You also have the option of using an SSD instead of a hard disk which would give you a huge boost in performance.

I bought my raw drives from OWC:

http://eshop.macsales.com/shop/hard-drives/2.5-Notebook/

Poke around there and see what you can come up with that suits your budget and need for space and speed.

The only other consideration is whether the drive is compatible with Apple’s sleep and hibernation routines although my guess is anything you buy from OWC for your machine will be. Ask about that when researching.

Let me know if you need more help.

I have two LaCie rugged drives that I use for backup, both of which are 500GB, 7200 RPM drives (not sure of the OEM) and they’re quiet and cool. It may be that my initial concern about heat was based on earlier models of these drives and the technology has improved since then.

I agree on the price of SSDs but I must say, the speed boost you see with the 7200 RPM hard disk is nothing compared with going from any HD to an SSD. However, this is only really apparent when booting and launching applications. Other than that a fast hard disk is just fine. Of course, an SSD consumes a bit less power and is silent which is also a plus. No doubt, as you say, Apple will put them in all of their machines as flash memory becomes less expensive. Certainly the popularity of the MacBook Air speaks to that.

Thanks again for your report and let me know how it goes down the road.

I got a WD 500 GB 7200 – “Scorpio Black” I think is the name. I read yours and other’s concerns about heat and 7200, but decided to go for it anyway, and haven’t noticed any real heat so far, although I haven’t really put it to the test yet. I’ll update if I notice a problem.
It is a bit louder than the original Hitachi 120 GB 5400 which it replaced but with the very noticeable bump in speed and space I’m very happy with it.

SSDs are a very exciting development, but still out of my price range. Saw some affordable hybrid drives which were interesting but would rather go whole-hog. Although I must say, I’m pretty sold on SSD by those posts that you linked… I think that’ll be a priority on my next computer! Or perhaps by then, they will be standard as the OS drive anyway.

Thanks again! Great site, I’ll be hanging around!

- Meg

As the price of solid state drives (SSDs) comes down you might consider one of those as well, it will make your machine faster than many newer models and will be super quiet and cool. I’m sold on them myself and won’t be be buying machines with internal hard disks again. I still use hard disks for backup but prefer an SSD internal. Check it out if you’ve not.

http://www.richardsnotes.org/archives/2010/12/10/macbook-pro-ssd-upgrade/

http://www.richardsnotes.org/archives/2011/03/23/new-macbook-pro-with-ssd/

I just wanted to join others in thanking you for putting this up. It was time to sell or upgrade my MBP “pre-Unibody.” I was a bit intimidated at first but thanks to your guide everything went smoothly and I’m really pleased with the results. I’ll get a few more years outta this sucker now!

Take care!

Meg

ps. I bought SuperDuper as you recommended and couldn’t be happier with that either ;-)

I wasn’t aware that a time machine backup was bootable. This is why I use SuperDuper to make a bootable backup. But, I may be wrong, TM backup disks may be bootable.

Let me know how it goes. Good luck.

Thanks,
Tess

I take it you lost the entire contents of your old HD? Did you not have a backup? If not, why not? You really need to back up daily and the best way to do it is with SuperDuper from shirtpocket.com. That’s what saved my bacon and I continue to back up every day on two different external HDs that I swap. If you had a backup you could simply use SD to restore the entire thing after formatting with disk tools.

Anyway, water under the bridge but once you get the new HD installed you really should set up a regular backup scheme, it will save you a heck of a lot of work and worry.

Good luck, let me know if you need more help.

What an amazing resource you have here ! Thankyou so very much !

I damaged my late 2006 MBP HD with the magnet from an Elgato TV aerial such that the drive clicks and doesnt mount (think I bent the heads)

I have a new Toshiba 320 Gig HD which I will replace according to the excellent guide you have published.

Now, my question is this, Richard, can I boot the newly-replaced HD MBP from a new Snow Leopard disk and use that to format the disk and to install OSX, or do I need the original disks from the MBP ? I am having problems finding my original MBP disks despite keeping them safely for the last 4 years !

If not, do I need to format the new HD in an enclosure ?

The reason I ask is that I would like to avoid installing the new HD into the MBP if I can only format it within the MBP with the original discs. If that is the case, I’ll place it in an enclosure and use a Snow Leopard disk to format it there. But will it work if I install the HD into the MBP and try to format it with a Snow Leopard disk ?

Many, many thanks in advance

Richard