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I bought this LaCie hard drive and it has worked awesome thus far. It supports USB 2.0, FireWire 400, and eSATA and works right out of the box, it also comes with not just the USB 2.0 cable but a FireWire and eSATA cable too so you don't have to buy one separately. I love it, it's a shame it doesn't come in white though, the shiny black design makes it a dust magnet.
 
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Just got the WD Scorpio 500gb drive delivered^^
Haven't got a matching screwdriver though... I tried a few small ones but none of them worked... hope I didn't damage the screw too much :S gonna buy one tomorrow.. from what I've heard the Samsung and WD Drives are pretty much the same in terms of quality!
 
You need a Torx T6 for those mounting screws.

I'll be interested to hear your feedback re: noise levels on the WD. I had a Seagate Momentus 500GB installed in mine, but it was only in there for a few hours. It was way too loud and I couldn't stand it. So now I'm trying to decide between the Samsung and the WD, and noise is the main factor.
 
Just got the WD Scorpio 500gb drive delivered^^
Haven't got a matching screwdriver though... I tried a few small ones but none of them worked... hope I didn't damage the screw too much :S gonna buy one tomorrow.. from what I've heard the Samsung and WD Drives are pretty much the same in terms of quality!

Congrats. I wouldn't mess up the screw; they are hard to replace if you damage them!
 
I finally got the screw off that holds the drive which is now out. But I absolutely CAN'T get those 4 small ones on the sides off! They're waay to small and hard to take out :S And unfortunatly none were delivered with my drive:(
 
Hello Guys^^

Im thinking about upgrading my MBP's harddrive to 500 GB's.
I've found several 500 drives but I got no idea which one to take

Check out the height. If it is 9.5 mm or "1/8th height" then it fits. If it is 12 mm or "1/6th height" then it doesn't fit. If you can't find the height in their specs, don't buy it.

I finally got the screw off that holds the drive which is now out. But I absolutely CAN'T get those 4 small ones on the sides off! They're waay to small and hard to take out :S And unfortunatly none were delivered with my drive:(

Since I couldn't find the right size torx screwdriver anyway, I took them off with pliers :eek: Works fine. The black paint will come off, but who cares.
 
I finally got the screw off that holds the drive which is now out. But I absolutely CAN'T get those 4 small ones on the sides off! They're waay to small and hard to take out :S And unfortunatly none were delivered with my drive:(

Torx set. Radio shack. Either buy one from radio shack or borrow one from them and replace the screws while you're standing there.
 
I finally got the screw off that holds the drive which is now out. But I absolutely CAN'T get those 4 small ones on the sides off! They're waay to small and hard to take out :S And unfortunatly none were delivered with my drive:(

Like I said before, Torx T6.
 
I finally got the screw off that holds the drive which is now out. But I absolutely CAN'T get those 4 small ones on the sides off! They're waay to small and hard to take out :S And unfortunatly none were delivered with my drive:(

That's just not good. I hate to say this, but you shouldn't be fixing computers if you won't even buy the right tools.
 
yeah I really thought it was easier.. but don't blame me... no mention of "torx t6" in the apple MacBook Manuals... just says screwdriver..:)

but thx^^now I know atleast which one to get :D
 
You need a Torx T6 for those mounting screws.

I'll be interested to hear your feedback re: noise levels on the WD. I had a Seagate Momentus 500GB installed in mine, but it was only in there for a few hours. It was way too loud and I couldn't stand it. So now I'm trying to decide between the Samsung and the WD, and noise is the main factor.

I swapped the stock Hitachi 250GB 5400 rpm in my Unibody MBP2.4 for the Seagate Momentus 5400.6 500GB 8Mb cache drive. Perfect!. Totally silent, no vibrations, iStat temp goes up 1Deg C (typ 36, now 37). Xbench 1.3 shows 77.8MB/s uncache write 4K (42% increase), 74.3Mb uncache read 256K (65% increase). Don't need the 7200 rpm and its vibrations.

Next a fast SSD drive in place of the DVD drive would be perfect for this machine!. Make it 160GB size with Read > 250MB/s, write 200MB/s.:)
 
I finally got the screw off that holds the drive which is now out. But I absolutely CAN'T get those 4 small ones on the sides off! They're waay to small and hard to take out :S And unfortunatly none were delivered with my drive:(

Yeah, I don't understand why they torqued those screws so tight. All four of mine needed serious twist on the torx screwdriver. They came out OK, I just gently put them on the new drive. Besides they are just supports for the brackets and do not need to be tight!.
I was surprised the SATA connector comes out so easily and slides in the same. All works well and ZERO vibrations, and no noise whatso ever, even with ear to the metal palm rest. Nice upgrade, except for the confounded torx screw heads!.:D
 
Amazing what you can find out with a little research :) /kickself ..

Looks like the WD drive is the ONLY drive that has only 2 platters, all other 500GB 2.5" drives are 3 platters. Wouldn't this make the WD drive the clear performance winner? I haven't been able to find any benchmark information on these drives yet, so I'm curious how the different drives perform.
 
I swapped the stock Hitachi 250GB 5400 rpm in my Unibody MBP2.4 for the Seagate Momentus 5400.6 500GB 8Mb cache drive. Perfect!. Totally silent, no vibrations...

I wonder why my Seagate was so loud, then. :( --- It was just normal drive noise except extremely loud when compared to the stock Hitachi. The WD is on its way via UPS now.
 
Amazing what you can find out with a little research :) /kickself ..

Looks like the WD drive is the ONLY drive that has only 2 platters, all other 500GB 2.5" drives are 3 platters. Wouldn't this make the WD drive the clear performance winner? I haven't been able to find any benchmark information on these drives yet, so I'm curious how the different drives perform.
I'm trying to decide between the two and came upon this fact too. Right now the WD drive looks like the performance winner, unless someone has information otherwise. Power consumption and other factors are another matter, obviously, but I think right now speed is my top concern.
 
What about the 500gb WD Scorpio blue, I was thinking about it as an upgrade to the 320gb in mine. Anyone have any experience with it?

I have a WD Scorpio Blue 500gb and it works perfectly. I have yet to hear the HD make any noise and I can't feel any vibrations either. Can't comment on heat, but my alu-MB doesn't really run hot no matter what I do.
 
I replaced my stock HD with the WD Scorpio Blue as soon as I received my late 2008 MBP.. It works perfectly, is mostly silent except when it clicks due to the over reactive motion sensor (I have the MBP on a BYTEC cooling pad, and when I turn on the fans, the pad vibrates slightly due to fan motion and it causes a lot of clicking, which stops once I turn the fans off).
 
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