Upgrading a Macbook Pro = Scary

[frumpet]

I've done a few disk upgrades on MacBooks and it can be a bit worrying taking apart the machine!

To save time its worth having a look at 'SuperDuper!'. This utility allows you to make a full bootable backup of the hard drive. Particularly useful if you've got a spare SATA caddy as it saves reloading the machine from fresh and also allows you to keep all your utilities/files/photos/etc as is.

[Gordy]

I always do a fresh install as its a good point to start from. I feel bootable backups reintroduce problems and it doesn't take too long to do a fresh clean install of any os and system.

[charleski]

BTW, anyone know what it costs to get the HD replaced by an authorised repair centre so you don't lose your guarantee?

[Gordy]

You don't lose your guarantee. If you break parts doing the upgrade they won't fix those ones, but replacing a hard disc cannot void and guarantee you have with apple.

[charleski]

Really? Hmm, with 250Gb drives coming out now it's starting to sound very tempting. I suppose the WD wouldn't be a good choice though (apparently its antishock system conflicts with the built-in SMS).

[Edit]Sites like Macworld claim it "likely voids your warranty". I presume you didn't have to break any seals.

BTW, here are a couple of other guides for the MBP I came across:
http://www.extremetech.com/article2/...2119529,00.asp
http://macbookprosurgery.blogspot.co...cbook-pro.html

[Sinizter]

Is a 250gb 2.5" 5400rpm drive going to be faster than a 120gb one (due to having more data per platter or anything like that?)

[Gordy]

Really? Hmm, with 250Gb drives coming out now it's starting to sound very tempting. I suppose the WD wouldn't be a good choice though (apparently its antishock system conflicts with the built-in SMS).

[Edit]Sites like Macworld claim it "likely voids your warranty". I presume you didn't have to break any seals.

BTW, here are a couple of other guides for the MBP I came across:
http://www.extremetech.com/article2/...2119529,00.asp
[urlhttp://macbookprosurgery.blogspot.com/2007/06/opening-up-your-macbook-pro.html[/url]

Manufacturers are not allowed to void your warranty if you replace a single or multiples part. If you break something else that's one thing, but even then they have to prove you did it.

[Sinizter]

Is a 250gb 2.5" 5400rpm drive going to be faster than a 120gb one (due to having more data per platter or anything like that?)

Anyone have any thoughts on my question ?

[GoNz0]

nah performance isnt really a factor on the hard drives in laptops, its weight, power saving, then performance afaik

[Stoo]

I did put a 100GB 7200rpm drive in my old iBook, but it didn't really have that much of an impact on anything, maybe shaved a few secs off some application load times.

[charleski]

Is a 250gb 2.5" 5400rpm drive going to be faster than a 120gb one (due to having more data per platter or anything like that?)

For normal use, the critical factor is the access time, which largely depends on the time taken to swing the read/write arm over to the sector where the data is stored. So yes, if they're both single-platter (and I think all laptop drives are) a higher-capacity drive will have a higher radial sector density and it'll take slightly less time to access commonly-used files provided they're arranged intelligently at the start of the disk. The higher rotational density will also mean a slightly higher sustained throughput.

Whether this would be noticeable in practice is a moot point though.