Which is the largest HDD for 2010 MacBook Pro?

Question

Which is the largest HDD for 2010 MacBook Pro?

Hey,

I have a 2010 MBP running Mountain Lion and would like to upgrade my internal HDD from 1 TB to 1,5 TB (or higher if possible). There seems to be a HGST drive that could work (http://eshop.macsales.com/item/HGST/0J28001/) but I am not sure

a. if the MBP´s SATA 3 GBs work with the HGST (OWC says it is backwards compatible from 6 GBs to 3.0 and 1.5 GBs)

b. if the MBP can address the 1,5 TB (or is is limited e.g. to 1 TB?)

c. does the HD get too hot?

d. is there any other issue?

In "discussions" I could not find current information and the older post from 2010 to 2012 where contradicting. Also, I live in Germany and I am not sure whether the HGST from Amazon.de

is identical to the OWC since it could be that there is different firmware on the OWC drives.

Does anyone have experience on this?

Thanks for your help, cheers,

Eric

MacBook Pro (13-inch Mid 2010), OS X Mountain Lion (10.8.4)

Posted on Jan 6, 2014 3:46 AM

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Answer 1

OGELTHORPE

Level 9

57,329 points

Jan 6, 2014 3:53 AM in response to Eric Martens1

A. Yes they are backwards compatible.

B. I have both of the drives you are considering. BOTH will work.

C. NO.

D. I consider both to be excellent storage devices. I use the 1.5 TB drives for Time machine.

You may also consider the 1 TB Seagate SSHD. It will speed up boot and shutdown times significantly and the added price premium is very modest.

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Answer 2

Jan 15, 2014 6:51 AM in response to OGELTHORPE

Hey "Ogelthorpe",

and greets to OZ (...)

Thank you for the quick reply. I also waited for an answer from HGST, here it is:

Hello ,

Thank you for contacting technical support. I apologize but for mac computers we would recommend purchasing the drive directly from Apple as they use proprietary firmware that seldom require the drive to function at 3GB/s but has shown instability in our drives.

Sincerely,

Alex J

HGST technical Support

I wil rely on your experience - this forum often proves to be more reliable then manufactureres technical support who are often not aware of technical issues regarding Macs. So, I just ordered the drive (the first on the list) and I will give it a try on the weekend - so you will get a report.

Thanks again for this immediate help,

Eric

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Answer 3

OGELTHORPE

Level 9

57,329 points

Jan 15, 2014 7:38 AM in response to Eric Martens1

Eric Martens1 wrote:

I wil rely on your experience - this forum often proves to be more reliable then manufactureres technical support who are often not aware of technical issues regarding Macs. So, I just ordered the drive (the first on the list) and I will give it a try on the weekend - so you will get a report.

Do not assume that the manufacturers are wrong. However I can report that I have never have had any issues with the HGST HDDs in my MBPs. At one time or another I have had the 5400 rpm 1 TB drives and the 7200 rpm 1 TB drives in my MBPs.

Good luck.

Ciao.

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Answer 4

Jan 30, 2014 4:48 AM in response to Eric Martens1

Hi Eric,

I bought the Hitachi HTS541515A9E630 Travelstar 5K1500 1500 GB as you mentioned above for my Macbook Pro (Early 2011; 8,2; 2 Ghz Intel Core i7, OS X 10.9.1) and I had to realize, that it is not compatible with my Macbook Pro. It functions perfectly while connected externally, but there is no recognition when it is build in internally. I use a hardwrk adapter in the DVD slot, because I installed a SSD in the standard slot. However, I tried all kind of combinations, but nothing was succesfull.

Furthermore, I found that I am not the only person who is facing that problem. In the following thread (in german), the guy tried all kind of tricks (formating, newly installing of OS X,....) but nothing helped:

http://www.boerse.bz/hard-software/apple/mac/1623721-macbook-pro-erkennt-neue-fe stplatte-intern-nicht.html

Keep me informed, if it worked out for you!!!

Good luck!

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