Late 2007/Early 2008 MacBook HD Upgrade

Hi,

My photography hobby is getting more complex than originally anticipated, so I now want to upgrade my HD from the standard 120GB to something bigger, since I only have about 10 GB left.

I have been looking at the WD Scorpio Black (320GB, 7k200, priced $89 at newegg and 150 on WD site), but was wondering if it would work with my MacBook (late 07/early 08) and if there would be any difference with the sales package from Newegg and WD own site..
Also I was wondering how the performance is, and if there would be any noticeable difference between the 320 Black and a 500 Blue (both WD)??

Also, what is the procedure, when upgrading? My present drive is backed up via TimeMachine (with all docs, pictures, music and apps). I have been unable to find a guide, unfortunately.

Thank you in advance for your reply,
Sander

 

7K200 was an option on the Early 2008 MBP. Mine originally had it. I upgraded to a 7K320 with no issues. I installed OSX on the new drive then recovered via Time Machine. I thought I could just recover via the OSX disk but the Time Machine volume was not recognized there. Anyway one way or another it is a pretty painless process.

 

Yea itll work, I just put a 320 black into mine.

Check out this thread for a guide on how to reinstall osx from time machine after a hdd swap.

 

Swapping out the hdd and reinstalling the OS is so easy, even a caveman could do it

 

Actually, swapping out the HDD on a "classic" MBP is a pretty decent undertaking, since you have to open the case and remove the keyboard, etc.

When I did it awhile back, I taped the screws to a piece of paper in corresponding numbered steps, and then just reversed the process to put it back. Made things a lot easier, I highly recommend it.

OP, use one of the ifixit guides, take your time, and remember to press the keyboard down hard when putting it back together. Good luck.

 

The early MBP's is quite an undertaking, but this is about the late 07/early 08 MacBook, which is much, much simpler to do.

We hot swapped some parts on a MBP today at work - screen, keyboard, and HDD; took a while, but like you said, the iFixit guides are GREAT. You cant go wrong if you follow one of them.

 

Oh, whoops, I read MBP in the following posts and thought thats what he was talking about. Sorry. Yeah, you're right, MB's are no problem. Go for it, OP.

 

Wow - that was faster than I originally thought I would get answers.. Thank you very much.

Now what is the difference with buying the drive from WD own site and Newegg (other than price, of course)?

And more an opinion-related question; Would you rather buy a 500GB WD Blue (5400rpm) than a 320GB WD Black (7200rpm)??

Oh yea, I might note that I am not using a MacBook Pro, so the process of physically upgrading should not be a problem - it's just the whole thing with my many pictures, music, videos and documents.

 

The drives are the same. Perhaps if it's a bare drive on NewEgg the warranty might be shorter, but the drives are the same.

I personally prefer the extra snappiness a 7200RPM drive provides, but it's a personal preference. If you liked your old drives performance, a newer 5400RPM drive should about the same.

Just curious, can you buy from NewEgg in Denmark?

 

Hmm, ok - well, I wouldn't mind it being faster.. Faster is always better..
And 320GB should be more than enough, I suppose..?

Funny you should ask; thing is that I'm in the US at the moment as a foreign exchangestudent - enjoying a low $ to dkr rate..

 

The only difference in buying from Newegg as opposed to WD is price. The manufacturer is usually always going to be more expensive. Case in point - I'm looking at the same WD 320GB drive for my wife's Dell Inspiron 1521. Newegg has it for $89. Just for kicks, I wanted to see how much Dell charges for a 320GB drive (if they even sell one). They didnt sell a 320 (at least it wasnt listed). In comparison, they listed a "refurbished" 250GB drive for $314.99

 

I just bought a WD Blue 500GB and I love it. It's the same 5400 as my stock drive, and for me space is more important than the little bit of extra speed.

Lots of people love the WD Black 320GB 7200 though, so you can't really go wrong either way. Just decide what's more important to you - space or speed.

 

There is very little difference in "speed" between the 5400 rpm 500 GB and the 7200 rpm 320 GB due to density.

Reference:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=305890&page=3

Get the 500 GB.

Note: I just put the 5400 rpm 500 GB Seagate in two days ago and I can't tell the difference from my previous 7200 rpm 160 GB Seagate.

 

That's only part of the story. It's not the throughput, where due to the density the bigger drives offer performance that's close to 7200RPM drives, but the seek times, how fast data can be found and read, where 7200RPM drives offer more snappy performance. There's less lag when opening a program.