You can't upgrade to a 7200rpm hard drive in the Early 2011 13" MacBook Pro. It is not supported. Period.

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You can't upgrade to a 7200rpm hard drive in the Early 2011 13" MacBook Pro. It is not supported. Period.

I tried unsuccesfully to upgrade the hard drive in my Early 2011 13" MacBook Pro to a 750GB 7200RPM hard drive. After several attempts with different hard drives I realized that the kernel panic that showed up was due to the lack of compatibility with the drives to the MacBook Pro. I had a Mid 2009 13" MacBook Pro that I did not have any issues with whatsoever. I sold that MacBook Pro and was able to upgrade to the brand new base model without any out of pocket cost. Upon purchase of the new 13" MBP I maxed out the RAM to the full 8GB. After 2 months of freezing, lockups, spinning rainbow wheels and having to force shutdown I tried one last ditch effort to see if a faster drive would help. After speaking with the Apple telephone reps and the Apple Store Genius Bar we discovered that Apple doesn't even offer the option of a 7200RPM drive on their website - a fact that I found quite disturbing. The concensus is that it is a power management issue that causes the incompatibility and the reason the drives are not offered on the 13" models. The problems I had were the end of the line for me. I just switched out that train wreck for the Early 2011 15" MacBook Pro base model. I got home and immediately installed the 750 GB 7200RPM Western Digital Scorpio Black hard drive and it was recognized within seconds. I'm back in business with gleeful abandon.

MacBook Pro, Mac OS X (10.6.7), Early 2011 13" MacBook Pro

Posted on Apr 16, 2011 10:27 PM

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Answer 1

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JasonFear

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Apr 16, 2011 11:40 PM in response to GShaps2

Very strange...

My wife got her Early 2011 within days of their announcement and has been using a Hitachi 7200RPM drive in her machine with zero problems. I also know of several people on various discussion boards that have installed 7200RPM drives into their Early 2011 MacBook Pros (13"). Heck, iFixit sells numerous 7200RPM models. It'd seem pretty unlikely for them to sell incompatible drives.

Just because Apple doesn't offer a 7200RPM model drive doesn't mean they're not support or don't work. I think whoever you spoke with via Apple is misinformed, I've never see one of Apple's portable computers not support a specific drive speed. The limitation has always been physical size and physical connection.

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Answer 2

GShaps2 Author

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Apr 17, 2011 12:05 AM in response to JasonFear

Thanks for the reply. I was actually shocked when the Apple Tech Support people told me there was an incompatibility issue. I concur that it would be preposterous for them to produce an MBP that didn't support 7200RPM drives. I posted that because that is what was confirmed by the "Geniuses" at the Apple Store when they swapped my computer. I'm very frustrated now because I was misled. Who can you trust if you can't trust the people that are trained by Apple to have all the answers? I'm definitely going to be following up with them. Thanks again.

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Answer 3

JasonFear

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4,965 points

Apr 17, 2011 12:32 AM in response to GShaps2

Sadly... they don't have all the answers. As someone who use to serve in the capacity (Mac Genius) it can definitely be a challenging position. You're "the voice" of Apple's service policy & procedures. Sounds like the person you spoke with got it wrong this time. It's definitely worth a follow up, because like I said, I've got a machine in my household that's living proof of compatibility between a 7200 RPM drive and 13" MBP (Early 2011).

Apple is very good about support documentation when there's incompatibility or unsupported configurations, the fact that there isn't one for 7200 RPM drives would tell me that the people/person you spoke with was misinformed.

I know I always appreciated when a customer made it known to me that I was wrong on something and supplied the right answer. I sure as heck don't have all the answers and if I can lead from my mistakes, well, I won't make them anymore.

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Answer 4

never88

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Apr 17, 2011 12:37 AM in response to JasonFear

In my macbook pro 13" i5 (2011) is a Western Digital 320GB 7200 rpm spinning whiv no hassle!

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Answer 5

41DMBfan

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Apr 17, 2011 12:57 AM in response to GShaps2

I recently ran into a hard drive issue in my 13" MacBook Pro (purchased 1 month before the 2011 update). I was running a 500 GB Seagate Momentus XT 7200 RPM drive, and started having all sorts of issues. Frequent freezes and multiple kernel panics. Not always, but often enough to be frustrating. Took it in to my local Apple Store, and the Genius suggested it might be an incompatibility issue with the hybrid drive. Cloned and swapped it with my original, Apple issued, 500 GB Hitachi 5400 RPM drive, and now my machine runs like a champ. It's a bummer, because that hybrid drive was awesome in my 2008 aluminum unibody MacBook.

Cheers,

Jared

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Answer 6

Jiffer

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126 points

Apr 17, 2011 1:34 AM in response to GShaps2

could you please provide a link or serial number to your 750gb hdd. I'm also looking at upgrading for sure. I don't know what SATA they use though or max RPM's

Here is a picture of what im talking about. I'll be shopping at newegg.com for my drive.

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Answer 7

GShaps2 Author

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Apr 17, 2011 1:50 AM in response to Jiffer

Here's a link to the 750GB 7200RPM drive I installed without a problem in my 15" MacBook Pro (Early 2011):

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136835&cm_re=scorpio_bl ack-_-22-136-835-_-Product

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Answer 8

JasonFear

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Apr 17, 2011 11:04 AM in response to 41DMBfan

That's too bad you had an issue with the Seagate Momentus XT drive. I have one of the 250GBs in my 13" MBP, never had any kernel panic/performance issues. Did you try coordinating with Seagate for a unit swap/replacement before calling it a day?

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Answer 9

41DMBfan

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Apr 17, 2011 12:17 PM in response to JasonFear

I haven't yet. My next step was to update the firmware for the drive, then zero it out, re-clone my system to it, and then try again. I sure don't want to give up on this drive. It's a great solution for those that can't afford a true SSD.

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Answer 10

Apr 28, 2011 10:37 AM in response to GShaps2

Do you know if this will work in a 2010 13" MacBook pro?

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Answer 11

PKGuy323

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23 points

Jul 15, 2011 4:25 PM in response to mapex_venus

I just got the 2011 13" MBP i5 and before I even fired it up, I pulled out the 320GB 5400 rpm drive and put a 500GB Hitachi TravelStar 7200 rpm drive in. Not one problem. It's lightning fast and I find that the 4GB of memory is just fine for now. I average about 7 hours on battery too!

That's my experience. 🙂

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Answer 12

Jul 15, 2011 7:55 PM in response to GShaps2

I have a MBP early '11 and upgraded the HDD to a 750gb 7200 rpm and have had no problems at all. I installed a WD Scorpio Black. here's the link http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136835&Tpk=22-136-835 . It's 109.99, but if you purchase before 7/19 you get $10 off!.

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Answer 13

kevin.UC

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Jul 19, 2011 9:25 PM in response to shldr2thewheel

For the WD Scorpio Black HD, how is your battery life after the upgrade? Did you notice an difference? (I will assume that the thread above noting that the 13" i5 macbook pro does not supports 7200 rpm HD's is inaccurate?!)

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Answer 14

Jul 19, 2011 9:58 PM in response to kevin.UC

Kevin

The battery life is great, around 7.5 hrs. And yes, the 13" i5 macbook pro supports up to a 1TB hdd@ 7200 RPM and 16 GB of RAM (although Apple says 750 and 8). I have not noticed a difference yet, I have only had this Mac for about 2 1/2 months.

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Answer 15

Jul 19, 2011 10:16 PM in response to shldr2thewheel

I wonder if my Apple Care/Warranty would be voided if I installed a 7200rpm WD Scorpio Black HD in my 2011 13inch i7?

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