Each test was performed on both the original drive before replacement and the new drive after replacement. Before running any tests on the original drive, I backed it up, reformatted it, and restored it this was to ensure that the drive would be just as un-fragmented as the new drive. Printable guide to upgrading the hard drive on a Core Duo MacBook Pro.Īlthough I didn’t put the new drive through a comprehensive set of benchmarks, I did run some tests to get a rough idea of how it compared to my MacBook Pro’s original drive (a 100GB, 5400rpm Toshiba model installed when I purchased the laptop directly from Apple in April 2006). And Hitachi doesn’t include computer-specific installation instructions. User-installable part, so you won’t find instructions on Apple’s support site. The actual process of installing the new drive is the most difficult part of the upgrade. (The 5K160 Upgrade Kit includes backup software for this purpose, but the software is Windows-only.) In my case, cloning my MacBook Pro’s built-in 100GB drive took roughly an hour and a half. Although you can use Disk Utility’s Restore screen to do this, I personally used That task out of the way, you’ll want to make the new drive a clone -a bootable, mirror-image copy-of the old one. The Travelstar drive is initially formatted for Windows computers, so you need to use Disk Utility to format it as a “Mac OS Extended (Journaled)” volume. And the enclosure lets you use your old hard drive for backups or other data storage afterwards. I’m a big fan of hard-drive kits that include such an enclosure, as it makes the process of copying your data before the swap much simpler (and faster)-otherwise, you’d need to use another Mac or a separate hard drive to temporarily host your data. The drive connects to your laptop using two USB cables, one for data and one for additional power.

Putting the new drive in the enclosure-it doesn’t come pre-installed-is a simple process involving five Phillips screws, four to mount the drive in the enclosure and one to secure the case.

Before you install the drive, you’ll need to copy the data from your original hard drive to the new one using the included USB drive enclosure.

Upgrade macbook pro hard drive