD drives. Not confirmed, but thought to be worth sharing just in case any of you have this problem. Just turn off your computer, wait a couple hours, then turn it back on.

I've ran all sorts of disk scans, and nil problems detected. So hopefully there's nothing bad in the long run. No firmware upgrade from WD. Looks like this might be a rare problem.
 
FriedPotatoes said:
I've upgraded my HDD to 500 Scorpio Blue for 2 months now...had one problem, but it seemed to fix itself. When I had the problem, it was quite a nerve racking.

I was flying overseas, carrying my macbook, then decided to turn it on whilst in transit between flights. A big question mark appeared momentarily after i turned on the macbook. I tried a couple times, but that failed to work.

Then after a posting on this forum, I realized it might be the G-shock locking mechanism that was activated which is featured on WD drives. Not confirmed, but thought to be worth sharing just in case any of you have this problem. Just turn off your computer, wait a couple hours, then turn it back on.

I've ran all sorts of disk scans, and nil problems detected. So hopefully there's nothing bad in the long run. No firmware upgrade from WD. Looks like this might be a rare problem.
Click to expand...

hmm i had my 250 drive question mark on me and disk utility wouldnt even recognize it.

needless to say, i dismantled it lol......looking back, maybe it wasnt dead....
 
From here:
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/notebook-hard-drive,2006.html

Seagate Momentus beat everyone else.
#1 Seagate Momentus 7200.3. We were looking at the four hard drives from a mobile user’s perspective, so we paid close attention to performance per watt ratings. Not only does Seagate hit new transfer rate records, but it also beats the competition by providing the best combination of low power consumption and high performance. It might not win all the benchmarks, but overall it is on top. Its lead over WD was very small, though.
Click to expand...
 
I went for the Seagate Momentus, but I've read a number of posts that say the 7200 will cause too much heat and vibration. 5400 is a better choise, which is what I put on mine. It's rock solid, quiet, no vibrations and runs cool.
 
i have a new macbook aluminum and it came with the standard 250GB HDD. it use to be quiet, and after reinstalling leopard once the think wont shut up..its constantly grinding and humming away, and the only thing im doing is on safari. Even when im just at the desktop with no other programs running its constantly making noises..should i be worried?
 
Thanks everyone for their help! I've got one more question: I have a damaged Macbook Pro that I have to hand over to insurance for getting a new laptop. How do I securely delete my files? The superdrive is crushed, and I dont have an external disc drive.
 
samleung said:
I'm about to order a replacement harddrive for the macbook unibody and I wanted to run the decision with you guys first. Is Western Digital reliable or are there better reccomendations?
Click to expand...

Not sure what your timing has to be, but Seagate has a new 500gig, 7200rpm, 16meg cache 2.5 inch drive that should be shipping in the next month or so:

"Seagate Momentus 7200.4 500GB Hard Drive". Several sites have it for sale now, but the availability is still sketchy. Might be worth considering.

Tom B.
 
samleung said:
Thanks everyone for their help! I've got one more question: I have a damaged Macbook Pro that I have to hand over to insurance for getting a new laptop. How do I securely delete my files? The superdrive is crushed, and I dont have an external disc drive.
Click to expand...

Either take the drive out and break it or find someone with a external drive enclosure do you can hook it up and wipe the drive.
 
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