I know multiple questions have been answered in these forums and I have used them as a resource to get started, but it's also nice to have people answer your particular questions, so here we go:
I'm interested in upgrading my MPB HDD to something bigger, as I really want the onboard space to keep pictures, video and music without having to be constantly tethered to the external hard drive. I have also wanted to reformat my drive (I installed Boot Camp, erased the partition without using the Boot Camp utility and am now stuck without the ability to reuse Boot Camp) and clean things up.
Now, my first concern is: I don't want to void any warranties, as I still have two years on my extended one (which is to say I have the old MBP [Santa Rosa]). It seems from previous articles that upgrading your hard drive does not void the warranty, hosing up your computer does. With that in mind, is this something to get someone at the Apple store to do for me? Can they do it for me? Do they charge? Should I just take matters into my own hands and risk the repair costs?
Now, with that out of the way, I am interested in doing two things: Upgrading my HDD from the 160GB likely 5200 RPM drive I have now to a 320 GB 7200 RPM drive. Are there specific things I need to have in this drive so that it works with my notebook? I have found some good ones on newegg.com, the site that I'd likely use to purchase the parts. (See: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136280) Are there certain companies you all recommend buying from? Seems like Seagate is the consensus, but I've always had good luck with WD products, as well. Thoughts?
I have also been considering upgrading my RAM from 2GB to 4GB, and by searching the forums I found some pretty decent offers. (See: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820233066) Will this cause a dramatic enough improvement in the speed of my machine such that it would warrant the spending of 90 dollars in cold, hard-earned cash?
Lastly, I have been wondering of some good ways to back things up. Since I have problems with Boot Camp and my machine is generally pretty messy, I don't want to do a complete image of my hard drive and copy it back over, I want to start somewhat from the ground up. Now, living in the idealistic world I do, I would imagine there are some ways to easily save programs and settings and such so that it would be simple (yet likely tedious) to transfer everything back over in working order. Is my idealistic world real?
Do you all have any general tips for someone thinking as I'm thinking?
Thanks for all the input, ya'll are a great resource.
I'm interested in upgrading my MPB HDD to something bigger, as I really want the onboard space to keep pictures, video and music without having to be constantly tethered to the external hard drive. I have also wanted to reformat my drive (I installed Boot Camp, erased the partition without using the Boot Camp utility and am now stuck without the ability to reuse Boot Camp) and clean things up.
Now, my first concern is: I don't want to void any warranties, as I still have two years on my extended one (which is to say I have the old MBP [Santa Rosa]). It seems from previous articles that upgrading your hard drive does not void the warranty, hosing up your computer does. With that in mind, is this something to get someone at the Apple store to do for me? Can they do it for me? Do they charge? Should I just take matters into my own hands and risk the repair costs?
Now, with that out of the way, I am interested in doing two things: Upgrading my HDD from the 160GB likely 5200 RPM drive I have now to a 320 GB 7200 RPM drive. Are there specific things I need to have in this drive so that it works with my notebook? I have found some good ones on newegg.com, the site that I'd likely use to purchase the parts. (See: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136280) Are there certain companies you all recommend buying from? Seems like Seagate is the consensus, but I've always had good luck with WD products, as well. Thoughts?
I have also been considering upgrading my RAM from 2GB to 4GB, and by searching the forums I found some pretty decent offers. (See: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820233066) Will this cause a dramatic enough improvement in the speed of my machine such that it would warrant the spending of 90 dollars in cold, hard-earned cash?
Lastly, I have been wondering of some good ways to back things up. Since I have problems with Boot Camp and my machine is generally pretty messy, I don't want to do a complete image of my hard drive and copy it back over, I want to start somewhat from the ground up. Now, living in the idealistic world I do, I would imagine there are some ways to easily save programs and settings and such so that it would be simple (yet likely tedious) to transfer everything back over in working order. Is my idealistic world real?
Do you all have any general tips for someone thinking as I'm thinking?
Thanks for all the input, ya'll are a great resource.