Buying a new computer in a down economy might not make sense but there are plenty of ways to upgrade and get more horsepower out of your existing machine. The most obvious upgrade is to add more memory. The next is to upgrade to a larger, higher RPM drive with faster read/write times.
As many Mac laptop users know, Apple doesn’t offer post-sale hard disk upgrades. The hard disk you specify at the time of purchase is the hard drive Apple expects you to live with for life, short of buying a new laptop. This said, there are plenty of third party Mac hardware sites that offer compatible laptop drives and Do-It-Yourself upgrade kits.
Out of disk space, frustrated with the slow read/write times of my existing 5400RPM drive, and with assurances from reading multiple guides that hard disk replacement was a breeze, I decided to give it a go. (Note: upgrading internal Apple laptop components will void your Apple warranty and Applecare agreements.) Here is the process.
1. Locate a replacement guide for your machine.
iFixit.com has a number of great laptop and iPod DIY articles. I used this one specific to my MacBook Pro Core 2 Duo. (Thanks to fiveinchpixie on Twitter for the iFixit.com resource.)
2. Find a replacement drive.
For the hard drive, I used the Mac hardware finder at Other World Computing and found this compatible Hitachi Travelstar 320GB 7200RPM drive for $89.99 after mail-in rebate. Sweet!
3. Make sure you have the correct tools.
Based on the iFixit.com guide, the only required tool I didn’t have was a T6 Trox screwdriver. I ended up ordering this Newer Technology tool kit which has the T6 Trox and also comes with two nylon pry tools (a.k.a. “spudgers”). Another bonus is that all of the tools have magnetic tool tips which made holding on to the tiny laptop screws a breeze.
4. Backup the drive you are replacing.
There are a number of options here depending how you wish to populate the new hard drive.
Some hard disk upgrade kits from Other World Computing come with USB enclosures and software which allow you to copy over the contents of the existing drive before making the switch. Note: this is probably the simplest solution if you do not consider yourself very tech savvy or do not have an existing backup strategy.
A second option is Time Machine. In this case, replace the drive, boot from the OS X install CD, format the new drive (can provide instructions if anyone needs them), then restore from your last Time Machine backup.
The method I used was to copy my existing drive using SuperDuper to an external Firewire 800 drive which is bootable, installed the new drive, then booted from the external drive. I used Disk Utility (/Applications/Utilities/Disk Utility) to format the new hard disk, then used SuperDuper to copy the data back over.
5. Replace the drive and restore from your backup.
Follow the iFixit.com guide for your machine, format and copy your data over. The hardware replacement was super easy and took me about 20 minutes total. It then took about 2 hours to let SuperDuper copy the data back to the new drive.
That’s it! Enjoy your upgraded laptop.
I now have roughly three times the amount of disk space I had before and the 7200RPM drive is lightening fast compared to the old 5400RPM OEM Apple drive. It’s like having a new computer! Not bad for a $89.99 investment.
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Finally upgraded my MBP 17″ 2.33 Core 2 Duo, 160gb HD,
2gb RAM.
Got Hitachi 500GB, 7200RPM and added 1GB RAM
to 3GB (the max this computer can use).
I first cloned the new HD with a closure I got from OWC w/ firewire 800 and then swap the two.
I am soooooo happy with it now. It is now so peppy and zippy it is amazing. And I have now 365 more GBs than I had before.
Got all my stuff from Other World Computing
(macsales.com). they are really great to work with. Have excellent customer service, all the instruction videos.
Got a little scared for a little bit – When I finished installing every thing and turned the computer on, the screen was black, I knew it has to do with the RAM but couldn’t figure it out, nor did the people at OWC.
I was worried maybe I burned something with statics.
I ended up taking the computer to the Apple store and the genius at the bar told me I didn’t have the memory module all the way in. ( it required a little more force than I dared putting, and I thought it was all the way in).
Pushed the thing all the way in, and Voila,… Better than it was when bought new 3 years a go.
It actually works cooler than before. I was a little concerned about the heat issue when I considered the size and speed of the HD.
The actual job of replacing the HD and memory is really easy and fun.
I would say to anyone who is considering doing it – Definitely, go for it. It’s a no brainer.
.
This is by far the best upgrade I have made and has the best bang for the buck. I swapped an old 160GB 5400rpm for a new Western Digital 320GB 7200rpm drive. Things that were once sluggish are not any more, its almost like a new system. I Used Carbon Copy Cloner to copy my original HD to an external,and then booted from it to test it. Then I did the swap which took about 25 minutes. I then booted from another bootable external drive, that I have for booting back into 10.5 and opened disk Utility to format the new drive, next I used Carbon Copy Cloner to transfer the old contents to the new drive. It took me about 1.5 hours to do the copy as I had the old drive almost full, about 155GB of data.
The only problem I had was snapping the clips above the slot loading super drive. I need to use some force to get them in, and was a little hesitant at first. I found that pushing down about 1/2 to an inch back from the edge was more effective.
I HIGHLY recommend this upgrade!
I ordered a 640GB HDD from OWC and used your instructions to install it after I used Apples Disk Utility to clone my old 200GB to the 640. I experienced the beeping sound when I initally turn the machine back on. I removed the battery and checked the memory as that was the easiest thing to check. Sure enough I had not seated the lower one correctly. After reseating the memory it powered up with no issues at all.
Thanks!
If, like me, you came across this page because you were having the three loud beep problem after replacing the hard drive… try removing and then re-seating your RAM. I found somewhere else that the black screen, three beeps, refusal to boot issue is tied to bad RAM. Luckily, mine was just not seated correctly. I took it out, put it back in. Voila. Now for some disk utility fun.
Hey all,
After waiting a year and getting some tax refund back…I think I am so ready to get a new drive.
And following the threads here I am thinking a 500GB with a 7200RPM drive…either Seagate or Hitachi from OWC.
I have a few quick questions hopefully you guys can help:
1. It looks like I have 2GB RAM. 1GB each in Bank 0 and Bank 1. How much RAM can the MBP take if I were to replace them…Can I say put 2GB each to make 4GB? What to do with the old RAM?
I think that’s all for now…
Thanks all!
-chris
Chris,
Not all MBP were created equal.
You should check with OWC when ordering the upgrade (you can check on their website) what is the maximum RAM your mbp can take.
Mine had 2gigs and the max it could use is 3 so I just replaced one of the 1gig with a 2gigs. (also on mine it didn’t have to be equal like 2 and 2, but I think on the newer models it recommended to have same ram in both banks)
I hope that helps.
Oded
I finally did it!
Ordered from OWC a Seagate 7200RPM, 500GB drive and a 2GB RAM and installed all that this afternoon.
Actually, I cloned the drive with Super Drive like how Brian did and worked great. Did that last week and didn’t have time to finish with the actual drive swap part.
So I am really stoked, haven’t used it my MBP much yet…but have noticed little things to move a long zippier. Noticed with Istats that the CPU is slightly hotter than before.
Thanks for all the info from this site and everyone that posted too! I also searched up the FixIt site Brian posted up there…and also found similar instruction for my 17″ MBP here:
http://www.ifixit.com/Guide/Repair/Installing-MacBook-Pro-17-Inch-Model-A1151-Hard-Drive-Replacement/319/1
Alright thanks everyone!!!
Hi All,
is it possible to upgrade my current MacBook 2.1 (1,83GHz) 60 GB 540 RPM- TOSHIBA MK6034GSX internal Hard Drive to some 500 GB 7500 RPM Internal Hard Drive without any problems?
Also, is it possible to upgrade my current Intel Core 2 Duo 1.83 GHz processor to some stronger (maybe 2.13 GHz or even stronger)?
Thank you,
Kazho
I’ve replaced my hard drive and I cannot seem to boot from the new drive, instead I am having to plug in my original HDrive and run from there. Otherwise, all I see is a folder with a question mark flashing. can you help?
Abicus: Sounds like your master boot record is missing or currupt. What method did you use to copy the data over to the new drive? I’d suggest using SuperDuper! which includes the boot record. If that doesn’t work, try:
http://top-frog.com/2010/02/03/blinking-question-mark-on-os-x-boot-dont-panic-just-yet/
I had Apple ship my MacBook Pro with a 7200 rpm drive when I purchased it close to 3 years ago. It works great, but it is always very hot and the best I ever get out of a battery is under 2 hours. I don’t know what is normal because I never had one before.
@wgoodman Somewhat have to agree. This tutorial is getting long in the tooth. I recently upgraded to a new Intel Core i5 MPB with solid state drive. Once you go solid state there’s no going back. SSD’s are still pretty expensive at this point but well worth it in my view — less power, less heat, longer battery life, and silent operation. What you can expect:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=odSSI_9KAkI
Nice guide – very detailed. Just a note, the screwdriver in question is Torx, not Trox.
My HD just failed on my second gen 2.16 GHz MB Pro. I was originally going to upgrade to a 320 GB hard drive (the quieter, the better. Means better bearings and less heat generation). However, after thinking about it (I was thinking of upgrading my 15 inch to a 13 inch) I decided to upgrade to a 120 GB Solid State Drive. The instructions worked perfectly from iFixit. In theory, my SSD should be able to max out the 1.5 Gb/s SATA bus, but we shall see. It runs much quieter and seems faster. I am happy. I don’t worry about the smaller drive size because I share my files between two systems on NAS. Battery life seems about the same.
Well this has certainly been interesting. My experience with computers consists mainly turning it on and off, but after reading these posts I believe upgrading my MBP is possible even for myself. If I were to upgrade my memory plus hard drive what would be the approximate cost. I don’t need lightning fast but I’m planning to install windows so to run an editing program (photo Impact Pro) light years over PSE. thanks in advance, Ray,
Found this blog searching on Google and it is truly a blessing. I purchased a 750GB 7200 rpm seagate hard drive from OWC for $129. This is a big jump from the 120GB that I had originally. I copied my hard drive with Time Machine. The hard drive installation took less than 20 mins! I now have a brand new laptop with a ton of storage space.
Help!!! I started to do this yesterday
(upgrading macbook core duo) to seagate 750MB/7200 using a sabrent external usb holder.
was seemingly going well using super duper then it stopped 1/4 way through with errors.
now, when I try and redo, the drive no longer appears on my desktop.
what’s going on?
am hoping it’s just a faulty connection with the HD enclosure unit.
What was the error? You can click on the SuperDuper log and send it to ShirtPocket support. Dave is usually quick to answer.
Hi, I currently have an early 2008 MacBook Pro 15” with 120 GB of memory. I just upgraded the ram by myself and now have 4 GB as opposed to 2.
I’m a photographer, however, and I like to always have my work in two places at once in case of some frightening crash. It would be wonderful to be able to extend the actual data storage capabilities of my computer to better suit the size of my projects now that I have updated to newer higher quality camera.
Where are the best places to buy memory? I’m still confused if this even can be done. I installed my own RAM and feel confident I could do other installations. I’d just like to get a better handle on what all this would entail.
Any feedback much appreciated!!!
Thanks All,
Elizabeth
I am interested in upgrading my MBP 3,1 I was wondering what the most ram anyone has upgraded too? On this site I saw that they did a 2gb and 4gb to give a total of 6. It says it’s possible on my version of MBP but I am concerned with the other things I’ve heard such as 3gb or 4 gb. If anyone has any more info please let me know. Also I am wondering if there are any more upgrades to do other then the ram and hard drive?