What MacBook hard drive upgrade do you recommend?

I recently did the same upgrade. You’re right about the specs. I got a Hitachi 100GB 7200RPM drive,

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822146053,

and have been completely happy with it. In addition, the reviews for this drive that I read while making my decision were very positive. Good luck!

Hi,

Different models of MacBooks/MacBook Pros call for different specifications, but you’re right, they are all essentially 2.5” Serial ATA drives. The following factors affect performance and battery life:

Rotational speed: 5400rpm is standard for both MB/MBP, but the faster 7200rpm drives improve access time and system performance. Also recommended for graphic-intensive programs and video editing programs (also graphics intensive), but at the cost of reduced battery life;

Capacity: 60GB these days is low for all the operating system, iLife ‘08, and if you get into pro apps such as Adobe CS suite, et. al. the count goes up significantly. Most standards now are pushing well above the 120GB capacity for the internal drives, and well above 200GB for externally attached storage drives (storing video and audio media off the external drive). However, most people who do light video editing on an internal drive can opt for ~150GB internal 7200rpm drive without breaking the bank, and still have a good 40–50GB or so for storage of your movies/tunez…

Remember that for optimal performance and because of the way UNIX implements system resources from both RAM and hard disks, your internal drive should never exceed 90 percent capacity. Colleagues in the audio/video editing say that internal drives should be kept ‘stripped’ bare of media, and store your videos on an external or second drive to begin with, but that may not be practical if you’re on the go a lot.

I bought a 250GB Western Digital bus-powered external drive (not the mybook) that is a 2.5” SATA, for around $120 at Costco (am I allowed to say that?), but newegg and others give just as good a deal…bought that drive for Time Machine and for video media on the go w/my MBP and it works great…

I just did this exact upgrade, went with a 160 GB Western Digital Scorpio WD1600BEVS (only $90 at newegg) and it’s been working fine. I’ve always had good luck with WD drives so I tend to go with them by default.

I just bought a 250 gig western digital 5400 rpm drive from best buy. Couldn’t be happier with it. Installation is incredibly easy!

It does take a 2.5” hard drive; you can almost certainly find the instructions for this on the web somewhere. I’d suggest starting at powerbookmedic.com.

Do be warned, though, that if you do this, it ends your warranty, if you have one.

Go to http://macsales.com. They specialize in Mac upgrades and will show you what drives will work with your machine. Great company.