Upgrade HDD on MBP

aumz

aumz

aumz

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I have recently purchased the entry level MBP 13"

I would like to upgrade the 250gb to the max (which on this model is) 500gb HDD.

Where is the cheapest place to get this done so that it does not affect the warranty. I am in London.

Any help appreciated.
 
I am more than happy and confident enough to do it myself. The only reason I did not consider to do it myself is all about the warranty issue.

I was under the impression that on the MBP the memory upgrade can be DIY without affecting warranty. Where as on the White MB the warranty will not be affected for DIY HDD an Memory upgrades.

I have seen videos on how fairly easy it can be done so no problems there.

What is the best way to go about this, would it be install HDD, install OS X then run Time Machine. Would I have to reinstall all my software again or would Time Machine take care of this. New to Macs so not too sure on what TM can and can not do.
 
Also can you recommend any HDD to go for, I assume it is SATA 2. I have a bit of cash in my Paypal so can order today and get cracking on this.

Just checked website seen it is 5400 RPM SATA.
 
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When you're set up with your new blank HDD in, start up with the OSX disk in, and one of the options is to restore from Time Machine as opposed to installing OSX, so choose this.

Alternatively you could install OSX from scratch and then drag your home folder across from the time machine backup when you're up and running. The OS might feel a bit nippier from being freshly installed, but you'll have to reinstall all your apps and reconfigure settings etc.

On a side note, wasn't there an issue a while back with 13" MBPs and hard disk upgrades? Was this ever resolved?
 
Slight thread hijack but is 500Gig the largest that the MBP can handle? The disk you mention there looks really good. You've tempted me since I want to install bootcamp and run windows on this 13 inch MBP as well.
 
Well when I initially called an Apple Premium Reseller to get a price for the upgrade they advised me for the 13 MBP max is 500gb and even on their website when you configure max is 500gb.

My MAC is only about 2 weeks old so will use the clone option, I really am too lazy to reinstall all the software and settings....lol

Well gonna order from here now......fingers crossed.
 
hyper_piper45 said:
No it will definitely not invalidate your warranty. I have this HD in my MBP. Very quick and quiet.

I'm sure you can use time machine to restore your backup or your could use Carbon Copy Cloner which I have used before and works well.
Click to expand...

Thanks, I have just ordered this same drive and downloaded Carbon Copy. Only problem now is I have no external hard drives. I have got a USB SATA docking bay that the 500gb will drop into when it arrives. So far I have used 100gb of the 250gb so wil take a good few hours to clone I assume.

Well will let you all know how it goes.
 
aumz said:
Well when I initially called an Apple Premium Reseller to get a price for the upgrade they advised me for the 13 MBP max is 500gb and even on their website when you configure max is 500gb.
Click to expand...
There is no limit on capacity, just on the physical size of the drive.

The MacBook can only take drives that are 9mm tall (standard height for 2.5" drives); the largest 9mm drives at the moment are 750GB. There are 1TB 2.5" drives, but all of the ones on the market right now are the non-standard 12mm height :)
 
Drive came this morning. Completed clone and install. Very happy, nice little speed boost also due to the faster drive.

Thanks for all the help.
 
Is there any reason to use CCC rather than Time Machine? Does it offer anything that Time Machine doesn't?

Also, does "restore from Time Machine" on OS X install restore absolutely everything? Including documents, applications, settings, etc?
 
I did not use TM simply on what I read on forums and other peoples advice. Nothing bad said against TM.

CCC was very easy to use. I just connected the drive up using a SATA USB Docking Station. Format drive, start CCC select MBP as Source drive and target drive was the new drive in the drop down box. Selected backup all. 2 hrs later it was cloned. Swapped drives. Took a long time to startup so was itchy bum time for a while.

When started all my settings were still as before all my software I installed were still there. Nice increase in speed also due to faster drive and now I can store my music locally aswell as on my Synology.
 
Thanks a lot for your reply :) I merely ask as I use time machine anyway, and I don't have a SATA USB Docking Station, so Restore from Time Machine is by far the more convenient solution for me.

But if there's no real difference then I'll just use TM :)
 
No problem mate, however I am new to Mac and so not really sure what TM backs up. I do use TM to do my regular backups tho.
 
I've used Time Machine for this before, and it corrupted. Had to do a clean install... It's nice knowing it's doing it automatically, but I can't trust it.

Edit: It copies everything though. Your desktop picture, your files, apps, licences...
 
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