After reading about how easy it is to upgrade the HDD in the MBs, I decided to go ahead and order a 100GB Seagate 7,200GB drive after hearing views from people who said it was: 1. no nosier than the stock HDD 2. produced no more heat than the stock HDD 3. didn't affect battery life adversely, if at all Well, I can confirm that points 1 and 2 are a pack of lies! It's definitely more noisy/noticeable... unless they are the type of people who never clean their ears and it's choke full of hardened wax. I never was aware of the HDD before unless I actually brought my ear close to the palm rest, now it's noticeable from typing distance away; especially exacerbated when sitting in a quiet room; at night; or in the library whereas it was not before. And it's bloody warm!! The right side of my palm rest is noticeably (much more) warmer than the left. So much so that my right hand begins to sweat. Battery life, however, I can say on initial inspection seems not to be affected so much but longer term checks are necessary. So what is the moral of the story? There isn't one, it's just me ranting! What could be said is that an upgrade to 7200rpm 100GB HDD may not be as good as a 5400rpm 120GB HDD if you value any of the above. Of course I have seen some noticeable changes (good) in HDD usage but i'd sooner sacrifice an extra 2-5 second waiting time in opening apps for 20GB more space, a quieter motor and less sweat on my right palm causing my palm rest to prematurely dis-colour! Ah well.... rant over I suppose *searches dabs for a 120GB 5400rpm HDD*
Yargh, I would love the ability to swap hard drives so easily. Stop moaning Unlucky though, are you using the same hard drive as the people that gave it good reviews?
Yup, Sam's right. Its fast, cheap, and stays cooler than even the stock drive. doesnt even run the battery down any faster. kicks the snot out of the old 5400rpm drive. i use my laptop late at night when the house is silent. i dont hear it over the processor fan. as for heat? the palmrests are the coolest places on my macbook. in fact, the right palm rest is the coolest part of the keyboard side.
really, my 7200rpm seagate 100gb drive is fine, it doesnt seem any warmer than the original drive and its deadly silent too? weird.
eh? Are my ear canals larger than most? or do I clean them too much as I can clearly hear it over the ambient noise in a room at night!
well you can buy the drive anywhere that sells a 2.5" sata2 hard drive. and you replace it by taking out the battery, undoing 3 screws and then pulling out a little drive caddy and swapping the drive. there are lots of guides on the net!
i dont really know, all i know is that mine is no different in volume to the one that was in there. to be fair im normally listening to music when its sitting there in use anyway so it wouldnt make much difference, nevertheless if i stop playing music its barely audible, so i dunno, are you sure youve got it mounted in the drive caddy properly because if not maybe its not being padded/acoustically damped properly in there?