Ant

As i understand the mbp use got came with a 250gb HDD 5400rpm.

Will it be ok to upgrade to a 500GB 7200rpm? I know this wouldn't be a problem with a normal laptop.

But thought I would check if the mbp will be ok with this drive

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/223458


Also if I back up what I have now on timemachine. Is it a case of putting the disc that came with the mac and booting it up with the disc and recovering or is there a special key I have to press to boot from cd?

JackClark

Hold C to boot from CD, although I don't think you even need to. One of the options is restore from Time Machine, leave it overnight.

I did a similar replacement on my dearly departed MacBook, no issues, just be careful on size as I know some are a little thicker. Noise increased on mine, but hardly noticeable.

BuRR

Format the disk before you restore to it, and make sure you format it correctly using Disk Utility (needs to be bootable)

Be careful of vibration... I tried a WD 7200rpm drive in mine, and took it out as it made the pooter vibrate ever so slightly, but enough to put me off. also, the 7200rpm will (slightly) affect battery life.

Ant

Would I notice much improvement over a 5400 going to a 7200?

Ant

Also jack you mentioned I wont need to use the cd, how do I restore from external HDD time machine ?

ChefDude

would heat be a factor too?

Ant

I'd imagine no because apple give a option of a 500gb. I may go for a 5400

JackClark

Sorry I meant you may not need the C key, not the disk, you deffo need the disk and it has to be the same version as you're restoring.

Markus

First things first. What version of OS X shipped with the machine, more specifically, which version is on the boot cd/dvd, and what version are you running on the machine.

I ask as I have heard of issues if you happen to have a 10.5 boot cd/dvd and have 10.6 on your machine and try to use the restore from time machine backup (this is what Jack is referring to). Obviously if your dvd is 10.6.0 and you're on 10.6.5 then that is ok, it's just 10.5 to 10.6 that can be a problem.

In theory this should not be an issue as you should have your retail disk for 10.6 if you purchased it, it's a pain for devs who tend to get the OS via a dmg file from the dev site, so we need to remember to burn the thing to media

Ant

It came with 10.6.2 on it

Well I've ordered the samsung 640gb spin point 5400rpm , did a bit of
Research on the drive going in mbp and people have gave it good praise from the pages I've seen. It's also the right thickness for mac

It gets delivered tomorrow so we shall see

Thanks for your advice guys

ScoobyDoo555

Got a Hitachi 500Gig 7200 drive that I upgraded myself (used time-machine to initiate a migration).... piece of cake.

MUCH faster imho. Also run Disk Warrior 4.2 on it just to be on the safe side

Dan

Trout

iTrader: (1)

I used Super Duper.

I got a caddy for my new HDD. Attached it via the USB and did a Super Duper copy of the current HDD to the new HDD.

Dismantled MBP. Put in new HDD, started it up and Bob's your mother's brother.

It was on an older MBP and went from a 5400 to a 7200. It was faster especially things like iPhoto - it also significantly reduced battery life.

ScoobyDoo555

Intresting - mines a new MBP, no issues with battery (although I can see why it would reduce life).

Thinking back, i also changed my older (silver keyboard) MBP, but I *think* it was just a larger capacity 5400 drive.....

Ant

Did my final back up of 149gb last night.

I was worried my drive wouldn't be delivered today with the snow and everything but I got a message off mrs Antc to say it's arrived . Going out tonight so I'll leave it restoring whilst I'm out.

Ant

all done , took ages the wife thought it would be clever to move the install disc and forget where she put it

SwissTony

iTrader: (19)

probably because i told her to do some hoovering the other day

Ant

she took it out the box it cane with and out then in a draw upstairs.