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Replacement drive with WD Black2

I am planning on replacing my Macbook pro (15-inch, Early 2011) hard disk with a Western Digital Black 2 drive. Model: WD1001X06XDTL


Has anyone done this or aware of any compatibility issues?


Thanks

Posted on Jun 23, 2014 9:21 PM

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Posted on Jun 23, 2014 10:26 PM

Go to OWC where you should find a video tutorial on how to replace a drive in that model. The model you've described is a bit overkill for your model. It is a 6.0 Gb/s interface while your computer only supports up to 3.0 Gb/s. You might inquire at WD if the drive will work in your model or check at OWC.

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Jun 23, 2014 10:26 PM in response to AlexAust

Go to OWC where you should find a video tutorial on how to replace a drive in that model. The model you've described is a bit overkill for your model. It is a 6.0 Gb/s interface while your computer only supports up to 3.0 Gb/s. You might inquire at WD if the drive will work in your model or check at OWC.

Sep 19, 2014 1:05 PM in response to AlexAust

I have recently purchased a wd black2 drive. This drive is not supported for use on OSX. The 1TB HDD must be unlocked by a program that runs in Windows. If you get the drive and just put it into your macbook, you will just see the 120gb ssd. I used another laptop running Windows 7 to unlock the drive by following the instructions that came with the drive. I have subsequently replaced the Toshiba drive that came with my mid 2012 13" MacBook Pro. I, most assuredly, got this drive working and ran Windows 8.1 on it with a 120gb SSD and 1TB HDD visible and useable. After installing Mavericks on it, I realized that my MacBook recognizes the two drives as one SSD with a partition (that got removed when I installed Mavericks leaving behind a 1.1TB SSD). At this point, I have to figure out if that is a bad thing or not, as well as what I am going to do about it. I came upon your question in my search, and wanted to let you know that it is possible to use this device with your MacBook Pro. Others have done it, and you can more than likely find out how to do it, too, if you ask questions in the right forums.

Sep 24, 2014 8:28 PM in response to baejor

Hey Baejor, I have a question, because I am currently thinking of going this route, and keeping my disc bay in tact, or just getting a 256 SSD main and 1TB secondary.


It's been a couple of days or so since you've posted this, when you finally set everything up and formatted it for use in the MBP, did it show it as 3 consecutive drives, the SSD, and 2x 500GB HDDs? And also have you noticed any funny things occurring as far as when you reboot it, or general computer operation?


Assistance would be greatly appreciated.


Thanks,

Mel

Sep 25, 2014 7:16 AM in response to iGalione

I fixed my problem by zeroing data on the drive and going back to the factory state of the drive. That restored the only visible partition to the 120gb SSD. I then installed Mavericks, the created a 35gb partition for boot camp. It was tricky, but I got windows 8.1 to install by creating a 35gb partition with bootcamp, then deleting that partition in disk utilities to create free space. I was then able to restart my macbook and install windows 8.1 using the usb flash drive that bootcamp created. Once I installed the bootcamp drivers for windows, bootcamp was setup and I just had to change its preferences to run mavericks on startup. I just havent been able to get audio to work in this bootcamp installation of windows. I will keep looking for solutions.


Now that windows was installed (and I was still in windows), I inserted the usb drive that came with the wd black2 dual drive (or you can just go to the wd support page, look up dual drives - because this is the only one - and ran the installation software for the drive which unlocked the 1tb partition. It showed up as one 1tb partion that was formatted in ntfs. DONE! I can now confirm that this drive does work in a mid 2012 MacBook Pro. I did some other things, such as reformatted the 1tb partition to a mac journaled partition, moved my home folder to the 1tb partition, and am now investigating how to make this a fusion drive. I will have to temporarily move my home file off of the drive when this time comes because the command to create the fusion drive with delete what is on the 1tb partition. It is possible to create a fusion drive using partitions on drives rather than the whole drives so that you can keep your restore partition.


all of that being said, i answered your question about how this drive appeared in finder after I got it all set up. all drives can be read and written from mavericks and windows. i have 2 partitions on my ssd, one for mavericks and one for windows, and 1 1tb partition that i reformatted from ntfs to mac journaled. only problem that I have had is getting audio to work with bootcamp windows, but it works in parallels windows.


you are considering different drive configurations, and I will give you my 2 cents on that. i am considering returning this drive (i have only had it about 2 weeks), in order to get a 500gb 2.5" samsung evo 840 or crucial mx100 so that I can be all ssd in my machine, and use external hdds when i need them. I have plenty of flash drives, external hdds, and a synology diskstation nas with 4tb wd red drives if I need high capacity long term storage for media. Don't be afraid to move your optical drive out of your machine in favor of another drive, but just realize that that bay may only support 3gb/s instead of 6gb/s that you can get from your primary drive space. large capacity ssds are affordable. this drive was $185 on amazon when i got it (120gb ssd + 1tb hdd), but a 500gb samsung evo 2.5" sata3 ssd goes for 240. you can even get msata of the same size for about the same price, and can get an adapter (about $65) that will let you put 2 of them into a single 2.5" bay. apple uses msata in the macbook air, the only difference is that apple uses a special shape of the ssd (the connecting pins still match those of other manufacturers) in combination with its soldered in ram to keep people from changing things inside the machines. msata ssds and ssds in general may be the wave of the future, and i dont know if i can justify using a hdd when i can have a ssd for about the same price. Modern ssds, especially those from samsung and crucial, have good reputations and seem to be quite durable.


thanks for your question because i think writing this has helped me decide to return this drive and get a 500gb samsung ssd.

Sep 26, 2014 4:33 PM in response to baejor

it would have been nice to have those instructions when i installed my drive, though. they didn't come in the box with my unit and i didn't see them on the wd support website. oh, well. with the price of 512gb ssds, i can only think of positives for having an all ssd system and using external had storage as necessary. i am sure that they will help you out with the fusion igalione.

Oct 7, 2014 3:46 PM in response to baejor

I have been right, although I use this as dual-drive.

Unfortunately, it was expected it work as two partition of one drive instead of two drives.

Thus, the use of the boot camp will be difficult, but we will see after a clean installation of Yosemite.

I'm wondering that even after a clean installation, after the possible reactivation, remain with the 1TB HDD for data or not.

But I still do not have time for this...

Replacement drive with WD Black2

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