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Macbook's Pro HD upgrade...

Posted: Tue Mar 16, 2010 11:48 pm
by glysigakis
Hi guys! :)
I'm going to upgrade my macbook's hd on my own,as it seems quite easy to do it(i have watched some vids on utube).
The reason i am doing this is that i will have a faster hd and because i'm djing with traktor scratch pro,i want to get rid of the external hd pain and put all my music in the macbook.My music in not bigger than 150 Gb.I forgot to mention that i am going for a clean Snow leopard installation.
Do you see any danger in this?
Thank you in advance. :D

Re: Macbook's Pro HD upgrade...

Posted: Tue Mar 16, 2010 11:51 pm
by Tarekith
I've done it in 3 MBP's now following the ifixit.com guides. It's not hard, just go slow and don't lose any screws.

Re: Macbook's Pro HD upgrade...

Posted: Tue Mar 16, 2010 11:58 pm
by MartinOM28V
+1 to ifixit.com guides. Installed an SSD in my Macbook Pro with no problems using their guide.

Re: Macbook's Pro HD upgrade...

Posted: Wed Mar 17, 2010 12:01 am
by glysigakis
Thx for the quick reply.
The fact that i going to use it for djing and as an mp3 source isn't going to make me any problems?
If i also install Logic,content on an external firewire drive,is to much for the machine?Not using them together.
I got 1,5 year ago,with 4 Gb of ram.

SSD are still too expensive,i want at least a 500 Gb hd.

Re: Macbook's Pro HD upgrade...

Posted: Wed Mar 17, 2010 12:49 am
by Tarekith
I have a 5400RPM 320GB HD in my MBP. On that I have all the Logic 9 content, the Live 8 Suite content, all my DJ tracks (wavs), Omnisphere (50+GB's), and a ton more. No need for an external drive, the internal one should be fine.

Re: Macbook's Pro HD upgrade...

Posted: Wed Mar 17, 2010 1:42 am
by Migra
Tarekith wrote:I have a 5400RPM 320GB HD in my MBP. On that I have all the Logic 9 content, the Live 8 Suite content, all my DJ tracks (wavs), Omnisphere (50+GB's), and a ton more. No need for an external drive, the internal one should be fine.
8O
You almost said you got Windows 7 bootcamped XD

Re: Macbook's Pro HD upgrade...

Posted: Wed Mar 17, 2010 2:04 am
by Tarekith
Fat chance :wink:

Re: Macbook's Pro HD upgrade...

Posted: Wed Mar 17, 2010 2:38 am
by Jekblad
MartinOM28V wrote:+1 to ifixit.com guides. Installed an SSD in my Macbook Pro with no problems using their guide.
how do you like it?

@tarekith HOLY COW dude. all that on the OS drive? that's crazy but awesome. I can't stand losing project files all the time when i unplug from the HD.

Re: Macbook's Pro HD upgrade...

Posted: Wed Mar 17, 2010 3:04 am
by Tarekith
Doesn't seem like a big deal to me, my external's are all just for back up purposes. Also on that 320GB drive is all of my MP3 iTunes library, all my samples, current works in progress, all my docs, all my pics, etc. Plus a 20GB partition just for works in progress and live sets. Doesn't leave a lot of room left over admittedly, but it's never been an issue here.

Re: Macbook's Pro HD upgrade...

Posted: Wed Mar 17, 2010 3:34 am
by spanda
Only problem I can see is MP3 ouch!! , use original wave format and be kind to your listeners ears...

A 7200 rpm drive will make more noise and run a bit hotter but will be fine and allow more simultaneous tracks and 500gb should be ok also.

Either use a fishing tackle box so you can put the different screws in different compartments or a labelled piece of paper out of the way so you don't knock it, better safe than sorry...

Re: Macbook's Pro HD upgrade...

Posted: Wed Mar 17, 2010 3:55 am
by Pitch Black
I can recommend this 500GB 7200rpm HD. I installed it in my MBP myself and it runs very quiet and cool. I especially hate HD whine and this is a good 'un.

Saegate Momentus ST9500420AS

http://www.seagate.com/ww/v/index.jsp?v ... ee0a0aRCRD

Re: Macbook's Pro HD upgrade...

Posted: Wed Mar 17, 2010 4:03 am
by Jekblad
^^pshh whatever your harddrive is so screwed you can see right through the screen! Can't you ctrl/alt/delete or something?

Re: Macbook's Pro HD upgrade...

Posted: Wed Mar 17, 2010 4:09 am
by Hindsite
I upgraded recent

check http://www.macsales.com/ I recommend them

Also use superduper to make a copy of your HD its free and pretty simple


And one last thing that scared the crap outta me.....when you do install the new hard drive your mac will probably take alot longer to boot than normal, the new HD needs to be set as the main/root drive in preferences. For some reason it will look for the old one till you do this and it slows the boot time. Google it for more details.

Good luck

Re: Macbook's Pro HD upgrade...

Posted: Wed Mar 17, 2010 5:42 am
by Migra
Actually I have a 500GB @ 5400rpm, 400GB for Snow Leopard 100GB for Windows 7, on OS X Live 8 with EIC 2, Reason 4 with some refills, Logic 9 with ALL content, some sample libraries, about 30GB of my mp3 collection and I still have 240GB Free on OS X partition... even though of course I have an external drive with more sample libraries :lol: :roll:

Re: Macbook's Pro HD upgrade...

Posted: Wed Mar 17, 2010 9:30 am
by X2theL
I upgraded my MBP with a Samsung Spinpoint M7 HM500JI about half a year ago. It's silent and fast. I recommend it.

When upgrading make sure you use the right tools and do it exactly the way described in the online guides. Some of the screws are TINY!!!