Macbook Hard Disk Update

fox2319

I've got the basic 2GHz unibody macbook which came with a 160GB drive. It's starting to feel a little small so I'm considering upgrading but have a couple of questions I'd appreciate some help on:

1 - I believe the current drive is only 5400 rpm, is it worth going for a 7200? I know this may impact battery life slightly but I think I could live with it. I'm currently considering the 500GB WD Scorpio Blue on Amazon for £80, would that be suitable?

2 - Is the process ->

- Create a backup with Time Machine
- Swap disks as per manual
- Boot from the Leopard CD
- Select Restore from Time Machine on the bar at the top
- Make a cup of coffee and wait.

Once I've done this, will the machine essentially be the same as before with all my files / applications / iphone pairing / password etc. still intact?

Thanks

Jeff

Marty_J

My concern with a 7200 rpm drive would be the heat. MacBooks are pretty small, so they're put together very tightly.

I take it you've considered an external drive? You can get an external 1 TB drive for less than the cost of the 500 GB one you're considering.

fox2319

Yeah, I thought about the external drive but I'm really just wanting the ability to store a ton of music and vids etc. on the mac so that when I'm working away from home, I can easily pack all my stuff onto the disk and have a fairly large selection of entertainment for the evenings.

BikerEd

There are a couple of thousand of us at work with various sorts of Macbook. Lots of my colleagues have installed the 7200rpm Hitachi Travelstar once the warranty on their machine has expired. 320GB seems to be a favourite. I haven't seen a single problem reported on our Mac-interest email alias.

BikerEd

As for the backup/restore process. I'd be tempted to use an external disk then do a backup using Carbon Copy Clone, which creates a bootable disk.

• Clone internal to external using CCC
• Swap internal for new drive
• Boot off external
• Clone external to internal using CCC

i8change

I bought one of these recently, it works for both Macs and PC's and is very small and portable. They are literally pocket size so could easily be taken with you.

http://direct.tesco.com/q/R.205-6006.aspx

I know it's less GB's than you wanted but it is a bargain as they will drop it off for free at a nearby Tesco for you. If by "unibody" you mean the aluminium finish, these are a nice brushed aluminium and are very Mac looking if you know what I mean. It does need two fairly close USB ports to drive it though.

isofa

You can get smaller external drives if you travel a lot the WD Passport drives are tiny.

I'd be wary about a 7200rpm internal drive, it's likely to overheat.

BikerEd

isofa wrote: »

I'd be wary about a 7200rpm internal drive, it's likely to overheat.

Experience of several colleagues shows that this is not true.

isofa

BikerEd wrote: »

Experience of several colleagues shows that this is not true.

As I said I'd be wary, but each to their own.

They definitely do kick out more heat, and what if it does damage some components nearby? Safe to say the warranty will be invalid. Interesting to note your colleagues have only done it after the warranty expired!

However if you really want the performance boost it could be worth it.

Swings and roundabouts!

Marty_J

i8change wrote: »

I bought one of these recently, it works for both Macs and PC's and is very small and portable. They are literally pocket size so could easily be taken with you.

http://direct.tesco.com/q/R.205-6006.aspx

I know it's less GB's than you wanted but it is a bargain as they will drop it off for free at a nearby Tesco for you. If by "unibody" you mean the aluminium finish, these are a nice brushed aluminium and are very Mac looking if you know what I mean. It does need two fairly close USB ports to drive it though.

That's pretty good actually; I notice the 250 GB version is more expensive for some reason. I'm moving to the States soon, and a bus-powered HDD would be very handy, as I wouldn't need to worry about getting a US power-supply for it. If only it were FireWire.

It would be quite nice for Time Machine backups though. Hhhmmmm, choices, choices....

thescouselander

I seriously doubt a 7200 RPM drive (that is designed to be installed in a laptop) will over heat. I think I remember that a 7200rpm drive was a factory fitted option on the older macbooks anyway.

In any case, there are thousands of people on various web forums that have had success with installing a 7200 rpm hard drive.