HDD swap out.

stuman · 12 May 2011 at 11:24

pretty quick question.

i have a macbook with 2ghz core 2 it currently has a very weedy 80Gb HDD and im retiring it to media server duties.

the question ive got is:

what is the biggest hard drive i could swap out for?

ive seen one of 750Gb which would be ideal. but is based on sata2 tech. is this backwards compatiable?

stuman · 15 May 2011 at 16:31

ok, dug out the old HDD

http://www.testhdd.com/Toshiba-MK6034GSX-hard-drive-60-GB-SATA-150-8613.html

those are the specs for her.

so if any of you people could shed light on the largest compatible HDD i could replace her with it would be a great help!!

Dr Delphi · 15 May 2011 at 17:06

Can you post what version of the MB you have (i.e. About this mac -> More Info -> Model Identifier), also you could check what version of SATA you have on board by looking at Serial-ATA section of the System Profiler.

It seems from googling about macbooks in general that the largest hard drive you can install is a 500GB 2.5" which is artificially enforced by apple, for plastic 2008 models and earlier (I think yours is a late 2006). In which case this:

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=HD-349-WD&groupid=701&catid=14&subcat=896

would probably be appropriate!

stuman · 15 May 2011 at 17:53

ok, model identifier macbook 1.1

SATA 150

stuman · 15 May 2011 at 17:57

that hdd looks like a good bet. thank you.

Dr Delphi · 15 May 2011 at 18:31

no worries! If you need a guide to show you the best way to access and change the drive, then ifixit.com is a good bet, as they show you each step! Also if you think you're going to need more disk space, and don't mind losing the superdrive, then it is possible to install a second drive there using a caddy.

stuman · 15 May 2011 at 23:13

well in the future i may be looking at a BR drive to make rips of my movies. but thats a little way out at the moment. and also a few TB of storage space short.