upgrade hard drive question....

[bananashakes18]

hello everyone.. heres my story... i have a 12 inch mac book pro g4 . everything worked fine up until my clumsy self dropped it a few days ago. took it to apple.. and found out i need a new hard drive... question is... does anyone have any recommendations on what hard drive to get, any well known ones out there i should research or any experience you've had with an upgraded hard drive?? The guy at the genius bar said they can replace it with the same size for around 316.00 but that i can possibly find a bigger storage hard drive for that same price or lower. This will be the first hardware update i will be doing on my mac so any info is greatly appreciated :laugh2:

[aknightstale41]

This looks pretty good for $260.00 ....500 gig,
I think the more hard drive space the better, especially if you store alot of video on it.
http://www.powerbookmedic.com/500GB-MacBook-Pro-Hard-Drive-Upgrade-p-17175.html

[acosmichippo]

There are really only two things you need to worry about: the connection and the size (not capacity). Laptop sized hard drives are 2.5", not the 3.5" for desktops. As for connections, there are two kinds: the older EIDE, and newer SATA. Only one will work on your computer. Did the Genius tell you which you needed? If not, how old is your mac?

after that, all there is left to do is decide on the brand and capacity. western digital, hitachi, and Seagate are all reputable brands. I do know that Seagates come with a 5-year warranty, whereas Western Digital and Hitachi only have 3. Capaticy is totally preference... like a knightstale mentioned, if you plan on storing a lot of media locally, you'll need a larger hard drive... if not, then you probably won't need a huge one.

[bananashakes18]

There are really only two things you need to worry about: the connection and the size (not capacity). Laptop sized hard drives are 2.5", not the 3.5" for desktops. As for connections, there are two kinds: the older EIDE, and newer SATA. Only one will work on your computer. Did the Genius tell you which you needed? If not, how old is your mac?

after that, all there is left to do is decide on the brand and capacity. western digital, hitachi, and Seagate are all reputable brands. I do know that Seagates come with a 5-year warranty, whereas Western Digital and Hitachi only have 3. Capaticy is totally preference... like a knightstale mentioned, if you plan on storing a lot of media locally, you'll need a larger hard drive... if not, then you probably won't need a huge one.


thank you for the info. i will look into all that this week. my powerbook is about 4 yrs old. i have to checkto see exactly when it was made and all that. i was away this weekend so wasn't able to get on and check the post. thanks again for your help. i will post up what i decide and everything else when i figure out what i'm going to do.

also, once i have the hard drive.. can i take it to apple and have them install it or take it somewhere else? im kind of scared to do it myself. I've worked on destop computers before but never laptops... i dont want to mess anything up :tounge:

[acosmichippo]

if your computer is four years old, then you need an EIDE hard drive... not SATA.

I'm not sure how apple stores handle repairs... they may only want to install apple-approved hardware (which would be much more expensive). I'd try them first, and if they want anything more than $50 or so to put the hard drive in, then take it elsewhere. I work at Geek Squad at best buy (just to let you know for frame-of-reference... i'm not trying to drum up business), and we install hard drives for $50.

Once you have it in there, you'll have to install the Mac OS, and you will need your OS discs for that. OR you can purchase Leopard (as long as it'll run on your mac), and that should get you going without having to order the OS discs.

[ventrj]

Would this hard drive work with a macbook pro http://cgi.ebay.com/SAMSUNG-HDSMHM500LI-500GB-SATA-Notebook-Hard-Drive-New_W0QQitemZ220275320123QQcmdZViewItem

[acosmichippo]

sure will.

[ventrj]

Any difference in these two drives as far as one is better then the other??
Seagate Momentus 7200.3 ST9320421AS 320GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s
and
Western Digital Scorpio Black WD3200BEKT 320GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s

[bananashakes18]

There are really only two things you need to worry about: the connection and the size (not capacity). Laptop sized hard drives are 2.5", not the 3.5" for desktops. As for connections, there are two kinds: the older EIDE, and newer SATA. Only one will work on your computer. Did the Genius tell you which you needed? If not, how old is your mac?

after that, all there is left to do is decide on the brand and capacity. western digital, hitachi, and Seagate are all reputable brands. I do know that Seagates come with a 5-year warranty, whereas Western Digital and Hitachi only have 3. Capaticy is totally preference... like a knightstale mentioned, if you plan on storing a lot of media locally, you'll need a larger hard drive... if not, then you probably won't need a huge one.


hello... im back lol. i am now ready to buy my harddrive.. after saving up for it. I just wanted to ask... how can i tell if i will need a eide or sata? My laptop like i said is about 4 yrs old now. is there some sort of numbers or way of telling which I would need?

[dturner]

hello... im back lol. i am now ready to buy my harddrive.. after saving up for it. I just wanted to ask... how can i tell if i will need a eide or sata? My laptop like i said is about 4 yrs old now. is there some sort of numbers or way of telling which I would need?
As hippo stated in post #5, you will want the EIDE hard drive.:smile:

[bananashakes18]

thank you. well i got a western digital 160 gb hard drive. i know its not much space for some people and i will most likely upgrade again later on. but it was given to be .. its new and i cant stand not being able to use my own lap top.

so now i have to find an operating system disk... errr.. i cant find mine and not sure what to do. Ive been trying to check craigs list or something and see if someone has one. or do i have to go through apple for something like that?

[acosmichippo]

Don't buy an OS disc from anyone besides apple. They shouldn't charge you any more than $30 or so.

If you don't wanna hassle with ordering your original discs, you can probably upgrade to Leopard (assuming your computer meets the requirements). It can be purchased at any apple store or apple retailer... although that will be more expensive. I know it took you a while to save up for the Hard Drive.

[bananashakes18]

Ahh I must have looked everywhere for that darn disk ..... And it paid off! I found it LOL. I will be installing my hd tonight.....I'll let u guys know how it goes. I've been watching videos and reading up on It so I feel I can do it .wish me luck! :)

[acosmichippo]

Awesome. Good luck.

[bananashakes18]

call me chicken...lol.. i took all the screws off but i could not take the upper case away from the lower case. it was so hard and i was scared to put force into it :(

[acosmichippo]

sorry i missed your PM...

you didn't give up did you? If your macbook is anything like mine, you WILL have to wiggle and force it a bit. You'll be OK as long as all the screws are out.

[bananashakes18]

sorry i missed your PM...

you didn't give up did you? If your macbook is anything like mine, you WILL have to wiggle and force it a bit. You'll be OK as long as all the screws are out.

i was reading and saw that some people used some rubber tipped tool to wedge it out.. did you use that? or just lift it and kind of wiggle it?

[acosmichippo]

nope... just lifted up from the back. When you encounter the most resistance, wiggle it a bit.

these (http://www.extremetech.com/article2/0,2845,2119531,00.asp) are some good instructions... not sure if it's your exact model, but should be similar.

[bananashakes18]

thanks... i will try it right now... errr im scared lol

[fury]

How'd it go?