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ghporter · Nov 30, 2009, 11:46 AM

Is there some ceiling for hard drive capacity on my 20060-vintage MBP? I understand it's got to physically fit, but I don't have a clue whether or not the controller can handle large (really large) drives.

mduell · Nov 30, 2009, 12:33 PM

The AHCI standard requires large LBA support, so the limit (143TB/128TiB for 512 byte sectors?) is much larger than available drives.

ghporter · Nov 30, 2009, 09:03 PM

Excellent. Thanks for confirming that. My MBP should take any 2 1/2", 9.5mm thick SATA drive, right?

mduell · Nov 30, 2009, 09:32 PM

Yea, you need a unibody for 12.5mm.

Simon · Dec 1, 2009, 03:11 AM

Originally Posted by ghporter

Excellent. Thanks for confirming that. My MBP should take any 2 1/2", 9.5mm thick SATA drive, right?

Yes since it's a vintage Al MBP you can't use 12.5mm drives.

The other thing to keep in mind is that the drive shouldn't come with its own shock protection. Drives that have their own system often conflict with the SMS Apple has built into the MBP. I know with Seagate Momentus drives you can usually get two versions of the same drive. One with shock protection, one without. You should get the one without since your Mac already has that protection built in.

ghporter · Dec 1, 2009, 06:08 AM

Thanks, Simon. I'll keep the shock protection issue in mind. So far, WD is the only one I can find that's offering 2.5" drives at 1TB capacity; would I have to look into the specs for each drive to see if shock protection is there, or is it something that either the "with" or "without" drive would have listed in the "features" text in their listings?

Simon · Dec 1, 2009, 06:55 AM

It should definitely be listed in the specs. I know Seagate specs always mention shock protection. They actually even put it into the product code.

I might be misremembering, but I thought the WD 1TB Scorpio Blue was 12.5mm actually. Umm,yep.
Western Digital releases 1TB notebook drive that is too thick for your MacBook | 9 to 5 Mac
http://news.cnet.com/8301-17938_105-10296034-1.html

Have they released a new thinner version?

amazing · 10:07 AM

and here's what I'm using in my MBP, but I can't believe it's come down in price so much. $70 for 500 GB?

Amazon.com: Western Digital Scorpio Blue 500 GB Bulk/OEM Hard Drive 2.5 Inch, 8 MB Cache, 5400 RPM SATA II WD5000BEVT: Electronics

yes, you can get 7200 rpm, just depends on what you want to pay.

Edit: I should point out that System Profiler says the WD is running at 1.5 Gigabit, no idea why...but I'm also not doing anything disk intensive

mduell · Dec 1, 2009, 01:51 PM

Do any of the WD Blue series (5400RPM) have free fall sensors?
For the WD Black series (7200RPM) it's indicated by the second letter (BJKT has it, BEKT does not), but all of the Blue series have E as the second letter (regex [BKT]E[AV][EST]$).

ghporter · Dec 1, 2009, 04:43 PM

Originally Posted by Simon

Have they released a new thinner version?

No, darn the luck. Their 650GB drive is the biggest one that's only 9.5mm thick; the 750 and 1TB drives are 12mm thick.

Amazon has both the 500 ($89) and 650 ($130), but the cost difference doesn't make the bigger drive seem to be a good buy.

They are both "BEVT" models, by the way.

Simon · 02:06 AM

Yeah, Newegg has the 640GB WD Blue for $130 shipped too. But Newegg's notebook disk selection has sucked for already quite a while. No 750GB or 1TB drives. I take it you're mainly interested in high capacity rather than raw performance?

The 640GB is faster than the 750GB drive even though they're both WD Blue series. The reason is two vs three platters. Hence also the extra thickness on the 750GB/1TB models.

Also, note that the $89 Amazon deal for the 500GB WD Blue totally sucks. You can get the Seagate Momentus 7200.4 for $89 shipped at Newegg. Now that's a 7200 rpm drive with an excellent reputation. It has only one serious competitor (Hitachi) and that one's about $120.

ghporter · Dec 2, 2009, 08:04 AM

That Newegg deal is just too good to pass up. I don't know when I'll have the time to look up the instructions for replacing the drive, let alone when I'll have time to actually do it, but that 7200RPM 500GB Seagate is going in my MBP soon.

amazing · Dec 2, 2009, 08:49 AM

Originally Posted by Simon

Also, note that the $89 Amazon deal for the 500GB WD Blue totally sucks. You can get the Seagate Momentus 7200.4 for $89 shipped at Newegg. Now that's a 7200 rpm drive with an excellent reputation. It has only one serious competitor (Hitachi) and that one's about $120.

The 500GB WD Blue is still $70 plus $2.50 shipping (as per the link in my previous post.) So an upgrade to the Seagate 7200 is only $17.50, pretty much a no-brainer, unless economy is a must.

Simon · Dec 2, 2009, 09:35 AM

Indeed. Just $17.50 more for the faster drive is a very sweet deal. I have bought two 7200.4 drives for myself now and I'm extremely pleased. Fast, quiet, no vibration issues. And did I mention they are really fast?